Scent-based visit for the Valreas Museum

I had the pleasure of being invited by the Musée du Cartonnage et de l'Imprimerie of Valreas (France) to lead a scent-based tour of the current exhibition "Jolies Frimousses" which traces the strong contribution of cardboard packaging companies in the town of Valreas to the growth of the cosmetic powder sector.

This fun olfactory visit was an opportunity to introduce the many people who came to discover the fashionable scents in seventeenth-century powders, such as orange blossom, heliotrope, rose, myrrh, incense and the perfume "À la maréchale", the most famous at the time, which I recreated for the occasion, and which is certainly far from our contemporary tastes with its notes of clove, cinnamon, benzoin and angelica among others.

The first use of powders intended to perfume wigs gave way a few centuries later to face powders which are, for a good number of them, variations of the perfumes marketed by brands. The rich collection that the museum of Valreas has allowed me to discover some olfactory gems from the beginning of the twentieth century such as Pompeïa by LT Piver launched in 1907 and benzyl salicylate, an olfactory material present in large quantities in its formulation. Indeed, at the beginning of this century, being modern meant incorporating synthetic olfactory materials resulting from research from organic chemistry which was still in its infancy.

We continued this olfactory discovery with other emblematic fragrances from the beginning of the twentieth century:

- Quelques Fleurs by Hougibant launched in 1912 and Cis-3-hexenol, the material which gives the turf signature of the composition.

- Blond Tabac by Caron launched in 1919 and cinnamic aldehyde which gives to the tobacco note a spicy touch of cinnamon.

- Émeraude by Coty launched in 1921 and ethyl vanillin which contributes to the vanilla roundness of the fragrance.

- Soir de Paris by Bourjois launched in 1928 and aldehyde C14 which is gives the peach note of the composition.

It was a real pleasure to share my knowledge and passion for perfumery with a curious audience.