Harry Styles, Victoria Beckham, Ariana Grande. At the center of a megawatt client list sits Jérôme Epinette, senior perfumer at Robertet and one of beauty’s most in-demand noses.
Despite the eyeballs his clientele attracts, Epinette is a man of simple pleasures, evidenced by his interview with WWD on a recent morning in a New York farmer’s market.
“It’s like being in a garden,” Epinette says of his surroundings, which range from organic produce to artisanal cheeses. “I don’t have a house and a garden in New York. This is what I do to set the mood for the day — usually on Wednesdays, or the weekends. That’s where I get inspired, and I usually buy flowers.”
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His floral tastes are as varied as his creations, which include blockbusters like Byredo’s Bal d’Afrique and Sol de Janeiro’s Cheirosa ‘62. His favorite flowers range from lilacs, jasmine and honeysuckle to the simple eucalyptus stem, which he thumbs through under an open-air florist’s tent.
Those preferences mirror the way he works. “I’m always more like a minimalist creative. I go straight to the points, I don’t like long formulas. I try to pick the most important ingredients and leverage them and push them,” he says. That way, it feels complex, but when you look at ingredients, it’s a simple formula. You can sense every ingredient on their own.”
Epinette didn’t first set out to start making perfumes, though it is a family affair. He spent summers in his native Burgundy, France, working for his mother, who owned perfume stores in the region, which is where he gained an in-depth understanding of beauty consumers.
“My mom had this passion for selling, she was fascinated by consumers’ reactions, and she was amazing at storytelling,” Epinette says. “Now, when I’m with clients, I understand the consumer more. I grew up with that.”
A stint at Robertet in Paris eventually led to his move to New York in 2006, where he’s been based ever since. And he doesn’t always work with evaluators, the fragrance house intermediaries between client and nose.
“Perfumers, we tend to think that we’ve mastered everything, but sometimes it’s good to have a wake up call and it’s good to have feedback,” Epinette says. “But I enjoy being one-on-one with a client, that’s the most interesting part of my job.”
It’s also why they seek him out.
“While I investigated fragrances that I have been drawn to over the years, they have all been Jérôme creations,” Beckham says via email. “That’s why I was adamant that I wanted to collaborate with him, I think he is the best. You could say I stalked him.
“Over the past eight years, I have spent a lot of time with Jérôme. We started with the stories and built the fragrances around them. I’ve loved working so closely with Jérôme for such a long time,” Beckham elaborates. “The amount of fragrances that I have smelled over this time, and that Jérôme has worked, reworked, we’ve discussed and discussed further — this has been a full-on project.”
That collaboration came to fruition in October, with Beckham unveiling a trio of scents based off of vignettes from her personal life, such as romantic trips to Paris and Portofino and life during her family’s stint in Los Angeles.
“Once you understand the brand, and you understand the consumer, you can really partner with them,” Epinette says. “Victoria is involved with the brand, and when you feel that as a creator, there is nothing more interesting than that. It’s very refreshing and inspiring.”
Nyakio Grieco, cofounder of Thirteen Lune and founder of Relevant, sought out Epinette to create her first fragrance. That scent, called 13 Stems, debuted earlier this year. “What surprised me the most about Jérôme was his true desire to cultivate a fragrance that aligns with a founder’s mission so perfectly. His humble yet confident approach to taking you through the mind of his process, mixed with his true understanding of how to interpret his clients’ desires is a testament to his gifts,” she says.
Epinette says inspiration can come from anywhere. That translates to his other passions. He’s as inspired by the organic mise-en-scène in the market for what he likes to cook, which ranges from traditional French fare to simple shrimp sautéed in garlic and herbs. “Based on a conversation, or even a glass of wine or meal, my brain and especially my nose will turn on,” he says, citing travels to the Middle East and an upcoming trip to Spain as other catalysts for creativity.
Once he’s getting to work on a juice, though, he’s not tuned in to outside noise — he keeps it to his dialogue with his partner. “I love people with conviction, especially in my job, you need it,” he says. “But conviction doesn’t mean ideas are good. When they trust you, and that’s what I want to build, they say OK.”
That’s also why he’s not a fan of consumer testing. “It’s a tool, but it’s about how you use the results,” he says. “Some clients use the consumer testing to please everybody and they need to check all the boxes. And that’s where making a fragrance becomes making a soup. I’m always more in the niche world, and trying to do something different — I’m not doing it to please everybody.”
