I recently flew out with L’Occitane to Paris for a special collaboration with Pierre Herme, launching this Fall. When the brand first got in contact, I was excited because – not only do I love L’Occitane (live for their Almond supple oil and so sad they discontinued one of my favourite Neroli fragrances), I also love Pierre Herme (some of the best macarons and they also have some of the best pastries, that you can only find in Paris.) We were told we were going to discover an unexpected collaboration between the two brands – naturally, I thought it was going to be a range of pastries – but I was wrong. After arriving to Paris, we checked into our gorgeous hotel, Le Royal Monceau by the Raffles Group (designed by Philippe Starck, and serve Pierre Herme pastries).

 

Between discovering the area of Le Marais (known for their arts and culture), Le Marais’s secret gardens (secret, because most people don’t know about them) and seeing Paris’s beautiful nature. L’Occitane are all about promoting the beauty of nature, which is why they took us to those gardens. The highlight of the trip however, was a sit down with the founders of both brands – Olivier Baussan, the founder of L’occitane that he established in 1976 and Pierre Herme, who began his career at the age of 14. Being good friends, this is the first time the two have ever collaborated. For this special collaboration coming out in the fall, Pierre created the fragrances and the flavours, whilst Olivier created the shapes of the packaging and colours. The collection consists of 3 ranges – the Jasmin-Immortelle (a blend of Jasmine, Neroli and Oliver’s favourite scent – immortelle, which is my personal favourite), Pamplemousse Rhubarbe (which is a mix of clove and nutmeg) and lastly Miel Manadarine (which is a mix of notes including Honey, Mandarin orange and Immortelle). My favourite was naturally, the floral one – the Jasmin-Immortelle-Neroli was one of the largest – and included the Eau de Toilette, shower gel, Body lotion, shimmering body powder, perfumed soap, hand cream and lip gloss. the Pamplemousse Rhubarbe slightly smaller including the Eau de toilette, shower gel, body lotion, hand cream, lip balm and perfumed soap and lastly, the Miel Mandarine only including the hand cream and lip balm.

 

How did they get to this collaboration? Seven years ago, Pierre went to visit Corsica (where Olivier vacations a lot) and Oliver showed Pierre ingredients such as Immortelle and citrus (which he fell in love with) and it became inevitable that they had to work together. Even though it was something different to what Pierre has ever worked on, creating food and ingredients is quite similar to developing fragrances. The idea was first brought up 3-4 years ago, and it took a few years to develop.

 

Really excited for this collection – perfect Holiday gift!