{"id":10284,"date":"2023-07-19T14:33:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T13:33:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=10284"},"modified":"2026-01-14T04:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T04:16:12","slug":"ex-nihilos-benoit-verdier-on-how-to-create-addictiveness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/ex-nihilos-benoit-verdier-on-how-to-create-addictiveness\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex Nihilo\u2019s Beno\u00eet Verdier on How to Create Addictiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Founded in 2013, Ex Nihilo has since become one of the most eminent Parisian fragrance houses, building an elite brand of an innovative and uncompromising vision of high perfumery. Staying true to the French nature of combining luxury and freedom, and inspired by the avant-garde, Ex Nihilo is a pioneer of personalized perfumery and an alternative to stereotypical mass-produced fragrance.<\/p>\n

Beno\u00eet Verdier shared a couple of secrets to the fragrance house\u2019s rise to success as well as allowing the guests of Harrods to smell the separate extracts of the ingredients that Ex Nihilo\u2019s perfumers use to create the scents that are so recognisably unique and deliberately addictive. Verdier explained that by working with 16 different perfumers, as well as collaborating with other independent perfumers, which was the case with the upcoming Blue Talisman, and offering them a Carte Blanche to bring their wildest visions to life allowed Ex Nihilo to create \u201cperfumes that are like jewellery\u201d. Verdier empathised that every perfume created by Ex Nihilo has its own distinctive character, personality and temperament, which are also derived from the use of the most exotic and premium materials from around the world.<\/p>\n

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Verdier did not waste a chance to prove that by presenting individual extracts of the materials used for a couple of Ex Nihilo\u2019s favourites and asking guests to try and figure out what they are, turning the session into a fun game of exploration of the infinite possibilities of modern perfumery. Although Ex Nihilo\u2019s signature olfactory notes created from extracts of Rose de Mai <\/em><\/strong>and Tuscan Iris <\/em><\/strong>were not displayed this time, Verdier chose to focus on far more extravagant and unusual materials \u2014 guests were given a chance to enjoy the extracts of Lemon, Saffron<\/em><\/strong>, Patchouly<\/em><\/strong>, Ylang-Ylang<\/em><\/strong>, Cedar Wood<\/em><\/strong> and Vetiver <\/em><\/strong>independently.<\/p>\n

Of course, the ingredients were no secret and are often used by other perfumeries, however Verdier explained how Ex Nihilo\u2019s system of layering the olfactory notes creates such distinct and signature product \u2014 \u201cThe secret is to place the addictive <\/em>and strong notes on top, create an unexpected twist with a second note, and finish it with a gentle and pacifying <\/em>materials as the bottom note\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The key to Ex Nihilo\u2019s success, however, is not just their ability to quite literally \u201cbuild\u201d scents, but to also time after time to maintain the brand\u2019s ability to create something so daring and recognisable. Verdier described it as the fragrance house\u2019s unofficial yet very seriously taken policy to make every single perfume experimental. By pushing the limits with the unexpected top olfactory notes combinations, balancing them out by the unexpected twist of the second note and the harmonising scents of the bottom note Ex Nihilo developed their scents to be unlike any other brand \u2014 immediately recognisable, conspicuous and unforgettable.<\/p>\n

Verdier noted that this technique of boundary-pushing perfume creation has helped to take Ex Nihilo\u2019s marketing to a whole new level as the perfumes are so addictive that once one comes into contact with someone wearing an Ex Nihilo product they would immediately ask for the perfume\u2019s name, which the co-founders have proven themselves many times when they were just starting out. Verdier shared a story, which could be considered a marketing campaign of its own, if it wasn\u2019t so lucky and timely. When Ex Nihilo was still yet to earn the name that it has today on the international perfumery market, Verdier and the other co-founders would give out their products to friends, which, almost solely relying on the word of mouth, made Ex Nihilo reach Jennifer Lopez, who, when visiting Paris, sat next to one of Verdier\u2019s friend at a restaurant. Needless to day that Lopez was absolutely charmed by Ex Nihilo\u2019s Fleur Narcotique<\/em><\/strong> that Verdier\u2019s friend was wearing and had to ask for the name of the perfume.<\/p>\n

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Fleur Narcotique <\/em><\/strong>has since become one of Ex Nihilo\u2019s most recognisable and widely adored perfumes, which is not surprising with its olfactory notes following the regular Ex Nihilo scheme of experimenting with materials. The top notes of this perfume consisting of bergamot, lychee and peach and grounded with the Ex Nihilo\u2019s favourite musk and wood create an addictive, almost narcotically scent. Verdier, who is a dedicated fan of Fleur Narcotique, has promised that the upcoming Blue Talisman will be the new, elegant combination from the previous experiments with musk, wood and other refreshing but addictive scents.<\/p>\n

Considering how the knowledge of the perfumery making that exists within Ex Nihilo that Verdier has so kindly shared only raised the already sky-high expectations of the house\u2019s upcoming products, Blue Talisman promises to be a sensation when it finally comes out o 1st of September.<\/p>\n

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In September this year Ex Nihilo will be celebrating their 10th anniversary, in the wake of which Ex Nihilo will be releasing a new ultra limited perfume edition \u2014 Blue Talisman. This news was delivered to Londoners personally by Beno\u00eet Verdier, one of Ex Nihilo\u2019s co-founders, who came to Harrods London to talk about the house\u2019s new creation and share some of its most interesting secrets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":10285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"type_post":[],"column":[],"class_list":["post-10284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60009,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10284\/revisions\/60009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10284"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=10284"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=10284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}