New essences, Santal and Tubéreuse by Elie Saab

The olfactory expression of an aesthetics blending splendor with sleekness, the first series of the Collection des Essences transposed Elie Saab’s couture techniques into scent with ROSE, GARDÉNIA, AMBRE and OUD. The following chapter was more “biographical”, featuring a NÉROLI distilled in Lebanon and a VÉTIVER worn by Monsieur Saab himself.

For this third opus, Francis Kurkdjian’s source of inspiration is more abstract, yet still more sensuous: the theme of roundness, curves and volumes in the work of Elie Saab. Today, the master perfumer pays tribute to the Couturier’s geometry of elegance by celebrating the most suave of woods and the most voluptuous of flowers: SANTAL and TUBÉREUSE.

ESSENCE N°8 SANTAL: BALANCING STRENGTH AND LUSHNESS

Luminous, tender, creamy… To conjure Elie Saab’s sensuous art of curves, Francis Kurkdjian has chosen Indian Sandalwood, a material that conveys both lushness and refinement. Revered for millennia, today the essence is more precious than ever as Santalum Album, the tree species it is extracted from, is now protected in India.

Inspired by Elie Saab’s virtuoso technique when he sculpts the volumes of his gowns, the master perfumer has used forceful ingredients to bolster Sandalwood’s scented silk. In the soaring top notes, the dazzling coolness of Cardamom makes it shiver. In the heart of the fragrance, Chinese Osmanthus – a velvety flower that smells both of apricot and suede – adds a succulent fruitiness to Sandalwood’s creamy facets.

The woody notes that run through the composition offer a striking contrast to this luscious Sandalwood and Osmanthus accord. Sharp and neat as a pencil stroke, Virginian Cedar wood blends with the rounded, softer Haitian Vetiver and the drier, smokier Javanese Vetiver to structure this highly distinctive sillage.

Balancing strength and lushness, ESSENCE N°8 SANTAL traces a singularly elegant olfactory silhouette, in a tribute to the most suave of woods.

ESSENCE N°9 TUBÉREUSE: THE VOLUPTUOUSNESS OF CURVES

Dazzling, captivating, stunningly feminine… The tuberose is the diva of the floral realm. An icon of haute perfumery, its intensely heady fragrance is so assertive that it takes a virtuoso to tame it.

With ESSENCE N°9 TUBÉREUSE, Francis Kurkdjian set himself a major challenge: to emphasize the radiance of the imperious flower without betraying her intoxicating olfactory signature. To draw a smile from the femme fatale. To soften the sharpness of her green notes. To mellow her stately bearing. To showcase her glow and voluptuous curves, as a tribute to Elie Saab’s silhouettes.

To carry out this high-precision exercise, as painstaking as designing a couture dress, the perfumer needed an outstanding material. Obtained through a “bespoke” process that smooths down its rougher edges, the Tuberose Absolute sourced in India by Francis Kurkdjian allowed him to bring out the flower’s sweeter nature.

ESSENCE N°9 TUBÉREUSE first blossoms in the beams of a sunny Bergamot from Italy. To evoke the spicy accents that distinguish the scents of Tuberose and Gardenia, while preserving the lush, curvy effects he wanted to achieve, Francis Kurkdjian selected Cinnamon Bark from Ceylon, a sweet, suave note that enhances the creaminess of the petal-rich blend. In the base notes, the narcotic, haunting scent of this exquisite floral flesh is carried by a breeze of White Musks.