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Jun 01, 2023

The 12 Fragrances Master Perfumers Wish They'd Created

Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. These scents are so genius, the industry’s best experts call them

Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

These scents are so genius, the industry’s best experts call them “life-changing”

Behind every great fragrance is an esteemed perfumer. Everyday beauty fans may not be able to rattle off the names of their favorite fragrances’ creators, but to the enthusiastic fragrance aficionado, perfumers are the artists who breathe life and creativity into scents. “Perfumers are celebrities to the fragrance-obsessed—people who are fans of fragrance as an art,” says Sable Yong, journalist and co-host of the fragrance podcast Smell Ya Later.

Perfumers are a bit like fashion designers, says Yong. Sometimes they work under their own label, or they might brought on by a brand to interpret a scent concept. “It’s only somewhat recently that perfumers have been explicitly ‘signing’ their work for large brands,” says fragrance content creator and brand consultant LC James. “At the same time, certain perfumes become affiliated with a house or brand in the same way certain long-standing creative directors do [in fashion], and the celebration of their work is tied into the celebration of the house,” James notes.

Whether you’re an enthusiastic supporter of cult-status celebrity noses or just a fan of smelling great, we asked 12 perfumers—from the up-and-coming to the most celebrated masters of their time—what perfumes they wish they had created. From ancient Egypt to New England in the ’80s, here are 12 fragrances deeply beloved of 12 famed perfumers.

While Frédéric Malle, founder of Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, isn’t a perfumer per se, he is the most prolific curator of perfumers, a trailblazing celebrator of the world’s best noses. “Malle was one of the first fragrance brands to highlight the perfumers who created each scent,” Yong says.

Many brands now proudly note their creator, but Malle helped lead the way. The fragrance this creative genius admires most? Mitsouko by Guerlain, created by Jacques Guerlain himself in 1919, which Malle describes as the “most beautiful interpretation of a chypre.”

The bold, spicy scent is not only a classic—Malle also wishes he’d created it because of the path it laid for the future of perfume and perfumers. He observes that there are too many sources of inspiration he admires: “There are hundreds of perfumes that I wish I had made, all the ones I love from other creators.”

Master perfumer Dominique Ropion can be simply described as “prolific,” says Yong. He’s the titan behind some of the most iconic and celebrated fragrances of all time, from the cultural reset of Alien by Mugler to Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf to the modern classic Portrait of a Lady by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle. He’s admired not only by the public but also by perfumers, who deeply respect him. “Anything he makes is masterful—classic symphonic fragrances done in new ways,” says D.S. & Durga co-founder David Seth Moltz.

What fragrance does a behemoth of the industry wish he’d created? To answer, we have to go back millennia, all the way to ancient Egypt. Considered the first perfume, kyphi was made with a distinctive blend of ingredients, including frankincense, cardamom, and myrrh. The elaborate recipe wasn’t just used as a personal fragrance—in sacred rituals, at dawn and dusk, kyphi was thrown over hot coals, so the scented smoke could cling to hair and clothes.

“Studying the classics and understanding what others have done before you is essential to invent new aesthetic forms,” says Ropion. “Every artist does so—be it in paintings, sculpture, or perfumery.” His fascination with the original kyphi inspired him to reimagine and modernize the ancient blend for his new collection “Trois Pafums Historiques” with Astier de Villatte. Alongside historian Annick Le Guérant, Ropion created Le Dieu Bleu (as well as two other mythical perfumes with ancient references) to mimic the “mystical and heady” scents from thousands of years ago.

But the icon has modern inspirations, too. “Perfume masterpieces bring something new to perfumery,” he says. Fragrances he considers modern masterpieces include: Aromatics Elixir by Clinique, created by Bernard Chant, Trésor by Lancôme, created by Sophia Grojsman; and Synthetic Jungle by Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle, created by Anne Flipo. “All have accomplished this and have become true olfactory pillars,” notes Ropion.

Few perfumers have transformed the modern fragrance industry like Frank Voelkl. “If you look at his body of work, you see a mixture of sophistication and complexity, but also, what I see is a complete lack of pretension,” says James. It’s clear the Firmenich principal perfumer takes joy in what he makes, she adds. Yong echoes that sentiment: “When I see that a fragrance was made by Frank Voelkl, I can anticipate that it will be translucently pretty, universally wearable, and well balanced.”

As for the man synonymous with nearly every current buzzy fragrance, Voelkl is most transfixed by a somewhat recent creation: 2006’s Terre d’Hermès, created by Jean-Claude Ellena. “This scent is unique and memorable in an innovative and timeless way,” says Voelkl. “It has a clear message and expression of feeling grounded, which makes it comfortable to wear,” he adds. “I admire Jean-Claude Ellena as a creator and the addictive simplicity he captured in this scent.”

D.S. & Durga’s Moltz is a self-taught perfumer who is famed for his boundary-pushing—yet wearable—fragrances. Crafting complex narratives and universes around each scent, the brand is known for originality and artistry. But what does an avant-garde perfumer wish he’d created? The one fragrance that epitomizes his childhood in New England: Polo by Ralph Lauren, created in 1978 by master perfumer Carlos Benaim. “That scent encapsulates the world I grew up in,” says Moltz. The “kitchen-sink ingredient list,” as Moltz describes it, should be muddy, but thanks to Benaim’s brilliance, the bold, complex blend of woody, grassy, spicy, and chypre notes is masterful.

But the original Polo in the simplistic green bottle is not just a sensory success, it’s equally a marketing behemoth. “Ralph Lauren invented what we think of as American menswear—with pseudo-British hunting campaigns on epic estates for the modern American man,” says Moltz. The Polo fragrance further bolstered this imagery with a scent that continuously reveals new facets of tweed-toting, hound-owning nobility. “The fact that it was co-opted by every dude in the early ’80s around me in Boston is a lesson in how a perfume can satisfy your aspirations to become who you want to be,” Moltz says. “It is an icon and encapsulation of an era that still inspires me.”

Perfumer, poet, and scent designer Marissa Zappas (considered the “‘cool girl’ indie perfumer,” says Yong) has one of the most interesting and unexpected perspectives in perfumery. Her eponymous line merges her anthropology background with her admiration for 20th-century avant-garde perfumes, resulting in “deeply nostalgic perfumes” that blend “fantasy and the real with the gothic and the modern,” says Zappas.

The scent this visionary wishes she’d created goes back to the iconic Jacques Guerlain and his 1906 floral masterpiece Après L’Ondee. “This enchanted fragrance completely disorients me in the best way possible. Technically, I admire the way it’s subtle, yet still so pervasive. It smells like soft black licorice and nonpareil candies, mimosa flowers, parma violets, vanilla, and powdery heliotrope,” says Zappas. “It’s bewitching and instantly disarming, and one of the few perfumes I still buy.”

Born and raised in Mexico City, Rodrigo Flores-Roux has a plethora of iconic creations under his perfumery belt, including cult classic Clinique Happy and Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford. The Givaudan senior perfumer is not only a creator but also a self-described perfume historian. Diorissimo by Dior is one of Flores-Roux’s favorite perfumes ever created—not only for its ingenuity, but also because of its place in perfume history.

Launched in 1954, Diorissimo was created by famed perfumer Edmond Roudnitska, under the guidance of Christian Dior himself. In fact, the fragrance is incredibly personal to the house of Dior. Diorissimo captures lily of the valley and is a single floral (or a soliflore)—“a mono theme taken to the extreme of perfection,” says Flores-Roux. Dior’s favorite flower was the lily of the valley (he considered it his lucky flower), which was used many times as a motif in the designer’s collections and was the emblem of Dior Couture. When Dior died in 1957, his coffin was covered in lily of the valley, and all of the mourners sported a sprig of the delicate spring floral.

The simplicity of Diorissimo is deceptive, though. The fragrance has subtle notes of jasmine and ylang-ylang, and it features one of the first prominent uses of two molecules in the green universe, says Flores-Roux. “These two green elements are present in green leaves and green fruit (like kiwi and bananas)—they provide a spring, burgeoning, sappy, fresh-cut-grass kind of smell,” he says. “Roudnitska used them to the biggest advantage in this perfume, providing a completely new innovation for a perfume that was already quite innovative because it was very minimalistic in conception. But then the coronation of this beautiful floral harmony was to put this completely new green, very ethereal and powerful dominance to make the fragrance completely new.”

This perfume takes an emotional approach to the brand, but also represents enormous innovation and a quantum leap in the creation of perfumes, Flores-Roux adds. “Diorissimo is a perfect perfume—not only because it’s highly recognizable and absolutely gorgeous, but it also is a keystone in the history of perfume.”

Fourth-generation perfumer Clement Gavarry is swayed by the sentimentality of fragrance. His dream creation is a scent almost everyone knows and loves: the citrus-forward CK One, created in 1994 by Alberto Morillas and Harry Fremont.

Firmenich senior perfumer Gavarry smelled it as a teenager and instantly fell in love. “This fragrance was revolutionary and the first gender-neutral fragrance with a construction that, for me, has everlasting freshness, a beautiful trail, and is memorable,” he says. “It captures all of the aspects that make a scent a classic—to this day it is a modern fragrance that stands in its own category. Truly timeless.”

Upstate New York–based holistic nutritionist and aromatherapist Courtney Somer is focused on creating scents for her line Lake & Skye that are proven to uplift and transform. But what fragrance both uplifts and fills Somer with envy? Chloé Eau de Parfum, created in 2008 by Amandine Clerc-Marie and Michel Almairac. The light and fresh fragrance has notes of rose, peony, magnolia, and lychee that give the scent its signature floral, plus a warm base of cedarwood and amber. “It’s floral but not overly so, and has an airiness and earthy base,” says Somer. “Not only was it my signature scent when I was younger but I loved that it was the perfect mix of bohemian and chic, luxurious and free-spirited.”

Maya Njie is steeped in historic inspirations. As a perfumer, Njie draws on nostalgic scents from her Swedish and West African heritages, and her blends are made in small, fresh batches and bottled individually by hand. Njie’s dream creation is not only nostalgic but also artistic: the 1982 perfume by French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author Niki de Saint Phalle. Commissioned by Carlo Bilotti, the president of Jacqueline Cochran perfumes, the artist was given carte blanche to create both a perfume and a bottle design—and this treasured objet d’art is the outcome. (The New York Times wrote in 1982 that Bilotti “thought that a new perfume designed by the artist would startle and attract a large audience.”)

But the backstory is even more interesting. “Her aim was for the commission to enable her to fund her lifelong dream: a big community sculpture garden,” explains Njie. “If the perfume succeeds, I can finance the garden,” de Saint Phalle told the Times in the same 1982 article. “She designed a complex and glamorous chypre floral fragrance,” says Njie. “It has a very green opening, a heart of powdery florals and musky woody oakmoss, and a leathery dry down,” she explains. “It’s a sophisticated perfume that is quite bold and definitely unisex—a seductive dream from a bygone era,” adds Njie. “Both the cobalt-blue glass bottle with two colorful intertwined serpents and mysterious and atmospheric perfume are works of art, in my opinion.”

Not only was the perfume a huge commercial success (“a celebrity perfume of sorts but with really beautiful creativity, intention, and execution,” says Njie), but de Saint Phalle’s sculpture garden dreams also came to life. The vast, wholly unique Tarot Garden was completed and opened to the public in 1998—and is still a must-see destination today. “It’s such a multifaceted project with a bold, original, and colorful outcome, and to have been present during the process would have been a real creative feast,” says Njie.

Crafted by Dominique Ropion in 2010, Portrait of a Lady is just like its creator: wholly and solely unique. “It’s one of the few perfumes I view as a masterpiece,” says Justin McLamore, the founder of Mack n Gnosh. “The way the notes dance in and out, it’s an olfactory symphony to me.” This is notable coming from McLamore, a rising star in perfumery with an earnest, transparent, and “hellaciously talented” point of view, says James.

McLamore is not alone. Portrait of a Lady is also the envy of Moltz’s eye; he describes the scent as “jaw-dropping” and Ropion as a “mega genius.” And the fragrance still leaves Moltz guessing. “It’s a really original contrast of common perfume ingredients—rose, amber, patchouli, incense—but there’s some magical trick to it that I can’t figure out … it has so many layers,” he says.

Rather than growing up in a storied perfumery family, Firmenich senior perfumer Gabriela Chelariu was raised in rural Romania and trained as a pharmacist. She stumbled upon the artistry of fragrance in a research lab and the rest, as they say, is history. The one fragrance she wishes she’d created? Féminité du Bois, originally launched by Shiseido in 1992 and relaunched by Serge Lutens in 2009 with Christopher Sheldrake as the nose.

“At the time that this launched, this was something very revolutionary and created a new olfactive signature—I consider it the first overtly woody feminine fragrance, and to this day, one can recognize its signature easily in the sea of so many fragrances,” says Chelariu. The unique quality of cedarwood balances beautifully with the floralcy from Bulgarian rose and violet, the plum and peach notes add a velvety texture, and the rich spiciness from cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger creates a luxurious, ultra-feminine, addictive fragrance, she notes. “It’s a mysterious and captivating scent that gets your attention and makes you want to keep experiencing it over and over—you can’t look away,” she says.

Givaudan senior perfumer Stephen Nilsen is an authority on the science of fragrance. And the science of Eau D’Hermès, created by Edmond Roudnitska in 1951, quite literally changed Nilsen’s life.

“When I smelled it, I felt like the floor dropped out and my head started spinning,” says Nilsen. It was the perfume that motivated, perhaps even hypnotized, him to become a perfumer. “I really think it is one of the best fragrances ever created,” he adds. It captures the spirit of Hermès: the essence of leather goods, luxury, and equestrian elements—embodying the brand’s essence, but in a completely artistic way.

The scent blends spices with citrus, animalic jasmine, and amber leather notes to create a supple and luxurious fragrance. “I wish I created it. I don’t think I’ve ever created something that even approaches close to what this fragrance is—and I don’t know if the industry even allows this audacity in a fragrance, because it’s so dirty and clean at the same time—it’s wonderful,” says Nilsen.

Editors’ note: This fragrance is sadly no longer available online in the U.S., but the eau de toilette can be found on international sites.

Kristin Limoges is a freelance editor, covering all things beauty, wellness, and travel. She was previously the wellness editor at Domino Magazine. Kristin can usually be found face, hair, and body masking simultaneously, while thinking-up clever DIYs for her small-space Chinatown apartment.

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