Mal-Aimé: The new fragrance from Parfum d’Empire. Usually, perfumes pay tribute to the noblest raw materials on the planet. Perfumers work to combine rare woods, precious flower essences or spices from all four corners of the globe.
Parfum d’Empire is an unusual house, masterfully led by Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, a singular creator who crafts often intense sillages inspired by nature. To recall his Corsican origins, he chose to create a collection named Héritage Corse. In 2021, this olfactory collection was enriched with a new fragrance called Mal-Aimé… And for good reason: this unisex perfume features a rather unconventional material. It is built around inula, a weed! So, what breath does this perfume give off and what is its composition made of? Let us break it down.
Why choose to highlight weeds in a perfume?
Very often, weeds are criticized, banished from gardens and left aside. No one finds any real interest in them, whether aesthetically or olfactorily. Thus, weeds are never used in perfumery. Yet, when one takes a closer look at them, it becomes clear that some of them possess real aesthetic appeal, that others have medicinal or therapeutic properties, and that certain herbs give off a captivating scent. It is therefore to remedy this injustice that Marc-Antoine Corticchiato created the perfume Mal-Aimé. For him, the label weeds is simply unfair. He therefore decided to take the opposite stance from a perfumery that usually only claims noble materials. Here, weeds give rise to a rare and unprecedented fragrance.
Inula, an emblematic plant of Corsica
Inula is a weed that grows absolutely everywhere in Corsica and is easily identified by its small tufts of tousled yellow flowers. Its name comes from the Latin Inula, meaning to purify, in reference to its medicinal properties. Indeed, inula is very often used in essential oil form for its antispasmodic, heart-rate-regulating, anti-inflammatory or calming properties. It is therefore very effective in treating respiratory, circulatory and ENT disorders. Here, it is an entirely different function that interests Marc-Antoine Corticchiato. This time, it is a matter of olfaction, an unprecedented idea.
The rich and distinctive smell of inula
Inula gives off a very distinctive breath. Moreover, if it were not part of the weed category, it would likely have already caught the interest of more than one perfumer. In turn, it unfolds a scent close to that of rose, paired with the sweetness of honey. In the unisex fragrance Mal-Aimé, inula takes on, in turn, a sun-kissed, woody, salty or musky breath. It is therefore a raw material rich in many nuances, highly layered.
The other ingredients making up the perfume Mal-Aimé
Of course, inula is not the only component of the perfume Mal-Aimé. However, to ensure a certain coherence in its fragrance, the house Parfum d’Empire decided to pair it with other equally surprising ingredients, belonging to the same category of plants. Mal-Aimé also contains nettle, roots, brambles and thistle.