The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
À Bout de Souffle arrived in 2013 from Heather Kaufman, the perfumer behind Jolie Laide Perfume's early botanical collection. Bergamot brings a bright, polished quality, while lavender absolute and cloves add aromatic heat. Myrrh lends resinous depth, and amber gathers the composition into a warm, sweet-spicy center. The combination creates a fragrance built around contrast: citrus brightness beside herbal softness, spice beside resin, and brightness tempered by warmth. Bergamot keeps the scent clean and polished, lavender absolute gives it a cool, green-herbal character, and cloves introduce a sharper, more tactile spice. Myrrh deepens the texture with a dry resinous note, while amber adds warmth and a faint sweetness.
The unusual part is how its notes meet. Bergamot gives the composition a polished, almost immaculate quality, while lavender absolute and cloves introduce tactile, aromatic heat. Myrrh adds resinous depth, and amber gathers everything into a warm, sweet-spicy center. Bergamot's brightness brings a clean edge to the composition, lavender absolute softens it with a cool herbal accent, and cloves sharpen the result with their warm spice. Myrrh contributes dryness and depth, while amber rounds the blend with warmth and sweetness.
The evolution
À Bout de Souffle is built from a deliberate tension of textures and tones. Bergamot contributes brightness and polish, bringing a clean, composed quality to the fragrance. Lavender absolute adds a cool, herbal softness, while cloves introduce aromatic warmth and a sharper spice. Myrrh deepens the composition with resinous darkness, and amber rounds the edges into something warm, sweet, and softly enveloping. The notes do not read as separate statements so much as a carefully balanced whole. Bergamot brightens the darker materials without making them feel stark, and the resinous quality of myrrh gives the lavender and amber greater depth. Cloves lend a dry, peppery heat, while amber leaves a gentle sweetness against the more herbal and resinous notes.
Cultural impact
À Bout de Souffle occupies an intriguing place in fragrance culture through its expressive use of contrast. Its composition places polished citrus brightness beside herbal softness, aromatic spice, resinous depth, and warm sweetness. Bergamot brings clarity and polish, lavender absolute adds a cool botanical accent, and cloves give the blend a tactile warmth. Myrrh introduces a darker, resinous texture, while amber unifies the materials with a soft sweetness. The result invites close attention to how each note shapes the others, offering a distinctive fragrance experience without relying on a single dominant sensation.
The House
Jolie Laide PerfumeJolie Laide Perfume is a San Francisco fragrance house founded by Heather Kaufman. Its name comes from the French phrase “jolie laide,” an idea that beauty can emerge from qualities outsiders may consider strange, awkward, or unconventional. That tension shapes the brand’s botanical perfumes, which take their names and narratives from classic French cinema. Compositions such as Masculin Féminin, Bande À Part, Cléo de 5 à 7, Jules et Jim, Baisers Volés, and À Bout de Souffle connect scent with film titles, performers, and fictional characters. The house is especially associated with natural perfumery and materials drawn from plants.
The Creator
Heather KaufmanKaufman’s style is marked by rich, deep compositions and all-natural materials. Her approach favors carefully balanced botanical accords that develop with warmth and time, creating an enveloping sense of place and atmosphere.
