I grew up in a small town in Northern France where there are many forests, and the smell of woods always brings me back to this which is a very special scent memory for me.
A rather clever friend of mine gave me a ‘Scent Library’ from Penhaligons when I was a young teenager. That single product completely transformed my perception of scent and has informed the rest of my career.
My parent’s home has every wall covered in old wooden libraries with the most precious old books, and to nowadays, this is my most intense and important scent memory.
A mix of papery sharpness with ebony and walnut wooden furniture, and the slightly humid and powdery dustiness of the old books always reminds me of my childhood, my parents’ incredible erudition and their love for culture and education. All my reading experiences are heavily influenced by books individual smell, and when in need of comfort, ink and paper are the first olfactory reassurance I reach out for. Funnily enough, I am constantly on a quest for amplifying my collection of literature-inspired and papery fragrances!
Don’t judge me but Bodyshop Fuzzy Peach was so influential when I was in school. If you didn’t smell of it you weren’t in the cool gang! Anything peachy now makes me smile.
Black coffee, toast, marmalade. That was my granddad’s breakfast every day. He always woke up at 5am so it was the first thing I would smell when I stayed at his. Now, that specific mix of scents makes it really easy to get up in the morning.
The Fragrance Foundation UK 
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