THE STORY OF A FUTURISTIC PERFUME: JULIETTE KARAGUEUZOGLOU LOC DONG

Loc, you are part of team Olympea. Juliette you are on team Invictus. How does creating for Paco Rabanne influence your vision?

Loc: Paco Rabanne has always been a forward thinking, daring, futuristic brand. Every time I create a Paco Rabanne perfume, I challenge myself to bring newness, while keeping a great sense of craftmanship and emotion. As perfumers, we are constantly searching for newness, and Paco Rabanne takes you to the next level.

Juliette: I have the exact same feeling about the brand. It challenges us, as perfumers, to combine disruption and emotion to create something daring and unexpected, but also friendly and fun. It’s always a great pleasure to work for Paco Rabanne.

What indications did Paco Rabanne team give you for Phantom?

Loc: They asked us to share our vision for the future of Paco Rabanne. That was a great challenge because with that in mind, we almost had a wild card, we were free to propose anything! It was extremely exciting. Since we were free to do whatever we wanted the sky was the limit! And we decided to go even beyond. The original idea was to blend futurism and history, innovation and craftmanship, freshness and addiction. I wanted to reinvent the molecules that expressed freshness. Thanks to artificial intelligence, I was able to do it, and connect this futuristic freshness with creamy lavender, bringing more disruption and addiction to this historical note. Here, it is completely reinvented.

Loc, you are in New York. Juliette, you are in Paris. How did that long distance collaboration go? Who came up with that?

Loc: I was in Paris when I created the first accord, then I left for New York City and I really wanted to continue the project with Juliette. Paris and New York are finally so close, and when you work with someone you trust, with a natural friendship, then it is very easy to spend time crafting this beauty together.

Juliette: Indeed, and you know what, thanks the different time zones, the perfume never slept, since one of us was always working on it… Loc brought freshness and tension, while I focused on craftmanship and balance.

Phantom was conceived with the help of artificial intelligence. How does that work?

Loc: Artificial intelligence is a fantastic tool, increasing the speed of innovation by enhancing our creativity.

Did artificial intelligence take you places you never thought you would go?

Loc: In fact, I prefer to see AI as a GPS, but I remain the driver. It can tell me how fast I can go, or alternative routes I can take, but I remain the creator and can decide whether to go in a certain direction or not.

Phantom is made with feel-good notes that can hack our mood. Could you tell us about them and their effects?

Loc & Juliette: We used very specific qualities of lavender in the fragrance, such as lavandin heart, which is not a typical lavender, but rather a very modern lavender note extracted through molecular distillation. Tests have demonstrated that it boosts happiness. We crafted this ingredient specifically for Phantom and it really impacts the result.

As you went back and forth between Paris and New York, was there a “ta-dah” moment, when you knew you had your accord?

Loc: In fact, the first “ta-dah moment” really happened with the initial accord. It’s always our job to find tension from the beginning, and that accord was very intriguing. Another “ta-dah moment” happened later in the project when we felt that this very specific tension was harmonized and taken to a beautiful balance and signature.

Let’s talk naturals. You have used three different qualities of lavender here. What’s so special about them? And what about patchouli and vetiver heart? What’s the difference here?

Juliette: There are various extractions possible with naturals and we really crafted every detail of the scent by using specific qualities to bring a beautiful qualitative feeling with a great modernity. We created a “Lavender 3.0” that combines lavandin heart, lavandin Enfleurage 2.0 and lavender oil. Each of them highlights very specific facets that complement each other and create a very innovative lavender note, which is quite a challenge as this is a historical note of perfumery! The heart is a fractional distillation of a natural, that allows you to focus on very specific facets, and to lower the volume of others. It creates a very precise message which is very important for us.

Have you used any mind-blowing man-made molecules to give Phantom its incredible signature?

Loc: We wanted to combine things people didn’t expect, we really wanted to bring surprise and innovation. We used innovative molecules such as Creamytone which is very addictive and sensual, but we also pushed the level of another molecule, styrallyl acetate, to an incredible amount. This molecule has been used for decades in perfumery but never in that ratio!

What makes Phantom such a Paco Rabanne fragrance?

Loc: It was crafted from scratch for Paco Rabanne only so it could be a Paco Rabanne scent!

Juliette: It is a feel-good, futuristic scent, pushing back boundaries in every aspect.