Nectar Olfactif: a house born of the hive, three extraits composed at Robertet

Some houses start from a perfumer. Nectar Olfactif starts from a hive.

Its creator, David Perrin, collects niche perfumes and travels widely. Before launching his own house, he worked on the manufacturing and packaging of perfumes for other niche brands — which gave him, he says, a particular sensitivity to the quality of materials, bottles and boxes. Three of his extraits join the PlanèteBeauty catalogue today.

The bee as a method

What fascinates David Perrin about bees is their organisation: the division of labour within the hive, and the foragers bringing back nectar the way one gathers the raw materials of a composition. The house took its name and its direction from it: it composes only extraits de parfum, and each creation starts from a story in which the bee plays a part — ancient Egypt, Mexican vanilla, the almond tree in bloom.

A bottle that tells of the hive

The bottle is a cube whose inner lacquer has the colour of honey; its cap recalls a honeycomb cell. On the screen-printed gold medallion, a bee stands out with a flower and leaves. It is inspired by the bee found preserved in amber in Burma, which the house presents as the oldest bee fossil discovered to date — around one hundred million years old. The box, green like the plant world, is protected by an outer case and opens onto a suedette interior.

Why Robertet

David Perrin chose to work with the perfumers of Robertet, a house whose reason for being, for more than two centuries, has been natural raw materials. The three extraits presented here each bear the signature of a different perfumer from Robertet, and Nectar Olfactif names them — which not every house does.

Secret du Nil — the bee of the pharaohs

In ancient Egypt, the bee was a royal symbol: it was said to be born from the tears of the sun god Ra, and its honey was served to newlyweds, hence the expression “honeymoon”. Signed by Sidonie Lancesseur, Secret du Nil is a gourmand, floral extrait: bergamot, bitter orange and bitter almond at the top; orange blossom, neroli, toasted almond and honey at the heart; vanilla, icing sugar, cedar and musks at the base.

“Deliciously seductive and enveloping, Secret du Nil warms the soul so you can savour your days.” — Nectar Olfactif

Melipona — vanilla and its bee

Louis XIV wanted to grow vanilla on Île Bourbon; every attempt failed, because no one in Europe knew that it is a Mexican bee, the Melipona, that pollinates the orchid and makes it yield its pod. Signed by Serge De Oliveira, Melipona opens on Bourbon vanilla, settles a heart of cashmere wood and amber, then descends towards crystal amber, musks and vanilla sugar.

Suprême Nectar — the almond tree in bloom

The almond tree, cultivated for five thousand years, blooms between February and March. It is a generous honey plant: the bees that move from one tree to the next pollinate its flowers, and each flower will give an almond. Signed by Amandine Galliano, Suprême Nectar places almond and amber at the top, almond blossom, honey and creamy notes at the heart, and sandalwood, musk, patchouli and vanilla at the base.

Where to place them

All three belong to the gourmand family, but not in the same way: Secret du Nil pulls it towards orange blossom and citrus, Melipona towards amber vanilla, Suprême Nectar towards almond and honey. Our guide to olfactory families helps tell them apart, and our article on what the percentages really say explains what the word “extrait” covers.

The three Nectar Olfactif extraits at PlanèteBeauty

• NECTAR OLFACTIF Secret du Nil Extrait de Parfum 100 ml — floral gourmand, by Sidonie Lancesseur
• NECTAR OLFACTIF Melipona Extrait de Parfum 100 ml — amber vanilla, by Serge De Oliveira
• NECTAR OLFACTIF Suprême Nectar Extrait de Parfum 100 ml — almond gourmand, by Amandine Galliano

All three exist as a Try Me 2 ml: an extrait is chosen on skin, and a sample costs less than the wrong bottle. The house is on the Nectar Olfactif page.

Sources: Nectar Olfactif official site — the “À propos” page, the perfume pages and the shop listings. The notes and the perfumers’ names are reproduced as they appear there; the quotation is translated from the French. No wear time is stated here, in line with our editorial rule.