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What's With The Nose?

July 30, 2021

What's With The Nose?

I know what I like, but when it comes to creating a great fragrance we need a nose, or nez as the French would say. Artistic composers with such a fine sense of smell, the best only work a few hours a day and often keep their social life scent free.

These men and women can use fragrance to transport us through time, evoking memories of people and events we’ve loved. Through their creativity we can feel more beautiful, uplifted, more relaxed…

So as with all our product fragrances it was to the artists in Grasse that we turned, for a scent to send us to sleep. Something that COVID and lockdowns hasn’t helped with.

Behind many of the world’s most famous fragrances is this little town in Provence called Grasse. A medieval town known as the perfume capital of the world. All the fragrances we use in our products emanate from here.

Grasse and the surrounding area is far enough inland to be protected from the sea air. The soil and unique microclimate are perfect for the jasmine, rose, lavender and wild flowers that formed the storehouse of the nascent French perfume industry. Here you can tour the actual flower fields for Chanel and the fields for Dior etc  

The oldest perfumery in Grasse is Galimard, founded in 1747 and supplier to the court of Louis XV. 

Before that, Grasse was famous for its leathers. But the tanning industry produced many foul odours that didn’t sit well with French nobility. A local tanner decided to perfume the leather gloves he presented to Catherine de Medici and soon the nobility wanted perfume for the rest of their wardrobe.

The city became famous in the court of King Louis XIII and in 1614 the corporation of Perfumed Glove-Makers was officially recognized. Perfumery eventually replaced tanning. (Leather not sunbeds)

Our best-selling product worldwide is LifeSaver Prewash Treatment and many of our clients prefer to use this overnight as a fuss-free way to healthier hair. We wanted to combine this with a fragrance to aid a relaxed drift into sound slumber. NEW LifeSaver Deep Sleep helps with exactly that. Everything you love about LifeSaver Original, imbued with beautiful essences of nature to promote restful sleep.

Thanks to the clever artistry in Grasse we’re delighted with our new Deep Sleep fragrance which includes various natural ingredients like; lavender, armoise, chamomile, rosemary, geranium, orange, patchoulli, petitgrain, clary sage, vetiver to help with insomnia or anxiety, reduce, stress and promote sleep; and a supporting cast of eucalyptol, lime, mandarin, lavandin, cypress, foin absolute, lemon and tonka bean that completes the fragrance 

LifeSaver Deep Sleep – 500ml £32 - vanclarke.com

LifeSaver Deep Sleep – 100ml £11 - vanclarke.com

 Michael Van Clarke



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