Master Perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux of Givaudan + 3 You Should Be Wearing Draw

June 4, 2019June 4, 2019

Master Perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux of Givaudan

Perfume lovers reach the point of loving and recognizing the work of their favorite perfumers just as avid readers believe certain writers speak directly to them. Many a perfumista counts Rodrigo Flores-Roux among their perfumer crushes. Mr. Flores-Roux is the Senior Creative Perfumer and Vice President for Perfumery in Givaudan’s New York Studio. As to be expected of a botanist he has a deep passion for natural ingredients, especially those of his home country, Mexico. He is a master of citrus and florals. If someone asked me to define Rodrigo Flores-Roux’s work in one word I’d tell them I needed three: joyous, elegant and sensual – often within the same perfume. It makes me smile to think the name of one of his first signed perfumes, Clinique Happy (created with Jean Claude Delville in 1997) has proven to be prophetic. Last month I was fortunate enough to have a long conversation with Rodrigo Flores-Roux in which he answered a seemingly impossible question, “If you could tell ÇaFleureBon readers which three of your creations they should be wearing, what would they be?” Below are his three choices presented in chronological order with good dose “inside the mind of the perfumer”.

John Varvatos and Rodrigo-Flores Roux, 2019 © The Fragrance Foundation

This year is the tenth anniversary of the release of John Varvatos Artisan, the fourth and still one of the most popular fragrances in the line that Rodrigo Flores-Roux and John Varvatos created together. Mr. Varvatos wanted to add a different sort of scent to the collection; he dreamed of something that would evoke the feeling of escaping the city in a convertible and trading your leather jacket for a fresh, white cotton shirt.

If Mr. Flores-Roux had taken the brief literally he would have composed a much different fragrance. Instead it was the feeling of joy and freedom that spoke to the perfumer. While resting in his room in the Hotel de Lutece in Paris the perfume formed itself in Mr. Flores-Roux’s mind. He rushed to the desk and jotted down the formula on the small hotel note pad. (The scribbled outline now hangs framed on John Varvatos’s office wall.)

Traditional piñata in Alcoman, Mexico. Photo via México Desconocido

After just a few weeks of refinement Rodrigo Flores-Roux had bottled a memory from his childhood in Mexico, the exciting moment when a Christmas piñata is smashed and ripe fruits like the traditional winter mandarins and tejocotes fall to the ground among clay and paper. Citrus is king in this fragrance and when I wear it feel as if I’m experiencing nearly endless facets of the oranges in the piñata. The tart opening leads into a juicy aromatic stage with an accentuated floralcy. There was one quality I sensed but couldn’t quite pin down. Rodrigo Flores-Roux explained to me that the mandarin peel contains two or three sulphur compounds and he made sure to include them in his citrus accord to make it a truly naturalistic. Although marketed to men John Varvatos certainly is very wearable for women, especially in warm weather. My only wish for it, as with many citrus-centric fragrances, would be that the beauty of the fruit notes lasted longer on my skin. However the beautiful woody and softly musky dry down is certainly enjoyable. Notes: Tangelo, Sicilian Clementine, Mexican Mandarin, Thyme, Marjoram, Lavandin, Orange blossom, Indian Murraya, Nigerian and Chinese gingers, Purple ginger, Georgywood (® Givaudan), Belambre (™ Givaudan), Kephalis (Givaudan), Serenolide musk

Sun drenched skin, Seventies style. “Nude for Pentax”, 1975. © Helmut Newton

Arquiste Ella (2016): ELLA is one of Rodrigo Flores-Roux’s most written about fragrances and for very good reason. It’s a growly, sexy chypre with both a chic modernity and vintage vibe. The inspiration for the fragrance was the sultry disco scene of Acapulco in the 1970’s. The woman, Ella, is dancing, sweating, smoking, drinking and finding an Él to kiss. Mr. Flores-Roux is very proud of the ghost of a masculine note in the perfume which conveys that carnal connection between our man and woman. As I mentioned Rodrigo Flores-Roux is inspired by the flora of his native Mexico. In this case it was the flowers in the canopy of the fragrant cannonball trees he passed through while climbing up to his stepmother’s Acapulco hillside home. Headspace technology allowed him to capture their scentprint so they could mingle with a bright rose and jammy jasmine.

Carlos Huber, founder of Arquiste, testing with Flores-Roux over champagne, Saint Germain-en-Laye, France 2017. Photo courtesy of Arquiste

If you haven’t yet worn ELLA please do. It is a slinky, sexy perfume that will seduce you (and perhaps another) while it transports you to a fantasy beach where nothing is forbidden. Notes: Cannonball tree flower, Angelica root, Carrot seed, Turkish rose, Jasmine, Cardamom, Black buckwheat honey, Ambergris, Patchouli, Civet, Vetiver, Cigarette smoke accord, Chypre accord

Expand your mind to hold the bright and the dark at once. “Regular Division of the Plane IV”, 1957 © The M.C. Escher Company B.V

Santi Burgas Palindrome II (2017): Rodrigo Flores-Roux was the most animated and excited when speaking to me about Santi Burgas Palindome II, the scent he wears most often himself. The concept of the three fragrances in the Palindrome series plays with how you read a fragrance. In Palindrome II Mr. Flores-Roux sees himself as having a conversation with us the wearers. He challenges us to experience the antithetical properties in notes we think we know. There is a central core of a sweet, animalistic patchouli accord around which other notes orbit and which lives throughout the time spent on your skin. There is lasting depth to the top bergamot note and sweetness to the labdanum that is evident from the start. We need to be able to hold both in our minds at once, like those black and white drawings in which you can see both a black vase AND two white profiles simultaneously.

Rodrigo Flores-Roux was inspired by the work of visual artist Rachel Whiteread and her sculptures that give solidity to the negative spaces we live with, such as casting the interior of a room in plaster so that the space we expect to experience as air is now concrete. Do not be put off by the intellectual exercise of this perfume. It is a delicious, spicy, leather fragrance nicely doused with rum. It’s a puzzle you will want to wear repeatedly to give you time to work out its many moves. Notes: Calabrian bergamot, angelica root, sugar cane, white and black pepper, Nigerian ginger, Ceylonese cardamom, Castoreum, Chinese osmanthus, Maltese labdanum, cinnamon tree leaves, leather accord, patchouli, Mexican vanilla

Marianne Butler, Senior Contributor

Editor’s Note: Michelyn met Rodrigo in 2008 at a Varvatos event in NYC. He is an avid vintage fragrance collector and when she has a question on anything perfume related she asks “Rodripedia”. She was the first blogger to interview Rodrigo to the best of her knowledge (for another site). Rodrigo was Michelyn’s pick for perfumer of the year 2018.

Disclaimer: A sample of Palindrome II was kindly provided by Rodrigo Flores-Roux and his team at Givaudan. Thank you to Bryson at the John Varvatos boutique in the Oculus, NYC for a sample of John Varvatos Artisan. Arquiste Ella is in my own collection. As always, my opinions are my own.

Palindrome II (front and back), courtesy of Santi Burgas

Thanks to the generosity of Santi Burgas and Arquiste we have a bottle of Santi Burgas Palindrome II (USA or EU Only

Arquiste ELLA for one registered reader.

To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what strikes you about the three perfumes Mr. Flores-Roux has selected and which of the two you would like to win (country restrictions). Also please tell us if you have a favorite perfume created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux. Draw closes 6/8/2019

Please follow the links to read more about some of the highlights of Rodrigo Flores-Roux’s work in several of our reviews: Aedes de Venustas Oeillet Bengale, Arquiste Sydney Rock Pool, Frassaï Verano Porteño, Tom Ford Neroli Portofino, 2010 reformulation of Houbigant’s Fougere Royale, Le Galion L’Ame Perdue , and Aether Suprae.

We announce the winners only on site and on our Facebook page, so Like ÇaFleureBon and use our Blog feed…or your dream prize will be just spilled perfume.