Annelie Byström
Annelie Byström is a Swedish-born makeup artist and fragrance designer whose creative life spans beauty, fashion, photography and music. Working between Brighton and London, she has built an international career in editorial, media and runway makeup, with credits including Lars von Trier’s Dogville and Manderlay. Her work as a photographer and creative director adds a distinctly visual sensibility to her fragrance practice. Byström is also co-founder of the Anglo-Scandinavian fragrance house Corpo Sancto with her husband, Chris Bystrom-Turner. Together, they created a brand shaped by natural materials, personal memory and the emotional texture of music. For Byström, scent arrives not as an abstract decorative gesture, but as an intimate extension of place, atmosphere and creative collaboration.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Annelie composes
Byström’s fragrance style favors natural materials presented with precision and emotional clarity. At the center of her practice are botanical oils, waxes and ingredients connected to the countryside, skin and seasonal change. She treats these materials as points of contact rather than as a complete idea, building each composition around texture, air and memory. Her collaboration with Chris gives the work a shared, intuitive character, balancing Swedish naturalness with the polished codes of British perfumery. Music remains a guiding presence, informing pacing and atmosphere instead of serving as a literal theme. The result is intimate and sensuous, with compositions that feel crafted, close to the body and rich in subtle associations.
Philosophy
What drives Annelie
Byström’s approach begins with feeling rather than a rigid formula. She draws inspiration from nature and music, two worlds capable of holding memory, atmosphere and mood in equal measure. As a photographer and makeup artist, she works closely with light, texture and the emotional impact of a face, qualities that carry naturally into scent design. Her compositions favor the tension between the tactile and the evocative: natural textures become more expressive through careful framing, while music suggests movement without prescribing a literal narrative. The Corpo Sancto project reflects her belief that fragrance can feel personal, elemental and quietly cinematic, offering an experience that lingers in the body and the imagination.
The houses