Bastille Parfums: A Revolution in Fragrance and Freedom

“We were even told that consumers wouldn’t buy without Julia Roberts’s smile. Even so, we decided to create Bastille.”

— Marie-Hortense Varin (Founder of Bastille)

Essential Information

Founded: 2019 (brand concept and launch preparations); formally launched in 2020
Founder: Marie-Hortense Varin
Current CEO: Sophie Maisant, since February 2022
Official website: bastilleparfums.com

The Founder and the Brand’s Origins

From Consultant to “Perfume Revolutionary”

Bastille began with a question asked by a young woman entrepreneur. After graduating from Sciences Po Paris in 2012, founder Marie-Hortense Varin spent around two and a half years from 2013 as a strategy consultant at the major consulting firm Bain & Company. She then moved to Partech, the venture-capital firm known for investing in technology and digital start-ups, embarking on a new career as a principal.

As she later put it, “I was an outsider in every field. Sciences Po graduates were rare at Bain, and a woman who wasn’t an engineer was unusual in tech venture capital too. I wanted to remain an outsider in the perfume industry and change the status quo.” This outsider spirit would shape the heart of Bastille.

“Why Is Perfume Alone Kept Secret?”

Marie-Hortense grew up in a family of Champagne winegrowers, absorbing from childhood the belief that “to bring out the best in nature, it is important to respect its rhythms and honour the people who cultivate it.” As a regular user of natural cosmetics, she felt a growing sense that something was wrong. Ingredient disclosure and sustainability were becoming commonplace in food and cosmetics, so why was the perfume industry alone clinging to its old secrecy?

In 2019, Marie-Hortense approached several perfumers with a question: “Couldn’t we make a natural, transparent perfume?” The responses were uniformly sceptical.

“Making perfume with natural fragrant ingredients alone is expensive and extremely complicated.”
“Synthetic ingredients will continue to be used unless disclosure becomes mandatory.”
“A brand needs an enormous marketing budget to succeed. Without a face like Julia Roberts, consumers won’t buy.”

— The perfumers’ words, as recalled by Marie-Hortense Varin

These voices saying “it can’t be done” only strengthened her resolve. “That was precisely why I decided to create Bastille,” she says.

Meeting Anne and Moving Toward the First Collection

The brand concept began moving forward through a meeting with perfumer Anne Flipo. Based at IFF, International Flavors & Fragrances, Anne is a veteran with at least 35 years of experience and an accomplished creator of numerous celebrated fragrances, including Lancôme’s La Vie Est Belle and Paco Rabanne’s Invictus.

True to her statement that she “loves a challenge,” she accepted the unprecedented task of “creating perfumes with 95% natural ingredients and fully disclosing the formulas.” Working with IFF-LMR Naturals, IFF’s specialist natural-ingredients division, around 50 prototypes were developed, from which five finalists were selected. Every fragrance, without exception, was polished through dozens of revisions.

“Making a perfume with 95% natural ingredients means playing a game with completely new rules. You have to adapt and find new materials. It’s like a different kind of gymnastics.”

— Anne Flipo

And so, in 2020, Bastille made its debut in Paris in the midst of the pandemic.

Passing the Baton to Sophie Maisant

The brand attracted attention immediately after its establishment. In October 2020, less than six months after its debut, it became the inaugural winner of the Responsible Innovation Award, established by the Fragrance Foundation France. The award honours the perfume industry’s most innovative initiatives in environmental and social responsibility, and the winning creation was the flagship-like fragrance Bataille.

In 2021, founder Marie-Hortense began looking for someone to take over, driven by a desire to “embark on a new adventure.” A fateful meeting followed. Sophie Maisant, who had spent 20 years in brand building, product development, and marketing at prominent luxury beauty brands including Chanel, Shiseido, and Huda Beauty, contacted Marie-Hortense to learn about entrepreneurship.

“At first, I reached out only to learn about entrepreneurship. But as we continued talking, we discovered shared values: a passion for transparency and sustainability. She wanted to embark on a new adventure, and I loved Bastille. The stars aligned.”

— Sophie Maisant (Fragrance Foundation France interview, 2022)

In February 2022, Sophie Maisant became Bastille’s new owner and CEO. That September, Pascal Hyafil, a former colleague from her Chanel days, joined as General Manager. The strengthened structure paid off, with sales in 2023 reaching five times the 2022 figure. In addition to Europe, the brand has expanded into East Asia, including Japan and Taiwan, and is also considering a full-scale entry into the US market.

What Defines the Brand

The Revolution of “Transparency”

Bastille’s most emphatic commitment is to full disclosure of every ingredient. Perfume formulas have long been protected as “trade secrets,” with no legal obligation to disclose them. While many brands list only allergens, Bastille specifies every natural and synthetic ingredient used on its product pages and outer packaging.

“It’s a daily battle, because there are deeply ingrained assumptions not only within the industry but also in consumers’ minds. But we need to redefine what luxury and sustainability mean. It isn’t an easy challenge, but it is a very interesting one.”

— Sophie Maisant (Wallpaper* interview)

In September 2023, Bastille also partnered with labelling giant Avery Dennison to begin fitting its bestseller Pleine Lune and new release Paradis Nuit with RFID tags and serialised QR codes. This “digital twin” system lets users simply scan a QR code with a smartphone to see ingredient origins, bottling dates, olfactory profiles, and supply-chain tracking information.

A Philosophy of 95% Natural and 5% Clean Synthetic

Bastille’s formulas strictly adhere to at least 95% natural ingredients, the minimum requirement under EU standards to call a product “natural.” The remaining 5% is limited to “naturally derived synthetic ingredients whose safety regarding allergies and carcinogenicity has been confirmed,” and no endocrine disruptors, synthetic dyes, or anti-UV agents are used. The alcohol is derived from organic wheat. Although this is said to cost up to three times as much as ordinary synthetic alcohol, the brand absorbs the difference by reducing other costs, maintaining a price point of €100 or less.

Natural ingredients are sourced principally through Grasse-based IFF-LMR Naturals. The brand also focuses on ingredient traceability, using materials such as Fair for Life-certified fair-trade vanilla.

Packaging: Bringing Environmental Care and Beauty Together

The bottles use recyclable glass and aluminium, with plastic kept to a minimum. The outer packaging was changed from the original rigid box to a sliding, “matchbox-style” folding carton made from FSC-certified paper. The change reduced packaging weight by 39%, helping minimise shipping costs and waste. Through membership in 1% for the Planet, the brand donates 1% of sales to support Surfrider Foundation, an NGO working against marine plastic pollution.

The Fragrance Lineup

Bastille currently offers eight eaux de parfum. A perfumer is invited independently for each creation and given “carte blanche” by the brand. All are designed to be genderless and unisex, and are available in three sizes: 15 ml, 50 ml, and 100 ml.

Core Collection (The First Five)

Fragrance	Japanese Meaning (Translated into English)	Perfumer	Character
Pleine Lune	Full moon	Anne Flipo + Paul Guerlain	A white floral centred on tuberose. Bergamot and matcha add a clean touch to this sensual fragrance.
Bataille	Battle	Nicolas Beaulieu	A powerful spicy-woody fragrance with saffron, ginger, and patchouli. The brand’s first award-winning creation.
Hors-Piste	An untrodden path	Domitille Michalon-Bertier	A hesperidic, or citrus, cologne with mandarin, mate, and ginger. “Modern, vibrant, energetic.”
Rayon Vert	Green ray	—	Green and fresh
Demain Promis	A promise for tomorrow	Carolyn Demeur	Spicy and milky, with cinnamon, milk, and patchouli. Warmth like a milky chai latte.

Later Creations

Fragrance	Perfumer	Character
Un Deux Trois Soleil	Domitille Michalon-Bertier	An amber fragrance of vanilla, almond, and tonka. “Warm, summery, cheerful.”
Paradis Nuit	Nicolas Beaulieu	An unusual combination of bitter cacao, Marseille soap, and cassie flower.
14 Juillet	Meabh Mc Curtin (IFF)	The latest release of 2024, inspired by 14 July, Bastille Day, the source of the brand’s name. A smoky amber incorporating a “fireworks accord.”

“We were able to express fireworks through a smoky accord unlike anything I had ever smelled. I’d never smelled anything like it.”

— Sophie Maisant (on 14 Juillet)

Incidentally…

• The name Bastille derives from the storming of the Bastille prison, a symbol of the French Revolution. The name directly overlays the image of “breaking old powers for freedom” onto the transformation of the perfume industry. Another elegant touch is the use, for 14 Juillet’s packaging, of the verdigris colour of the bronze July Column, the Colonne de Juillet, standing in Paris’s Place de la Bastille.
• Marie-Hortense Varin was 30 when she founded Bastille. After a seemingly unrelated career in strategy consulting at Bain & Company and venture capital at Partech, she brought a “revolution” to an entirely different industry.
• Bastille also participates in PETA’s Global Beauty Without Bunnies programme, officially confirming that all its products are certified vegan and made without animal testing. PETA stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.