The power of scents: How fragrance changed these people’s lives

Sylvie Chantecaille

What do Dame Judi Dench, Angelina Jolie, and David Beckham have in common? They are all loyal fans of one woman: Sylvie Chantecaille. You may not know her name but this woman has played a vital role in the beauty industry for decades. Madame Chantecaille was the visionary behind Prescriptives cosmetics (under the tutelage of Estée Lauder herself) and was the first to use organic aromatherapy essences and botanical ingredients in makeup and skincare – long before anyone else.

Not surprisingly, her success in her line of work can be attributed to powerful olfactory memories from her childhood. She describes the summers she spent as a child on a tiny island in the South of France as paradise.

“There, the smell of jasmine and roses in my mother’s garden was so intense, which is why I’ve loved them ever since,” she explains.

She also recalls how the hours spent alone in an attic, snuggling up with books and breathing in the smell of drying rosemary, lemon balm and verbena herbs have influenced her career as a perfumer.

In 1997, Madame Chantecaille launched her own family-run cosmetics brand. One single ingredient was the inspiration and driving force behind the brand: the legendary Rose de Mai, a flower used as the essence for many of the world’s most famous perfumes, including Chanel No. 5, Miss Dior and Poison. The rare bloom spurred Madame Chantecaille to embark on a driving adventure through the flower fields of Grasse in South of France on search of her own supply of the legendary flower. She eventually found one, which led to the creation of the brand’s newest beauty product, the Chantecaille Rose de Mai Cream. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Elena Arzak – A chef

The formidable Elena Arzak owes her success in the culinary world to the powerful memories that come with certain scents. The 44-year old was named the top female chef in the World’s Best 50 Restaurants and helms the world famous 3 Michelin-star San Sebastian restaurant in Spain with her equally famous father, Juan Mari Arzak.

Renowned for her stellar palate and avant-garde skills in the kitchen, Elena reveals that her love for cooking originated from childhood aromas.

“Food is very important in our family. I can still remember the smell of my first truffle when I was eight years old. I also used to love going into the kitchen to find milk boiling on the stove with rice and cinnamon. The aroma was unforgettable!”

To this day, the mother-of-two finds inspiration to create world-class gastronomy from her family and their shared passion for food and fragrances.

Sabine de Tscharner– A perfumer

Our lovely perfumer Sabine de Tscharner, the nose behind the LUX Perfume Collection body washes, has always loved the smell of Orange Blossom because her grandma wore it, and even now the fragrance reminds her of her grandmother.

Inspired by fragrances, Sabine looked into becoming a perfumer 25 years ago when it was a male dominated profession. She now loves to blend many flower scents, just as a painter uses multiple colours, to express complexity of emotions.

Sabine wants women who wear her perfumes to feel confident about themselves. She says, “When a women feels confident about herself she is as beautiful as can be”.

Ruth Mastenbroek – A perfumer

Ruth Mastenbroek is an expert on the subject of scents and fragrances. The former president of the British Society of Perfumers has spent more than 25 years in the perfume industry, working closely with renowned names such as Jo Malone, Jacques Cavallier (creator of Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey) and Olivier Cresp (creator of Thierry Mugler Angel).

Ruth studied Chemistry at the University of Oxford but stumbled upon perfumery while working in a department store in London. From then on, she knew she was hooked. “I wasn’t the typical kind of chemist. I had an artistic flair and I liked the idea of creating something beautiful.”

Ruth is now the proud creator of her own eponymous line of fragrances. One of them, Amorosa, is inspired by love. She explained: “I wanted to capture the excitement of falling in love with a scent that would take your breath away by combining amber, wood, tuber rose, and tiare flowers.”

This article was first published on www.houseoflux.com as part of their LUX Perfume Portraits campaign. Watch the campaign video featuring Katrina Kaif here.

Marie France Asia

Photo credit: Getty Images, Lizi Hamer

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