Who: Valérie Madrid, founder of La Closerie des Parfums. For those interested in fragrance, Valérie Madrid had an enviable start in life. Brought up in a 16th century fragrance factory her father and uncle purchased in Bordeaux, France, in the ‘70s, she was immersed in scent from her very first breath. The factory created and produced fragrances for many brands, so Valérie spent her formative years kicking her heels around the factory floor, getting to know the raw ingredients, learning how to construct a fragrance and refining her own sense of smell.

It led to an absolute passion for everything scent related and it’s hard to imagine she could have ended up in any other career. So at 20, she joined the family business and created her first custom perfume for an international customer from the Middle East.

After a successful career making fragrances for other brands and with her impressive industry contacts, it is perhaps also not surprising that she yearned to create a brand of her own, where she could put her extensive understanding of the very best ingredients that are used within fragrance to good use.

In 2016 she attended the prestigious Cinquième Sens perfume school in Paris, where she polished up her fragrance knowledge and discovered artistic, or niche, perfumery and understood it was the perfect outlet for her personal olfactory signature, so launched La Closerie des Parfums.

The brand focuses on highlighting just a few key ingredients, and deep-dives into the interesting duality created when key notes are combined. The narrative is very simple, find a favourite ingredient and see what spices Valérie has paired it with to enhance and enrich the aroma. So for example patchouli can be found celebrating pepper with Patchouli Sichuan, or with cinnamon in Patchouli Cannelle. Rose is paired with cardamon in Rose Cardamome and Valérie’s experience with oud has resulted in some of the most popular scents in the collection, including Oud Safran, where saffron compliments the weighty woody note.

It’s a beautiful and sophisticated collection, one we were delighted to experience alongside Valérie when we met up with her recently. Here’s what else she told us…

 Today I’m wearing Iris Coriandre by La Closerie des Parfums, a fruity and sensual perfume. I usually spray the fragrance behind my ears and into the crevices of my wrists, as this is essential for optimum sillage.

I don’t have a favourite perfume, but I always wear perfume. Sometimes I force myself to stop wearing fragrance in order to reset my nose and start smelling again with a fresh outlook, which allows me to awaken my sense of smell.

Because I live in the city I sometimes like to smell the air of the countryside or a sunny island. It helps me escape. I awaken my memories through scents! 

Sometimes I perfume my home, but not always. With home fragrances or incense, it all depends on how I’m feeling…I use fragrance according to my moods, my anxieties and my desires.

In my daily life, I love smells, I couldn’t live without them, they’ve enlivened my life since day one, always influencing my desires and my moods.

When it comes to choosing a fragrance, I let my desires take over,  the one that will comfort me, energise me, refresh me or give me a certain assurance. Perfume sets the pace for my life.

I’m not really faithful to just one fragrance, but I do have favourite styles of scent, for example floral, woody, powdery, leathery, fresh and sunny. Like for example Rose Cannelle which is sensual and comforting, Patchouli Baie Rose is very energising and full of pep. The extraordinary Oud Cannelle, is our bestseller. When I want something more discreet and cocooning I use Oud Baie Rose, for evenings by the fireside.

An aroma I’m admiring at the moment is Cacao. A material that is increasingly being recognised and highlighted as exciting to use.