An interview with perfumer Antoine Lie

Where you always interested in perfume/scents?
I was always intrigued by smell but I realized I wanted to become a perfumer around the age of 12-13. When I was young I used to smell my food before eating it. If I didn’t like the smell I wouldn’t eat the food. I was just so sensitive to smell. As a teenager, I got more interested in different kind of scents. I got intrigued by the perfume of my mother. She used to have qualitative and classic perfumes that immediately grabbed my attention. Around that time, through reading articles, I also discovered the job of a perfumer. Since that moment on, I have tried my best to become a perfumer and entered the school in Grasse at Roure  at that time.

After you finished your study in Chemistry you joined Givaudan. What were you first impressions when you started working for them?
I joined Givaudan as a student and was very impressed and immensely happy. It was a dream of mine to smell many different things, which was exactly how I spend my days as a student.
I was excited to learn about the difference in scents. I was also learning a lot about the US market, which was then an important market in the perfume industry. After my days as a student, I was happy to work for Givaudan as a perfumer. Being a perfumer at Givaudan was a great experience for me to develop & challenge myself.

Over the years you have created beautiful fragrances for different brands. Is there a signature or a certain characteristic that those fragrances have that is typically yours?
I like fragrances that are strong and that directly convey the concept of the perfume. I want people to get the message of the perfume and I don’t like perfumes that dial down that message. I like to create perfumes that will intrigue people and that push the envelop. On the other hand, I also believe that it is not always necessary to come up with a completely innovative scent. What I like to do sometimes is to revisit the past (the 50s, 60s or 70s) and try to modernize the classic trends of a certain era into new perfume.

What differentiates you from other perfumers?
I try not to follow the trend. I like to explore new olfactive territories and search for uncommon ingredients and uncommon associations that can intrigue new interests. I also saw that the perfume market needed something different; new olfactive possibilities. Over the last 20 years the number of conventional perfumes has increased. Companies became less daring with their perfumes in order to minimize the risk of failure. Around 8 – 10 years ago, I worked with the Comme de Garçon Team on a new perfume. Their vision, excitement and the creative freedom they gave really triggered me to explore new olfactive territories. Since that time I tried to challenge myself and tried to see what I can contribute to the perfume industry by creating something different or exploring new olfactive possibilities that will intrigue people to experience perfumes that didn’t follow the norm.

What would you say makes a great perfumer?
As a perfumer you have to be passionate about what you are doing and be honest with yourself. You have to stick to what you believe is good for the industry. This means being respectful and listening to what the customers want but also trying to create something that will add value to the industry. You have to be daring and try to create something new.

In November we will launch Puredistance BLACK. How did your journey with Puredistance start?

Well, through a friend of Jan Ewoud Vos who works at Takasago. He referred Jan Ewoud to me and thought that I could be the right person to work on Puredistance BLACK.

What attracted you to the project of Puredistance BLACK?
I love the concept of the perfume. I love the idea of using the color black to express the feelings of the perfume. I got excited of creating a perfume by using the idea of the color black in combination with the DNA of Puredistance. Moreover, Jan Ewoud gave me the creative freedom to create a scent based on the concept. Therefore, I was able to use the best materials possible for BLACK.

What was your own inspiration for creating the scent for BLACK?
It’s an exclusive fragrance that is made from pure ingredients. After hearing the concept of Puredistance BLACK, I immediately knew what kind of notes I wanted to work with. I knew the fragrance has to be elegant, refined and qualitative. When I smelled the Master Perfume Collection of Puredistance, I found the fragrances to be qualitative and signature perfumes. For me, they are more on the classic side. With BLACK, I wanted to add a bit of modernity to this signature line.

What qualities attract you the most in Puredistance?
The first thing that attracted me to Puredistance was the first meeting I had with Jan Ewoud in Paris. I like the personality of Jan Ewoud and I understood him right away. He knows what he wants and he is honest and respectful. He appreciates qualitative perfumes and values the time it takes to make one. I was given an opportunity to take my time in order to create a great perfume. Using pure and qualitative ingredients are important for him, which is not something you always see. It does cost a lot to use good ingredients. However, Jan Ewoud does not put focus on the costs but a lot of value on using the best materials and having a great perfume in the end. Also, I find that the personality of Jan Ewoud reflects the personality of Puredistance as a brand: honest, respectful and qualitative.

How do you see the development of niche perfume industry?
At the moment, the niche perfume industry is growing and becoming very popular. There are more and more brands jumping on the niche bandwagon. The downside of the growth of the industry is that it can get over saturated with perfumes that do belong there. I fear that some niche perfumes are not niche at all anymore and that they don’t add anything to the niche industry. They are not original, qualitative or explore any new boundaries. On the other side, I also believe that the perfume brands that want to gain success in the niche industry without a good concept or quality products will not be around for many years to come. Those who deliver quality perfumes with a good concept and explore new boundaries will have long term success.  It will not matter whether they are small or big perfume brands.

Clayton Ilolahia is the writer of the blog, ‘What Men Should Smell Like’.

What inspired you to start a blog and share your perfume stories?
My blog started over a New Year’s resolution. When I began writing What Men Should Smell Like, I had been consciously collecting perfume for almost 10 years. I wanted to understand perfume and the perfume industry but my attempts were being slowed by a demanding day job, which involved a lot of travel. My blog became a way to keep myself moving towards my goal of learning about perfumery and it was a fun way to research the stories behind the perfumes I had worn since my teenage years.

How did you come up with the name What Men Should Smell Like?
When I started, the perfume blogosphere had a predominantly feminine feel. It was important for me to have the word “men” in my title. I wanted to attract men that were not typical readers of blogs, which reviewed mostly women’s perfumes. It surprised me how many men never gave much thought to the perfumes they wore. They simply used what they were given during gift giving times like Father’s Day or Christmas. The title of my blog was about me raising the question and wanting to discuss what men should smell like. These days I get emails from men asking for advice on what to buy or they want suggestions to replace a favourite perfume that has been discontinued. I get emails from wives and girlfriends asking for advice on buying perfume for the men in their lives. I also get emails from mothers asking for advice on buying their son’s first perfume. I love receiving these types of emails and I feel very fortunate to be able to help guide such a significant decision. 

On WMSSL you mention that your interest in “olfactory arts broadened following a serendipitous encounter with the world of niche perfumery in 2004”. Could you tell us more about that encounter?
At the beginning of 2004 I decided I needed a sea change. Later that year I packed my life into two suitcases and I moved from my native New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia. It was a fresh start, driven by my desire to swim in a bigger pond. When I arrived I had job interviews with different companies and I was offered a job managing a small perfumery started by an Australian luxury menswear store. They sold men’s suiting by the likes of Brioni, Ermenegildo Zegna and Paul Smith. During buying trips in Europe the business owners noticed a growing number of independent perfumeries opening in Europe and they decided to do something similar in Melbourne. To be honest when they offered me the job I was not overly excited; my background was fashion not perfume. But I had limited money saved so I needed to take the job. I managed this perfumery for a year before moving back to fashion but the experience stayed with me and opened my eyes to a world I never knew existed. It was my introduction to brands like Diptyque, Creed, L’Artisan Parfumeur and Miller Harris.

How did that encounter change your perception on perfumes? 
Before moving to Australia, I only knew big international fashion-brand perfumes. After discovering independent perfumery in Melbourne, I learned there was an artisanal side to perfumery. Being an art school graduate this artisanal side of perfumery resonated with me and I immediately wanted to know more about how perfumes were made and the history behind the art.

You recently reviewed the Puredistance Master Perfume Collection. What qualities attract you the most in Puredistance?
Larger corporations have purchased many of the independent brands that were trailblazers of niche perfumery. While this has afforded these brands a rapid and successful global growth, I think many of these brands have lost some of the character they were founded on. I love and admire independent brands like Puredistance that work from the vision of one person or a small group of people, who are expressing very personal thoughts and ideas through perfumery. I also like the exclusivity of the Puredistance brand. I don’t know how productive this is in terms of sales, but personally, I like the fact that I will not see Puredistance in every perfumery I visit; this exclusivity elevates the brand for me. As for M, it was love at first inhale.

If you were part of the PD Team, what would you like to do & see the next year?
I want to be surprised. Niche or artistic perfumes should lead the way in terms of new ideas in perfumery but this is not always happening. I realized this when another “niche” brand launched the 500th (an exaggeration) oudh perfume for the year. Niche brands should be innovators not followers. I would love to see Puredistance continue to do this in 2014.

In December 2013, we will launch our fifth perfume Puredistance BLACK. The concept of the perfume is based on mystery, understated elegance and the beauty of the unknown. For this reason, we chose not to publish the notes of the perfume. Do you think you will experience a perfume differently if you don’t know the notes prior to smelling it?
I think we naturally try to link words or images from our memories when smelling perfume. The pyramid of notes that accompany a perfume provide some olfactory road signs to help us navigate a perfume but these notes are often unrealistic. Rarely do we smell actual jasmine when the notes say “jasmine”. Instead we smell the perfumer’s interpretation of a jasmine flower. By not publishing the notes the wearer is left to explore their own olfactory memories uninfluenced by words such as jasmine, sandalwood or bergamot. The responses to Puredistance BLACK will be interesting; I am looking forward to reading the responses across the various perfume blogs when BLACK launches later this year.

The niche perfume industry is getting bigger with new brands & fragrances being introduced to customers every year. How do you see the development in the industry?
Surely this type of growth is impossible to sustain? I predict that new brands created quickly with little thought will fall as fast as they were erected, but that is business. There will always be sublime perfumes, mediocre ones and terrible ones. With so many choices, I hope it will encourage consumers to become more educated about perfume, to know what they like and what they don’t. I also hope that in their educated state, perfume wearers seeking a niche product will look for independent retailers and perfumeries that provide a specialized and expert service to their clientele. There are some beautiful department stores in the world but I find it depressing to see row upon row of so-called niche perfumes represented by department store staff that regularly have a below average interest in perfume.

Are there any other perfume blogs you follow regularly? What other blogs/bloggers would you recommend to follow?
Here in Oceania we have a good range of diversity with bloggers such as The Fragrant Man and Australian Perfume Junkies. There are so many blogs it can feel like being back in high school where you decide in which part of the school yard you eat your lunch. Every clique of bloggers has their own niche, which keeps it interesting. Aside from those that have been established for many years I feel like there is a new generation of bloggers coming through who are very successful and have huge followings. Blogs like Olfactoria’s Travels and Persolaiseprovide a fun and informative read. I like blogs that challenge my thinking and inform me of places or perfumes I did not know exist. For What Men Should Smell Like, I hope to encourage readers to switch off their computers, to go out into the world and experience perfume for themselves instead of me preaching what is a good or bad perfume as this is  often very subjective.

Gabriel Conroy is a designer & illustrator who made the illustrations for our Master Perfumes.

What inspired you to become a fashion designer?
I grew up around fashion. My aunt was a model and later produced a lot of fashion shows. I remember being back stage at fashion shows as a little boy. She also had a huge Vogue magazine collection and I used to lay on the floor and look through those magazines.

When did you start working as a designer?
In 1998 I was just about to start my last semester of design school. Victor Costa had visited the school the previous term and had seen some of my designs. He offered me a position prior to graduation so I dropped out and moved to New York. The school allowed me to finish my degree while working for Victor.

What is your most challenging “one-of-a-kind piece” that you made for one of your customers?
Each piece is challenging in it’s own way, in design school I used to try to make very difficult things that looked difficult. Now I find that making things that are “Simple” can be even more difficult and that’s what I am striving for. I don’t want to make things that appear pretentious.

How was the transition for you from making “one-of-a-kind” pieces to creating “ready-to-wear” collections?
The transition from one–of-a-kind to ready-to-wear was a real learning process. It has taken a few years for me to figure out the art of production and I am still learning. I still do one-of-a-kind designs for my clients but my main attention is now on ready-to-wear.

What is the inspiration for your current collection?
The inspiration for my current collection is the Pacific Northwest. We moved up to Vancouver Island a year ago. I am so inspired by the coastline here, the light is amazing and the nature is breathtaking.

Which other designers do you admire?
I have always very much admired Christian Lacroix’s collections. You could always tell a design was his by the cut and use of color and pattern. I also admire Rick Owens.

If you were to do a fashion show for your current collection, what perfume would you use to further describe the concept of your collection?
I would use OPARDU for this collection. There are key elements of that fragrance that are found in the Pacific Northwest like Cedarwood.

What qualities attract you the most in Puredistance?
I am most attracted to the quality and craftsmanship of Puredistance. You can tell immediately that this is not some dime store perfume when you smell it. The scents are so unique and rich. The packaging is so simple, I love the entire product, every aspect of it.

If you were part of the Puredistance Team, what would you like to do and see this year?
If I were part of the Puredistance Team I would want to create a scent called Mémoire. I would use the history of perfume as the marketing material. The history of things is very interesting to me. I think when people know where things come from they gain a deeper appreciation for them. Perfume has a rich and mysterious history that I think should be told. I think Puredistance is carrying on the great tradition of perfume with a lot of integrity and people should understand the difference.

How would you integrate perfume into the fashion world?
I think licensing is still a good option for integrating fashion and perfume. I think in the 80’s and 90’s the quality of the product suffered, but if done correctly it could be great! Personally I feel that fashion shows are a thing of the past and that video is the future. You could tell an amazing story by showing the evolution and history of fashion and perfume side by side. You could start with the Egyptians and then move through history to the renaissance and Catherine de’ Medici. It would be very interesting and it would be something real and historical to show people.

An interview with Stanislawa Missala owner of Quality Missala perfumeries in Poland.

Where does your love of niche perfumes come from?
As I really cannot tell where it comes from, but I think I was just born with it. Ever since I remember I’ve loved beautiful fragrances and flavors. I like to be surrounded by them, feeling myself better while having them all around me. Over the years I decided that I want to share my passion with others, helping them to discover scents and teach how they affect our mood, our life. That’s why I decided to open my first perfumery and this is how it all began. And why the niche perfume? I always loved art and niche perfumes are – in my mind – the true works of art. They are original, unique and created from natural ingredients. They are called niche, but I use my own different name for them, for me they are alive, bright. They are true. 

In 1991 you opened your first boutique in Warsaw. How did you come to that decision?
The decision was not easy because those times were not easy. I had to convince my vision to even my closest friends, who approached the project with skepticism. Poland in early 90s of the twentieth century definitely did not look like the promised land for perfumers. However, I could see the great potential where others looked in disaffection. People expected changes in all spheres of life. After years of living in the grey they were longing for color, for a bit of luxury, for a substitute of exclusiveness. I decided to fulfill those dreams and surround the clients of my boutique with real luxury and not fake luxury. Such an atmosphere has filled my perfumery from the very beginning. The same atmosphere can be found in my perfumeries today as well. 

How would you describe the customers of niche perfumes and Quality Missala?
In our perfumeries we welcome the admirers of beautiful and original fragrances and skin care products of the highest quality. For them, we import the finest fragrances, skin care and make-up from around the world. From our experience we know that once someone crosses the doorstep of our perfumeries, he or she will come back again. This is because our customers are people with high sensitivity and rich soul, open to the world of art and open to beauty. Their returns make us very happy, because we know that they are coming back to us and at the same time – to the world in which they feel best: the magical land of the magical fragrances. 

How do you select high-end niche brands for Quality Missala?
Everything I do I do with my heart. In exactly the same manner I select the fragrances and other products for my perfumeries. Fragrance must impress me, that is clear. I have to feel its soul, and I know that there will be none if the owner of the brand has created it only for money. For me, the brand must have a story that reflects the passion and love of its owner. If it does and if it fascinates me and it is up to par with the fragrances I know, it will fit my perfumery. 

How important is personal service to your customers? 
Individual approach to customers – beside having the perfect portfolio – is the most important part of my job. Perfumes and skin care products that can be found on the shelves of my perfumeries are exclusive products for connoisseurs: people who know how to identify the best quality and appreciate the contact with it. These customers require the right approach. For them we create individual care programs to achieve the best results by using our cosmetics for the face and body. For them our professional consultants select fragrances so they harmonize not only with their preferences, but also ”ephemeral  things” such as the mood of the moment. We can “dress in scent” according to the season, time of the day, occasion, and even clothes! Because a favorite perfume does not have to be one and the same for the entire life. It changes together with us and the awareness of this change is what we are trying to communicate to our customers. 

Looking at your boutiques, how important is the interior design for the overall concept of Quality Missala?
Every customer is my guest, so I treat customers as if they came to my own house. Rich, diverse, luxurious and unusually composed fragrances are difficult to show on a simple table. I want to show the customer everything – the scent, its bottle and packaging as well as I want to tell the story of the brand because this story is very often a fairytale. That is why the entourage is so important to me: suitable furniture, proper lighting, even the music is chosen appropriately. My perfumeries are located in different places. Among them there is a luxury hotel and an exclusive fashion house, there are historic buildings located in the old towns of the cities and there is the most important place where my adventure has started: Quality Missala Perfume House in Warsaw. Even though they are very different from each other, they share one precious idea: my love to wonderful scents that I’ve been honored to share with my clients for over 20 years.

What qualities attract you the most in Puredistance?
In Puredistance I do like the purity and clarity of the product, its perfectly bright concept. All fragrances are elegant. They speak in the language in which they were written. They have their quality and as you know, this is the word that fits us perfectly! 

How does Puredistance fit with the concept of Quality Missala?
Puredistance concept meets all the principles and values to which we adhere. It offers luxury, timelessness, universalism and the truth, which is reflected in the high quality of the products. Puredistance offers the opportunity to surround yourself with beauty – something particularly valuable for me. Over the years I found out that beautiful things – like paintings, furniture and beautiful perfumes – affect our beauty and its daily contemplation gives us wings and makes us better people.

If you were part of the Puredistance Team, what would you like to do and see this year?
From the perspective of my perfumeries, I would like to show Puredistance to the greatest possible number of people. I want them to recognize all I see in this brand and all that Puredistance fragrances are bringing: a stunning and timeless beauty. I wish the Puredistance Team more wonderful fragrances. Their presentation in my perfumeries will be an honor for my team and me.

How do you see the development in the niche perfume industry?
The concept of niche perfumes has become so attractive that, unfortunately, it is being abused. Every year more and more flavors and brands appear calling themselves “niche”. More importantly, the experience and the ability to identify and distinguish good quality fragrances and marketing innovations are likely to disappear from the market very soon. It is the matter of expert knowledge and honesty to the customers. Nowadays many of us live too fast and with no time for reflection. We quickly reach for a fragrance and even quicker realise that we cannot use it due to the high content of synthetics or its transience. Fortunately, in the same time we all become more and more conscious connoisseurs. That is why I do believe that good quality and true luxury will speak for themselves!

From the very beginning Russian customers of luxury products have fallen in love with Puredistance. Why? An easy answer would be: because they love to splash their money on luxury. But that is TOO easy. Yes the Russians love luxury, but there is more. Puredistance is a brand that can be characterised as: understated elegant from the outside and beautifully complex from the inside. Or in other words: beautiful and complex Master Perfumes that are stylishly packaged and presented. Go back in time, take a close look at the imperial times of the Tsars in Russia and you see the same. Stylish elegance and true luxury (If you doubt this, please spend one day in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg) and warm and complex characters hidden behind faces with a somewhat distant look (which you clearly can see in the classic paintings of the Tsarinas). Then complexity. If you think of the famous Russian writers, painters and composers, the conclusion must be the Russian people are not afraid of complexity. Under a somewhat distant outside, Russian hide a warm and natural heart that embraces the complexity that is part of our existence. Distant and elegant from the outside, warm and passionate from the inside. Exactly as the elegant Puredistance packaging doesn’t give away the secrets of the beautiful and complex Perfume Soul inside…. 

Below some pictures that were taken during the Instyle Beauty & Perfume Event in Moscow last week. Many celebrities visited this event about beauty and the Puredistance stand was constantly busy. It was great to see and feel the enthusiasm for our brand!

Furthermore Puredistance hardly advertises and we never pay celebrities to endorse and advertise our products. Reasons why our customers must be strong enough to follow their own taste, rather than follow the masses and buy what is being advertised. I think many Russians have the guts to select a Perfume they intuitively love. For all the right reasons. Elegance, Timeless Beauty and Complexity. Finally just take a walk on the main avenues in Moscow or St. Petersburg and you will see that Russian women spend a lot of time and money on looking good.

I happened to be in Yerevan (the capital of Armenia), during the Genocide Remembrance Day on April 24 that is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian Genocide from 1915 to 1923. Each year hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame. The main purpose of my visit was visiting Hermitage in Yerevan, a beautiful new perfumery that sells Puredistance in the main shopping street of Yerevan. The people in Armenia showed me great hospitality and I was very impressed by its rich history. And as a very visual person I deeply enjoyed the mythic symbolism of its ancient churches and monasteries. 

During my stay I witnessed the beauty of the inexplicable, and not for the first time. It seems every other year Annie Buzantian (a Master Perfumer in New York who created three of our Master Perfumes) and I experience inexplicable, beautiful experiences. Those that know Puredistance and its history know about the synchronicity of the creation of Puredistance I and Antonia. And this time it was Annie Buzantian’s third Puredistance creation OPARDU that was at the heart of an inexplicable, magical experience. 

During a recent visit to Annie Buzantian in New York where I presented OPARDU to her she told me that if I would be in Armenia during Remembrance Day I really should go and see this commemoration. She told me it could be a very emotional and moving experience. And she knows what she is talking about, since she is originally from Armenian descent.

So I went there and joined the long line of people that slowly walked to the eternal flame momument. Halfway an old Armenian man came to us and presented us a leaf of purple lilac. “for you”, he said. “To put on the momument”. I could not believe it….. Purple Lilac is the key ingredient of OPARDU: the latest Puredistance Perfume created by Annie Buzantian…. Was this a sign of Annie….? I don’t know and I don’t have to know. All I know is we layed down the flowers and felt deeply moved by this experience.

And this is what I learn every day again while building the brand of Puredistance, as long as we stay pure to ourselves and to the people around us there will always be an inexplicable helping hand that helps us to do what is right.

Puredistance is increasing its presence in the Baltic region. We are now also available in Neroli in Riga, Latvia. The pictures below show how Neroli presents our brand beautifully. It is great to see how Neroli displays the Master Perfume Collection in such a creative way. We will soon also be available in Estonia. This means we are now available in 28 countries around the world. More and more people are getting to know our perfumes and the feedback we get from them is exceptionally positive.

In the beginning of this month Nele Tammiste visited “The Scent of Spring 2013” in Baku. The event took place in the exclusive lifestyle shop Emporium where Puredistance has been represented since 2011. The facade as well as the interior of Emporium are impressive and Emporium certainly is the right place for our brand. Emporium and its team gave her a warm welcome and during the event Nele could meet many customers who were interested in the story of Puredistance and its perfumes.

The history as well the scents gained a lot of attention and positive feedback. The Puredistance Master Perfume collection received compliments from the ladies and many of them were impressed to hear that all of our products are made by hand and even the certificate of authenticity in each giftbox is personally signed by the founder of Puredistance.


Looking back at 2012 it has been the year in which perfume connaisseurs & critics discovered and labeled Puredistance more and more as a luxury Perfume House with an exceptional range of Perfumes. Some quotes from last year: 

‘Discover PUREDISTANCE, an exclusive Brand for Master perfumes. In a world where everything tends to become standard and banal, PUREDISTANCE has the conviction to bring you the exceptional, the rare and the best… all concentrated in a flacon of perfume. Many big fragrance brands could learn something here.’ the Luxury Activist

‘The true exclusivity of Puredistance is greater than just being a fragrance line that is hard to find. The collection is a curated trilogy of well-crafted fragrances that possess incredibly rare and respectable structures.’ Mark David Boberick from the Perfume Magazine

‘Puredistance continue to produce exceptional perfume, making it one of my most appreciated independent perfume houses. Their scents are timeless and beautiful.’ Dimitri from the Sorcery of Scent

‘Puredistance is a house very dear to my heart. Puredistance I, Antonia and M are all in my collection, I admire the style of this house and the way its founder Jan Ewoud Vos implements his philosophy and taste to build a brand that stands for luxury and quality, quite contrary to today’s trends.’ Birgit Oeckher from Olfactoria’s Travels

And now that more and more people discover us, one of our main goals is to keep things simple and small. With simple I mean naturally simple. Our core values: Beauty & elegance, trust & honesty and a friendly and personal attitude are simple and natural values almost every person is born with. But in order to stay loyal to these values one needs some luck with the right environment (country, parents, school etc.) and learn to say ‘NO’ to many offers and chances we daily get that eventually corrupt and try to complicate the simple nature of these values. A big help in saying NO is your heart. In the end your heart always knows what is good for you. If you only take the time and have the guts to listen to it.

An interview with Egija Zviedre, a Latvian model and actress living in London. Egija is Puredistance’s favourite model. Many find that Egija’s face closely represents the nature of Puredistance: naturally beautiful, elegant and somewhat distant. This year Egija has completed two independent feature films and plays a part in Ron Howard’s “Rush”. Her modeling work includes playing the Bond girl in Hello! Magazine and she can be seen alongside Daniel Craig in Heineken’s ‘The Express’ commercial made for the James Bond film Skyfall.

What attracts you in the concept of Puredistance?
The Purity. The Pure concept behind it of something clean, timeless, high quality, classic and I believe legendary.

Puredistance Antonia. It reminds me of Paris, because during the day of the Puredistance shooting in the park I was wearing that. I love gardens and being surrounded by flowers, Antonia gives me that fresh garden feeling, I am loosing myself in it.

Which actors and actresses have inspired you?
I have definitely been inspired by a very wide range of actors but to name a few – Julia Roberts, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Ingrid Bergman.

What do you do to protect your inner beauty?

Keep my values, don’t break them. And I try to see beauty everywhere I can. For me it is very important to spend time in nature- there is so much beauty in nature- flowers, trees, water… Its like a feeling that it inhabits me somehow and I am part of it.

If you use the latest Puredistance Perfume OPARDU and close your eyes and picture yourself in the middle of a movie, what is the setting, what is the movie about?
I am definitely wearing a dark red lipstick.. Its raining, 30 ‘ s era, poetry… I am reading poetry from a lover.. I watch the raindrops on the window fall and I am waiting, I am waiting … I feel love, lust and euphoric beauty… i am listening to Edith Piaf.. Closing my eyes… 

Can perfume change your mood?

Oh, definitely! I am quite a perfume freak- it affects me greatly! When I have some free time before taking a flight I wander around the tax free zones and smell one perfume after another, deciding which one I like best. But I am very loyal to Puredistance- I wear it on my most special occasions like the James Bond Skyfall Royal Premiere.

Do you relate to one of the main Puredistance mottos: less is more?
Yes. I can relate to that. Simplicity is beautiful. It’s a soul value.

Can you see yourself still modelling for Puredistance 25 years from now?

Yes! In fact I will make you sign a little peace of paper… Or I can right it on a peace of napkin, and find it again in 25 years from now to re-call this moment in time… And we can laugh about it hopefully.

This month we will launch Puredistance OPARDU Perfume. It took more than a year to further work out OPARDU. Central to the ‘feeling’ of OPARDU have been the expressive paintings of Kees van Dongen, in particular one of his illustrations for the book ‘PARFUMS’ by Paul Valéry, published in 1945 in a limited edition of 1000. (Jan Ewoud Vos is the owner of book no. 429). The bouquet in the middle of the picture below is an illustration of Kees van Dongen. The word ‘OPARDU’ is a creation of the owner and creative director of Puredistance: Jan Ewoud Vos. When he came up with the word OPARDU he felt that this word had always been there, in a mysterious way… evocative and strangely familiar. To him the word OPARDU expresses a deep longing for the bygone days of dreamy opulence and true romance.

When Jan Ewoud Vos showed this illustration of Kees Van Dongen – a rich and lush bouquet of flowers – to Annie Buzantian, the famous Master Perfumer from New York, she instantly fell in love with it. The first word that came to her mind was ‘Opulence’. She also felt this nostalgic feeling for the early years of the previous century; the golden age of perfumery. And then her work began. As a starting point Annie used a reinterpretation of a classic carnation she had already created which was safely stored in one of her ‘secret’ drawers. After many months of intense work and communication with the Puredistance Team she succeeded in creating a Perfume that matches the feeling of the word OPARDU perfectly, and brings back the elegance and graceful beauty of the past. Main notes are carnation, tuberose absolute, purple lilac, jasmine absolute and gardenia with a background evoking the gentleness of romance through soft powdery notes.

OPARDU has an instant hypnotizing effect that revives memories of love, romance and seduction. Be prepared for a perfume that will bring you back to the velvety nightlife of Paris in earlier days. We have pre-launched OPARDU to our dealers and a selection of journalists and bloggers. The reactions we received have exceeded our best expectations. Below are a few examples of the positive feedback.

Sandra Raičević Petrović – Fragrantica
‘OPARDU really leaves an impression that I carry the most precious piece of jewelry, unique and complex, comprehensive and complete.’

Mark Behnke – Cafleurbon
‘It has an amazing amount of sophistication and a vintage vibe while still feeling relevant for the present day.’

Suzanne Keller – Eiderdown Press
‘… that it does indeed make one think of love and romance. Lilac has a way of doing that and probably no lilac scent does it better than the dreamy and elegant Opardu.’

Simone Shitrit – Mais Que Perfume
‘It is elegantly creamy, cozy and floral. It contains a liquid wish for adventures.”

Birgit Öckher – Olfactoria’s Travels
“For me, Opardu stands for “Oh, perdu!”, a sigh of quiet desperation for the things that are irrevocably gone, lost in time and never to be found again.’

Elena Vosnaki – Perfume Shrine
‘Here, in Opardu, the purple lilac is trembling under the morning sun and the white flower notes provide a tinge of honeyed sweetness.’