Embark on a sensorial journey into the captivating world of Les Reviews de Parfumerie, where we share the olfactory symphonies of enchanting boutique perfumes. Each fragrance, a narrative woven with scents from diverse corners of the globe, capturing the essence of cultures and landscapes in every delicate note.
NATHALIE FEISTHAUER’s ability to translate emotions, memories and cultural nuances into scented masterpieces has earned her a place among the most respected perfumers of our time.
Nathalie Feisthauer’s journey into the world of perfumery began with a childhood fascination for scents, nurtured by a family that cherished fragrance for its ability to evoke emotions and memories. Her pivotal moment came upon discovering Opium by Yves Saint-Laurent, sparking her determination to become a perfumer.
In 1983, Nathalie made history as the first trainee without a perfumery family background to join the prestigious Roure (now Givaudan) perfumery school in Grasse, France. This marked a significant departure from tradition, where new trainees typically hailed exclusively from Grasse, the cradle of perfumery.
Her career soared during her tenure at Estée Lauder in New York, where she immersed herself in the dynamic American style, imbuing her work with energy, fun, and commercial appeal. This cosmopolitan experience broadened her artistic creativity and reinforced her reputation as a versatile perfumer.
Feisthauer’s portfolio spans collaborations with a diverse array of brands, from commercial giants to avant-garde niche labels like Etat Libre d’Orange (notably with “Putain des Palaces”) and esteemed names such as Hermès (“Eau des Merveilles”) and Cartier (“Must for Men”). Each collaboration reflects her passion for creating diverse olfactory experiences that resonate with a global audience.
For over three decades, Nathalie honed her craft at industry leaders like Givaudan and Symrise, earning accolades including the prestigious FIFI awards. In 2014, she embarked on a new chapter as an independent perfumer, founding Labscent in the heart of Montmartre, Paris. This move afforded her the freedom to explore new artistic horizons, collaborate globally, and craft scents that defy convention.
Feisthauer’s creative process draws inspiration from her extensive travels across Asia, Europe, and beyond. These journeys fuel her imagination with the rich tapestries of cultural traditions and natural landscapes, from Japan’s serene cherry blossom gardens to the aromatic markets of Thailand and the opulent perfumery traditions of the Middle East.
Today, Nathalie Feisthauer stands as a luminary in perfumery, celebrated for her ability to blend technical expertise with a profound understanding of cultural nuances. Her perfumes not only adorn shelves but also embody experiences, memories, and journeys encapsulated in every bottle. Whether creating for global icons or boutique labels, her commitment to excellence and innovation continues to define her legacy in the world of scent.
This interview with Nathalie is by BAHM writer Cynthia Smith
CYNTHIA: Thank you for joining us here today for this interview. As you can see behind me is a very wonderful photo done by our photographer in-house, that was inspired by your scent Be Earnest and the playfulness that it inspires…
NATHALIE: Oh! You know this one too? Yeah! Okay, because they (Rosy & Earnest) just have two new gourmand scents out last week. Yeah, you have to check out our two. One is Vanilla Rum Royale, which is a beautiful vanilla with rum. And one that is maybe my little favorite is with pistachio. You know, in France, we are lucky because we have a Lebanese ice creamer, which is very beautiful, very beautiful, incredible ice cream. based on pistachio, roasted and everything. So we ate this pistachio. Check out B-Rosie. The latest launch.
CYNTHIA: I also, I wanted to say I got to smell both of your Be Rosy and Be Ernest and some very wonderful scents. And immediately with the B. Ernest, I got these images of my childhood and that kind of freshness and innocence that you have created in Be Ernest perfume. Absolutely wonderful.
NATHALIE: And the two women, you know, the two Québécois women, (Caroline and Marilou)they are adorable, so positive and fun to work with. We are working with EWG Verified. It was quite challenging to check all the stuff they asked, but we did it. We made it good. And it smells nice.
CYNTHIA: Yes. And that’s the most important part, isn’t it?
When you see the EWG Verified® mark on a product, you can be certain that it is free from EWG’s chemicals of concern and meets their strictest standards for your best health.
NATHALIE: Yeah, of course. Of course. Yes. Voila. I also have another Canadian client. It’s called Zoologist. Do you know this brand? They have a huge fan base and they are inspired by a camel, dinosaur like all kind of animals, the drawing are so beautiful, so cute. I was inspired by a cow. It was so fun to do a cow. It’s a happy cow. So yes, if you can check it out also one day, it’s fun. Each time he’s launching something, everybody is going out, getting crazy with it.
CYNTHIA: What inspires you to pick the ingredients that you do, and at what point do you know those ingredients are perfect for your perfumes?
NATHALIE: Wow, it’s like when you cook in a way, or when you paint, or whatever, you know, in a way you don’t know in advance, but you know it’s the right thing to do. I have, I think, a very strong technique, but also I’m very intuitive so it is a blend of both. It’s inspiration. It’s like telling a story, listening to my client. And after also adjusting also to their budget, you know, and I’m lucky because, working with niche perfumes, the budget most of the time is higher. So you can you can use very beautiful ingredients that are difficult to use for more mass market brands.
CYNTHIA: You’ve had the chance to work with a lot of big brands. You’ve recently pivoted to working with some more niche brands. Do you find that sort of pivot has been hard, or do you find it has given you more freedom?
NATHALIE: It’s the best thing I’ve done. You know, I loved it. I started 40 years ago and 40 years ago, the clients, you have somebody with a strong art direction. You didn’t do tests. I loved it. And after when testing came and big company came, I was fine at the beginning. But one day I woke up and I was like, it didn’t make sense. You know, I was looking, like in France, you say, “besoin de sens”. You need a sense, a meaning for life. And me, I’m very passionate. I just love what I do. And so, yes, it was very important for me. I love, to feel like a perfumer again, working in the corner. I feel like a perfumer, meaning that it’s like, you know, I’m a creator. I like to work with the art director. For me niche, is that the people have a vision. which is difficult to do when you’re working with a big company, when you have a market director or marketing director – it’s not their own vision, you know. I’m very happy to feel like I am a perfumer again, that I’m working with people who have an idea, a vision. I’m so happy to meet so many different people all over the world. I have clients in 35 countries all over the world. I have a big diversity of projects. Like, people’s taste in the Middle East are very fascinating, but I’m not bored to do that because I do it many times, but I also have people in China, Singapore, Europe, and in Canada. So it’s very diverse.
CYNTHIA: I love that, and I love to hear it. Would you say that you feel like it’s allowed you to be more of yourself?
NATHALIE: Totally. There is much more freedom to propose, to listen, to propose new stories. And I don’t have ego in the sense that if I propose a new idea, if my client doesn’t like it, I’m fine with it. I like the exchange, the discussion. The discussion in niche, you have much more variety and diversities. And in a big group, you have to be the best seller. And the best seller, basically, you have to be the best tester and best tester. If you don’t put apple, fruit, musk, whatever, you are not going to sell. So at the end of the day, pretty much they all smell the same, the perfume. So niche is different. You have much more freedom.
CYNTHIA: Do you feel in your career or maybe even more recently, that there’s been a scent that you created that really stood out to you?
NATHALIE: You know I would say a few. I think that each passion you do has something special because there is always a story behind it. A relationship, a meeting with people. But I think that the very first one that is close to my heart is Elysium because I was 26 in New York and it was the very first perfume that I really did. And it really started from a very creative accord. So yes, even though it was not a huge success, it’s still very close to my heart. I would say that Hermès’ Eau des Merveilles also, it’s a very important perfume for me, created with Ralf Schwiege. but it’s like an ovni, something that didn’t look like anything else on the market, and that it’s becoming a classic. And now that I am independent as a niche, so many perfumes, so many stories, I don’t know, almost all of them are my favorite babies.
CYNTHIA: Do you happen to have a certain secret towards your perfume making? Something that…
NATHALIE: If I had a secret, I would not tell you. But I like actually… I like to, this is something a lot of perfumers always say, but it’s very true for me. I like to reduce my formula to only pick every, I like to have an equilibrium, a balance between my ingredient. And I like that every ingredient has a meaning in my formula. I don’t like very huge formula that you don’t even know what is what. And I like for my formula a memory, something distinctive – but I like them to be wearable. I don’t like just to be different for the sake of being different because you know, you can be different and not wearable. And this, okay, sometimes you can do because it’s an experimental brand, but at the end of the day, you need to wear the perfume on your skin.
CYNTHIA: Is there maybe any particular ingredients that you keep coming back to?
NATHALIE: Yes, of course. Actually, when you are an independent perfumer, you have access to some palettes that big companies cannot have because they are too expensive or because the worldwide production is too small to be used in a mass market product. So for example, for Amafi, I don’t know, I use Champaka Absolute for Tango Forever, which is one of my favorite perfumes, and I love the bottle. I am obsessed. Also, again, my palette, I like Ambrettolide since many, many years. I cannot do a formula without Ambrettolide, so this is my little favorite musk. I like roots, I like spice, but also you know what is more important is really listening to a story and if people like something that I don’t like, of course I will try to do it. I don’t need to like the story, otherwise I would do like two perfumes in my life, you know. What I like is like to have new brief with something that I don’t need to like it. What I like is to think about something different. I like to experiment.
CYNTHIA: I love to hear that. Your love to experiment has also allowed you to create all of these fantastic scents and honestly own that title of Queen of Perfume.
NATHALIE: Oh, not me.
CYNTHIA: Not you? It’s been discussed among people that you are the Queen of Perfume.
NATHALIE: Oh, you are sweet, you are sweet, you are very sweet. I’m very lucky to work with something that I love to do. Even after 40 years, you know, almost every day, I’m like, how lucky I am. I don’t get bored.
CYNTHIA: I love that. Because you’ve also been doing this for so many years, how have you seen the industry change over your career?
NATHALIE: For many, many ways. In the 90s, you had the consumer testing and everybody was doing that. But you know, recently, I can see two or three trends. One, I don’t know what’s going to happen with EI, but certainly that if you want to adjust a perfume for a shampoo or a cheaper version or whatever, I’m sure that at one point EI will be better than a Perfumer. EI will change some things. And you know, I’m 59, so I don’t even care about EI. But if I was 25, definitely I would take care of EI. Something that you have to understand how it works. So this is one thing. Another trend which is marketing driven, is more and more natural. Everything has to be natural, but it’s not always possible and it’s not always true, and you have so many issue with it. But people love more and more to have natural product to go back to the root. And I think a third, a big trend is the rise of niche perfume where people really want to be unique to have a memory of themselves. to have experiment and I think it’s more and more important. I think that yes, more and more people want to be unique. I think niche perfume would be more and more interesting even for the big company.
CYNTHIA: You’ve experienced a lot of different cultures. Have you taken anything from those cultures that you keep with you in creating these perfumes?
NATHALIE: I would say until the 90s, you know, like a hundred percent of the perfume were French. (like the master of good taste and elegance). But you know, an elegance that was intimidating sometime. When you were 18, and if you didn’t have like a big budget, you didn’t feel comfortable. Sephora changed a lot of that actually. But also when I was in the 90s, I went to work between 1994 in New York City. And you know, Americans, they were straight to the point. They were looking for immediate perfume. Where in France, the tradition was you spray on your handkerchief, you came back two days later, you took time to see if you like the perfume. Where in the US, they say, we don’t have time, you have to buy in 30 seconds. So yes, the US taught me a lot, like you have to be efficient, you have to know the story right on top, you have to have this “hook” they call it. After, there was another influence for me, in the Middle East with the wood, like 10, 15 years ago, when I smelled it, I was like, oh, this doesn’t smell good. And actually, you know, you acquire the taste and you develop a taste and you develop a way to work those perfumes. So yes, it’s interesting because now you have influence from a lot of countries.
CYNTHIA: You stated in your own personal bio that Opium by YSL is what inspired you to become a perfumer. What about that specific scent really did it?
NATHALIE: First of all, I shouldn’t have been a perfumer. I come from a place where nobody is a perfumer. I’m not from a perfumer family. So one day, for the first time, I asked to be sprayed. And she sprayed opium. And I stopped in the street, it was a revelation. It changed my life. And from that, I wanted, I was obsessed, I didn’t know the work of Perfumer existed. So I was saying, one of the most creative things I’ve done in my life is I wanted to do a job that I didn’t think existed. So I don’t know, I got lucky. I wrote letters, I went to the post office, I went to the to the brand and they explained to me, we don’t create. I have no clue about this industry. And one day somebody called me, it was the creator of Opium. And he said, Oh, what is your favorite perfume? I said, Opium. He said, Oh, I did it. And he hung up. And I said, Oh, he’s lying to me. Okay, anyway, I was very lucky to be, I think, one of the first ones, or the first one to be taken to the Perfumery School in France. It was a famous Rourbertrand, now it’s called the Givaudan School. So I was very lucky.
CYNTHIA: And that’s inspiring for a lot of people to hear that.
NATHALIE: Don’t get too inspired by that, because so many people want to be a Perfumer nowadays but there are not a lot of positions. It’s very difficult. Not difficult because the job is difficult, difficult because there is absolutely no position. There is not a lot of perfumers, even in big companies, they don’t need so many perfumers.
CYNTHIA: You have won a lot of awards. How have those awards impacted your career?
NATHALIE: When I went independent and founded my company, awards, I thought, okay, awards are not for me, you need to be a big company to get awards. And the very first one I got, I think it was in 2017, for Aedes De Venustas. One or two years after, I got one for Fluo-ral, also the Perfume of the Year. But you know, the very first one I got, I remember part of my speech was, “It tastes even better when you are independent” because when you win an award when you are in a big company, it’s also the company as it is a big team around you, which is great to share…. you know. So when, when I won an award as an independent, I was totally shocked. I like to have an award because it’s even more precious to every condition of my peer being independent than when you are in a big company where you have so much support.
CYNTHIA: And would you also say that’s probably the most pivotal award in your career as well?
NATHALIE: I think those awards meant more than before. But you know, actually I don’t wake up every day thinking, oh, my goal is to have an award. But it’s true that when you have them, it’s of course very important. You realize that it’s very touching and humbling to have recognition from the industry, from your peers. Even though you have one of the smallest companies, that you can be recognized. It was touching, it was humbling. I was moved by that. And my clients are very happy also. But you know, I got a lot of award shows last year, but truly, I don’t know what lobbied whatever to have one.
CYNTHIA: Are you, when you are creating your perfumes inspired by any day-to-day experiences or things that happen in your life?
NATHALIE: In a way, everything and nothing, you’re a sponge. So sometimes you are somewhere you don’t even realize and after poof, you do something and maybe there is a link, but it’s not conscious. And sometimes you create an accord, you don’t use it. And after 10 years later, you can use it. It’s not… it’s not a rule that you follow, you know, to get inspired. You get inspired by everything. I feel like I am a sponge, you know, like you go to a good restaurant, you go to a country, you don’t need to analyze or whatever, you just let you, you just live the moment and after the moment stay with you and you use it later. But you don’t know when you’re going to use it.
CYNTHIA: Do you have any final words for anyone that is reading this interview, watching this interview, about perfume?
NATHALIE: I don’t think there is good or bad perfume. Whatever perfume that makes you happy, beautiful, seductive, comfortable – you, it’s the best perfume in the world, period. Even if it’s like a supermarket perfume or the most expensive one, you need to love it. Having said that, go have fun, explore, try, go to a niche perfume store, go to two sites. There are so many options out there. But one day maybe you can also try to go with something more like a creator, a vision, and maybe you can explore different paths and I think there is a lot of beautiful things to discover.
