SPONSORED FEATURE: In Partnership With Michael Bublé’s Debut Fine Fragrance
When I spritz on my morning fragrance, I've often wondered to myself how so many individual ingredients are brought together in a singular bottle of liquid. A scent can encapsulate so many separate elements and convey an emotion or persona, but how does that journey begin? Ahead of the launch of Michael Bublé's debut scent, I spoke to the lead perfumer Karine Dubreuil-Sereni, who created the fragrance alongside Michael and helped to bring his vision to life. I asked her all the questions I've always wanted answered, and got to grips with the journey of a fragrance from beginning to end.
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HOW DOES THE SCENT JOURNEY BEGIN?
On this particular fragrance, the team and I met with Michael to discuss the process and recommended some ingredients for him to try – in order to establish some likes and dislikes. We then worked together to create something truly special he’d be happy to have his name on, and more importantly, create a fragrance so beautiful that it encapsulated the way he would love a woman to smell. Michael is very natural, charismatic and charming to work with. He was inspired and engaged in the process from day one and it has been an absolute pleasure working with him on his debut fragrance; this collaboration has very much been an artist inspired journey working closely with Michael and his team every step of the way.
WHERE DOES THE INSPIRATION FOR FRAGRANCE COME FROM?
I get inspiration from pictures, images and memories; it can come from anywhere and at any time. I might be inspired by a journey, a delicious meal, a garden or a walk in a forest. I usually begin by writing down what I want to create and then start thinking about the ingredients I’d like to use. I always want a fragrance to smell as natural as possible, like the living owner, which is the biggest technical challenge for a perfumer. Creating Michael’s fragrance was a unique and very exciting experience for me; I rarely get the freedom to use the noblest ingredients in perfumery to create a prestige fragrance for women, but with Michael I didn’t have any restrictions. It allowed my imagination to soar: I thought about him, his music and his passions and imagined myself as the woman who would wear his fragrance. Michael’s pre-requisite for involvement from the very start was that it would have to be a fragrance that he actually would buy for himself or his wife. Therefore the creation of the prestige fragrance was ultimately inspired by his values.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CREATE A FRAGRANCE?
For fine fragrance the process can last anywhere from six months to several years; anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of trials are needed, depending the project duration. The first fragrance of Michael Bublé was developed in under one year and required more than 100 trials to get it to where he was happy with it. We're incredibly pleased with and proud of the outcome.
HOW MANY INGREDIENTS ARE INCLUDED IN THE AVERAGE SCENT?
On average between 50 and 100 individual ingredients are included within a formula to create a perfume. As a musician plays with notes, a painter with colors, a writer juggles with words, the perfumer smells and composes perfumes with the harmonization of numerous essences, mixing natural and synthetic raw materials to create a facetted and complex perfume. To create Michael Buble’s fragrance, we used around 70 ingredients including rose peony, bergamot, patchouli, cedar wood, vanilla, praline, red berries, lily of the valley, white amber and musk.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE ABOUT THE LAYERS & NOTES OF A FRAGRANCE?
A fragrance is built like a pyramid, including a top, heart and bottom. Top notes are the most volatile and the ones you smell first; this is like the grip of a perfume and can last for one or two hours. Those notes are made with citrus ingredients to provide freshness and sparkling facets (like lemon, grapefruit and bergamot) as well as some synthetic raw materials like aldehydes. Heart notes are less volatile and can last up to one or two days if they're not washed away; they make a bridge between top and base notes and are made with floral, aromatic or spicy raw materials. Base notes represent the soul of a perfume, its personality and its trail - you can often smell base notes on clothes after days. These notes define the olfactive family of the fragrance and are made with musky, woody, oriental (i.e vanilla, amber) or chypre (patchouli) notes. Every perfume can be smelled according to this schema, but the dosages of each element can vary.
WHY DOES THE COST OF FRAGRANCE VARY SO WILDLY?
The cost of the fragrance varies according to the price of the ingredients used in the formula. For instance, the Rose at the heart of the Michael Bublé fragrance is very expensive: the Bulgarian essence of Rose costs €150,000 per kg and the May Rose Absolute costs €16,500 per kg. Perfume price varies also according to the concentration of perfume oils used (from for an Eau de Cologne concentrated at 5%, an Eau de Toilette concentrated at about 10% and up to 20% for an Eau de Parfum overall) and the strength of the overall scent. Michael Buble’s fragrance is concentrated at 18%, making it a rich and long-lasting fragrance.
ARE WE PROGRAMMED TO THINK SOME SCENTS ARE MASCULINE & OTHERS FEMININE?
All ingredients can be used either for men and women, but the outcome is dependent upon the dosage. Masculine perfumes are more woody or aromatic, while feminine perfumes are more floral or fruity (linked to masculine and feminine archetypes,) but the differentiating factor is in the concentration each are used. Over time our perceptions of masculine and feminine fragrances have also changed; in fact, Victorian men used to pin violet, lavender, rose or honeysuckle to their lapels or hats as a way of covering up their body odour. Nowadays unisex perfumes are very on-trend following the genderless style and the growth of niche perfumery, illustrating that it's not what we wear but how we wear it.
WHY DO CERTAIN ELEMENTS OR PERFUMES SEEM 'OLD FASHIONED'?
Olfactive impressions are strongly linked to associations and memories; some smells can make one think about their grandparents, which naturally causes us to think of them as 'old fashioned'. Perfume signatures also vary through times with the evolution of ingredient regulation, the discovery of new raw materials and also according to trends; like with fashion, there are cycles and trends, so people's tastes evolve into what is deemed to be socially relevant at that particular time. Today, intense and opulent fragrances are on-trend after a long period focused upon freshness and lightness - so we try to work with what's popular to ensure a successful scent.
If you're interested in finding out more about how the Michael Bublé fragrance came to be, you can watch a behind-the-scenes video here! There's even a starring appearance by Karine...
![]()
HOW DOES THE SCENT JOURNEY BEGIN?
On this particular fragrance, the team and I met with Michael to discuss the process and recommended some ingredients for him to try – in order to establish some likes and dislikes. We then worked together to create something truly special he’d be happy to have his name on, and more importantly, create a fragrance so beautiful that it encapsulated the way he would love a woman to smell. Michael is very natural, charismatic and charming to work with. He was inspired and engaged in the process from day one and it has been an absolute pleasure working with him on his debut fragrance; this collaboration has very much been an artist inspired journey working closely with Michael and his team every step of the way.
WHERE DOES THE INSPIRATION FOR FRAGRANCE COME FROM?
I get inspiration from pictures, images and memories; it can come from anywhere and at any time. I might be inspired by a journey, a delicious meal, a garden or a walk in a forest. I usually begin by writing down what I want to create and then start thinking about the ingredients I’d like to use. I always want a fragrance to smell as natural as possible, like the living owner, which is the biggest technical challenge for a perfumer. Creating Michael’s fragrance was a unique and very exciting experience for me; I rarely get the freedom to use the noblest ingredients in perfumery to create a prestige fragrance for women, but with Michael I didn’t have any restrictions. It allowed my imagination to soar: I thought about him, his music and his passions and imagined myself as the woman who would wear his fragrance. Michael’s pre-requisite for involvement from the very start was that it would have to be a fragrance that he actually would buy for himself or his wife. Therefore the creation of the prestige fragrance was ultimately inspired by his values.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CREATE A FRAGRANCE?
For fine fragrance the process can last anywhere from six months to several years; anywhere from a dozen to hundreds of trials are needed, depending the project duration. The first fragrance of Michael Bublé was developed in under one year and required more than 100 trials to get it to where he was happy with it. We're incredibly pleased with and proud of the outcome.
HOW MANY INGREDIENTS ARE INCLUDED IN THE AVERAGE SCENT?
On average between 50 and 100 individual ingredients are included within a formula to create a perfume. As a musician plays with notes, a painter with colors, a writer juggles with words, the perfumer smells and composes perfumes with the harmonization of numerous essences, mixing natural and synthetic raw materials to create a facetted and complex perfume. To create Michael Buble’s fragrance, we used around 70 ingredients including rose peony, bergamot, patchouli, cedar wood, vanilla, praline, red berries, lily of the valley, white amber and musk.
CAN YOU EXPLAIN A LITTLE ABOUT THE LAYERS & NOTES OF A FRAGRANCE?
A fragrance is built like a pyramid, including a top, heart and bottom. Top notes are the most volatile and the ones you smell first; this is like the grip of a perfume and can last for one or two hours. Those notes are made with citrus ingredients to provide freshness and sparkling facets (like lemon, grapefruit and bergamot) as well as some synthetic raw materials like aldehydes. Heart notes are less volatile and can last up to one or two days if they're not washed away; they make a bridge between top and base notes and are made with floral, aromatic or spicy raw materials. Base notes represent the soul of a perfume, its personality and its trail - you can often smell base notes on clothes after days. These notes define the olfactive family of the fragrance and are made with musky, woody, oriental (i.e vanilla, amber) or chypre (patchouli) notes. Every perfume can be smelled according to this schema, but the dosages of each element can vary.
WHY DOES THE COST OF FRAGRANCE VARY SO WILDLY?
The cost of the fragrance varies according to the price of the ingredients used in the formula. For instance, the Rose at the heart of the Michael Bublé fragrance is very expensive: the Bulgarian essence of Rose costs €150,000 per kg and the May Rose Absolute costs €16,500 per kg. Perfume price varies also according to the concentration of perfume oils used (from for an Eau de Cologne concentrated at 5%, an Eau de Toilette concentrated at about 10% and up to 20% for an Eau de Parfum overall) and the strength of the overall scent. Michael Buble’s fragrance is concentrated at 18%, making it a rich and long-lasting fragrance.
ARE WE PROGRAMMED TO THINK SOME SCENTS ARE MASCULINE & OTHERS FEMININE?
All ingredients can be used either for men and women, but the outcome is dependent upon the dosage. Masculine perfumes are more woody or aromatic, while feminine perfumes are more floral or fruity (linked to masculine and feminine archetypes,) but the differentiating factor is in the concentration each are used. Over time our perceptions of masculine and feminine fragrances have also changed; in fact, Victorian men used to pin violet, lavender, rose or honeysuckle to their lapels or hats as a way of covering up their body odour. Nowadays unisex perfumes are very on-trend following the genderless style and the growth of niche perfumery, illustrating that it's not what we wear but how we wear it.
WHY DO CERTAIN ELEMENTS OR PERFUMES SEEM 'OLD FASHIONED'?
Olfactive impressions are strongly linked to associations and memories; some smells can make one think about their grandparents, which naturally causes us to think of them as 'old fashioned'. Perfume signatures also vary through times with the evolution of ingredient regulation, the discovery of new raw materials and also according to trends; like with fashion, there are cycles and trends, so people's tastes evolve into what is deemed to be socially relevant at that particular time. Today, intense and opulent fragrances are on-trend after a long period focused upon freshness and lightness - so we try to work with what's popular to ensure a successful scent.
If you're interested in finding out more about how the Michael Bublé fragrance came to be, you can watch a behind-the-scenes video here! There's even a starring appearance by Karine...
Watch the live stream of the fragrance reveal, taking place midnight on Wednesday 24th August in New York City with Michael himself in attendance, via the Michael Bublé Facebook page.
Find out more about the fragrance as soon as it launches via www.michaelbubleperfume.com
This is a sponsored post on behalf of Michael Buble Perfume; all opinions are my own.
Features PR samples unless otherwise stated. To read my full disclaimer, click here.