An Interview with Kamila Aubre by Green Beauty Directory

The original text was published on the Instagram account by Green Beauty Directory.

Many thanks to Neige for the amazing conversation! Neige is an illustrator, photographer & green beauty lover. I love her personal and uncommon approach to niche beauty brands’ founders. and how she helps them reveal the most exciting parts of the creative process.

-What led you to create your eponymous perfume line?

- I think it is the green beauty revolution which is happening now as well as my passion for literature. When the two met at some point, my perfume line was born.

-Has the olfactory sense always been important to you? Also, I believe you have a background in visual arts(?), so I'm curious, are there differences for you in how you create and react to scents, compared to creating and reacting to visual materials?

Not atl all. I was never a fan of perfume in fact. But as far as I remember myself the sense of smell has always been strong for me, I am very sensitive to strong odors and in fact am allergic to synthetic aromas. 

My background is in Sociology and Political Science but it is somehow in my blood to be creative: my father is an architect and my grandmother was a poetess. I was a portrait photographer for some time, this is how I learnt professional photography myself. Photography is still my passion.

This is a very interesting question. I think in any form of art, it is about the freedom from conformism which helps create outstanding works. That is what I do in my area. In fact the two come together and must go hand in hand. Every ingredient or a blend of them has a certain image in my mind, its colour, viscosity, and I love to show it in photographs.

-Are there scents that have a particular importance for you, or that you are particularly fond of?

I love scents/perfumes which have their own unity, which do not imitate what already exists or has been made by someone else. That is why each of my perfumes has its story. My favourite ones are Summer 1928 and Soliloquy. I also love the amber like base accords, if it is about perfume materials.

-I feel that we might have a sense of what the process of skincare formulation is like, but somehow perfume seems much more abstract... could you take us from the A to Z of creating a perfume? Whatever you can share with us that doesn't involve disclosing trade secrets :-)

It is in fact a messy and long process :)  When I see videos or images of perfumers working, I think to myself, this is not reality. They look too romantic :)  If we talk about perfumers who work with raw materials (absolutes, CO2 extracts, concretes, all having genuine plant aromas, not isolated molecules), those are hard to work with ingredients, because they are thick and have each their own colour. That is why natural perfumes created with a sense of freedom have deep colours, while those using only light coloured essential oils and isolates are transparent (imitating synthetic perfumes' look). This is an interesting fact for those wondering why even some natural perfumes differ so much in their look.

The process always starts with a formula, every perfumer has his journal which is very important. Each ingredient needs its own approach, as they differ in viscosity, colour, weight, etc. If it is about creating a new scent, this may take from one hour to a few weeks, depending on the desired outcome. Blending the ingredients may be the hardest part, as some of them take quite some time to work with. Also, the room you are in, is not for sensitive noses. When mixed, perfume needs to mellow for a few weeks/months, then it is filtered and bottled. I think somehow the process of perfume making sounds too romantic for some people, while it is much more complicated in real life. I work with raw ingredients which means they are thick, sticky, dark, some stone hard or waxy, some are very precious such as white rose. But for sure, a perfumer never stops learning, working with natural ingredients means it is a dynamic process, since we work with the nature itself and it is complex and non-predictable at times.

-When you create a perfume, is it more important that it smells "good" or that it triggers a certain "mood"?

I can create a perfume which smells good in one minute but what is the meaning if there are hundrends of them on the market? The question is how long do they last, do they have a story to tell, do they encourage you to explore more of its inspiration, do you want to know more about the perfumer? Why this name, why those ingredients? I think of these questions when I make perfume, if I want to know more about scent, it is intriguing, interesting, it stands out.

-Your perfumes are botanical perfumes... could you explain how it is different from "conventional" perfumes, and why it is important to you?

Botanical perfumes are 100% natural perfumes without any animal ingredients. Natural perfumes can still use non-vegan materials. Natural perfumes use such natural materials as essential oils, absolutes, concretes, CO2 extracts, tinctures, etc. While conventional perfumes use synthetically made ingredients. so when you read that a certain mass market perfume jasmine or tuberose in, please remember, they do not have any of them, simply because those materials are extremely expensive to be used in the mass production. They use synthetic ingredients which imitate those scents. But there are more niche perfumes which have mixed media these days, those which use natural ingredients but fix them with synthetic base notes. So in any case, whatever is used in perfume, the brand must be open and transparent. If you have doubts, ask questions and educate yourself, if it is really important for you to know what is in your perfume.

-I believe you use essential oils, absolutes, CO2 extracts and tinctures... Could you explain the differences between the various kind of "materials" you use in your formulations?

Some aromas can be extracted in one or more ways, as technology develops, some rare extractions appear these days. But it is always the quality of any ingredient which is my priority. Absolutes and CO2 extracts are the most expensive materials, absolutes can be thick or hard and are almost always deep in their colour, as usually the whole plant is used to extract aromas. CO2 extracts give the purest aroma, they are more appreciated by perfumers these days. Tinctures are used, but not much, usually it is for ingredients for which it is the only way to get its aroma, but also for those ingredients which are very hard to find in other forms, for example, vanilla is getting very scarce and expensive these days. It is easier to find whole vanilla pods than the absolute. But every perfumer has his/her own favourite ingredients, those easier or more interesting to work with, those which, in his/her opinion would be blended better in a perfume.

-Could you talk to us about your sourcing process?

The ingredients come from different parts of the world but for a perfumer making sustainable perfumes, it is better to source those from as few suppliers as possible to reduce CO2 emissions from transport. That is what I do. Quality is very often more important that the price of a certain material.

-If you decided to re-interpret a famous painting into perfume, which one would it be?

In fact I have one such perfume, it is Gloire de Dijon (coming back next year). It was inspired by the series of nude paintings by Modigliani and a poem by D.H. Lawrence (hence the name of the perfume). As the artist explored a woman's body in his works, I re-interpreted the scent of a woman's skin using such soft notes as white rose, white tea, iris, vetiver, rooibos, etc.

-Are there any upcoming things for your line that you would like to share with us?

For me perfume making is a constant research of materials, packaging, more sustainable options, etc. There is a lot going on behind the scenes, but my purpose is to have the rest of the line slowly back after our relaunch in September and I can't wait to do it!