Mono Cachemire : behind the scenes x Nathalie Feisthauer
For L'Orchestre Parfum, Nathalie Feisthauer has chiselled a modern musk. A "second skin" musk, designed like a cashmere veil. A caressingly soft musk that embraces the intoxicating sound of Kick Lo-Fi.
Each fragrance of L'Orchestre Parfum matches a style of music, a sound favored by founder Pierre Guguen. It's a hymn to synesthesia, combining the sense of smell and hearing, perfume and music. Two sensory, artistic forms that unite everything from language to emotion. With the same power to awaken, bewitch and revive memories. First, the nose composes the fragrance. Pierre Guguen then shares it with a selected virtuoso, who has carte blanche to set it to music.
Since its beginnings, the brand has explored different horizons, from classical to electro, from world music to jazz, via minimal techno... For this twelfth opus, make way for the slow, fuzzy sound of Kick Lo-Fi, which Mono Cachemire embodies through a floating, enveloping musk. A musical fragrance interpreted by EEVEE, a major producer on the lo-fi scene.
The original desire to modernize musk
The idea of renewing musk with a fluid, modern style was an obvious choice. Mono Cachemire was born of an ongoing dialogue between Pierre Guguen and Nathalie Feisthauer. Nathalie, who worked in major composing houses before going independent, knows just how valuable this exchange is. "I like to work from the stories the designer tells me. That's what I love about niche perfumery, this discussion, this back-and-forth" she asserts.
In 2020, Nathalie Feisthauer signed for the Electro Limonade brand. The expression of a joyful moment, like a glass on the terrace with friends. A feel-good cocktail fragrance, imagined during confinement (awarded a FIFI AWARD in 2021). Just like, Electro Limonade, Mono Cachemire is also a feel-good fragrance, but like a moment to yourself. And who better than musk to convey this intimate side?
A musk, yes, but reinterpreted in a modern way.
An olfactory veil of cashmere
Nathalie Feisthauer wanted this musk to be modern, "far from the heavy, overtly carnal side of some musks", she explains. To infuse it with elegance, she worked with ambertolide, one of her favorite materials. A sophisticated, luminously sensual musk, she dressed it up with muscenone, a molecule with powdery inflections. A musk bouquet sculpted with lightness. "A halo both present and airy, in which you want to curl up, like a cashmere veil".
To give it fluidity, she has bathed this musk in light, playing with pink berries, a touch of pear and aldehydes. But also, carrot seed, another of her favorite materials, which she appreciates for its originality. The iridescent, rising carrot seed enhances the roundness of the musk, "like a whipped cream", says Nathalie Feisthauer. In the heart, jasmine sambac absolute adds texture.
When worn, Mono Cachemire exudes something both light and dense, round and wispy, like the cashmere sweater that inspired it. The scent oscillates between the clarity of pear and aldehydes, and darker, woody base notes. Between the uplift of pink berries at the top, and the smooth roundness of musks, underlined by the mellowness side of cashmeran. A sensual, cozy trail, enveloping and impalpable at the same time, like a second skin.
Aldehyde control, a key step
It took almost a year for Mono Cachemire to emerge. Numerous adjustments were made to achieve the perfect balance. Not least the aldehyde dosage, which embodies the digital, synthetic side of the machines in the DJ's studio. These famous sequencers give Lo-Fi that vintage, crunchy, low fidelity feel. Several attempts to ensure that the aldehydes are present without dominating. So, Nathalie Feisthauer lowered the dosage, supporting carrot seed, pear and pink berry aldehydes for a light, "lazer" effect. As Pierre Guguen explains, "the challenge was to use the aldehydes to evoke the synthetic, almost 'reverb' signal felt in Lo-Fi frequencies, without losing the purity and pleasure of the note. We had to "adjust" the volume of the aldehydes to the right level to find the desired harmony".
"I have a style of composition in which I spend more time removing than adding" states Nathalie Feisthauer. This approach has freed the formula to reveal other facets of the accord. "It was essential to attenuate the presence of the intense aldehydes, as the accord had to remain, above all, an enveloping caress” adds Pierre Guguen. Preserving the supple, comfortable, cottony softness of musks, without ever denying the elegance and light that emanate from the fragrance.
With Mono Cachemire, Nathalie Feisthauer has woven a silky, undulating veil with her simple and refined signature. Discover this new fragrance on L'Orchestre Parfum website and in our points of sale, in 15ml and 100ml formats.
Written by Sophie Normand