There are the great perfumes, and then there are the others… If he is attentive, our nose perceives the quality of the ingredients with formidable precision, even if he rarely knows why"it smells beautiful". But the essential remains: even an uninformed sense of smell can make the difference. Beautiful raw materials are the secret of beautiful fragrances. They make you dream, of course, and allow brands to tell beautiful stories. So much so that the patient and attentive care they require is sometimes forgotten. Rigorously selected and transformed, they require craftsmanship. But they also have a perceptible reality. They live and evolve on the skin like no other, revealing the perfect"fall" of a fragrance, the depth, inflections and richness of the absolutes and natural essences that compose it. The return to a perfumery of raw materials, cultivated in the greatest respect of tradition, reassures about the origin of our perfumes (there are too many that are devoid of any flower or natural essence!), as much as it gives birth to rare and authentic fragrances, inserted in very high-end collections, distributed in carefully selected points of sale. With these precious ingredients, which have never been so fashionable, French perfumery is back on its feet and can express itself in all its splendor. This perfumery of excellence, obviously elitist, is not accessible to everyone. Its cost is high. It is aimed at fans of perfume (and there are many). But be careful, once you've"tasted" it, it's hard to go back!

The triumph of the May rose

Because of its unique climate and soil, Grasse, cradle of perfumery, is obviously the most coveted territory by luxury brands for the cultivation of flowers. This is the case of the jasmine Grandiflorum (large flowers), the tuberose, the iris or the geranium rose of Chanel, and especially the very famous rose of May (its month of flowering) or pink Centifolia (from the name of its rose bush with hundred leaves). Fragile and rare, this extraordinary rose, with its many facets, exhales a delicate, powerful and recognizable perfume that evokes mimosa, with a less fruity note than the Turkish or Bulgarian rose (Damascena rose), which reminds of lychee or pear. It is to Chanel, and its exclusive partnership with the Mul family, that we owe its relaunch in Grasse. Harvested three weeks a year and grown without any chemical fertilizer, this May rose gives rise to a tiny production that proves to be as precious as the famous Burgundy wine Romanée-Conti ! Watering in droplets, a clever system of fallows and grafts… everything is done to obtain an exceptional vintage, with a constant olfactory quality, as much as rigorously controlled. Its transformation into absolute is also subject to extreme care. Once cut, the Centifolia rose cannot be transported, which is why the Chanel extraction plant was built in the middle of the fields. Signature of the brand's extracts, we find her in the latest creation of her collection Les Exclusifs : Misia (eau de toilette, 75 ml, 133 €, or 200 ml, 255 €), where, accompanied by violet leaf and iris, she transports us into the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties. In the very closed circle of perfumes using May rose, definitely very present this spring, we also find some niche brands that use it in majesty : - L'Artisan Parfumeur in Private Rose (eau de parfum, 50 ml, 90 €, or 100 ml, 120 €, from mid-April), - the Francis Kurkdjian House with its new fragrance À la Rose (eau de parfum, 70 ml, 145 €), - Ex Nihilo with Rose Hubris (eau de parfum, 50 ml, 180 €, or 100 ml, 260 €).

Ingredients that deserve every consideration

This is the case of sandalwood which appears in capital letters in Guerlain's latest creation: Santal Royal (eau de parfum, 125 ml, 145 €). To express its racy vibrations, both woody and creamy, this wild tree, increasingly rare (the mythical Indian sandalwood of Mysore is in peril because of deforestation) required a relationship of trust with a producer with a sustainable approach. Guerlain therefore turned to Asian sandalwood. " For the past 5 years, we have had a partnership with a logging company in an Asian country that we have kept confidential, as the risk of poaching these farms has been proven. Sandalwood can't be grown like a tulip field! The tree needs, on average, a maturity of more than 15 years, so that one can extract the essence of its trunk. Semi-parasite savage, it has its intimate life and colonizes particular varieties of shrubs to feed on their roots. The surrounding flora also has its role so that it can develop at will. For their part, some birds help it to spread. In any case, it needs its own natural space. This observation allows us to grow it freely and respectfully, in a secret place, and, thereafter, to obtain a"Guerlain" sandalwood faithful to our qualitative requirement. "Thierry Wasser, the in-house perfumer, confides.

A really delicious bean…

The tonka bean is a dark seed contained in the fruit and is prized by great chefs as a"nose". of the Dypterix Odorata tree (also known as teak). It has for synonym coumarou or coumarin, one of the principal odorous substances which composes it. Her sophisticated delicacy, between caramel, almond and cut hay, can be found in the thirteenth fragrance of La Collection Privée Christian Dior : Fève Délicieuse (eau de parfum, 125 ml, 210 €; 250 ml, 300 €; 450 ml, 420 €, from May 1st). Built around an absolute of tonka bean from Venezuela, it has a sweet sweetness, but also darker facets. François Demachy, Parfumeur-Créateur Dior, delivers an interpretation that plays on his contrasts. According to him," Tonka Bean is a concentrate of sensations and aromas. She is plural in her seduction. Milky and sweet, it attracts inexorably. But it also reveals a sweet and surprising bitterness when tasted. ". Always complex, exceptional raw materials have not finished surprising us…

Ariane Le Febvre