S L O U T G A B S L E
N
UG
NOSES
A Fearless Approach
to Fragrance
Angélique Nadau prides herself on
putting people first and never giving up
THE NOSE
ANGÉLIQUE NADAU
Senior Perfumer, Takasago
International Corporation (USA)
––
ON LIFE AS AN EXPAT: After growing
up in France, “starting a new life in the
U.S. was quite an adventure. I flew into
JFK Airport on Black Friday and, as my
cab was stuck in the craziest traffic,
thought to myself, this is insanity! It
was just me, two suitcases and a total
lack of credit history — ha! Becoming an
American citizen in 2014 was a moment
of great pride and self-actualization.”
ON HER PHILOSOPHY FOR
CREATING: “Be tough and don’t take
anything personal. Work hard—the
harder you work, the luckier you get!
Don’t say it can’t be done until you’ve
tried and really failed. There is always a
solution possible. Always try that crazy
idea, it might just work, and be stable,
and strong enough.”
ON ENGAGING PEOPLE ABOUT
FRAGRANCE: “Everyone has their
own fragrance story that they’re eager
to share. Fragrance is universal and
brings us together. It’s a great reminder
that we are so lucky to do the job we
do, to work in an industry that stirs so
many emotions, therefore connecting
us as humans.”
ON HER PASSION FOR COOKING:
“I love to cook ALL THE THINGS;
I have no doubt homemade meals
are the number one tool to remain
both mentally and physically healthy.”
Check out one of her favorite vegan
recipes, Crispy Smashed Potatoes
with Avocado Garlic Aioli, from Angela
Liddon’s blog, ohsheglows.com.
14 | FRAGRANCENOTES.ORG | Issue 1, 2019
LIA DANGELICO, DIRECTOR, COMMUNICA-
TIONS, FRAGRANCE CREATORS ASSOCIA-
TION: How did scent or fragrance play a role in
your early life?
ANGÉLIQUE NADAU, SENIOR PERFUMER,
TAKASAGO INTERNATIONAL CORPORA-
TION (USA) : It must have all started with my
mother’s fragrances. She adores them and
wore many different ones. I recall Shiseido’s
Féminité du Bois on her. She also used to
wear Chanel’s Égoiste, which is a male fine
fragrance, actually! She loves heavy orientals
and generally quite unusual fragrances, which
shaped my early perfume tastes.
I grew up in Les Sables d’Olonne, a seaside
town in Western France, and have a very
fond memory of the smell of the ocean—the
“real” ocean smell: fishy, seaweedy, outdoors,
ozonic—not that of suntan lotion. I went to
boarding school from ages 10 to 17, and often,
after my Dad would pick me up from the train
on Friday nights, he’d swing by the beach
front, rolling down the windows and letting the
sea spray invade the car. To this day, ozonic
smells take me to the happiness of being back
home for the weekend: the excitement that it’s
Friday night and I have two whole days away
from school.
My mother—a fantastic cook—is also
responsible for my love of cardamom and
orange flower water. She introduced me and
my brother to an array of tastes and flavors
from a very young age. I have loved smells
for as long as I can remember. I used to collect
empty bottles and mini sample-sized ones
as well as magazine ads. I had folders upon
folders of ads neatly organized in plastic
sleeves. I bet they’re still somewhere in that
house by the ocean.
DANGELICO: How did you end up in per-
fumery and what was your journey into the
industry like?
NADAU: I am very lucky that out of all places
in the world, I grew up in France, where there’s
a definite awareness of the existence of a whole
industry dedicated to perfumes. I focused on
science in high school, got into preparatory
classes for chemistry school when I was 18,
and studied chemical engineering in Montpelli-
er for three years, graduating in 2000.
My first summer internship was with
Robertet in Grasse, France, under the tutelage
of Claude Monin. One of my happiest olfactive
memories is driving into Grasse at sunset,
rolling my window down, and smelling the
fragrance—“real fragrance,” the 20-year-old
me was thinking—from all the manufacturing
facilities, mixed with the early summer outdoor
air. It was wild to think there was an actual
place on earth where the outside air actually
smelled like perfume.
My first job was at Firmenich in London
as an applied technology chemist. I knew by
then I wanted to become a perfumer. Being
eager to work, I decided to take a job in the
industry and maneuver my way from there. I’ll
never forget the heart wrench when, one month
after I started, I read about perfumery trainee
openings on the company’s intranet. Although
I was dying to apply, I did not think it was
ethical to do so. Instead, I focused on the job at
hand and used every spare minute I had to learn
from Firmenich’s star perfumers.
One of my first assignments was to
study the evaporation of citronellol, and
“citron”— “lemon” in French. However, as
I was prepping my sample, all I could smell
was rose and I could have cried! “Well, there
goes my career as a perfumer,” I thought. “I
can’t even smell right.” I timidly popped my
head in Henry van den Heuvel’s office to ask
him about citronellol. He congratulated me
for not smelling with my eyes and taught me
about rose alcohols. I walked away from this
conversation with my chest all puffed up in
pride.
Afterwards, I did my best to get involved
with all sorts of smelling. I remember assisting
Haresh Totlani as he was training staff on basic
raw materials. One day, he complimented me
on my keen sense of smell, asking if I had ever