8 commentsOriginally a research chemist, Christine Nagel has worked at Firmenich, Creations Aromatiques, Quest, Fragrance Resources and Givaudan. She has spent the past 4 years at Mane, where she has been responsible for most of Jo Malone London’s output in that time.
At the end of last year, an announcement from Hermès had many of us perfumistas intrigued: Christine Nagel would be joining them as in-house perfumer alongside Jean-Claude Ellena (Signalling that JCE may well be looking to retire soon) - as she begins her tenure at Hermès, I take a look back at her best works of her career so far.
Click Next to see Christine Nagel's Greatest Hits.
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About the author: Nick Gilbert
Nick has been working in the world of fragrance for over 15 years. He is co-founder of Olfiction, a creative scent agency offering fragrance development, training, copy and content production. He is frequently quoted in the press and has provided perfumery training globally, from London to Seoul.
Website: http://www.olfiction.com
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Great article - and spot on descriptions!
To me, Christine Nagel is the master of the overripe (as you wrote), if not outright rotten accords. A turn-off at first, but then they make you want to go back and smell again and again. Which is a proof of her talent in creating solid structures with interesting twists. To me, the two best examples are Theorema (as you stated) and Archives, where I also perceive a powerful overripe/rotten note.
Jo Malone seemed the opposite of this style (to my nose, she did try to slip some potent note in a couple of them, like the chocolate one from the English dessert series, but to me they smelled all wrong). In Hermes, I hope she will be able to break from the transparent style of the house and return to her bolder intentions.
Wishes for her work there: perhaps, given the origin of the house, a dirty leather-an animalic leather with rotten fruit ovetones?
Also, I think in the lemon pie Jo Malone she had a tarte au citron accord that reminded a bit of Feu d'Issey. But then there was nothing else there. Perhaps she can create something as varied as FdI?
And of course, a Theorema 2.0 would be most welcome.
cacio