Officine Universelle Buly 1803: A Beauty Emporium Traveling Through Time

“We are not selling products. We are selling ‘wow.’ You open the door: wow. You hear the music: wow. You smell the fragrance: wow. You see the calligraphy: wow. Everyone has products. But not so many people have ‘wow.’”
— Ramdane Touhami, co-founder

Contents

Essential Information
The Founders and the Brand’s Origins
The Brand’s Distinctive Commitments
Incidentally…

Essential Information

Full brand name: Officine Universelle Buly 1803
Also known as: Buly 1803
Original founding: 1803, rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, by Jean-Vincent Bully
Modern revival: 2014, 6 rue Bonaparte, Paris, by Ramdane Touhami and Victoire de Taillac
Based in: Paris, France
Group: LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (acquired in October 2021)
Official websites: buly1803.com (global) / buly1803.jp (Japan)
A note on the name: Officine is French for a pharmacy or dispensary. Buly was renamed by removing one “l” from the old spelling, Bully, to avoid its negative meaning in English-speaking countries.

The Founders and the Brand’s Origins

Chapter One: The Nineteenth-Century Bully Family and Its “Miracle Vinegar”

The story begins in early nineteenth-century Paris. Claude Bully, a distiller, perfumer and cosmetics-maker, invented a vinegar-based fragrance known as vinaigre de toilette. Promising to eliminate body odor, heal ailments and nourish the skin, it was a groundbreaking product for its time.

Since antiquity, vinegar mixed with honey water had been used as a remedy for infections. In the eighteenth century, the famous “Four Thieves Vinegar” was considered the best defense against plague. At a time when water itself was suspected of transmitting epidemics, vinegar came to be used in baths and later as a skincare toner.

Claude’s son Jean-Vincent Bully devoted himself to establishing a scientific basis for his father’s invention. After examination by physicians and scientists, the vinaigre aromatique received patents in 1809 and 1814. Bully’s vinegar went on to be exhibited at the exhibitions of 1823, 1827 and 1849, at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, and to win prestigious medals at the Paris Expositions Universelles of 1867 and 1878.

Newspapers of the time were unanimous in reporting its reputation. In 1869, Le Petit Journal wrote:

“A whole regiment stands in formation in the shop window, but its colonel is always Jean-Vincent Bully’s familiar vinegar. Even as an army of competitors tries to take its place, this old soldier remains on the front line, medals on his chest.”

Bully’s renown spread far beyond France’s borders, resounding across Europe. The Almanach du Commerce of 1807 listed no fewer than 139 perfumers in Paris alone, and the perfume and cosmetics industry was said to be the city’s second-largest employer. Amid that intense competition, Bully combined an instinctive feel for the spirit of the times with business acumen, creating one innovative formula after another that embraced advances in science and cosmetics.

Yet tragedy followed glory. Having lost his shop in revolutionary riots, Bully was forced to sell his business for a pittance and died in poverty. His remarkable fate inspired the protagonist of Honoré de Balzac’s 1837 novel César Birotteau, a perfumer who experiences both glory and ruin.

Even so, the Bully name did not disappear entirely. In its beauty column in 1937, Le Figaro wrote, “Do not forget to buy a bottle of Bully vinegar. It has enjoyed worldwide fame for almost a century.” In South America, moreover, “Vinagre Aromático Tipo de Bully” survived under international licensing long after it had disappeared in France.

Chapter Two: Ramdane Touhami, from Homelessness to Serial Entrepreneurship

The story of Ramdane Touhami, the man who brought Buly back to life, is equally eventful.

Born on September 23, 1974, in Montauban in southwestern France, Ramdane was part of a French-Moroccan family of six. His father was an agricultural worker. Alongside rural life, he spent time from childhood in a nineteenth-century château that his father had been entrusted with looking after, gaining early exposure to the aesthetic world of old architecture, wallpaper, flooring and furniture.

“From childhood, I was surrounded by old architecture, beautiful floors, wallpaper, furniture, all that history. In fact, much of the interior design of Buly’s boutiques is based on memories of that château.”
— Ramdane Touhami

At twelve, he joined Radio Récré, a radio station started by a teacher at his secondary school, and managed to interview the then prime minister, Jacques Chirac, during a visit to a neighboring town. The recording was rebroadcast on France Inter the following day.

In his mid-teens, he launched his own T-shirt brand, Teuchiland, combining a parody of Timberland with elements of cannabis culture. Selling 1,000 to 2,000 shirts a month, he made substantial profits. But people who noticed those earnings kidnapped him and took all his income. Having left boarding school and become entangled in trouble with gangs in Toulouse, he fled to Paris. He was around eighteen.

He spent roughly a year homeless in Paris, and was stabbed, leaving scars he still bears.

“Once you know what it is to be homeless, nothing frightens you anymore. People are always afraid of losing something. But I know what it means to have nothing.”
— Ramdane Touhami

In 1996, he launched King Size, a streetwear brand connected to skateboarding culture. On September 17, 1998, he opened the concept store L’Épicerie at 30 rue du Temple in Paris’s third arrondissement. Positioning itself as “anti-Colette,” a challenger to the city’s celebrated concept store, it attracted designers including Jeremy Scott, Marc Jacobs and A.P.C. founder Jean Touitou. International publications such as Dazed & Confused and The New York Times called it Europe’s hippest store, but it closed in April 1999, little more than six months later.

In 2000, he went to Tokyo, where, as artistic director of the Japanese fashion brand And.A, he oversaw a complete overhaul of its collections, store design and visual identity. Working with influential creatives including Rei Kawakubo, he absorbed Japan’s retail culture and precision of design. In 2003, he restructured the menswear department at London department store Liberty. All of these experiences would later flow into Buly.

Chapter Three: Victoire de Taillac, from an Aristocratic Daughter to an Explorer of Beauty

Ramdane’s partner and Buly’s other founder is Victoire de Taillac.

Born into a French aristocratic family and raised in Paris, Victoire traces her roots to childhood experiences at her family’s château in Gascony, in southwestern France.

“I grew up right opposite the Champ-de-Mars gardens in Paris, and always spent holidays at our house in Gascony. From childhood I was very aware of nature’s changing seasons, playing outside all day and enjoying the falling leaves of autumn and the flowers of spring.”
— Victoire de Taillac

After studying history, she joined the launch of the legendary Paris concept store Colette in 1997 as its head of public relations. Through that experience, she developed a profound understanding of the power of storytelling in fashion and beauty.

She met Ramdane in the late 1990s, when he was running L’Épicerie and she was working at Colette. Their backgrounds could hardly have been more different: the son of a Moroccan farming family and the daughter of French aristocracy. Yet they shared an insatiable curiosity, a passion for travel and a respect for France’s rich historical heritage.

In 2001, they jointly established the press office VDT and T, with clients including Aesop, Tod’s, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Alaïa and Colette. In 2002, they opened Parfumerie Générale together, France’s first concept store specializing in niche cosmetics and perfume, introducing independent brands gathered from around the world. The store was later sold, but it gave the couple a formative experience of exploring beauty secrets from around the globe.

Chapter Four: Cire Trudon, a Rehearsal for Revival

A turning point came for Ramdane in 2006, when he was entrusted with revitalizing Cire Trudon, France’s oldest candle-maker, founded in 1643. This illustrious house, once a supplier to Louis XIV’s court and the Palace of Versailles, had fallen dormant after at least 350 years.

Ramdane researched the archives thoroughly, reinterpreting its history with royalty and the church in a contemporary design language. He improved the formulas with plant-based wax and developed twenty scented candles, each with a name and story drawn from French history. One of its signature creations, Abd El Kader, was named after his own father. Wallpaper selected Cire Trudon’s candles as “Best Candle 2011,” and the brand grew to be sold in at least 600 stores worldwide. In 2011, Ramdane sold his 40% stake.

This experience established Ramdane’s method of reviving forgotten heritage by combining respect for the past with contemporary creativity, and became a direct rehearsal for Buly’s rebirth.

Chapter Five: Buly Reborn, 2014

“I wanted to find a nineteenth-century brand. Then I fell in love with the story of Jean-Vincent Bully, the perfumer who opened this house of beauty in 1803.”
— Victoire de Taillac

After leaving Cire Trudon, Ramdane began working in earnest on a long-cherished idea: a project gathering beauty secrets from around the world. Its foundations lay in knowledge acquired while traveling internationally from around 2002. Rhassoul clay and argan oil used by his Moroccan grandmother before soap came into use, Japanese scrubs made with nightingale droppings, mastic resin from the Greek island of Chios, blue clay from Ukraine: traveling the globe, he unearthed these disappearing beauty treasures one by one.

His encounter with Bully was a chance discovery. Coming across an old nineteenth-century product catalogue, Ramdane was captivated.

“When I found the original nineteenth-century catalogue, I was captivated. I could see a kind of magic in it, as though I had discovered a new world of beauty. A treasure trove. Today, when fashion, food and everything else move so quickly, there is something deeply satisfying about reviving a brand with a solid past and a sense of history.”
— Ramdane Touhami

Initially, Ramdane intended to create just one store as a showcase. Packaging, bottles, labels, scents, textures: he would design everything himself from A to Z, demonstrating his creative abilities. Companies seeing it would commission him for other work. It was, in essence, a concept for an agency.

In 2014, the first boutique opened at 6 rue Bonaparte in Paris’s sixth arrondissement. Victoire researched original materials at the National Archives in Paris, translating the world of formulas and products in nineteenth-century Bully catalogues into the present.

“Ramdane and I found that world of nineteenth-century catalogues fascinating. You could buy not only rose perfume, but rose oil and rose-petal powder to make your own products at home.”
— Victoire de Taillac

The original idea of a single-store showcase was quickly overturned. The shop caused a sensation, followed by a second, a third, and more. In 2017, LVMH’s minority investment fund, LVMH Luxury Ventures, invested in the business. In October 2021, LVMH acquired Buly outright. LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said:

“Buly fits perfectly with the philosophy found in the houses of the LVMH group: an incomparable heritage, craftsmanship and a unique experience in exceptional boutiques. We will give our full support to this wonderful family entrepreneurial adventure, led by Victoire de Taillac and Ramdane Touhami, as it continues to grow within the LVMH family.”
— Bernard Arnault

The Brand’s Distinctive Commitments

“Aesthetic Deglobalization”: A Philosophy of Store Design

One of Buly’s most distinctive features is that every store around the world has a different design. Ramdane calls this “aesthetic deglobalization.”

“Any retail business must necessarily take account of what is particular to the city or region where its brand is located. That intellectual effort, both in graphics and in marketing, is essential to success. Look around you and incorporate what is already there. Isn’t that a sign of intelligence?”
— Ramdane Touhami

The first Paris store recreated a nineteenth-century French officine, or dispensary, with polished walnut cabinets, marble counters, alchemists’ stills and retorts, and ceramic and glass containers. By contrast, the Daikanyama store in Tokyo blends a French half with a Japanese half, with Ramdane himself designing the Japanese side as well. In Taipei, he brought an “ultra-French” design into a Taiwanese building, reportedly finding the result unsatisfying; in Seoul, he took an “ultra-Korean” approach. The Hong Kong store has vintage Italian terracotta tiles, New York is Art Deco, and Milan is designed to harmonize with its local character.

Ramdane designed sixty-five or sixty-six different stores individually, never repeating the same design.

A Thorough Commitment to Going Plastic-Free

Plastic has been eliminated across Buly’s entire product range, with lip balm the sole exception. Bottles are glass or aluminum, and caps are metal. Packaging features nineteenth-century engraving-style illustrations, with mythological and botanical motifs rendered with a hand-drawn touch.

Calligraphy: A Tradition Born by Chance

One thing every Buly visitor encounters is the staff’s handwritten calligraphy. The service, in which a customer’s name or message is beautifully written on a purchased product’s label using a quill and ink, actually arose from budget constraints.

“We didn’t have the money to make separate packaging for every product. So we thought, let’s write the labels. Let’s write them by hand.”
— Ramdane Touhami

Searching for a calligraphy teacher, they found and hired a professor whose business was struggling. He taught calligraphy to 400 to 500 staff members, and a three-month training program has given Buly employees worldwide the art of writing by hand.

“Nobody writes by hand anymore. They just type on phones or computers. Handwriting will disappear within a generation. I don’t want to see it go. Everything I do has a political intention. Zero plastic is for nature. Calligraphy is about awakening people’s desire to return to handwriting.”
— Ramdane Touhami

Origata: The Japanese Art of Wrapping

Gift wrapping uses the Japanese technique of origata. The skill was learned from a family that had passed down the art of wrapping exclusively for the imperial household for 450 years. The folds and the manner of wrapping themselves carry meaning.

Traveling the World to Gather Ingredients

The raw materials used in Buly products were sought out by Ramdane and Victoire themselves on journeys around the world: the finest camellia, or tsubaki, oil from Japan’s Gotō Islands; Moroccan argan oil and rhassoul; sponges and mastic resin from Chios in Greece; Ukrainian blue clay; and black soap from Côte d’Ivoire. Sourcing disappearing traditional materials at the highest quality is fundamental to the brand.

“Our watchword is ‘one foot in the future, the other in the past.’ You have to find the right balance. Copy and paste is never interesting. You have to give the impression that the brand has passed through different eras.”
— Ramdane Touhami

Eau Triple: The World’s First Water-Based Perfume

At the heart of Buly’s fragrance collection is Eau Triple, its distinctive water-based perfume. Developing the ethanol-free formula took two years. Buly describes the product, developed in 2014, as the world’s first water-based perfume.

Buly wanted the fragrance to be perceptible from the moment of application, without the smell of alcohol coming first. Eau Triple is a milky aqueous emulsion, using emulsifiers to disperse fragrance materials in water. It contains 5% fragrance, as well as preservatives and pH adjusters. The bottle is shaken gently before the perfume is sprayed onto bare skin or hair. A dedicated atomizer was also developed to spread the scent in a cloud.

The names in the Classic Collection draw on places around the world. Its water-based compositions evoke not only plants but scenes such as a forest after rain, a wooden house or an afternoon in a study. The place names do not identify the origin of every ingredient; they connect plants with travel and the cultures of everyday life.

Forêt de Komi

This fragrance pictures an imaginary walk after rain through the northern Russian forests west of the Ural Mountains. The damp, mineral character of moss in a pine forest meets the green scents of sage, basil and cardamom, while lavender and violet bring a floral presence to the shade of the trees. Musky, woody warmth from Cashmeran gradually joins them, leading towards petrichor, the smell of warm earth wet with rain. Alongside the forest’s coolness, the composition evokes the moisture that rain draws from the ground and the softness beneath it.

Héliotrope du Pérou

Heliotrope, a flower associated with turning towards the sun, is the central theme. The happiness of spring takes the form of a soft, powdery spread of white flowers. Vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood and spices round out violet’s sweet floral scent, bringing together delicate flowers and a familiar, confectionery-like warmth. Rather than isolating a sharply defined blossom, the composition suggests a bouquet opening in sunlight, wrapped in the warmth of wood.

Lichen d’Écosse

The setting is the mist-covered Scottish hills. An imaginary journey from the valleys of the Cairngorms towards the northern Highlands unfolds through rain-soaked granite and the green moss spreading across it. Clary sage and galbanum meet fern, rosemary and caraway, with a hint of rhubarb beneath the greenery. Patchouli and tonka bean bring the warmth of returning to a fireside, joining the cool, damp outdoors with the comfort of a room heated by a fire.

Tubéreuse du Mexique

This composition seeks to capture the rich scent of tuberose at the moment it blooms. Vanilla and musk round out the flower, while ylang-ylang and spices including clove draw out its sweetness and sensuality. A green lightness adds the brightness of tropical sunshine on skin to the opulent floral scent. The exuberance of a flower cultivated by the Aztecs in Mexico and later admired by Louis XIV is brought closer to the soft sensation of skin.

Makassar

Behind the Indonesian place name Makassar lies the world of wayang shadow theatre, whose stories unfold from late night until dawn. The central iris combines powdery and woody qualities, warmed by amber, resins, blond tobacco and cardamom. The leathery aspect of cade and Virginia cedar give structure to the soft flower. The fragrance’s growing presence on the skin is likened to puppets appearing as warriors, princesses and goddesses to act out their stories.

Fleur d’Oranger de Berkane

Rather than isolating orange blossom, this fragrance evokes a walk through a citrus orchard. The floral brightness of neroli and orange blossom meets bergamot, lemon, bitter orange and petitgrain, bringing together the different aspects of a tree, from peel to leaves and branches. Freesia and white musk soften the edges of that vivid impression. A sunlit Mediterranean journey stretches from Andalusia to Berkane in eastern Morocco.

Sumi Hinoki

The inspiration is Kyoto’s machiya townhouses, built using charred cedar known as yakisugi. Smoked cedar and hinoki, cypress and incense evoke flames burning wood, rising smoke and blackened timber. The green woody scent carries suggestions of leather, guaiac wood and vetiver, with the sharpness of juniper and the roundness of resin. Playing on associations between the sound “sumi” and charcoal, ink and purity, it is a quiet woody fragrance that also calls to mind temples and wooden boxes long steeped in smoke.

Miel d’Angleterre

An afternoon in an English study in winter provides the scene for this fragrance. Honey’s sweetness and the woody character of Virginia cedar form its centre, with rose petals, amber and musky Cashmeran enveloping the skin. It conjures details of everyday life: old wooden interiors, tea time and a room lit only by the fireplace after sunset. Honey is treated as more than a confectionery sweetness, connecting a soft trail on the neck or tweed with the calm of wood.

Yuzu de Kiso

Behind yuzu’s brightness and coolness lie the winter-solstice yuzu bath and an imaginary journey along the Kiso road in the Edo period. Yuzu meets lemon, peppermint and bay laurel against a picture of snowy mountains, dark wooden houses and forests threaded with waterfalls. White musk, woody amber and a faintly clove-like woody note warm the impression of chilled fruit. The sensation of a yuzu bath brightening a short winter day and the forests beside the road come together in the contrast between fruit and wood.

Oud de Médine

Oud de Médine centres on the combination of agarwood, rose and saffron. The softness of amber and vanilla is followed by notes of musk, patchouli and sandalwood. The fragrance evokes the caravanserais stretching from the Middle East towards Asia: winds carrying rare spices and merchants deep in animated conversation. Flowers, spices and resins give the journey a richness that cannot be reduced to woodsmoke alone.

Bergamote de Calabre

Bergamote de Calabre connects southern Italian bergamot with British traditions of tea and cologne. Guaiac wood and white musk warm the central citrus, while mate brings facets reminiscent of tea leaves and tobacco. Another key element is an accord recalling Earl Grey tea, scented with bergamot, which gives the freshness of the peel a deeper tea-like character. The composition brings Calabrian fruit together with British tea time.

In 2023, four fragrances joined the collection: Cèdre du Liban, Ambre de Madagascar, Iris de Malte and Myrrhe d’Érythrée. Each pairs a place with a material, extending these scented journeys into mountains, island breezes, resins and floral landscapes.

Cèdre du Liban

Cedarwood is connected with mountains and Phoenician palaces. Verbena, pink pepper and vetiver lend fresh movement to the depth of the wood, while orange blossom and bitter almond open up a brighter landscape. The composition combines the majesty of a great tree standing on a mountaintop with the cool air moving above it. Cedar is presented as a mountain setting filled with light and wind, rather than only the smell of timber.

Ambre de Madagascar

This fragrance translates Madagascar’s broad landscapes and heat into an amber-centred composition. Warm amber surrounds a bright bouquet of mandarin and jasmine, with tobacco and wood lingering behind it. The light movement of fruit and flowers meets a warmth that seems to extend towards the horizon, giving the sweetness a sense of space. Amber is the central olfactory idea, joining the place name in evoking a distant landscape.

Iris de Malte

Mediterranean light and clean linen fluttering in an island breeze provide the setting for this iris. The lively brightness of lemongrass and orange blossom meets the softness of powdery iris, with patchouli and incense adding woody depth. Smooth skin and fabric share the bouquet with a sharp, citrus-like freshness. The image of cloth moving in a southern island breeze becomes part of the iris’s texture.

Myrrhe d’Érythrée

A tribute to Eritrea’s varied landscapes takes shape through the contrast between flowers and myrrh. Tuberose, magnolia, rose and jasmine form a quartet whose bright floral notes are met by darker myrrh and a balsamic, woody trail. Myrrh also carries the biblical association with the gifts of the Magi, lending a ceremonial depth to the abundant bouquet. Rich white flowers and the shadows of resin are combined as landscapes of different colours encountered on a single journey.

Les Jardins Français: Six Gardens from a Box of Seeds

Introduced in 2023, Les Jardins Français comprises six fragrances pairing vegetables, fruits and herbs. Each perfume bears the product name Eau Triple, retaining the alcohol-free, water-based formula; the 75 mL bottles were pale green with gold-coloured caps. The scents were also developed as body oils, body milks and soaps, reconsidering plants familiar from the table as fragrances to wear on the skin.

The starting point was a seed collection found in an antiques shop. A large paper box held 550 small oval boxes and a jade-green notebook. Old handwritten records of Latin plant names suggested a garden gathering plants from across the world. The bottle’s green colour came from the notebook. The Andes, Syria, Sardinia and Peru appear in the fragrance names, recalling the journeys of plants that travelled from afar before taking root in familiar vegetable gardens and orchards.

Victoire de Taillac’s own gardening also contributed to the collection. Growing vegetables at her family home in Gascony, southwestern France, she found that her sense of smell changed as she experienced the dampness and heat of the soil and the smell released when harvested leaves were cut. She recalled how completely gardening had transformed her perception of scent. Ramdane’s idea of vegetable perfumes came together with the discovery of the seed boxes and the daily experience of growing plants by hand.

Verbena and Basil: Verveine des Andes et Basilic d’Ulu

The lemon-like brightness of verbena meets basil’s peppery greenness. Cedar and mint add roundness, while white musk brings a soft, powdery texture. Basil is associated with lands beside the Black Sea, its deep green character illuminated by white musk imagined as moonlight.

Cucumber and Mint: Concombre d’Inde et Menthe de Syrie

The scent of juicy cucumber flesh is layered with a mineral quality like sea air and the coolness of mint. Light musk rounds out the composition, and the mint has a gentle sweetness. A wild accent recalling Mediterranean herbs runs through its centre, bringing together green vegetables, a salty impression and the freshness of aromatic plants.

Watercress and Parsley: Cresson d’Orient et Persil de Sardaigne

The themes are the slight pepperiness of watercress and the green smell of parsley carrying morning dew. Geranium, vetiver and coriander evoke freshly picked leaves being chopped and rubbed between the fingers, down to the scent they leave behind. Musk supplies only a restrained warmth, allowing the freshness of the leaves and woody depth to lead.

Redcurrant and Tomato: Groseille de Scandinavie et Tomate du Pérou

Tomato filled with summer light meets the brisk tartness of Scandinavian redcurrant. Against a background of subtle sweetness and warmth, bergamot’s green citrus character mingles with the scent of freshly cut rosemary stems. The name retains the meeting of different places: a tomato from South America and a small fruit of the north.

Beetroot and Rhubarb: Betterave d’Irak et Rhubarbe d’Égypte

Rhubarb’s acidity sharpens the full, fruity sweetness of beetroot. Patchouli and musk give the composition an earthy aspect, while citrus brightness lightens the weight of the root vegetable. Pairing a sweet red root with a sour stalk creates a gourmand character with an affinity to cooking.

Sweet Potato and Carrot: Patate Douce des Caraïbes et Carotte d’Afghanistan

The rustic warmth of carrot meets sweet potato’s rounded, spicy scent, supported by woody vetiver. The composition evokes the freshness of root vegetables just emerging from the soil and the gentle sweetness within them. Its carrot suggests shades of pale purple and white as well as vivid orange.

The 2026 Reorganisation

The six water-based Eau Triple fragrances have not all continued in their original form. On June 19, 2026, the end of Les Jardins Français was announced in Japan. Beetroot and Rhubarb, Watercress and Parsley, and Sweet Potato and Carrot were to remain available only while stocks of the green bottles lasted. Redcurrant and Tomato, Cucumber and Mint, and Verbena and Basil were to continue in the Classic Collection’s white bottles after the green bottles were phased out.

The Louvre Collaboration, 2019: Giving Masterpieces a Scent

In 2019, the Louvre collaborated with a perfume brand for the first time in its 226-year history. Its chosen partner was Buly.

Eight perfumers were invited to choose freely a work from the Louvre’s collection of 35,000 pieces and create its scent, in an unprecedented project.

The aim was to open the works to contemporary creators as sources of inspiration and allow visitors’ encounters with art to continue after leaving the museum. The perfumers did not choose only works depicting flowers or trees. The coolness of marble, the weight of cloth, the light and shade of a candle, and human emotions all became subjects to translate into scent.

Victoire de Taillac described Buly as an unusual choice given the museum’s scale, observing that the famous perfume houses would surely have welcomed its first collaboration with a perfume brand.

Ramdane Touhami gave the perfumers complete freedom, without even setting a budget ceiling. The Mona Lisa was not among the works chosen.

The eight resulting fragrances were Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, La Grande Odalisque, Nymph with a Scorpion, The Bolt (Le Verrou), Conversation in a Park, Saint Joseph the Carpenter and The Bather. A pop-up store was installed beneath I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid, operating until January 2020.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace: Aliénor Massenet

Aliénor Massenet spoke of the difficulty of turning a form contemplated for centuries into an idea that could be contained in a bottle. Her scent wraps the white flowers of tuberose, jasmine and magnolia in the warmth of myrrh. She focused on the windblown folds of the garment, the outspread wings and the strength of the goddess standing on a ship-shaped base. A bouquet recalling Mediterranean flowers meets a salty marine impression, while wood and myrrh suggest the vessel beneath the flying female figure.

Saint Joseph the Carpenter: Sidonie Lancesseur

In Georges de La Tour’s Saint Joseph the Carpenter, Sidonie Lancesseur wanted to capture the strong contrasts created by candlelight. Warm woods, led by cedar, and amber express the darkness, while the vivid sparkle of pink pepper is linked to light. She sought to preserve the painting’s opposing elements within the fragrance: an old man and a child, warmth and coolness, night and light. Beyond choosing a woody scent for a scene of carpentry, she wanted to convey the young Jesus’s innocence and the flickering light illuminating his face.

Conversation in a Park: Dorothée Piot

Dorothée Piot was drawn to the gentle outdoor scene and the intimacy of the couple surrounded by trees in Thomas Gainsborough’s Conversation in a Park. A rose-centred floral scent meets the coolness of peppermint and bergamot, expressing lush greenery and garden air. She imagined the touch of delicate petals rather than a mass of flowers in full bloom. The thought of the woman wearing a subtle perfume and a floral softness recalling the silk of her dress meet the freshness of a woodland-like background.

Venus de Milo: Jean-Christophe Hérault

Jean-Christophe Hérault grew up with a reproduction of the Venus de Milo in his family home. Encountering it again at the Louvre, he saw sensuality in the supple body and the folds of its garment, but also coolness in the white marble and forward-facing features. He expressed this duality by warming jasmine and gardenia with amber, then adding strong, linear woods and an impression of cool air. The sparkling brightness of mandarin suggests a voice or smile for the stone figure, bringing it to life as a person.

La Grande Odalisque: Domitille Michalon-Bertier

In Ingres’s La Grande Odalisque, Domitille Michalon-Bertier focused on bare skin and the texture of heavy, rich fabrics. Heliotrope, bitter almond and tonka bean create a softness reminiscent of powdered skin, while pink pepper, cardamom and a trace of cumin suggest body heat. Cashmeran and cedar support the fragrance, and incense connects with the burner depicted at the woman’s feet. The Eastern interior imagined by the painter is reconstructed through the tactile elements of skin, textiles and fragrant smoke.

Nymph with a Scorpion: Annick Ménardo

Lorenzo Bartolini’s Nymph with a Scorpion portrays a young woman whose foot has been stung, carved in smooth marble. Annick Ménardo began with an impression of polished white wood, using aldehydes, the metallic nuances of coriander and musk to evoke youthful skin. The sharpness of bitter almond cuts through the soft flowers of jasmine and heliotrope to suggest the scorpion’s venom. Innocent skin coexists with a small danger running beneath it.

The Bolt: Delphine Lebeau

Delphine Lebeau was drawn to the tension of a forbidden encounter and the suggestion of scandal in Fragonard’s The Bolt. The lily at the centre of her fragrance has rich floral sweetness and heat as well as a spicy aspect. Associations with apple and chestnut join it, creating a sensual flower resting on musk. Textures recalling sumptuous curtains, disordered cloth and the closeness of skin connect with the tension of the instant when the door’s bolt is drawn.

The Bather: Daniela Andrier

Choosing Ingres’s The Bather, Daniela Andrier sought to translate the whole painting into fragrance rather than imagine only the scent of the woman with her back turned. Running water, clean linen on the seat and milky skin suggested orange blossom, neroli and lavender, leading towards the discreet scent of sun-dried sheets. The green velvet curtain at the left of the painting is represented by a rich, dark lavender absolute. Lemongrass freshness joins iris, patchouli and incense, translating colours, light and the feel of cloth into different elements of scent.

The Louvre project continued beyond its original term, but it was not a permanent collection. In Japan, an announcement set the end of in-store sales at December 31, 2022, and online sales at February 28, 2023.

Other Product Categories

Buly is not just a perfume brand. As a comprehensive beauty emporium, it offers around 700 products.

Body care: Huile Antique plant-based oils, Lait Virginal body milk, and assorted clays and powders.
Face care: Crème Pogonotomienne beard treatment and other products.
Soap: Savon Superfin, a pH-neutral soap that can be embossed.
Fragrance accessories: Alabastre stone fragrance diffusers and Papier d’Encens scented sheets.
Candles and incense
Beauty tools: Japanese-made combs, Egyptian loofahs and traditional tools from various countries.