Our fragrance house is specialized in high-end fine fragrance products. SFA is recognized for its choice of the finest raw materials, the creativity of its perfumers, and the quality of its compositions.

Methodology while creating a perfume

The working methodology at SFA is as simple as it is effective: listening to you carefully, getting involved in the creative process as early as possible to make the right choices, and creating the scents that will be successful in your markets. Rich in their fragrance culture and know-how, our team of perfumers and evaluators assess clients’ requests and create fragrant formulas. Once the formula is created, all of the ingredients are weighed and blended, then the mixture is reassessed again by the team. Several readjustments may be necessary before obtaining the best result and is ready to be presented to the client. To this end, SFA favors fruitful exchanges and pooling of expertise. This method has built SFA’s reputation, which is recognized and favored today.

We are proud to have earned our customers’ loyalty through the quality of our work and the value of our relations.

Portrait d’Axel Lehman parfumeur chez SFA
L’orgue des parfumeurs de SFA

Perfume talk

In an era where information is readily available, consumers want and need to understand better what they buy. YouTube, social networks, DYI tutorials, and masterclasses offer loads of content defining the ethereal, magical, immaterial, and intangible art (or science?!) of perfume making. But the best source for this information is undeniably the Perfumer, or Nose, as referred to in our profession.
Our fragrance house is renowned for its expertise, our Perfumers embody fragrance creation as an art with the know-how and technicity of chemical engineers. Our perfumers talk about their perfume creation enthusiastically and passionately. They describe the scent by detailing the different notes and how they complement one another. They often talk about the inspiration behind the perfume and how they brought that inspiration to life in a fragrance composition. Additionally, they may describe the craftsmanship involved in creating the perfume, such as selecting the right ingredients within strict regulations enforced and blending them together.

The storytelling behind a fragrance

In this section, get a glimpse of how we communicate on such an immaterial subject for our clients. First of all, it is necessary to set a common language for our briefs, decrypting clients’ wishes and translating our Perfumers’ interpretations.
The best way to describe a perfume or scent is to employ words that evoke the senses, like “fresh”, “soft”, or “spicy”. Perfumers often describe a scent using associated terminology - like “floral” to group all flowers like roses, violets, lilies, and peonies, or “woody” for scents found in the forest, in a ski lodge, or off a tree bark.
Fragrances trigger emotions; therefore, words associated with certain emotions are legitimate and essential in perfume storytelling. A “romantic” fragrance sets the mood; an “energizing” perfume will do well for a morning shower gel; a “soothing” fragrance will help to relax. Talking about the intensity or longevity of the scent will also add valuable descriptors, such as “strong”, “mild”, or “long-lasting”.
You may find many descriptors and terms in our Glossary section.

Grouping scents into the main “olfactory families”

  • Scents of the Citrus family are characterized by freshness and lightness. They are mainly composed of citrus fruits such as Bergamot, Lemon, Orange, Tangerine, Kumquat, Grapefruit, Lime, etc. Citrus notes are most volatile, usually found in the Top Note descriptors of a fragrance pyramid; they nevertheless bring energy and sparkle. This olfactory family was firstly exploited in «Eau de Cologne» dating back to the 18th century.

  • This family is composed of a great variety of compositions, ranging from sumptuous bouquet accords to single flower fragrances. Perfumers can give free rein to their creativity in order to enrich the fragrances with green, aldehyde, fruity or spicy notes. Characterized by its “natural” scent, the floral family is one of the most important family in feminine perfumery.

  • Oriental perfumes are easily recognizable by their blend of warmth and sensuality. Their richness and sophistication come from a dominant blend of ambery, animalic, powdery, balsamic and sweet notes. To reach an oriental theme (sometimes referred to as the Amber Family) perfumers use complex raw materials like Ambergris, Ambroxan, Labdanum, Myrrh, Incense, Vanilla, and precious woods.

    Floriental: Sometimes considered as a “sub-family”, a floriental fragrance presents both characters: floral and oriental. This transcribes the perfect blend between a floral bouquet and the softness of an oriental.

  • The success of Chypre by Coty in 1917 gave birth to the classic olfactory family of chypre fragrances. These compositions are themed around accords of Oak moss, Labdanum, Patchouli and Bergamot. The richness of the chypre accord is a perfect match with fruity and floral notes. This family gathers strong character fragrances and is easily identifiable especially in their woody dry down.

  • Woody fragrances have a warm and opulent character when dominated by Sandalwood, Guaiac or Patchouli. They are drier when dominated by Cedarwood and Vetiver. These accords, warm, dry and elegant often come with fresh citrus or aromatic notes.

  • The fougère family has nothing to do with the actual plant Fern – its French translation. It encompasses a classic accord composed of Lavender, Bergamot, Coumarine, Geranium and Woody notes. It sometimes contains a touch of Oak moss. The name of this family comes from Houbigant’s famous perfume creation Fougère Royale created in 1882. Initially orientated for masculine fragrances the Fougère family fragrances now appeal to both genders.

  • As perfumery becomes more and more worldly, a new sophistication arises from new generations of “fragrance addicts”. Catering to highly sophisticated noses and aficionados of rich, long lasting sensual fragrances, the leather olfactory family spins off the ambery/oriental accords making the leather notes its central theme.

  • Also a new olfactory direction, the gourmand family arises from the need of comforting fragrances. Obviously built around sweet notes, the gourmand theme may encompass notes of Vanilla, Chocolate, Tonka bean, Nuts, Pralines, Caramel and milky notes.

The olfactory pyramid

At SFA, we offer olfactory pyramids to accompany fragrance submissions. This helps the client better understand the fragrance, translating the Perfumer’s creativity and expertise. An olfactory pyramid is a visual representation of the scent of a fragrance composition. Historically, it resembled a pyramid shape arranged in three layers, with the top notes depicted at the tip of the pyramid, being the most volatile hues, the middle notes at the center layer, and the base notes at the bottom. The top notes are supposed to symbolize the first impressions of the scent, but they don’t linger, while the middle notes are the heart of the fragrance, the part one “falls in love with”, and the base notes are the longest lasting ones, that persist even after hours and constitute the dry-down. Combining olfactory pyramids with an efficient storytelling enables an even better comprehension of the fragrance creation.

Every day, we lovingly create and meticulously manufacture your aromatic compositions.

  • Lucie Galantini, laboratory analysis

  • Aaron Mbairaroua, head of analytical laboratory

  • Olfactive session

  • Portrait of Axel Lehmann, perfumer

    Axel Lehmann, perfumer

  • Sébastien Fligier, perfumer

  • Marion Guillot, perfumer

  • Perfumers session

  • Our perfumers: Tristan Rostain, Sébastien Fligier, Marion Guillot and Axel Lehmann

  • Julie Chiapello, marketing