Is niche perfume a snob thing?

You have probably already heard of niche or auteur perfumery, a rare and confidential perfumery. All these terms, which have the same meaning, may not be very clear to you. Follow the guide, we'll tell you everything! 

Classic or modern? Timeless, in fact

Niche perfumery developed in the 1990s as a reaction to the numerous takeovers of perfume brands by the big groups in the market. While these players concentrate many licences - often from the ready-to-wear sector - other small perfume houses prefer to be independent, and are dedicated to perfume lovers who are looking for superior quality in an exceptional product. The aim of niche perfumery is clear: it is to making fragrances that don't appeal to everyone. When you put it like that, it sounds a bit strange, but the idea makes sense when you think about it: we all want a unique fragrance that fits us perfectly.

In concrete terms, Niche perfumery refers to small brands - some of which have become rather large - that dare to stand out creatively and olfistically in order to offer unconventional fragrancesmost of the time non-gendered.

Sometimes, the originality goes a bit far: juices that are considered "importable", names that are not always so, like Danse Macabre, Sécrétions Magnifiques, I am Trash, prices that sometimes seem to fly away... In short: enough to make you wonder if, in the end, niche perfumery is not simply a snob thing.

Here are some keys to get an idea - and if you're interested in the history of niche perfumery, we explain it all in more detail in this article. 

Above all: an original idea

Most niche brands have a strong, original identity that enables them to stand out from the crowd, and above all to build a community loyal to their image. Because, yes, we haven't told you yet, but auteur perfumeries very rarely advertise: they operate by word of mouth! So we focus on customer satisfaction, thanks to quality products, a great experience and shared values. At Bastilleit didn't take long for founder Marie-Hortense to affirm her concept: finding no clean alternative to classic perfumes, she decided to launch the first natural perfume house, made in France and, above all, 100% transparent about its ingredients - a small revolution in perfumery.

For others, it will be on the contrary the exploration of 100% synthetic perfumes, or mono-materials, smells linked to songs, molecules acting as "pheromones" to seduce, etc. In short, the possibilities are endless.

A freedom of creation

The great thing about a niche perfume is that it allows the creativity of those who design it to flow freely. We explain: before you can find a perfume on the shelves of a Sephora, you have to go through many steps.

First of all, a market study is carried out to find out the current trend and the tastes of the consumers. Taking this research into account, a precise brief is submitted to the perfumers so that they can carry out their first tests. After some dozens of attempts different, you choose the perfume that suits you best. Are we done here? Well, no, not yet. Once the perfume is made, it will be blind tested with consumers (called 'sniff tests') and then re-modified, and then ... re-tested, until more of you like it. So the creativity throughout these stages is more restricted.

In niche perfumery, market research and consumer tests are over! The process is freer: the niche brand gives an idea - sometimes very vague - to the perfumer who will use his creativity to create a perfume that will suit the brand's inspiration, not the taste of the majority.

So we're not saying that one is better than the other - but rather that it takes a bit of both to make everyone happy! By the way, you'll rarely find a niche fragrance in a Sephora department store: they're most often sold in their own boutique, online, or sometimes in a corner of a department store.

How to recognize a niche fragrance? 

This may seem complex to some, and easy to others. In fact, it depends on whether you are used to going smell fragrances...

Our advice: go to Sephora, smell the last 5 new products of the same genre (male or female) and take stock. Don't you think they have a few things in common? So, yes, they are different (fortunately!), one is more fruity, the other more floral, the last one surely more woody, but... they all have a slightly greedy tendency. Do you know why? Simply because it's fashionable. Because yes, even in perfume there are trends! Under Louis XIV, animal notes dominated, while in Marie-Antoinette's time, flowery perfumes dominated.... Closer to home, in 1970 patchouli-based perfumes played the leading role, and since the 2000s, gourmand perfumes. They can be recognised by their sweet smell and their strong trail, which perfumes the whole room. In fact, the one who launched this latest trend was Thierry Mugler with Angel in 1992. Beware, however, that not all perfumes found at Sephora are gourmands - there are always exceptions to the rules.

Now that you know the current olfactory trends, we suggest you take a stroll through some independent perfume shops or concept stores (we'll give you some addresses at the end of the article). The goal? To come across niche perfumes that will awaken your nose. This time, you don't need to smell several perfumes to understand that they are completely different from those of Sephora.

Already there is no male / female department : here, we are genderfuid. Then, the raw material associations are daring: we find notes of tobacco, leather, tuberose, incense - and many other unusual raw materials. The whole is often named in a special way: Rouge Assassin, Tubéreuse Impériale, 1.2, Demain PromisIn short - names that you probably won't find in a regular perfume store! And for the more adventurous, you can discover most of these perfumes online thanks to the sample boxes. By the way, we're putting ours right here: 

Above all, a question of budget

Jean-Claude Ellena, a famous perfumer, used to say: "Before, there was a perfume, a bottle, a story. Now there is a story, a bottle and a fragrance". This quote perfectly sums up the difference between niche and mass-market perfumery. Niche brands focus on the olfactory aspect thanks to beautiful raw materials, whereas the big brands tend to rely on marketing to ensure sales. When you put it like that, it's not very glamorous - but there's a reason for that: bringing out a new fragrance for these perfume giants is a huge budgetary challenge. Many people work on it for months (sometimes years!), a lot of money is spent on marketing and communication to make sure that the perfume is liked and that sales soar. But in the niche, the budget is much smaller. We therefore take more risks to create original perfumes, with raw materials that are sometimes more expensive. This explains why, with more expensive ingredients and smaller volumes, niche perfumes are often slightly more expensive than conventional perfumes: in theory, this is the price of quality!

Some addresses

Here is a small list of shops and concept stores where you can discover niche perfumes:

• Jovoy, 4 Rue de Castiglione, 75 001 Paris
• Nose, 20 Rue Bachaumont, 75 002 Paris
• Jane de boy, Bordeaux, Cap Ferret, Arcachon
• Biutiful*, 4 bis Rue de la Poste, 74 000 Annecy (Roxane and Thaïs will welcome you)
• Maison Orso*, 2 Rue Leperdit, 35 000 Rennes (with the excellent advice of Charlotte, the owner)
• Parfumerie du soleil d'or, 4 Rue Esquermoise, 59 800 Lille
• MadameMonsieur*, 119 Avenue des Alpes, 06 800 Cagnes-sur-Mer (at Fanny's house and her team)

* Our points of sale

So what do you think of niche perfumery? At first glance, it might seem that it is only for a demanding customer who cannot be satisfied with ordinary perfumes. But it is much more than that: niche perfumery sees perfume as an art. It sublimates it without prejudice, and allows everyone to have an unusual olfactory experience. Whether you are a fan or not, it's still worth a visit!


Photos: Jules Théret, Bronte Bee