Bottling the soul: Why Loewe’s perfumer believes you should never have only one signature scent

Nuria Cruelles, the perfumer at Loewe, believes that perfume is akin to synaesthesia, allowing her to perceive textures, temperatures, colours, and moments through scent. She describes her approach to perfume creation with the language typically associated with art, architecture, music, and gastronomy. This philosophy underpins Loewe Perfumes' Crafted Collection, where individual ingredients take the forefront.

Launched in October with three scents - Iris Root, Bittersweet Oud, and Roasted Vanilla - the collection has since expanded to five new perfumes. Instead of treating these ingredients as mere formula components, Cruelles delves into their personalities and constructs compositions around their relationships. For instance, she pairs the rustic, animalic oud with zesty orange to create a "contrast marriage," offsetting its dark, earthy character.

Additionally, she draws inspiration from nature, incorporating scents like citrus, lychee, sandalwood, ginger, cognac, rose, amber, pistachio, and cedarwood into her creations.

Cruelles finds greater interest in the interactions between ingredients rather than individual components. She categorizes these interactions into three types: contrast, affinity, or hedonism. The latter refers to unexpected, surprising, elegant, and sophisticated combinations. This experimental approach resonates particularly well in the Middle East, where fragrance is deeply embedded in daily life.

Layering and combining scents are integral to a traditional perfume culture that Cruelles perceives as increasingly influencing the rest of the world.

For Cruelles, the Middle East represents where perfume originated, with the region's culture centering around it. She notes that people in the Middle East often mix, layer, and play with their scents, a practice she sees as a natural affinity with the growing Western preference for fragrance as an experimental experience rather than a permanent signature.

Cruelles believes that the idea of a signature scent worn for years can be limiting, as the nose eventually becomes accustomed to the familiar, rendering it increasingly invisible to the wearer. She contends that our sense of smell constantly absorbs new essences, and we must re-educate our noses to appreciate the sensations of new moments and sensations.

The perfumer argues that choosing perfume is akin to selecting clothing or jewelry rather than adopting a permanent identity. She advocates for having different perfumes for different moments, similar to how one chooses clothing or jewelry depending on the day. Cruelles's method may seem scientific, but it is fundamentally experimental.

She explains that sometimes she imagines using a particular ingredient to achieve a specific effect, only to discover the outcome is entirely different and surprising. One such instance involved timut pepper, an ingredient that initially ruined her formulas. However, through the right proportion and proportion of other ingredients, she was able to turn it into a harmonious component.

Cruelles's Spanish heritage also plays a role in her work for Loewe. Her olfactory vocabulary includes native ingredients like rockrose, or labdanum, which is resinous, leathery, and woody. Instead of suppressing its strong presence, she uses co-distillation to soften its rough edges and reveal a more rounded character. This approach successfully integrates labdanum into her fragrances, making them feel complete and cohesive.