Featured Perspectives: How Perfume is Made with Juice Maker Nathalie Benareau

For us, fragrance isn't just something you spray. It’s a source of confidence, a comforting nostalgia, a bottled memory, an extension of oneself, a life’s work. Behind the scenes, there’s a long chain of people involved in the creation of your fragrance.

We want you to meet them.

 In this series, we’re collaborating with experts in the fragrance industry. You’ll hear from the Makers of your favorite Commodity fragrances, tastemakers from our partner perfume houses and representatives from well-known retailers. They’ll share advice and expertise to simplify your fragrance experience, or shed light on their topics of specialty.

 This is a space for you to get more out of your fragrance journey, to become well versed in the world of fragrance.

 This is Featured Perspectives.

Nathalie Benareau is a Senior Perfumer at Symrise, a partner perfume house of Commodity, and the Maker of our new Juice Scent Space trilogy.

Ahead, she walks us through the process of how a fragrance comes to life—from the initial planning to when the final juice enters the bottle.

Part I: Early Development

Can you explain the initial steps of developing a fragrance? I.e. When a brand like Commodity approaches Symrise, what occurs in those initial meeting(s) for a new fragrance and early stages of that collaboration?

The initial meeting that kicks off a collaboration focuses on discussing the fragrance brief in depth. Details such as what they would like to achieve and how this new fragrance would align with their brand philosophy are crucial. Once we are all aligned, it’s time for the perfumers to get creative. Usually, several perfumers work with an evaluator to develop their own personal interpretations of the brief, and then we explain our interpretations to the client—why we chose the notes that we did and how these scents tell a story. The brand narrows down to a few candidates from there and continues working with us to get closer to their own idea of the brief. After a few iterations back and forth, a winner is chosen. It’s truly a collaborative process that results in a thoughtful, highly intentional creation.

Does this process look different based on the brand you’re working with?

Yes, of course! Every brand is unique, with their own goals and visions. Some brands are very specific about exactly what they’re picturing, and other brands place more creative freedom in our hands. The latter is the case with Commodity and is one of the reasons I loved working with them.

How do you approach capturing the brand identity or concept in scent form?

We ask as many questions as possible to understand the brand’s identity. We look at their other fragrances, as well as their customers and the type of language used to communicate with them. We even look at the bottles and colors used. All these details give us clues for the direction we might want to take when creating the fragrance. It helps to always keep in mind why we’re creating the scent and who we’re creating it for.

Part II: Perfume Making

After those initial meeting(s) with a brand, what are your next steps for starting to transform ideas into a fragrance?

I am very inspired by colors and images, and to me, fragrance materials connote certain colors, forms, and textures which create different moods. I start with a general idea of the fragrance family and notes that I think would best fit the concepts of the brief, and I start sketching several ideas. Usually, I already have an idea in my head of what it should smell like. Then, I play around with different combinations of notes until I find an intriguing, compelling olfactive “image.”

Can you explain the components of a fragrance?

A fragrance is composed of a mixture of raw materials. They can be natural or synthetic, nature-inspired or nature-identical. They can be categorized into families such as fruity, woody, musky, floral, and more. They can be more or less volatile, which can inform whether they are used as part of the top, middle, or base notes. 

The top note is the hook that introduces you to the journey of the scent and draws you in. The middle note is the heart of the fragrance—its true identity. And finally, the least volatile ingredients become the base notes; these are the musks, vanillas, and woods that sit closest to the skin. These raw materials make up the parts of a fragrance, but my goal as a perfumer is to create a sum that is much greater. The ingredients are my palette. They are the paint brushes and colors I use to create the full picture.

How many samples do you typically create before landing on a formula that you want to share?

It really depends on the fragrance. Every collaboration process is different. Sometimes we get there in five trials, and sometimes you need 100 trials.

Once you send a sample(s) to a brand, what are the next steps?

The brand evaluates the fragrance, and we discuss any notes or necessary adjustments. Each iteration moves the fragrance closer to the truest expression of the brief that the brand had in mind. This could be exactly what the brand imagined from the beginning, or it could be inspired by a completely new point of view that the perfumer brought with their creation.

 Do you think perfume making is more of an art or a science?

A fragrance is the expression of an intangible idea. It has meaning and emotion, and above all, it is beautiful, so I think it is art. The science behind it is a tool to create that art.

Part III: Juice

What was your inspiration for this project?

My inspiration for this project was the literal word “juice.” In the fragrance industry, we call the liquid that goes into the perfume bottle the “juice,” and this is the first thing that comes to mind for me when I think of the word. Because “juice” is the precious fragrance itself, it is the most powerful form of self-expression. To me, this self-expression is colorful, succulent, bright, and for some reason in my mind… red. So from there, I was inspired to create a big, bold, juicy, fragrance centered around red berries: an explosive and unconventional fragrance that would turn heads and also make the wearer smile.

What are your favorite notes to work with that were included in Juice?

I love raspberries. I find them so beautiful and delicate, but also extremely tasty and juicy. They are the perfect combination of elevated, yet joyful. I used raspberry pulp in Juice, which is a sweeter, jammier, even more luscious version of raspberry. Paired with this berry note is Rhubarb. It is a green, tart and sharp scent used to add a mouthwatering zing to a fragrance. I also used Bulgarian rose. Unbeknownst to many people, many species of roses are often described as having a fruity facet reminiscent of fresh raspberries, so they’re very effective at enhancing other sweet, juicy notes. And the rose is the queen of all flowers! Finally, I used a very powerful Amberwood note to create a strong signature with longevity and body—a powerful expression of Juice!

How do you envision our customers experiencing and interacting with Juice?

Juice embodies a different, newer interpretation of addiction, and I think the people who interact with it will love this more modern interpretation of fruits. I hope they will find it unexpected and unique, and that they will be delighted by how colorful and explosive it is. I hope it makes them feel empowered to be more colorful as well!

Have a topic that you’d like to hear more about? We probably have the perfect person. Tell us what Featured Perspective you’d like to hear next in the comments!