Fragrance

I first met Dominique in 1988 at Roure Bertrand. Even then, he struck me as a remarkably free-spirited individual. His extraordinary skill—refined to perfection over the years—allowed him to bring any perfumery fantasy to life. Our mutual trust runs so deep that we sometimes dare to begin working on a fragrance without a precise plan or defined objective, relying purely on the hope that our exploration will lead to something intriguing. One of these perfumery adventures eventually resulted in the creation of Portrait of a Lady. Both of us are great admirers of Geranium pour Monsieur. The accord at the heart of its fresh composition is especially precious to us, so when we set out to create a modern amber fragrance, we chose to build upon it. Thus, benzoin, musk, sandalwood, and patchouli became the foundation of the new scent. Very soon, however, we decided to adjust the proportions: removing sandalwood, increasing the amount of patchouli—so that it now made up a third of the composition—and adding a white musk accord to make the fragrance more feminine. — Frédéric Malle