Olfactory reformulation, the key for creating everlasting fragrances.

Changes in IFRA laws and directives, resource depletion or growth, production halts… All of this changes the perfumer’s palette by restricting or prohibiting the use of specific components. Reformulation has become a common technique for fragrances that have become classics – those that have stood the test of time. When attempting to resurrect an old brand or a legendary scent, this type of skilled labor is also required. When the formulas are no longer available, it is sometimes done from scratch.

The perfumer’s profession entails a lot of reformulation. The fundamental reason for this is the necessity to adjust perfumes to changing raw material availability.

Recent fragrances, on the other hand, provide a hurdle because they must also adhere to IFRA guidelines. “For example, Jean-Claude Ellena, Michel Almairac, and Maurice Roucel’s brief, understandable formulations, in which each element has its own position, need refined, extremely accurate substitution work.” The crucial period of evaporation on the skin need a great deal of care and ingenuity.

Old brands make a comeback

Another challenge is the re-creation of historical scents without the use of archives. The resurgence of ancient companies (such as Teo Cabanel, Jovoy, Houbigant, Lubin, Le Galion, or, more recently, Marcelle Dormoy, Maison Violet, Cherigan, Bienaimé) accelerated this trend, but some were able to maintain their documentation.

Cinquième Sens attempted to take up this task recently. “We had to recompose a 1930s scent based on a sample from the 1950s, but we didn’t have the original recipe,” perfumer Alice Dattée says. Even if chromatography is a valuable tool, it is insufficient. “The sample was ancient,” she adds, “and the high notes had vanished.”

Harmonizing inventive middle and back notes is a hard balancing act. This long-term project incorporates olfactory studies, culture, and strategy. For the first time, the IFRA directives favored perfumers. “The coumarin assay would not have been feasible under IFRA 48, but IFRA 49 helped position the perfume as a mixed scent, allowing it to benefit from more flexible criteria.”

According to Alice Dattée and Suzy Le Helley, the most challenging aspect of these ancient scents is recreating the nitrated musk impression with modern chemicals. Another big difficulty is the usage of natural components, which have become quite expensive, which may necessitate lowering their amount. “Then you have to come as near to the original’s essence as possible while being current,” Alice Dattée explains.

Patrice Revillard of Laboratoire Maelstrom says, “It’s virtually improvisation to reformulate vintage scents that have vanished.” The perfumer won Panouge’s challenge to replicate Jacques Fath’s L’Iris Gris (1947), a scent that has become legendary.

“It was difficult to get as near to the original form as possible,” Patrice Revillard adds, “since this perfume is known based on historic versions that have altered and macerated through time.” He worked on the version held by L’Osmothèque in the absence of the original recipe and supplemented his olfactory study with well-preserved historic smells.

The most serious concern was the usage of the eugenol note, which is severely restricted by European Directives. Patrice Revillard explains, “That is why our formula is a little less spicy, less ‘eyelet’ than the original.” “Thanks to L’Iris Gris’s current writing style, we didn’t have to substitute notes like nitrated musks, liliales, or oak moss.”

Rather than strictly duplicating the recipe, this illusionist work reinterprets the perfume. “We were fortunate to work with a limitless budget because natural fragrances at the time were quite expensive,” adds Patrice Revillard, who will soon face the difficulty of working with a more limited budget, as Panouge plans to release a more cheap version of L’Iris Gris.