Perfumery

One of my favourite projects involved establishing the Molinard perfume brand in the Russian market. Knowing that Molinard had links with Russian nobility at the end of the Imperial dynasty, and notably the (in)famous aristocrat Felix Youssoupov, I thought that it would be interesting to stimulate some imperial nostalgia into modern russian women by creating a perfume left unfinished by Molinard and destined for the Prince Felix and his wife Irina Roumanov.

The fun side would be gaining valuable market research by organizing a personalized perfume creation with the winning perfume’s formula to be used for the future russian perfume to be called “L’inachevé” or the “unfinished”. Russian women (and some men) from all walks of high society – industrial – media etc. particpated in making their own perfume and a small part of history at the same time. After 1 year, I had over 300 perfume formulae, showing a tendancy towards a certain style of perfume – a light floral/fruity fragrance… Below are some of the articles from Russian lifestyle publications…

The Russian perfume and cosmetics holding ARTICOLI were delighted to distribute Molinard’s perfume products in its select boutiques in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Unfortunately, despite the very successful marketing and the support from the russian perfume and cosmetcis industry as well as the press, the perfume still remains “unfinished”. There were certain “differences” between my views of the brand strategy and that of Molinard’s CEO. My deception (as well as that off many russian perfume enthusiasts) was enormous as well as my incomprehension. But this is not MY perfume house and the modern russian woman doesn’t have THAT special fragrance that was long destined for their market. Maybe one day? Here are some of the comments made about the event…