This creative approach led Polge to devise a perfume that combines powdery and luminous notes, two characteristics often seen as mutually exclusive in the world of fragrance. Rather than using vanilla, a conventional powder note, Polge opted for unconventional ingredients that would result in a unique fragrance. He selected heliotrope, a flower with a sweet and almond-like scent, and iris... sourced from Chanel's exclusive fields in Grasse, France, renowned for producing high-quality ingredients. Polge also incorporated a cherry blossom accord in the top notes, a choice that may divide fragrance enthusiasts.
However, in his skilled hands, this unexpected note added the desired delicate and sparkling quality. The perfume's development involved experimenting with fresh raw materials, such as bergamot and neroli, before deciding to create a cherry blossom accord that combined these notes' elements. This blend created the right luminous impression... drawing inspiration from the earthy and sugary scent of the French griotte cherry.
Ultimately, Polge's creation, Comète, "is a testament to the perfumer's imagination and creativity." By combining powdery and luminous notes with unconventional ingredients, "Polge has crafted a unique fragrance that embodies the essence of comets." While the perfume may not resemble the scent left on astronauts' suits, it is a thought-provoking and innovative creation that opens up new possibilities for fragrance development.
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But what exactly does a comet smell like? Humans will never know (getting a pure, unadulterated whiff would be impossible), but astronauts who have been to space haven't exactly raved about the aroma left behind on their suits, describing it as “seared steak” and “ welding fumes .” Not exactly the stuff of luxury fragrance.
Polge, therefore, had to rely on his imagination. “Once you find an idea that you feel is meaningful—and this is the part I like—you have to create a fantasy, and in the case of Comète it was quite visual,” he says. The perfumer began thinking about stardust, equating the light traced by cosmic particles across the night sky to the olfactory trail left hanging in the air by a fragrance. That gave him the idea to create a perfume that was simultaneously powdery and luminous—two types of scent often considered mutually exclusive in the world of fragrance. Polge thought it was a welcome challenge.
“The easy way would've maybe been to create a scent around vanilla , which is really the obvious powder [note]. But my idea was to use ingredients that are not only powdery, but also floral and slightly woody,” he explains. He relied on heliotrope, a flower often described as sweet and smelling of almonds or cherries, in addition to iris, from Chanel's exclusive Iris pallida fields in Grasse, on the French Riviera—among the highest-quality in the world.
Polge also incorporated, in the top notes, an unexpected cherry blossom accord, an ingredient that divides many fragrance fans. In his deft hands, however, the synthetic note added the delicate, sparkling quality he sought. “I began by using fresh raw materials, like a touch of bergamot and a touch of neroli, but they changed the feeling of the scent. So I decided to create a cherry blossom accord, combining many of those other notes' elements and creating the right luminous impression,” he says. When developing the accord, Polge considered a very specific type of French cherry, griotte , which smells earthy, versus sugary and sweet.
