Amélie Bourgeois: From Memories of Soil and Grass to Stories That Move Us

“I think an ideal perfume tells a story and, more importantly, moves us.”

Amélie Bourgeois, interview with Andersen Beauty, 2023

From France. The year of birth has not been made public.

Cut wheat, sun-dried grass, pine resin, a horse’s skin: Bourgeois’s fragrances have their origins in days spent in the countryside. These are not memories that select only beautiful flowers, but memories of an entire way of life, encompassing the smells of soil, oil, and animals.

While studying cosmetics, she was more drawn to the scent added to a cream than to the cream itself. After meeting a mentor, Bourgeois went on to establish the independent perfume studio FLAIR. Listening to the stories of people and places, this perfumer has nurtured small sensations into complete perfumes.

A Life in Perfumery

Wheat Fields and the Coast of the Landes

Bourgeois spent girlhood between the green fields of Picardy in northern France and the coast of the Landes in the southwest. Relatives on both sides of the family worked in agriculture, and Bourgeois says that, as a child, taking over the father’s farm was also a possibility. It was the younger brother who actually chose that path.

Bourgeois also enjoyed riding and recalls feeling reassured by the smell of a pony’s skin when burying a face in its neck. At school, Bourgeois followed a course combining equestrian training with academic studies.

In a personal profile published by the perfume shop Le Secret du Marais, Bourgeois describes the atmosphere of childhood as follows.

“Cut wheat, Barbour jackets, soil, oil, sand, pine resin, horse manure, sun-dried grass. Even if I was not clearly aware of it then, my nose was already alive and breathing it all in.”

Amélie Bourgeois, from the personal profile published by Le Secret du Marais

This background may also explain why FLAIR later described Bourgeois’s style in terms of naturalness and harmony. For her, nature is not only a carefully arranged landscape, but also a place touched by hands and body.

Déclaration, a Gift for a Father

A powerful encounter with perfume itself came in 1998. At the time, Bourgeois’s father was undergoing chemotherapy, and changes in body odor during treatment had a profound effect on Bourgeois.

On entering a perfume shop for the first time, Bourgeois encountered Cartier’s Déclaration. Immediately captivated by the scent, Bourgeois bought it as a gift for the father.

In a 2020 interview with Parfumista, Bourgeois described the event as a deeply personal memory. It was also the moment perfume became something chosen with another person in mind and given to them.

Bourgeois subsequently pursued beauty and cosmetology, studying at Toulouse III University. But the fragrance concentrates added to creams began to draw more interest than skincare work itself. Little class time was devoted to scent, strengthening the desire to learn more.

Meeting Monique Schlienger

In 2002, Bourgeois met Monique Schlienger, the founder of Cinquième Sens.

“Something magical happened between perfume, Monique, and me.”

Amélie Bourgeois, from the personal profile published by Le Secret du Marais

Bourgeois learned perfumery during a three-year apprenticeship under Schlienger. Anne-Sophie Behaghel, a future partner at FLAIR, also studied there.

From accords combining two, three, or four materials to the structure of a cologne, Bourgeois repeatedly practiced understanding relationships among a small number of elements and building a fragrance.

On one occasion, combining methyl salicylate, cedar, and iris brought back the smell of childhood fields. Memories held within could be brought into the outside world through materials. Bourgeois describes it as a revelatory experience.

Even after the apprenticeship, Bourgeois remained at Cinquième Sens as a perfumer and teacher. Records differ on whether the time there lasted until 2011 or 2012, but for about ten years Bourgeois engaged in both learning and teaching.

The First Step for a Perfumer Without a Portfolio

When first considering independence, Bourgeois intended to join a fragrance-creation company. Others, however, reportedly described the career background as unconventional.

In 2012, Bourgeois founded FLAIR with Martine Denisot. Behaghel joined about six months later.

The work Bourgeois names as a first commercial creation is Jovoy’s Rouge Assassin, from 2012. With no portfolio and uncomfortable appearing before others, Bourgeois gathered the courage to visit founder François Hénin.

Hénin proposed the French cancan dancers of the 1920s as a theme. Bourgeois brought in a fragrance under the working name “Catherine.” Liking the proposal, Hénin revealed that it was also the name of Hénin’s daughter.

A coincidence and a conversation through fragrance: perhaps Rouge Assassin was also the perfume that taught Bourgeois how work can open up through encounters with people, not only through the creations themselves.

A Place Called FLAIR

FLAIR grew into a studio that creates fragrances through direct exchanges with independent brands. Bourgeois explains why those relationships endure.

“Perhaps it is because we work directly with brands, without an intermediary. Listening is very important, but so is the time spent together.”

Amélie Bourgeois, interview with Parfumista, 2020

Some brands arrive with a clear theme; others discover the scents they like and the world they want to create through repeated conversations. Rather than applying a uniform process, the work involves finding a way of relating suited to each counterpart.

Bourgeois and Behaghel say that they sometimes submit separate proposals for the same commission. Even while competing, they celebrate one another’s successes together. Even when both have worked with a brand, the person responsible for each individual perfume is not necessarily the same.

FLAIR’s official profiles portray Bourgeois as someone who seeks harmony in details, and Behaghel as someone who enjoys urban sensibilities and unexpected dissonance. Perhaps it is precisely these differences that allow varied fragrances to emerge from one studio.

The current official team page also introduces other perfumers, including Camille Chemardin and Margaux Le Paih-Guérin. A place of creation that began with two people has expanded into one where several sensibilities work together.

Creative Philosophy and Favorite Materials

Clues to Fragrance from Literature

While Bourgeois speaks of drawing inspiration from travel, nature, and moments in life, a 2020 interview expresses a particular attraction to history and literature.

“When I immerse myself in literature, ideas arise naturally.”

Amélie Bourgeois, interview with Parfumista, 2020

Research is not limited to literature: it may extend to calligraphy or geography. Reading the story a work depicts and considering its textures and atmosphere leads toward the structure of a fragrance.

A perfume cannot, however, be sustained merely by explaining its story. As the opening words suggest, Bourgeois ultimately wants the scent itself to move people.

Iris and Ambroxan

Iris is among the materials Bourgeois names as favorites. Its scent is connected to personal memories, recalling childhood wheat fields and the harvest.

Ambroxan gives Bourgeois an intimate impression reminiscent of human skin and sweat. In the Andersen Beauty interview, Bourgeois also names immortelle with Ambroxan, and cypriol with Cashmeran, as favored combinations.

While naming immortelle as a favorite material, Bourgeois also reveals a dislike of jasmine sambac. Rather than liking every natural flower, Bourgeois has a distinct response to each individual material.

In 2020, Bourgeois predicted a return to natural expression, simpler floral scents, and colognes as trends in perfume. This was a personal outlook at that time, not a definitive statement about the whole market in subsequent years.

Major Creations and Their Backgrounds

Rouge Assassin: The Sensuality of Lipstick

Taking the stage and dancers of the 1920s as its subject, Rouge Assassin expresses a powdery sensuality reminiscent of lipstick.

While depicting a glamorous female figure, it also connects with the sense of iris familiar to Bourgeois. This early work broadened that sensibility into scenes of history and dress rather than confining the style to rural memories.

Frapin: A Studio’s Work Telling Stories of Places and Literature

Frapin’s Paradis Perdu, from 2013, means “lost paradise.” Perfume-shop profiles also present it as an example of Bourgeois translating impressions of places and plants into fragrance.

FLAIR also worked on the brand’s Nevermore (2014) and Laskarina (2017). These, however, are credited to Behaghel.

Nevermore takes its subject from Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven and the story of an anonymous visitor who left roses and cognac at Poe’s grave. The visit took place on January 19, Poe’s birthday. Its expression through cold rose and spices reveals the studio’s approach to turning literature into fragrance.

Even with creations from the same place, distinguishing the credited authors helps reveal the differences in sensibility within FLAIR.

Mr. Vetiver: Constructing a Landscape from a Journey

Une Nuit Nomade’s Mr. Vetiver (2015) evokes an image of a man in the Balinese countryside. Through vetiver and iris, it depicts a person and a landscape together.

The same brand’s Suma Oriental (2015) is also listed in databases as work by Bourgeois and Behaghel. A joint interview with the studio also discusses their method of assigning individual creations separately.

Rouge Smoking: Toward New Collaborations

BDK Parfums’ Rouge Smoking (2018) is one of Bourgeois’s representative creations. Cherry, soft sweetness, and powdery texture are layered onto a story evocative of Parisian nights and dress.

Rouge Smoking Extrait appeared in 2024. Co-created with Margaux Le Paih-Guérin, it develops the original fragrance in a denser direction.

Work embracing different stories for each brand continues with Les Liquides Imaginaires’ Fleur de Sable (2019) and Bête Humaine (2021), creations for Les Eaux Primordiales, and others.

Working with an Admired Perfumer

The perfumer behind Déclaration, the fragrance Bourgeois gave to the father, was Jean-Claude Ellena. Bourgeois says that the wish to meet Ellena persisted from that first encounter with the perfume.

Later came an opportunity to participate in a Le Couvent project involving Ellena. Now Bourgeois was working alongside the creator of the fragrance that had led the way into perfume, an experience recalled as a great honor.

An Aside…

Bourgeois still enjoys riding. In 2020, Bourgeois owned two mares and described time available for riding as a personal luxury. The FLAIR profile also depicts walks in the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, alone or with two sons.

The favorite color is red. Bourgeois names Shiseido’s Féminité du Bois as a comforting fragrance, sometimes craves baked treats and sweets, and says the favorite drink is a Bloody Mary.

The favorite time of day is evening, drinking wine beside the fireplace. These words from a D’ORSAY interview evoke a peaceful scene away from work.

Bourgeois has also said that, if not making perfume, farming would have been an appealing occupation. Even with a different profession, time spent with soil, plants, and horses remains connected to present-day creativity.

Perfume Creations

Representative creations are listed below. A “—” indicates a work for which the reference materials do not name another perfumer. Creative supervision is distinguished from co-perfumery.

References

• Le Secret du Marais — Amelie Bourgeois
• FLAIR Paris — Team
• Parfumista — Interview parfumée: Amélie Bourgeois (2020)
• Andersen Beauty — Meet The Nose: Introducing Amélie Bourgeois (2023)
• Nose — Flair Paris Interview
• D’ORSAY — Meet the aesthete Amélie Bourgeois
• Fumerie — Amélie Bourgeois
• LinkedIn — Amelie Bourgeois
• Fragrantica — Amelie Bourgeois
• Parfumo — Amélie Bourgeois
• Fragrantica — Room 1015
• Fragrantica — Nevermore
• Perfume Posse — Nevermore, 2019 re-release
• ScentAdvice — Al-Kimiya: Oud et Bois
• ScentAdvice — Al-Kimiya: Ambre et Musc
• ScentAdvice — Chinese Tobacco
• ScentAdvice — Suma Oriental