Nathalie Feisthauer: Keeping the Edges in Scent, an Independent Perfumer in Montmartre

“I like playing with contrasts and textures. Wearability and a strong personality: I look for the balance between them.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Hermès’ Eau des Merveilles, Amouage’s Honour Man, and Etat Libre d’Orange’s Putain des Palaces.

It may be a little surprising to learn that they are works by the same perfumer. There is sparkling amber, composed spice and wood, and a scent like makeup mingling with skin. Nathalie Feisthauer’s work is not easily summed up by a single fragrance family.

Yet a common attitude runs through that breadth: entering deeply into a client’s world without smoothing the scent into something too safe. Slight protrusions and intriguing rough edges are allowed to remain as personality.

After about 30 years at major fragrance companies, she became independent in 2014. Now based in Montmartre in Paris, she works directly with brands around the world. Rather than building a large perfume brand of her own, she has reshaped the work of perfumery itself into a form that suits her.

A History in Perfumery

Discovering Opium in a Town Far from the Perfume World

Feisthauer grew up in Sarrebourg in northeastern France, near the German border. Her father was a teacher and her mother a painter; many relatives also worked in education. It was not a family connected with the fragrance industry.

At 16, she discovered Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium.

“When I first smelled it, it really was like love at first sight. It was a revelation.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Beautiful. I want to smell it again. I want to know more perfumes. Those feelings developed into a passion for following scent. At the time, she did not even know that the profession of perfumer existed.

This is what makes her starting point interesting. She was not taking over a family business or drawing on prior knowledge of fragrance materials. First came the emotion stirred by a perfume; only afterward did the work of making it come into view.

1983: Entering the Roure School

In 1983, Feisthauer entered the Roure perfumery school in Grasse, the educational institution of a fragrance company that would become part of Givaudan.

Her own recollections and official profile describe her as the first student admitted to this program without family connections to the perfume industry. At the time, family and regional ties carried great weight in perfumery.

Jean Amic, who led Roure, helped make her admission possible. In later years, she has spoken gratefully of the person who telephoned to tell her she had been accepted.

At school she studied under Jean Martin, and during training in Paris she encountered the work of Jean Guichard and Édouard Fléchier. It was the period when Cacharel’s Loulou and Dior’s Poison were taking shape.

There were also difficulties quite separate from learning scents. What language should she use? How should she behave? She did not understand the unwritten conventions that came naturally to people long established in the industry.

Learning the craft and finding a place for herself: both efforts were necessary early in her career.

New York: Her Own Perfumes Reach the World

After completing perfumery school in 1986 and continuing to work in Paris, she moved to New York in 1990. Her experience in the United States until 1994 greatly expanded her thinking about fragrance.

Working with key figures in fragrance development such as Karyn Khoury, Ann Gottlieb, and Clare Cain, she repeatedly translated the images brands sought into scents that communicated them.

Clarins’ Elysium emerged during this period. Launched in 1993, it was her first fine fragrance.

“I made it in New York when I was 26. It was a dream come true. It was an original perfume, and I am still very proud of it.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Aramis’ Havana and Jean-Louis Scherrer’s Nuits Indiennes also belong to this period.

American energy and the ability to make an impression at first smell joined the technique she had learned in France. The international outlook gained in New York became a foundation for later work with brands from many countries.

After returning to Paris in 1994, she broadened her work through Versace’s Blonde, Cartier’s Must de Cartier Pour Homme, and, in 2004, Eau des Merveilles.

Fulfillment at Major Fragrance Houses and the Turn toward Independence

In October 2008, Feisthauer moved to Symrise’s Paris Creative Center.

During this period, she created Van Cleef & Arpels’ Gardénia Pétale and Rêve, Honour Man, Comme des Garçons’ Blue Cedrat, and other fragrances.

She does not dismiss her years in large companies wholesale. They were fulfilling years in which she worked with excellent colleagues and clients and honed her skills as a perfumer.

But as consumer testing began to direct creation in the 2000s, her sense of unease gradually grew.

“Tests were no longer about choosing the best concept, but simply about avoiding rejection.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Hundreds of trials for a flanker only a little sweeter than the original perfume. Having an individual idea but not the power to protect it. Such experiences made her want to recover the meaning of her work.

She became independent in 2014 and established LAB Scent, a perfumery studio in Montmartre. Its guiding phrase was “Scents That Make Sense.” Rather than a grand declaration, perhaps it simply expressed the work she wanted to do again.

Perfumery Philosophy and Style

Not Too Smooth: Leaving the Edges in a Scent

Feisthauer says that her formulas have grown shorter year by year since she became independent.

This is not a simple claim that fewer ingredients are always better. Each should have a role, without unnecessary layers. The personality of a major accord should not be concealed beneath layers of innocuous scent.

“I don’t make formulas with 70 ingredients. That doesn’t mean 15 either, but I try to keep only what is essential.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

One perfumer she admires is Jean-Claude Ellena. She says she finds a poetic beauty in the clarity of the choices: one can smell what was selected and what was left out.

Feisthauer herself values depth and contrast. If something protrudes a little beyond the outline, she does not immediately cut it away, because it may be what defines the perfume’s impression.

Of course, eccentricity alone is not enough. In the end, the result must be beautiful and something one wants to wear. Without losing sight of that destination, she explores how much individuality can remain.

Answering the Brief and Offering Another Angle

For a new project, she first studies the brief closely. Landscapes, smells, textures, and sometimes colors or stories come to mind. From there she makes a formula, smells it, and gradually refines its shape.

But she does not necessarily offer only exactly what was ordered.

“As well as trials that follow the brief, I propose a ‘diagonal’: a fragrance that was not requested, but arose from the inspiration of the moment.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

“Diagonal” means a direction at an angle. Having understood a brand’s world, she presents an interpretation from a slightly different viewpoint.

Dialogue with the client is therefore indispensable. She speaks directly with the person who created the brand, without a salesperson or fragrance evaluator in between. What has that person seen and felt, and what sort of perfume do they want to put into the world?

Creative freedom does not mean ignoring the other person and making whatever one likes. It means being able, through discussion, to put one’s technique and sensitivity at the service of another person’s story.

Using Favorite and Unfavored Materials

Among her favorite materials are Ambrettolide, a musk with a subtle fruity quality, and carrot seed, whose unexpected facets have something in common with iris. She is also strongly drawn to woods, spices, flowers, and resins.

In a 2018 interview, she also expressed reservations about formulas that use a great deal of linalool or fruity notes. It would be misleading, however, to treat this as a lifelong list of materials she would never use.

In later interviews, she has said that she can also create fruity scents and finds it interesting to be taken beyond her familiar territory. She has personal preferences, but does not choose materials on preference alone when expressing the world of a commission.

That flexibility may also support her breadth as a perfumer.

Signature Works and What They Convey

Eau des Merveilles: A Fragrance for Women without Flowers in the Leading Role

Launched in 2004, Eau des Merveilles was co-created with Ralf Schwieger.

“We built it around the animalic note of ambergris, layering woody, citrus, spicy, and musky notes. At the time, it was a very innovative perfume.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Instead of a composition centered on a bouquet, an accord recalling ambergris combines the brightness of orange with the depth of woods. It was a fresh idea for a women’s fragrance.

Hermès also describes a composition in which the presence of wood and amber resonates from the opening. Part of its interest lies in using materials that can feel heavy and grounded to convey brightness and a sense of floating.

Feisthauer also pays tribute to Véronique Gautier, the artistic director at the time, for having the courage to bring this perfume to market. The signature work encompasses not only the perfumers’ idea but also the judgment of those who chose it.

Putain des Palaces: Between Lipstick and Skin

Putain des Palaces, from 2006, arose through work with Etat Libre d’Orange founder Etienne de Swardt. The requested theme was a scent suggesting a woman’s mouth or lipstick.

Rose and violet are layered with a powdery suggestion of makeup and a sensuality close to the skin. It evokes both a beautifully groomed exterior and the raw life underneath.

LAB Scent’s account places the rose-violet accord in a lineage extending from Coty’s La Rose Jacqueminot to the work of Sophia Grojsman.

Even a classical combination changes its impression according to the focus. Here, rather than the flowers themselves, the scent approaches the presence of the person wearing makeup.

Pélargonium: Looking Again at a Familiar Leaf

Aedes de Venustas’ Pélargonium, from 2017, places a geranium-family fragrance material at its center.

Rather than the prettiness of the flower, it explores the complexity of scent obtained from the leaves. Iris, cedar, vetiver, and guaiac create dark depth, with bergamot casting light above them. It draws out a character extending beyond freshness toward resins and incense.

In 2017, the fragrance won the Unique Niche category at Russia’s FiFi Awards.

fluo_ral: Showing a Marine Material in a Different Light

Nomenclature’s fluo_ral dates from 2019. It features the synthetic fragrance material Calone without taking the familiar route of a bright marine scent.

A material that suggests the sea is placed in a dark light. Tart impressions of rhubarb and blackcurrant meet flowers, incense, and woody depth.

Even with a familiar material, changing the way it is presented changes the olfactory landscape. This fragrance seems to express Feisthauer’s interest in contrast particularly clearly.

That year, fluo_ral won the Exclusive Niche category at the Russian FiFi Awards, and she herself was named Perfumer of the Year.

No.12: Another Self, Different from Everyday Life

Puredistance’s No.12 launched in 2021.

The project began with Feisthauer’s own wish to create for the brand. One of the scents she brought, provisionally called “Gold Taffeta,” captivated founder Jan Ewoud Vos.

The color he perceived was not gold but blue. The image brought by the perfumer and the image received by the brand overlapped and developed into a fragrance.

For her, meanwhile, No.12 is also a more personal perfume.

“No.12 represents another version of me, one that does not actually exist.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

She imagined women of the 1950s and 1960s elegantly wearing dresses with nipped-in waists, unlike herself, usually in jeans with unpretentious hair. Precisely for that reason, she says, she made her longing for that elegance into perfume.

Perfume can express not only who one is now but also a little of the person one would like to become. The episode suggests that way of enjoying it.

Honour Man and Sous le Manteau

Honour Man, from 2011, is an Amouage fragrance built around spices and woods. Under the vision of then creative director Christopher Chong, accords with opposing impressions were combined.

Another important project after independence was the Sous le Manteau collection by Olivia Bransbourg.

Its inspiration was an old aphrodisiac formula found at a Paris flea market. Presented as scents based on nineteenth-century formulas, these works were reinterpreted as perfumes wearable today. The collection, introduced from 2016, subsequently grew to six fragrances.

Sous le Manteau literally means “under the cloak,” with the implication of doing something secretly, away from public view. Rather than reproducing old formulas unchanged, the work may have translated their secretive world into contemporary scent.

In 2020, the brand won The Fragrance Foundation UK’s Best Newcomer award.

About LAB Scent

LAB Scent occupies a former art gallery in Montmartre. According to Feisthauer, it is just 70 meters from her home: close enough to move easily between work and daily life.

In projects with niche brands around the world, her conversation partner is often the brand owner. Together they can consider and decide on the spot what sort of perfume to create. It is a relationship Feisthauer finds comfortable.

Working with small brands has also broadened the possibilities in choosing materials. It can make room for unusual ingredients or small quantities that are difficult to source for mass production. In her work with Amaffi, too, she has repeatedly created with high-quality natural fragrance materials.

Independence does not, however, mean that she wants to launch a perfume brand under her own name. Selling, distributing, and promoting are different jobs from composing. She wants a way of working centered on time spent creating scents.

Major honors include the Russian FiFi awards for Pélargonium and fluo_ral, the same awards’ 2019 Perfumer of the Year title, and Sous le Manteau’s UK newcomer award. In 2021, L’Orchestre Parfum’s Electro Limonade also won the Russian FiFi Customers’ Choice niche category. Burdin’s Amoroso received a Cosmétiquemag bronze award as well.

By the Way…

She generally keeps her skin as free as possible to test works in progress. Yet when wearing perfume for herself, she still sometimes chooses Opium. The scent that first moved her remains after a long career.

Favorite activities include cooking, traveling, and spending time with her children. There is a garden on her rooftop where she eats and entertains. She says that cooking ingredients and techniques can also lead, almost unconsciously, to ideas for scents.

Besides Ellena, she names Annick Ménardo and Grojsman among the perfumers she admires: people who retain only what is necessary, do not seek easy approval, or leave a lasting impression through expansive accords. Their styles differ, but she seems drawn to perfumers with a clear point of view.

She also takes a sober view of prospects for young perfumers: schools have multiplied, but actual positions remain limited. In a 2025 interview, she mentioned the need to learn about artificial intelligence and sustainability. These are her own views, but they carry the realism of someone with long experience.

Yet her tone softens considerably when the subject turns to the neighborhood where she lives.

“I don’t want to leave Montmartre [laughs]. It is like a little village.”
Nathalie Feisthauer

Greeting neighbors, drinking coffee, sharing meals: right beside that everyday life, fragrances are made that reach people around the world. Perhaps Feisthauer’s independence also meant choosing not just a way of working, but the place where her senses function best.

Perfume Creations

Major works are listed chronologically. Years generally indicate launch dates; reformulations and limited editions are noted. A blank co-creation cell does not establish sole authorship.

Year	Brand	Fragrance	Co-creation / Notes
1993	Clarins	Elysium
1994	Aramis	Havana	Co-created with Xavier Renard
1994	Jean-Louis Scherrer	Nuits Indiennes
1995	Azzaro	Eau Belle
1995	Versace	Blonde
1999	Pierre Balmain	Vent Vert	A later reformulation, not the 1947 original
2000	Cartier	Must de Cartier Pour Homme
2001	Cartier	Must Pour Homme Vert Anis
2002	Oriflame	Giordani Gold
2002	Azzaro	Orange Tonique
2004	Hermès	Eau des Merveilles	Ralf Schwieger
2004	Comme des Garçons	Soda
2004	Comme des Garçons	Tar
2005	Comme des Garçons	Sticky Cake
2006	Hermès	Eau des Merveilles Constellation	Limited edition; original fragrance co-created with Schwieger
2006	Etat Libre d’Orange	Putain des Palaces
2006	Etat Libre d’Orange	Nombril Immense
2006	Comme des Garçons	Guerilla 2
2007	Hermès	Eau des Merveilles Pégase	Limited edition; original fragrance co-created with Schwieger
2007	Comme des Garçons	Luxe Champaca
2007	Etat Libre d’Orange	Delicious Closet Queen
2007	Yves Saint Laurent	Kouros Tattoo
2008	Comme des Garçons	Energy C: Lemon
2009	Lancôme	Hypnôse Senses	Christine Nagel, Ursula Wandel
2009	Van Cleef & Arpels	Gardénia Pétale
2011	Amouage	Honour Man
2012	Ferrari	Essence Oud
2012	Montblanc	Legend Pour Femme	Bernard Ellena
2012	Van Cleef & Arpels	Aqua Oriens
2012／2013	Davidoff	The Game	Bernard Ellena, Lucas Sieuzac; launch year differs by source
2013	Van Cleef & Arpels	Rêve	Emilie Coppermann, Evelyne Boulanger
2013	Comme des Garçons	Blue Cedrat
2014	Van Cleef & Arpels	Rêve Elixir
2014	Comme des Garçons / Stephen Jones	Wisteria Hysteria	Jones collaborated as a hat designer
2015	Carolina Herrera	Oud Couture
2016	Sous le Manteau	Cuir d’Orient
2016	Sous le Manteau	Vapeurs Diablotines
2016	Sous le Manteau	Poudre Impériale and others
2016	Une Nuit Nomade	Murmure des Dieux
2017	Aedes de Venustas	Pélargonium
2019	Maison Crivelli	Absinthe Boréale
2019	Nomenclature	fluo_ral
2019	MDCI Parfums	Cuir Cavalier
2019	MDCI Parfums	L’Homme aux Gants
2020	MDCI Parfums	L’Aimée
2021	Puredistance	No.12
2021	Maison Crivelli	Lys Sølaberg
2021	Astrophil & Stella	Paris Chéri
2022	Zoologist	Cow
2023	Puredistance	Papilio
2023	Urbis Parfums	Cuba
2025	Puredistance	Divanché