Initio Parfums launches enticing Absolute and Magnetic Blend collections

Nadia, the artistic director of Initio Parfums, would rather not disclose her surname. And she doesn't want to talk about her career so far. Or her experience in the perfume industry, beyond saying that it all started when she read the book Perfume by Patrick Suskind. She prefers, she says, to focus on the product.

It feels like a conceit, or a marketing gimmick, and is wholly unnecessary. Because once you cut through the bumf, Initio is actually a very cool concept.

The brand, which was launched last year at the Cannes Film Festival and is now available at Saks Fifth Avenue in Dubai, is the result of four years of research. The Latin word “initio” means “from the beginning”, and, with her collection of seven fragrances, Nadia aims to “return to the origins of perfume”.

If there’s one thing that the Frenchwoman will talk about, it is the power of perfume: “In the beginning, in ancient Egyptian times, perfume was used for everything except to smell good. It was used to create magic, to attract love, to purify the home, to communicate with the gods, to cure and to cleanse the body. Until today, in some countries, you have that culture of perfumes being used to cure and to purify – in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, for example. Even here in the Middle East, where they know perfume better than anyone, perfume is still used as an object of power.”

The brand also draws on one of the other meanings of the Latin word: to initiate. The aim is to educate people on the base, animalistic potency of perfume and its role as an “invisible pheromonal” force.

“Today, through marketing and the commercial need for more and more sales, we have reduced perfume to something that only makes you smell good – and then we have a situation where everybody smells almost the same. We want to return to the magic of perfume,” Nadia explains.

“It is scientifically proven that smell is the most powerful language after the verbal language. The power of smell is so significant for human beings. The nose is the only organ in the body that is directly linked to the brain’s limbic system, which is what guides our emotions. Because it is subconscious, you don’t have time to think or adapt your response. This is the most primitive reaction that we can have.”

The Initio collection, which costs from Dh850, is divided into two main lines – the Absolutes, which draw on the forces of natural ingredients, and the Magnetic Blends, which draw on the forces of science. “We cannot ignore the power of science,” Nadia says. “Today, we have reached a point where science can help us do things that nature cannot. But for the Absolutes, we went back to history to find formulas that were used in ancient times.”

The company worked with a number of perfumers and chemists to create its products. Among these were Alberto Morillas, widely recognised as one of the leading “noses” in the industry, who was responsible for fragrances such as CK One, Carolina Herrera 212, Flower by Kenzo and Bvlgari Omnia, to name but a few. These experts were given the highest-quality ingredients and a free rein to create, says Nadia. “There were no budgets. We said to everyone: ‘The only limit is your imagination.’”

Uncommonly for the perfume industry, the process was not ingredient-led. What was important was the effect of the fragrance, rather than its actual scent. “We did not start off by saying: ‘We want to create a vanilla perfume,’” Nadia says. So, for Blessed Baraka, an Absolute comprising sandalwood, musk and amber, the aim was to create a scent that would promote positivity and good luck.

For Absolute Aphrodisiac, the emphasis was on sensuality, with an unexpected formula that combines the softness of vanilla with the animalistic undertones of musk and castoreum. “Vanilla is a very difficult ingredient to work with,” Nadia reveals. “It is an ingredient that everybody likes, because it reminds us of our childhood, but you find it everywhere. The difficulty is creating a vanilla scent that is very refined and doesn’t smell like washing powder or any other common household product.”

Rounding up the collection of four Absolutes are Divine Attraction, which consists of leather and vetiver and is “a very provocative perfume”, and Mystic Experience, a heady mix of musk and coffee.

For the Magnetic Blends, Initio worked with a German scientist to create revolutionary molecules that are exact replicas of the naturally occurring pheromones musk and ambergris. This means that these natural molecules can now be used at will, without the need to slaughter deer for musk or search the seas for ambergris, a by-product of sperm whales. Magnetic Blend 1 captures the animalistic scent of ambergris, Magnetic Blend 7 captures the potency of animal musk, and Magnetic Blend 8 is a combination of musk and frankincense.

Initio recommends combining Absolutes with Magnetic Blends on the skin, to create a mixed scent that is entirely personal. And all seven perfumes are unisex – according to Nadia, gender-specific fragrances are nothing but a commercial construct. “In the beginning, perfume didn’t have a sex; men didn’t care about wearing rose, for example. Today in the Middle East, there is still a very unisex approach to perfume. In Europe, you wouldn’t find a man wearing rose – they are very close-minded in terms of perfume, except perhaps in Italy and Germany. Basically, with Initio, everybody is free to wear what they want to wear.”

sdenman@thenational.ae