Nicolas Beaulieu | Perfumer

A clear vocation and an architectural approach to fragrance

Nicolas Beaulieu decided early that he wanted to become a perfumer. He studied chemistry, attended ISIPCA and continued with three years of training at IFF’s internal perfumery school, learning from several experienced mentors.

His account of creating Clinique Aromatics in White offers a detailed example of his method. The brief asked for a new interpretation of the character of Aromatics Elixir, rather than a simple extension of the original perfume.

Beaulieu approached the composition architecturally, building a complex musk accord as its central structure and developing rose, orange blossom, patchouli and benzoin around it. The project took about ten months of work. He associated the idea of white with warmth and texture rather than coolness. The example connects his technical education with an imaginative task: finding a material structure that can make an abstract word or feeling perceptible through smell.