Caroline Dumur
Masterpiece , experiencing that sense of pride in taking a perfume or an idea as far as you can, achieving a kind of perfection and being stubbornly assiduous , like Roudnitska . Creating a masterpiece , creating this neat , short, precise formula. Finding a solution in my quest for perfection.”
Caroline is an extraordinary young woman. Fascinated by ancient civilisations, especially Asian and African, her roots are not part of her DNA. She carries within her the history of half-ages, an attraction for languages and religions that are unknown to her. And when it comes to perfumes, he has many secrets about the mythical ingredients of unusual formulas: "I am a product of the culture of northern France, an educated, cultured and simple France. But I love North Africa and Asia. I have always been attracted to North Africa, its culture, its cuisine, its religion, its literature and its history, the warmth of the people, the sense of family, its intensely human side. I married a Tunisian and live in Tunisia in the summer. I am learning Arabic and also researching China and Japan. These are my real roots.
Caroline's method of creation reflects her ambition. Creating a formula is a way of travelling through the history of perfume, of projecting the past into the future: "I work with history. It's what I do every day. And that takes her on beautiful journeys that lead to wonderful perfumes, quintessentially 21st century, which, like her, are emotionally intense, perfumes that are rooted in the distant past but seem magically updated. They involve a lot of planning, a certain insight into ancient formulas and a lot of research to find the delta, the contemporary formula: "I have a vivid memory of Quelques Fleurs de Houbigant, a floral fragrance, a lily of the valley, an aldehydic fragrance that made a great impression on me. So I thought, why not continue? Recently, I combined aldehydes for a Comme des Garçons perfume, Théâtre du Chatelet Acte I, with a top note of rose oxide and then an intense note slightly reminiscent of firecrackers and aldehydes".
And it is the notion of "exaggeration" that encapsulates Caroline's unique and effervescent spirit: "I love to add an extra dose. I always like to try to exaggerate certain things. It must be the way I am. I always put my heart and soul into things. I'm impulsive, I have a strong character". And her mastery of the extravagant manifests itself in the beautifully crafted Chlorophyll Gardenia for Comme des Garçons, with its intense gardenia and strong green note at the beginning. Caroline's first great triumph was Sweet for Lolita Lempicka in collaboration with Anne, and her second fragrance, Pure XS with Anne and Bruno from an initial idea of mine, a combination of aldehydic ginger fused with a really sensual and warm vanilla base. Both present excessive doses.
Caroline ends by offering one of her paradoxes: "Personally I like intimate perfumes, I always go back to White Musk and I have used L'Eau des Merveilles, a precious and luminous chypre. At the same time, I like to smell big powerful perfumes like Coriander Aromatics Elixir and Opium on other people. I am a fan of woody, spicy and sensual fragrances. I like dark perfumes with animalic notes, but I can't wear them. I'm a bit schizophrenic, but at the same time this dialogue with oneself, this endless curiosity that leads you to explore new territories is a form of happiness.
