PAIRING MENU
Renowned for his inventive macaron flavours, pastry chef Pierre Hermé partners with L’Occitane to create a limited edition holiday collection. By SARAH DANIEL
SINCE THE ARRIVAL OF THIERRY MU-
gler’s Angel, perfumers have been borrowing ingredients from pastry chefs’ mise en
But inspiration flows in the other direction, too—perhaps most notably for Pierre Hermé, who has looked to scents like Guerlain’s Shalimar and Rochas’s Femme as muses for his desserts. He also penned a recipe book in 2012, with his perfumer friend Jean-Michel Duriez, that’s filled with sweets inspired by fragrances. Unsurprisingly, Hermé is considered one of the Kings of Pastry, which is also the title of a 2009 documentary he appeared in about the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France competition— a kind of but with mille-feuille. His creations, particularly the macarons, are indicative of his ingenuity (if anyone can give these pastel sugar sliders a refresh, it’s Hermé). The flavour combinations sold in his boutiques are unusual and feature elements traditionally found in a nose’s repertoire, such as ambergris, tonka bean and florals. Ispahan—a blend of raspberry, rose and lychee—is one of his bestsellers.
Hermé’s outpost in Paris’s Saint-Germain draws lineups reminiscent of the 2013 cronut craze—the store’s window an ideal selfie backdrop for tourists who are over Ladurée and want their pastry pilgrimage documented for their vacation highlight reel. And his popularity will likely grow now that he has paired up with L’Occitane to create a fragrance collection, which has some items housed in what look like takeaway cake boxes. “I think some of you were a little worried that L’Occitane was going to start selling macarons,” joked Hermé at the collection’s unveiling in Paris.
L’Occitane founder Olivier Baussan and Hermé bonded over discussions of Corsica, where the Immortelle flower, one of the beauty brand’s key ingredients, flourishes. “Pierre didn’t know [the island] well, so I said to him, ‘Why don’t you come discover Corsica—really discover it?’” says Baussan. “And, little by little, every summer, he came. And, as some of you know, he didn’t fall in love just with Corsica.” (It was there Hermé met his wife, a city hall staffer for the island’s commune of Aléria.)
When Baussan and Hermé bumped into each other on a trip to Tokyo, a plan was hatched. “We said, ‘Why not do something together? Why not translate this friendship and this love that we have for this land and all the things you can pick—why don’t we do something with it?’” recalls Baussan. The result: two fragrances, as well as a line of scented soaps, shower gels and body lotions. One fragrance features Immortelle alongside neroli and jasmine, and the other spotlights grapefruit (another Corsica-sourced ingredient) and is blended with rhubarb. Experimenting with the latter, Hermé made a discovery: “In pastry, we are very used to the smell and taste of cooked rhubarb, but working with fragrance, it’s a completely different smell.” There is also a third scent, mandarin and honey—available in a lip balm and a hand cream—that seems to be the most gourmand of the group.
Given that his name is synonymous with desserts, one would assume the fragrances Hermé created would have been sweet. But there isn’t a hint of chocolate, caramel or marshmallow here. “I wasn’t looking for ingredients that were used in [my work] to be able to use in perfumery—I was not trying to connect the two,” he says. But he admits that his lifelong career of creating contrasting flavours and tasting the results has helped him sharpen his olfactory sense. “When you eat, your nose is there.”