One google click ‘Nathalie Feisthauer’ provides a good gist of who she is. I mean ‘I get the picture’ quickly. Better be, given her personality. Nathalie moves at a fast pace, without pauses, as she is focused on delivering the perfume projects her clients have trusted her with. One thing magically changes her behaviour, stepping outside on her garden terrace overlooking Montmartre, she intensely indulges in her plants and flowers and... quietly enjoys their scents.

LabScent. A New Chapter As An Independent Actor (Actress).

I want to start from the beginning, before Nathalie became a perfumer and even before. So, I asked for her biography and personal story of passion for scents...

Nathalie starts by explaining that she grew up in Sarrebourg*, a small village in North-Eastern France located in Alsace Lorraine, a French region with strong local traditions; ‘Alsacian’ (a German dialect) was the language spoken by her parents at home when they grew up. She had no connection with the perfume universe, her father was a teacher like many other family members and her mother was a painter. However, her mother had a special gardening talent, growing both vegetables and flowers so that Nathalie was exposed to multiple scents in the garden and in the surrounding countryside; picking mushrooms was a normal weekly outing for example. During her childhood, she has the recollection of having tried, for fun only, to make perfume out of geranium flowers. Otherwise, perfumes were in her opinion for snobbish people, or at least for people who did not belong to her modest world; until a major event occurred...

*The village is 450 km distant from Paris and only 80 km away from the German border.

Now we know that until a personal milestone occurred, Nathalie had no interest in fragrances, so what could have extraordinarily triggered the appeal?

The memorable event is Opium, by Yves Saint Laurent. When she was sixteen, she stepped inside a perfumery and smelled the Opium fragrance. It was like a volcanic eruption, an earthquake wave so strong that her life changed forever. There was a before and an after. From there on, Nathalie smelled perfumes incessantly and collected perfume samples relentlessly. In her ingenuity, she believed that perfumes were made by the fashion houses, so she wrote a letter to Yves Saint Laurent. Her letter was passed on to Jean-Louis Sieuzac, the perfumer who had created Opium who promptly replied to her: ‘I love your letter so here is an invitation for you to come to my office’. The discussion was ambitious and the interrogation strenuous to validate her vocation and passion to become a perfumer. She passed the test and in 1983, she entered Roure*, the most prestigious perfumery school in Grasse and became the first student without a perfumery family background. At that time, there were also very few women trained in this highly competitive academic school. Oddly enough, she did not feel the pressure of the evaluation as she felt at ease with the overall school education and dove happily into the comprehensive content of the courses.

*Now Givaudan

The next step moving from Grasse to Paris is quite foreseeable; so, I asked Nathalie to explain the Grasse-Paris-New York express line…

For Nathalie, the three years of classes went past quicklyt and in 1984 she found herself working in Paris for the Roure company under the mentorship of two prestigious perfumers, Jean Guichard (developing Loulou Cacharel released in 1987) and Edouard Fléchier (creating Poison by Dior launched in 1985). Work was intense, projects abundant and learning exhilarating. Yet after four years in Paris, Nathalie became restless. She wanted to see the world of perfumery from a different angle, no longer French, but truly international. For that, the bold step to take was to move to New York City. At only twenty-five, her career took off as she oversaw the winning of major perfume pitches. With ‘Havana’ by Aramis, she allowed her company to win an Estée Lauder project for the first time. She won ‘Elysium’ by Clarins, ‘Nuits Indiennes’ by Jean-Louis Scherrer, and many others in the four years of her American experience. Nathalie fit in nicely with the high-speed of New York City, and American outgoing personality. She also learnt a different style of perfumes, scents with an instant seductive ‘hook’, composed with fruity, creamy and sunny notes. Indeed, back in those days in the US, perfumes were sold at department stores mainly and there was a 30 seconds rule for a fragrance to induce a purchase.

Nathalie ‘Made it There’ so I asked her why she decided to come back to the Old Continent.

She acknowledged that work was ‘awesome’ but quite simply, at one point she missed the European values. The public school system, the health insurance benefits, the roads and trains with their high-quality infrastructure, the short distance between different countries... Besides, her moving to Paris coincided with the fusion between Roure and Givaudan. That was a suitable time to be back in the Paris headquarter and experience a momentum of success, with several major launches won over the competition such as Eau Belle d’Azzaro, ‘Blonde’ by Versace, Must de Cartier for men... In those days, the number of annual perfumes launches only amounted to five or six for all brands together and Givaudan was winning three or four of them. In 2004, another cosmic ‘explosion’ happened with the composition of Eau des Merveilles for Hermès created by Nathalie together with Ralf Schwieger; a sunny woody scent composed with a new salty note, blended with a delicious orange and joyous amber ... Time went by fast for Nathalie given how busy she was and she realised how much the fragrance world has changed nowadays. She picks three illustrations of today’s dynamics: the number of annual brand perfume launches is between 80 and 90; a panel of perfumers (between two and four) work together on a perfume composition; consumer tests rule and decide on the perfume ‘pleaser’. Seven years ago, she decided to leave Symrise and her comfortable position in a major perfume corporation. She is now writing her own new future with LabScent.

For Nathalie, LabScent is a new perfume chapter. I asked her to explain the motivation to become independent.

In her new independent role, Nathalie is totally dedicated to artistic niche brands as she thoroughly enjoys sharing the artistic vision of the brand creator. In this collaborative work, she can ask questions, discuss the global vision, and challenge positions, until she figures out the solution her client is looking for. With a high-level energy, Nathalie quickly delivers a fragrance creation, typically within three to six months. To achieve this, Nathalie relies on a team; LabScent employs four people to manage formulas, regulations, lab production, and perfume transportation. There is another key element of being independent, it is to be able to be the decision maker.

‘As an independent perfumer, I found out that I love taking decisions. It does not take much time to make up my mind. I quickly know what I want. My fragrance creative process has similar speed as its essence. Nathalie Feisthauer, LabScent founder and perfumer.

Nathalie triggered further my curiosity on the way she handles her fragrance formulations within her LabScent location.

Nathalie strongly believes in a short iteration process to finalise a fragrance composition. Her approach is to clearly write a short formula, to chisel sharply a few selected ingredients, to finally create a new signature scent; structured with contrasts, and at the same time balanced and wearable. To trigger her inspiration, Nathalie has chosen a unique place in Paris, Montmartre. Her lab, which used to be an art gallery, is literally one minute away from her home. She typically starts the mornings in the lab and then spends afternoons interacting with her clients scattered across the continents, America, Europe, Russia, Dubai in the Middle East, and Asia. She deals with thirty-five countries and exchanges with a dozen of brands* on a daily basis. Her work typically materializes into the launch of thirty perfumes a year. LabScent has a happy and busy agenda, which can translate into working seven days out of seven.

*Her prestigious brand portfolio, gorgeous ingredients and multiple FIFI awards are displayed: https://lab-scent.com/

To conclude, I asked Nathalie to define what it means to be an independent perfumer.

To no surprise, she made up her mind quickly. For her, the key features of an independent perfumer are flexibility, adaptability, proximity, and energy. To thrive, one also needs to be a solid business entrepreneur. Her clear message to women is ‘do not be modest, instead be self-confident and proud’. Her smile beautifully seals our talk.

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Thank you, Nathalie. For your transparency. For your unrelenting energy. For letting your ambition free. For your creative artistry. For supporting women in perfumery. MERCI.