Our approach is to put all our money into the fragrance itself.
— Frédéric Stoeckel, who became president of Adopt in 2019
Adopt’s eaux de parfum come in slim cylindrical bottles, with a different label for each scent. Color and illustration tell the fragrances apart on the shelf. Using the same bottle for a range of scents makes it easier to treat perfume as part of getting dressed, something to change with the day’s mood. The idea grew out of a shop in Bordeaux.
Basic Information
Founded: 1986, as Réserve Naturelle
Founder: Dominique Monlun
Place of origin: Bordeaux, France
Official website: Adopt Parfums
The Founder and the Brand’s Beginnings
Dominique Monlun and the First Bordeaux Shop
Dominique Monlun learned the craft of perfumery in Grasse, in southern France. He paid particular attention to how a fragrance was composed and how its ingredients were chosen. He wanted well-made perfume to be within reach of more people. In 1986, he opened his first shop in Bordeaux under the name Réserve Naturelle. The shop sold fashion accessories, and it developed a line of its own perfumes with a wide range of scents.
Monlun’s business called the perfume line Adopt. As the shops spread across France, the fragrance name made its way onto the storefronts. In the mid-2010s, Réserve Naturelle took the name Adopt and expanded its fragrance offering.
From Opening Shops to Revisiting the Fragrances
When Frédéric Stoeckel took over in 2019, he paused new store openings and turned his attention to revising the existing perfumes. Adopt formed an in-house fragrance development team and worked with perfumers at composition houses including Firmenich, Symrise, Robertet, and Givaudan. Stoeckel carried forward the founding idea of offering a range of affordable fragrances by giving the development of the perfumes themselves more time and attention.
Philippe Hardel joined the same year to lead fragrance development. He spent his childhood between the Normandy countryside and the coast. His parents loved flowers and introduced him early to plants and gardening. Among his first memories of perfume was his mother’s fondness for white floral fragrances.
That close, regular contact with nature was a true awakening of the senses for me.
— Philippe Hardel
Hardel studied plant biology and marketing, entered the cosmetics industry, and spent seven years at Kenzo Parfums. When he met Stoeckel, he heard about the new approach to fragrance that Stoeckel wanted to propose. Affordable perfumes left room to change scents as the seasons turned or one’s mood shifted. The freedom that offered was part of what drew Hardel to Adopt.
How Adopt Makes Its Fragrances
A Shared Bottle and a Separate Brief for Each Scent
Adopt’s standard 30 mL cylindrical bottle makes it practical to switch fragrances from day to day. The brand uses the same mold across scents, with a different label giving each its own appearance. The standard bottle is made of lightweight glass and comes without an individual box. Stoeckel kept packaging and advertising simple so that more of the budget could go into the fragrance.
Hardel’s team keeps track of the fragrances already in the collection by family, including florals, fruity scents, and gourmands. Gourmand fragrances evoke edible things such as sweets. The team listens to customers, considers which part of the range a new fragrance could develop, and takes the brief to outside perfumers.
The perfumers interpret the same brief in different ways. Hardel selects a proposal close to what the team had in mind, then works with the perfumer through further trials, adjusting how the notes come together.
Above all, it is a dialogue, a genuine exchange with the perfumer working on the fragrance.
— Philippe Hardel
Fragrance development links Bordeaux, Paris, and Grasse. Production moved from the factory in Cestas near Bordeaux to Château-Renard in the Loiret department. In Japan, Delight Trading began carrying Adopt perfumes in May 2025.
Tendre Iris: Capturing the Scent of a Flower in Bloom
On the Valensole plateau in Provence, Adopt and the fragrance house Firmenich worked with Denis Vernet, whose family had grown plants for perfumery for generations. They set out to reestablish French cultivation of Iris pallida.
To obtain the material known as iris butter, growers have to wait several years for the rhizomes, or underground stems, to develop. In the meantime, the team turned to the scent of the flowers in bloom. At flowering time, Firmenich used a method called headspace to collect scent compounds from the air around the flowers. The perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin used that record to compose Tendre Iris, which was unveiled in 2022.
For me this fragrance is a gourmand floral, with a zest of light and fluidity brought by bergamot.
— Fabrice Pellegrin
Bergamot brings brightness, while vanilla and orange-tree wood add warmth. As the rhizomes grew, the scent of the flowers in the field became the subject of a perfume in its own right.
Vanille Bourbon: Putting Vanilla at the Center
Iris and vanilla also appear in Vanille Bourbon. Here, vanilla leads from the opening, rounded out by almond, with iris in the base. Hardel singles out vanilla as the focus of the fragrance. In Tendre Iris, it lends sweetness to the flower.
Vanille Bourbon also comes as a shower gel and a body lotion. The small bottles make it easier to change scents, while the body products let someone who has found a favorite bring that scent into different parts of their routine.
A Note on the Hummingbird
Adopt chose the hummingbird as its symbol. In the fable behind it, a forest catches fire. A hummingbird keeps flying back with as much water as it can carry in its beak, doing its share. In 2021, the brand began its work with ingredient producers under the name Colibri, the French word for hummingbird.
References
- Premium Beauty News, Kristel Milet, “« Adopt vend un parfum toutes les cinq secondes », Frédéric Stoeckel” (April 10, 2023) — https://www.premiumbeautynews.com/fr/adopt-vend-un-parfum-toutes-les,21843
- Adopt Parfums, “FAQ” — the founder and the first Bordeaux shop — https://www.adopt.com/be-fr/informations-faq
- Adopt Parfums, “Notre histoire” — Monlun’s training in Grasse and the founding of the business — https://franchise.adopt.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/adopt-presentation-marque.pdf
- Adopt Parfums, “adopt, une histoire de parfums” — the fragrance line and the change of name — https://www.adopt.com/fr/lemag/adopt-histoire-de-parfums/
- Adopt Parfums, “L’univers Adopt” — brand history and the hummingbird emblem — https://www.adopt.com/l-univers-adopt
- The Fragrance Foundation France, “Entretien avec Philippe Hardel, responsable du développement olfactif pour Adopt’ Parfums” (December 7, 2020) — https://www.fragrancefoundation.fr/2020/12/entretien-avec-philippe-hardel-responsable-du-developpement-olfactif-pour-adopt-parfums/
- Adopt Parfums, “Découvrez les engagements de nos parfums” — bottle and packaging design — https://www.adopt.com/fr/lemag/nos-parfums-sengagent-pour-la-planete/
- Adopt Parfums, “Comment fabrique-t-on (vraiment) un parfum ?” — Hardel on working with perfumers and production in Cestas — https://www.adopt.com/fr/lemag/fabrication-parfums/
- Adopt Parfums, “Parfums made in France : entre tradition et éco-conception” (February 23, 2026) — https://www.adopt.com/fr/lemag/parfums-made-in-france-entre-tradition-et-eco-conception/
- Delight Trading, announcement of Adopt’s launch in Japan (July 8, 2025, PR TIMES) — https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000004.000143237.html
- Adopt Parfums, “Tendre iris, une histoire française” (August 19, 2022) — https://www.adopt.com/fr/lemag/tendre-iris-une-histoire-francaise/
- Adopt Parfums, “Le programme Iris” — the cultivation partnership and Pellegrin’s remarks — https://www.adopt.com/be-fr/tendre-iris
- Adopt Parfums, “Tendre Iris — Eau de parfum” — fragrance composition — https://www.adopt.com/fr/eau-de-parfum-30ml-tendre-iris-3701429849955-fr.html
- Adopt Parfums, “Vanille bourbon — Eau de parfum” — fragrance composition and body products — https://www.adopt.com/en/vanille-bourbon-eau-de-parfum-8883701429828745-en.html
