{"id":52792,"date":"2025-07-19T23:23:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T22:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/?p=52792"},"modified":"2025-07-19T23:23:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T22:23:57","slug":"a-fragrance-that-doesn-t-yet-exist-a-morning-with-ex-nihilo-at-harrods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/a-fragrance-that-doesn-t-yet-exist-a-morning-with-ex-nihilo-at-harrods\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fragrance That Doesn\u2019t Yet Exist: A Morning with Ex Nihilo at Harrods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Founded in Paris in 2013, Ex Nihilo<\/em> is a relatively young perfume house. All of its fragrances are unisex \u2014 a decision its founders see not as a marketing gimmick but as a deliberate move beyond outdated notions of \u201cmasculine\u201d and \u201cfeminine\u201d scents. For the Ex Nihilo<\/em> team, perfume is an act of self-expression that doesn\u2019t require gendered labels. Each creation is the result of painstaking work: developing a new fragrance takes six to seven months \u2014 sometimes more. Ingredients are designed from scratch, every note is tested, measured, and discussed in depth.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Jordi Fernandez and Benoit Verdier<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The hardest part, according to Fern\u00e1ndez, is creating something truly new. \u201cA scent should fill a room without overwhelming it \u2014 it should be captivating, but never cloying,<\/em>\u201d he explains. In his view, perfumery is not unlike cinematography: you have to capture the essence, zoom in, highlight a nuance, and let it become the star of the whole composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guests were first introduced to the brand through Brompton Immortals<\/strong>, a rich, spicy oriental fragrance with hints of patchouli, warm spices, and a soft woody base. Inspired by Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s travels through the Middle East, the scent feels like it was pieced together in the shadows of minarets and cypress trees.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Alexander Tatiev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Next came Blue Talisman<\/strong>, one of the brand\u2019s bestsellers \u2014 far lighter and more airy. Bergamot, pear, jasmine, and a touch of ginger create a weightless composition, like morning dew mixed with fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Talisman Extrait<\/strong> \u2014 not yet released \u2014 offered an intriguing variation on the same theme. This version unfolds gradually: orange zest, vanilla, and amber wood notes reveal themselves in layers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Alexander Tatiev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The lineup continued with some lesser-known offerings: The Hedonist<\/strong>, a woody citrus, and The Irreverents<\/strong>, soft and sweet with notes of vanilla and caramel. The final act was Scarlett Sands<\/strong> \u2014 an exclusive scent previously available only in Dubai and now, for the first time, in Harrods, which received a limited batch of just 300 bottles. Deep and velvety, it blends desert sun, the warmth of skin, and the crystalline chill of nighttime air. Together, it\u2019s a reminder that fragrance isn\u2019t just about scent \u2014 it\u2019s about atmosphere, memory, time, and place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Harrods breakfast was a perfect showcase of what independent perfume houses do best: a genuine approach, informal conversation, meticulous attention to detail, and total creative freedom. These brands don\u2019t chase trends, they don\u2019t segment their audience by gender, and they aren\u2019t afraid to try unusual combinations. The olfactory spectrum \u2014 from the airy Blue Talisman<\/strong> to the musky Brompton Immortals<\/strong> and the experimental Scarlett Sands<\/strong> \u2014 makes it clear: Ex Nihilo<\/em> is willing to take risks, but does so with intention and precision.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Photo by Alexander Tatiev<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The brand\u2019s team has already achieved something remarkable: not just capturing attention, but prompting a question \u2014 what might a fragrance that doesn\u2019t yet exist smell like? And if, along the way, someone discovered their olfactory alter ego \u2014 then Ex Nihilo <\/em>has absolutely done its job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London, midsummer. On the sun-drenched terrace of the legendary Harrods, niche French perfume house Ex Nihilo hosted a breakfast: fresh flowers, berries, fruit, pastries, porcelain \u2014 and, of course, perfume bottles. In this setting of gentle indulgence, bloggers, journalists, and influencers were introduced to the brand\u2019s newest fragrances in the company of Ex Nihilo co-founder Beno\u00eet Verdier and star perfumer Jordi Fern\u00e1ndez. But this wasn\u2019t just a product launch \u2014 it was a behind-the-scenes conversation: about how ideas are born, the risks and challenges the team faces, and the stories embedded in each scent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":52725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[],"type_post":[184],"column":[],"class_list":["post-52792","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\/52792","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\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52792"},{"taxonomy":"type_post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type_post?post=52792"},{"taxonomy":"column","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londoncult.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/column?post=52792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}