March Highlights

On the one hand, Coty has just presented Infiniment, a project that inaugurates a new line of niche perfumery and which has had its premiere in Paris, where the company prepared an immersive exhibition full of sensory experiences, with music and dance.

One of the hallmarks of Infiniment is that the perfumes have been developed with a patent-pending technology that makes the fragrance last up to 30 hours after application, Aura Moléculaire. This molecule, derived from sugar, acts on the natural volatility and evaporation of the ingredients like a magnet, making them perceptible for longer. Thanks to this innovation, the perfume no longer follows the traditional structure of the olfactory pyramid (top, heart and base notes), but focuses on specific facets of a formula.


The fragrance collection has an eco-responsible approach and therefore its packaging has been conceived to be refilled. At the end of their life, the bottles can be assembled to create works of art according to the Artcycling concept (patent application pending).


Behind this project are Sue Y Nabi, CEO of the company, and Nicolas Vu, co-founder of Orveda, a skincare brand. They are taking the legacy of founder François Coty and bringing it to the perfumery of the future. To do so, they have collaborated with perfumers from DSM-Firmenich, Symrise and IFF, as well as with the support of Séverine Dallet, Senior Manager Fragrance Design at Coty. The result is a line composed of 14 fragrances with evocative names such as Entre Genres, Les Mots Doux, Soleil d'Ikosim and Matin de Jade, among others.

On the other hand, the luxury division of L'Oréal wanted to highlight the Group's experience as a perfumery developer for more than 60 years with an exhibition called "The Art & Science of Fragrance". The company's creative and scientific innovation has been reflected through a gallery of iconic perfumes that demonstrate the relevance of its brands in perfumery.


The exhibition included a series of videos that highlight the ingredients of the fragrances, whose formulas combine natural and synthetic raw materials that, when mixed under the perfumer's sensibility, manage to produce powerful emotions.


LVMH is also committed to elevating the world of perfume to the status of art. The company has created the 22 Montaigne Entertainment division to explore new opportunities for its luxury brands (fashion, jewellery and beauty) in the entertainment business in partnership with Superconnector Studios to create stories for audiovisual media through product placement.


"At LVMH, we see every house as a house of stories, a distinctive creator of culture," explains Anish Melwani, head of LVMH North America, who will be part of the company's executive committee, led by Antoine Arnault, head of image and environment at LVMH.

Cartier and the San Francisco Symphony have collaborated on a synaesthetic symphony combining sound, fragrance and lighting. Cartier nose perfumer Mathilde Laurent worked with Jean-Yves Thibaudet to bring to life Prometheus: The Poem of Fire (1910, Alexander Scriabin).


To realise this novel idea, olfactory diffusers were installed in the theatre and precisely synchronised to follow the rhythm of the music.


"To live is to breathe. To breathe is to smell. Therefore, to live is to smell," explains Laurent about what perfume means to her in life. In the case of this initiative, the perfumer reflected on the fragrance's connection to the meaning of the Latin word "per fumare" (meaning through smoke) and to the chosen play, The Poem of Fire.


To achieve a more theatrical effect in dispersing the perfume during the musical performance, the engineers worked with hidden and highly visible diffusers, called vortexes, which disperse the dry scent of the perfume (without aerosol), allowing the scents not to linger or mingle with each other.


Laurent composed two original chords, Before and After, created as abstract concepts to unfold an olfactory narrative alongside the musical evolution of the work. While Before evokes the human struggle before the fire with notes of wet earth and icy chords, After represents the elevation of man through hesperidic notes such as bergamot, lemon and verbena, which radiate joy.

Viktor & Rolf's new fragrance, Spicebomb Infrared, fuses perfumery with the latest discoveries in acoustic research. The result is an augmented perfume, an innovation that initiates a new trend in perfumery.


L'Oréal Luxury has partnered with IRCAM Amplify, the commercial subsidiary of IRCAM (French Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics/Music), to develop the first perfume that has its own sound frequency. As a result, Spicebomb Infrared raises body temperature and amplifies the sensory experience to evoke the sensation of the concept of warmth.


The perfumers identified heat-producing ingredients such as chilli, black pepper and red habanero pepper, while IRCAM Amplify experts translated those olfactory notes into sounds that raise the body's temperature.


"If we can reach billions of people through sound, we will enter a whole new dimension in terms of perfume experience: a digital, universal and absolutely innovative dimension," explains Guillaume de Lesquen, Designer Brands Fragrances President of L'Oréal.


Behind this initiative is a real interest of fragrance companies to innovate on a technological level to somehow incorporate scent into e-commerce. The studies conducted between IFF and IRCAM in this regard are intended to pave the way for a new way of communicating the emotions of fragrances through carefully designed sound.

The cultural movement that feeds the world of perfume has given rise to the first Perfume Week, which was held in Paris from 21 to 24 March. An initiative that speaks for itself of the relevance that fragrance is acquiring in our society.


Organised by Nez, a French publication that calls itself an "olfactory cultural movement", the event consisted of an exhibition at the Centre de la Bastille, as well as various meetings with experts, open to the public.


Visitors were able to learn first-hand about the olfactory projects of up to 40 brands from all over the world and attended conferences and round tables on the world of perfume, olfactory culture, raw materials and advances in research into olfaction, among other topics. Workshops were also held to provide an educational and fun approach to the world of perfume and the senses of smell and taste, aimed at both adults and children.