About Our Products
WHAT HAPPENS IF A PRODUCT IS OUT OF STOCK?
If an item is unavailable at the time of purchase, you will be notified and will not be able to add it to your cart. If an item becomes unavailable while it is in your cart, you will be notified at checkout and will not be charged for it.
WHAT IS A WAITLISTED ITEM?
Occasionally for new launches we offer the opportunity for advance reservation online. We will notify you via email when the item becomes available on our webstore for purchase.
A PRODUCT I WANTED TO ORDER HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED. WHAT CAN I DO?
Please contact our Customer Service Desk at 0808 1645 862.
IS THERE A TRICK FOR INCREASING FRAGRANCE DIFFUSION?
If you want to make an impression, the hair is the best place to spray a perfume. Given that it is slightly oily, it has the ability to hold a perfume over a long period of time. The head is also a natural fragrance diffuser. It’s warm and always in motion, both of which increase diffusion.
Having said that, be careful not to spray your hair too often, as the alcohol in the perfume might dry it out.
IS IT TRUE THAT PERFUMES CHANGE WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF SKIN?
The answer is yes, but not as much as people think. The people on whom perfumes change drastically are extremely rare.
People often spray a perfume on themselves in a store and think it smells differently on them to when they smelled it on a friend. The fact is that it cannot possibly smell the same, because one was sprayed several hours ago (meaning that one is smelling the heart and base notes of the perfume) and the other has just been sprayed moments ago, showcasing, for the time being, only its top notes.
Another thing to keep in mind is that one does not experience a perfume up close in the same way as one does from a distance.
Finally, perfumes were not born equal! Older perfumes that are the result of long and complicated formulas involving many natural ingredients, tend to be more fragile, especially if they contain many carnal notes. More modern perfumes, especially those with a strong base (with lots of wood or musk, for instance), tend to be more stable.
DO YOU MACERATE YOUR PERFUMES BEFORE BOTTLING THEM?
Of course we do, as one should! Like wines, perfumes have to age in large containers to come into their own. This is even truer if one uses lots of natural ingredients or lots of rich base notes. (An Eau de Cologne requires less maceration than heavy Chypres, for instance).
Every classic used to be macerated for a period between 4 and 8 weeks. Some mass-market companies eliminated this practice in the 80’s, to increase money flow. Once we are done developing a perfume, we always decide on an aging protocol for it with its author. Some perfumers favor long maturation (aging the perfume concentrate before mixing it with alcohol), others prefer long maceration (aging the finished solution).
Portrait of a Lady, for instance, matured for 2 weeks and macerated for 4- a 6-week aging process in total. When working with fresh lab samples, one notices that they are much less powerful, less beautiful, and often less stable, than properly aged products. Time and mass are critical. As a rule of thumb, we find that one must manufacture a minimum of 5 Kg of concentrate at a time to get the extra body needed in a perfume.
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THE FACT THAT SOME EAUX DE PARFUM ARE NOT LONG-LASTING?
First, one must understand that the classification Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, etc… is not regulated. An Eau de Parfum is somewhere between an Eau de Toilette and an extract. Having said that, some marketing people profit from the vagueness of that category, calling some perfumes Eaux de Parfum that do not deserve the name. Concentration is crucial to duration, but even the most concentrated perfumes don’t last if they are composed with highly volatile raw materials. The duration of each raw material included in the composition, and the proportions in which they are used, are just as important. In other words, a perfume composed with few but powerful raw materials, and that has a low concentration, might last longer than a more concentrated perfume composed with weak raw materials.
HOW CAN I FIND THE INGREDIENTS OF A PRODUCT?
A complete list ingredients for every product is listed on the outer packaging. To request an ingredient list for a specific product, please CONTACT US.
HOW LONG HAS FRÉDÉRIC MALLE BEEN PUBLISHING PERFUMES?
After growing up in a family with deep ties to the fragrance industry, Frédéric began his own career in the perfume business in 1988. Having worked closely with perfumers for many years, he founded Editions de Parfums in 2000. For a more detailed history on Frédéric Malle and his background in the fragrance industry, please visit the About page.
WHY DOES FRENCH LOVER / BOIS D’ORAGE HAVE TWO DIFFERENT NAMES?
The original name is French Lover. It shocked many people in the US, so we call it Bois d’Orage for the US market only. I like both names, but it is likely that we'll only keep one name in the future.
WHICH KIND OF WAX DO YOU USE FOR YOUR CANDLES?
Wax is a more complicated issue than it seems! The wax cocktails we use vary according to each fragrance and according to the type of wick that we have chosen. They are mix of vegetal and mineral waxes (as 100% vegetal wax tends to smell stale after a few days). 100% vegetal wax also tends to have burning issues when ambient temperature is too low or too high.
DO YOU CREATE ANY PERFUMES MADE TO MEASURE?
I don’t believe that this idea of made to measure applies to our business. What I find more interesting is giving total freedom to the greatest perfumers in the industry, and allowing them to create their dream fragrances. That way, when people come to us to choose their signature scent, they are choosing from genuine masterpieces.
This concept of bespoke perfumes is quite recent. It was generated by people that do not possess a real culture of luxury. It is interesting to note that the most stylish people of the 20’s and 30’s had their own chefs, their own decorators, only wore couture, had cars made to measure by people like Etore Bugatti, had jewels made by René Boivin, yet bought ready made perfumes from designers like Guerlain.
HOW SHOULD I PROPERLY STORE A FRÉDÉRIC MALLE FRAGRANCE?
As natural daylight, heat and extreme changes in temperature can be damaging to perfume, we recommend storing our fragrances in a temperature-controlled environment, away from windows and hot lighting fixtures.
I HAVE JUST PURCHASED A PERFUME. SHOULD I STORE IT IN A REFRIGERATOR, LIKE AT YOUR BOUTIQUE?
At Editions de Parfums we keep our perfumes in a pristine state, so that they smell as they would in a perfume lab, exactly as they are meant to. That being said, our perfumes are very stable and are designed to be used and stored in a normal way. If you are intending to use your perfume normally, I do not recommend storing it in a fridge, unless you are planning on not using it for a very long period of time.
I HAVE A QUESTION THAT WAS NOT ANSWERED HERE. HOW CAN I WRITE TO YOU?
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