There are events where you sit and listen. And then there are moments where a door opens into the sanctuary where perfume is actually born — a place most people never get to see. This afternoon was exactly that.
A heritage of natural ingredients
Organized as part of Paris Perfume Week 2026, the gathering took place at the Paris headquarters of Robertet, one of the world’s oldest and most respected fragrance ingredient houses.
Founded in Grasse in 1850, Robertet has spent five generations mastering the art of natural raw materials. While Robertet works behind the scenes for major luxury beauty corporations, their name rarely appears on the bottle. Yet, their naturals are the soul of some of the most iconic fragrances in history. Because they almost never open their doors to the public, this presentation of the new brand Neil Jacquet Paris felt particularly intimate.
Neil Jacquet Paris: fragrance as a travel notebook
Before the final compositions were revealed, founder Neil Jacquet and the Robertet team — including renowned perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur — invited us to smell the raw materials first. This format changes the way you perceive a scent. When you smell a perfume after isolating its components, the notes become legible rather than mysterious.
Inspired by travel, Neil Jacquet presented scents rooted in a specific place and a specific memory. El Malecón captures Havana at dusk: aged rum, pineapple, vanilla smoke — crafted by Sidonie Lancesseur. We also had the chance to discover a new extraits collection designed for layering. And a third fragrance was presented in exclusive preview, ahead of its official launch in May. Its details remain under wraps, but the direction is consistent: a place, a memory, a precise olfactory intention.
Inside the laboratory: where the magic Is built
The highlight of the afternoon was a walk through Robertet’s creation laboratories. This is a rare privilege; in the perfume industry, the "behind-the-scenes" usually stays hidden.
Standing in the perfumer’s workspace, you see the perfume organ, the rows of meticulously labeled raw materials, and the formulas in progress. It is an environment where fragrance isn't just imagined; it is architecturally built, drop by drop. This reminded me of our exclusive visit to Sozio, another storied house dedicated to the transparency of craft.
These moments matter because they shift the conversation from product to process. They remind us that behind every luxury bottle, there is a quiet room, a skilled nose, and a century of heritage.
