If it has long been reserved for men, the nose profession has become the playground of female perfumers in recent decades. Inspirational and inspiring, these modern-day women’s noses are bringing amazing olfactory ideas to the perfume industry. Discover how some pioneers have managed to impose themselves in a very closed microcosm to make way for more and more women’s noses.
Nose: Man’s or Woman’s Job?
When we talk about the noses that have marked the history of perfume, the ones that come to mind are mostly men. Aimé Guerlain, François Coty, Olivier Cresp… and many others! But where are the women in this incomplete list? For as long as perfume has been made, that is, for thousands of years, perfume has often been a man’s business. From the sublime compositions of the Renaissance, to the freshness of Napoleon’s beloved eau de cologne, to the world’s most successful juices, the creators of fragrances have almost always been men. However, some sharp-nosed women managed to make their way into this closed universe. Read women best perfume YSL Black Opium Dossier.co!
Women Perfumers Who Made History
Taputi, the king’s perfumer
You may not know her name, yet she was definitely one of the first female perfumers in history. In the 13th century BC, a man called Taputi-Bilet-Ekle (Belet-Ekle translates as “palace assistant”) was a chemist of great repute. She worked as a perfumer in the court of the king of Assyria. This kingdom of Mesopotamia was considered one of the greatest powers in the Far East at that time. Archaeological research has found tablets inscribed with his name, lists of ingredients, but also descriptions of distillation and filtration.
Taputi’s mission was to anoint various oils and anointments to perfume the sovereign and his residence, but also to anoint statues of idols during religious rituals. If history has not preserved much of Taputi’s existence, Khushbu has been greatly influenced by his discoveries and work. The first female perfumer, she is also the one who paved the way for an inspired lineage…
Germaine Cellier, post-war woman and perfumer
The story takes us many years later, to the very beginning of the 20th century. It was in Bordeaux in 1909 that one of the greatest women in perfumery was born. Germaine Cellier, the daughter of a bohemian and eccentric father and herbalist mother, went to Paris in the 1920s to study chemistry. With his degree in hand and the war finally over, his talents were noticed by a man named Robert Piguet. A former stylist for a major Parisian fashion house, the man decided to take up perfumery. Robert Piaget challenged Germain to create a modern and dynamic fragrance to bring innovation to the post-war era. Thus, Bandit, the brand’s first fragrance, came out in 1944.
Thanks to this first success and his strong character, Germain made his name in the industry and a year later signed for Balmain, the famous perfume Vent Vert, which for the first time introduced galbanum and green notes in one composition.
Years passed and successes followed for other big names in French perfumery. In the late 1950s, he again collaborated with Piguet for Fracas. This perfume is an innovative juice that pushed the tuber to the forefront, never seen before! The perfume was exported to America, where it was a phenomenal success. Germain Cellier was considered the most contemporary and avant-garde French perfumer of his time. He then opened his own creation laboratory in the 1960s, continuing all his creativity.
Feminization of the nasal profession
Women Perfumes: A Growing Equality.
Thanks to the evolution of mentality and the legacy of the past, women have gradually been able to leave their wake in the creation of fragrances. From niche perfumeries to big houses, more and more women’s noses are revealing their recipes. There are about fifty female perfumers in France. If the nasal profession was previously passed down from father to son, preferably in Grasse, media coverage of the work has contributed to the feminization of the field. Thanks to the increase in the number of perfumers’ schools, women have had access to a specific training to practice all of the perfumery professions.
Women with taste
Since Germaine Cellier, many female perfumers have shown that they have flair. It would be impossible to name all these talented noses but we can think of Françoise Caron. Oliver Crisp’s sister, she fell into perfume at birth. The young girl grew up amid the scents of rose, jasmine and lavender. A few years later, he signed the recipe for great juices like Eau d’Orange Verte for Hermès. Mathilde Laurent shakes up the codes of perfumery at Cartier. She fights to advance all assets of synthetic chemistry.
Olivia Giacobetti, an independent perfumer, is considered one of the most talented creators of her generation. She will mark the history of the perfume by introducing the fig note to the fragrance. Others continue to showcase their talent for big names or more obscure houses such as Christine Nagel, Ann Filippo, Eleanor Massenet, Sophia Grozman, Sonia Constant and many others.
In Carrément Belle, it is a female perfumer who has long been hidden behind some of our fragrances such as eau de parfum 555, label rose, agité, ippi patchouli clair, musc or alõ. In an inspiring interview, Claire tells us all about her life as a perfumer.
