Nicolai Parfumeur Createur

Nicolai Les may be the only perfume brand from the first wave of niche perfumery that still belongs to its creators. Today, that is truly exceptional. After all, what could be more natural than growing a business and then selling it to one of the industry's giants? Yet perfumer Patricia de Nicolai, despite her great success, remains determined to work independently. So, what's her secret? In her words, love is the answer: love for her life's work and, of course, for her children, who have inherited her legacy. Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur is a true family business from France, and in 2019 it celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. Patricia and her husband started out in the world of perfumery as a young couple. "My husband and I started from nothing, just the two of us. Today, we have a team of almost forty people, and Nicolai is available in more than thirty countries around the world. It's a very rewarding feeling, and one that gives us great encouragement for the future. Nothing is ever certain... everything can change very quickly, and it's always important to look ahead with the whole team to create even more wonderful, original fragrances. I'm highly motivated to do this, and that will never change. Everything I do now matters a great deal, not only for my own personal satisfaction, but for the whole team," she says, explaining the success of Nicolai Les. Despite all this, it is impossible to overlook the fact that Patricia comes from the Guerlain family, renowned perfume makers. It is no wonder, then, that Shalimar is one of her favorite fragrances. "When we started the brand, we were among the first of what we call 'niche brands.' My husband and I learned, step by step, how to create and manage a brand. We knew we wanted to create high-quality fragrances, but we weren't sure about the marketing and packaging process. To be honest, it took us a while to find a cohesive direction for our fragrances and packaging, but for the past ten years things have been clearer and more established. We've simply become more professional, and as I said before, we always need to look ahead," she adds. Patricia also partly credits the success of Nicolai Les and niche brands to others and to their interest in perfumery: "Success exists thanks to true perfume lovers who can appreciate the quality and originality of our creations. Bloggers and perfume websites have done a great deal to develop the public's scent culture, and they really raise the level of knowledge by showing that there are other fragrances beyond the great classics... All of this motivates me to create high-quality fragrances, because I know that more and more people are looking for them." Patchouli Intense is the best-selling fragrance from Nicolai Les, followed by amber Cashmere. Patricia uses ingredients such as Cambodian Ood and fig, which are unique to her field. Still, she isn't afraid to give her customers a taste of familiar perfumes and scents, a gentle introduction that quickly develops into a completely different fragrance. Elegance, refinement and longevity are what Patricia says she strives for. Her work clearly reflects the influence of a distinctive, delicate French style. These are, of course, fragrances made to a very high standard of quality, one she strives to match. She tries to keep her formulas short and usually uses around thirty ingredients. Over the years, she says, she has tried to reduce the proportion of ingredients, but this is a real challenge for perfumers. With longer formulas, it is harder to understand the effect of each ingredient and to mask mistakes, such as adding too much, which are less noticeable than in a short formula where every ingredient plays an important role. In any case, it is experimenting with the different ingredients that makes her fragrances unique.