Perfumer Juliette Karagueuzoglou On Her Latest Scent

Red soles make Christian Louboutins the most recognizable shoes in the world. Though practically everyone knows what Christian Louboutin looks like, what does the brand smell like? That question was answered by the five perfumers who each created a fragrance for the newest Christian Louboutin Beauty fragrance collection, Fétiche, which celebrates the 10th anniversary of its iconic nail polish, hence the inspiration for the perfume bottles.

Juliette Karagueuzoglou is one of the perfumers who created the unisex fragrances that balanced the brand’s DNA with each perfumer’s style, resulting in scents that are both impactful and joyful. Her perfume, Fétiche Le Cuir, pays homage to leather, a material at the heart of Christian Louboutin, rounded out with floral osmanthus notes and a musky base. Below, Karagueuzoglou chats about Le Cuir, her favorite ingredient, and the smell of her grandmother’s house.

What was your creative process for making Christian Louboutin Beauty Fetiche Le Cuir?

When you create a fragrance for Louboutin, you want to create [a scent] with some sillage, because when you wear a pair of Louboutin shoes, it’s something that has impact and power. I started on Le Cuir thinking about a leathery fragrance that is soft and sexy. So, in this one, we used a special ingredient, osmanthus. It’s a little flower from China, and the smell is very soft. There’s a creamy apricot aspect that is not sweet but more like a floral. It’s fresh and velvety, soft, and a bit fruity. It brings [in] some of the DNA of Louboutin being leathery, sexy, sensual. There’s a joy for me in this brand that we needed to have in the fragrances as well.

When did you decide to become a perfumer?

Since I was a child, I was really interested in fragrances. I would recognize the fragrances of my mom’s friends when they arrived at our home before I saw them. I have always been passionate about smelling. When I was 13, I discovered the job of a perfumer and then I chose that as my goal. I studied everything I needed to enter ISIPCA, a perfume school in France, and then started as a perfumer 17 years ago. Now I’m at IFF.

What’s your earliest scent memory?

When we experience fragrances they provide us with emotions that stick in our brains for all our life. What you remember from your childhood is very important for your future. Your memory is capitalizing on what you feel and experience before. You remember places, people, food a lot. In fact, I think that’s what you use as a perfumer–your first emotion to fragrances. Then you create based on that later on. Everything that you’ve smelled before as a child or young adult is key for you as a perfumer. Today, I have fewer emotions when smelling fragrances because my bank of fragrances is huge. But I think that the emotions I have from my childhood are still very present and very important, like my grandma.

What did your grandmother’s house smell like?

Lilac because [she had] a huge lilac garden. So now for me, lilac is linked to my grandma.

What is your favorite smell now?

I love chypre. I think it [brings up] memories from my aunts, but also my mom’s friends [that used to visit] when I was a child. Back then the chypres [fragrances] were very strong and very common on the market.

What are your favorite notes to formulate with?

Patchouli is one of my favorite ingredients. It’s like a magical ingredient. You can use it for many reasons and in various amounts, and each time it brings something different.

How would you describe your fragrance style?

I like to express strong ideas with my fragrances. I want to be sure that the story I tell with the brand is very sharp to people who are going to wear the fragrance. [I want it to be] noticeable and memorable because what is most important about fragrance, is that people are going to remember you because of [how you smell]. So, the sillage and the trail it’s going to leave for others is very important as well.

What is your personal fragrance wardrobe like?

It doesn’t evolve that much because I stick to things that I like for a while. I’m not wearing fragrances every day, because when I’m at work, I can’t really wear [them]. Then at the end of the day, I’m wearing the trials of the day on my skin. [Oftentimes, the] next day, I’ll [go back and] rework them.

What are your tips for making fragrances last longer?

You have to have hydrated skin. Being hydrated keeps the molecules on the skin. You can buy the body lotion that goes along with the fragrance, or if it doesn’t exist, you can put on something that has no smell. I wear fragrances on my clothes and on my hair because when they move, they develop a fragrance around me.