Discover how our soap bar and shower gel fragrances are made
Photos Sonny Febrissi
Words Matthieu Morge-Zucconi
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Read on to discover how we make our shower gels and soap bars smell so amazing.
This week, we launched our new superfatted soap bar fragrance: Virginia Cedar & Sage Leaf. A fresh and woody scent that you already loved in our shower gel. At Horace, we believe effective grooming essentials should also smell good. Our latest release is the perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about how we make our different fragrances.
Natural, never synthetic
This is an important detail: all our fragrances are 100% natural. They are harmonious compositions, made from essential oils. There are more than a dozen essential oils in each scent. Essential oils are extracted from different parts of the plant or fruit: peel, flowers, leaves, roots, seeds, wood...
Like all fragrances, ours consist of an olfactory pyramid: top notes, which you smell first, followed by heart/middle notes, that fully develop over time and give the fragrance its character, and base notes, which provide the olfactory identity.
How we create fragrances
Everything starts with a concept, an idea. We have something in mind, a memory, an atmosphere.
We then try to explain as best as we can to our perfume creator, who is located not far from Avignon. Catherine, the nose, is in charge of creating a composition that meets our expectations. We then go through several iterations and adjustments until we achieve the perfect result. We also send our soap bar and shower gel base formulas to the perfume creator to test different concentrations and find the right blend. Neither too strong, nor too weak. Like a good Negroni.
Italian bergamot & Peppermint
The brief was simple for this one: we wanted this fragrance to feel like a leisurely stroll in Capri, an after-beach shower in the midst of a warm Mediterranean summer. It consists of a blend of citrus fruits from Italy, lemon, green tangerine, and bergamot, with peppermint and spearmint leaves from France, which provide fresh and tonic notes. The heart of the perfume is just as fresh, with further Mediterranean vibes: aromatic essential oils such as lavender and Cuban oregano round off the composition. The base notes are woody and consist of a mix of noble woods: patchouli from Indonesia, vetiver from Haiti, and Scots pine.
Peppermint & Tea tree
For this perfume, we drew inspiration from our famous flavoured toothpicks. The scent is a mixture of peppermint and tea tree. It's super fresh, ideal to wake you up in the morning, or help you recover after exercising. It will provide a much-needed boost on those particularly difficult mornings. This time, the concept was an invigorating trek in the heart of the mountains.
Orange blossom & Petitgrain
Close your eyes and picture this: you're in a Moroccan garden, the day is coming to an end, and the sun is setting over the palm grove. That's precisely the scene we had in mind when this scent was created. It's a mix of orange blossom and petitgrain bigarade, which is orange tree leaf. It was designed specifically for those moments when you need a comforting shower to relax at the end of the day or the weekend. Élise, who developed the product, explains it best: "with this fragrance, we wanted something more relaxing, sunny notes, for those moments when you need a little comfort." Ideal for winter: if you're not warm outside, you might as well be warm inside. We used citrus fruits, with notes of orange blossom, petitgrain, bergamot, and lemon to make this scent. A dash of rosemary provides some fresh notes too.
Virginia cedar & Sage leaf
Last but not least, the fragrance of our newly launched soap bar. Once again, we had a specific atmosphere in mind: a walk in the forest, a shower under a waterfall after cutting wood. Jim Harrison style. It's a fresh, woody scent. It is composed of a rich and fresh top note, blending almond and aniseed hawthorn with hints of liquorice, leading to a fresh and purifying aromatic heart composed of eucalyptus globulus, rosemary, and clary sage. The base notes consist of a variety of woods, which give this scent its distinctly outdoorsy signature: sandalwood from New Caledonia, vetiver from Haiti, and, of course, Virginia cedar, as stated in the name.
Our shower gel and soap bar fragrances no longer hold any secrets for you. Maybe you've already tried them and even have your favourite. If so, let us know!
