Annick Menardo | Perfumer

Distinctive ideas that changed the language of familiar scents

Annick Menardo discovered perfumery as a career while studying chemistry. She trained at ISIPCA in Versailles, then joined Créations Aromatiques, where Michel Almairac was an important teacher. She moved to Firmenich in 1991.

Her work includes the original Lolita Lempicka fragrance and Boss Bottled. In an interview about Boss Bottled Elixir, she recalled the original perfume’s idea of cooked apple, cinnamon and vanilla: a gourmand association that stood out within masculine fragrance at the time. Returning to the family years later meant finding a new expression of that idea rather than merely increasing its strength.

Menardo speaks of following her convictions when approaching a brief. Her compositions range from the recognisable gourmand character of these launches to the different atmospheres of Bois d’Argent and Bois d’Arménie. Exploring them together reveals how a strong creative premise can lead to very different textures and effects.