Bespoke Perfume: The Ultimate Luxury Experience

The Creation Process with Thierry Wasser

From now on, I work with Thierry Wasser. Following this consultation, I share an extremely precise “brief” with him. And very quickly, we are able to propose two or three trials. A few retouches are always necessary, but the development time is quite short, a few months.

However, it takes about 9 months for delivery. Indeed, the longest part is the toxicological test, essential to guarantee the perfect safety of the perfume; the test is identical to the one done for a major perfume launch.

What the Service Includes (Starting from €37,000)

My clients come essentially from Europe, as many men as women. We deliver:

• Two liters of perfume in the sublime Baccarat Jicky bottle which can be dressed with precious stones or other decorations.
• 20 other bottles (30ml and 60ml) presented in a superb leather trunk.
• Possible storage of bottles in a cold room, at the client’s disposal.
• The formula, which will belong to them for life.

Of course, the client can name it whatever they desire, but very often we find it together. The price starts from 37,000 euros, obviously a significant sum, but everything is relative, as it is the price of a haute couture dress.

Report: Behind the Scenes of the Olfactory “Shrink”

I was lucky enough to have an article in Le Point, but unluckily, that week, there was a distribution strike at newsstands. Here is the content of this article written by Audrey Levy.

The Quest for Olfactory Memory

Mrs. R., as clients are discreetly referred to at Guerlain, has always sought the woody scent of the forests of her childhood in Montreal, the flavor of maple syrup that her father prepared in an old shack.

“I loved Shalimar, Samsara, and the chypre side of Mitsouko all at once,” recounts the Canadian businesswoman. When a consultant proposed she create her own perfume, to find those smells she had dreamed of so much, she didn’t hesitate for a second.

She is not the only one. Since Guerlain launched this service four years ago, about twenty wealthy individuals, businessmen from all over Europe, coquettes from Japan or Russia, princesses from the Middle East, have succumbed to this ultimate luxury. “It is a tradition at Guerlain,” corrects Thierry Wasser, the house’s famous nose.

Already in 1828, Pierre François Pascal, the founder, composed fragrances at the request of personalities: Balzac for the writing of “César Birotteau,” Empress Eugénie, Sarah Bernhardt, Diaghilev, Joséphine Baker.

Testimonial from Lorenz Bäumer

In his plush salon on Place Vendôme, Lorenz Bäumer grabs his miniature vaporizer and sprays himself frantically. He agreed to give his name; it is true that he is part of the house (Artistic Director of High Jewelry at Louis Vuitton).

“I have been waiting for six months; my box set should be ready in a few days.” His box set? A 500-milliliter Baccarat bottle that contains his olfactory memories, his emotions. A unique smell, like its price.

For him, it is not just any smell. It tastes of his past. “It is his olfactory portrait, the portrait of his life materialized in the form of fragrance,” explains Sylvaine Delacourte, the expert, Director of Perfume Development at Guerlain, because Sylvaine knows how to summon memories and transform them into sweet olfactory reminiscences.

The Consultation: On the Olfactotherapist’s Couch

Everything starts with a “personalized consultation.” A first step, close to a session on a shrink’s couch. In the padded boudoir of 68, Avenue des Champs-Elysées, Sylvaine receives guests elegantly. Her method? Waking hypnosis, into which she plunges you, almost without your knowledge, to bring buried memories to the surface.

“I relived scenes that I thought were erased forever,” affirms Mrs. R. “I felt the smell of the shawl my grandmother clutched chilly against her chest when she walked us to school.”

“You can’t fool Sylvaine,” she says. “Some clients get carried away and embellish their past. I see it in their eyes and gestures. I am there to lead them towards authenticity.”

Remember your childhood… Caught up in the game, you dive in: “The smell of waxed wood in classrooms, the slightly lemon scent of yellow soap that wrinkled your fingers…” Strange, school isn’t what we cherished most.

A happy moment? And suddenly, memories come flooding back: “The almond flavor of Cléopâtre glue, of course, the bituminous smell of sidewalks in summer after the rain, the acrid smell of fox skins from my father’s workshop…”. She stops you. A few snippets are enough for her.

The Magic Formula

An hour later, iPad in hand, she showers you with images. Snowy landscapes, green forests, vanilla pods, chocolate shavings. It’s up to you to choose. That’s where she bluffs you. She already knows which ones you will pick: linen drying in the open air, that’s the cleanliness aspect recalling the soap you mentioned, she says, damp moss, a note of freshness.

Suddenly, she gets up, shakes vials, arranges accords and raw materials, and has you sniff a first sample. Incredible! On the blotter strip, it’s the smell you had been looking for forever without ever having found the words to formulate it.

But you still have to wait. Time to send the composition to Thierry Wasser, who will work in his laboratory to perfect the magic formula. Two or three more fittings to reach perfection. And a year for the results of toxicology tests. “Months and months of scientific research that justify the price of the service,” assures Thierry Wasser.

No matter, clients are ready to wait—and to pay—before tasting the absolute nectar. “We are touching the exceptional. It’s as if you were buying a color; the recipe belongs to you for life,” boasts Mr. B. “It is my olfactory double; I feel strong, sure of myself, I can no longer do without it,” confides the Canadian woman.

Unique Stories

Sylvaine Delacourte remembers that princess from Qatar moved by the iris roots she had offered her to help her wait—”the only rarity she had never been able to afford.” Or that Russian man, allergic, who hadn’t worn perfume for twelve years, or even that client who wanted to reconstitute the smell of his grandfather’s factory.

There is also that gentleman who had saved for months to blow away his beauty who was celebrating her 30th birthday. And that Lebanese woman, won over, who signed up her whole family. A true water of wonders.