Nathalie Rouquet
Nathalie Rouquet built her first fragrance lab at seven years old, setting up shop in her parents' garage where she mixed potions and imagined a future in perfume. That childhood vision became reality when she trained at ISIPCA, the prestigious French fragrance institution. She joined Quintessence Fragrances, where she now works as both perfumer and account manager. Her career spans over 13 years, marked by a notable win at the Marie Claire US Fragrance Awards, where her solid fragrance for Sidi at the Brand took Best Solid Fragrance. Based in the UK, Rouquet brings a dual perspective to her work: the technical precision from her analytical training and an intuitive creative sensibility. Her Discothèque fragrance "Heathens, Cowboys and the Santa Ana Winds" showcases her ability to translate narrative into scent.
The hits
Notable creations
The signature
How Nathalie composes
Rouquet draws from her background working with flowering gardens, spices, and culinary herbs, creating fragrances that feel organic and grounded. She leads masterclasses in scent layering, which shapes her approach to complex, multi-dimensional compositions. Her solid fragrance for Sidi at the Brand won a major award, and "Heathens, Cowboys and the Santa Ana Winds" shows her ability to craft narrative-driven scents with atmospheric depth. She favors bold, evocative ingredients that tell stories rather than simply smell pleasant.
Philosophy
What drives Nathalie
Rouquet approaches fragrance as both science and storytelling. Her ISIPCA training gave her a technical foundation, but her work reveals something more personal: a belief that scent should carry memory and atmosphere. She thinks in layers, a perspective she shares through masterclasses on fragrance stacking and combination. Working as both perfumer and account manager at Quintessence, she stays close to what clients and wearers actually want, keeping her work grounded in real people rather than abstract concepts.
The houses