Nathalie Feisthauer chose perfumery at 16, after smelling Yves Saint Laurent Opium. In 1983 she entered the Roure school in Grasse, now Givaudan's, as its first trainee with no family ties to the trade; until then recruits had come from Grasse itself. At 25 she was in New York, where her career took off with Estée Lauder. She stayed with Givaudan until 2008 and with Symrise until 2014, then set up LAB Scent, her independent lab in an old art gallery in Montmartre.
She co-wrote Hermès Eau des Merveilles with Ralf Schwieger, and composed Cartier Must pour Homme, Amouage Honour Man and Etat Libre d'Orange Putain des Palaces. Her independent work covers a long list of niche houses, Zoologist with Cow and Puredistance with No.12 among them, and in 2019 the FiFi Awards in Russia named her perfumer of the year.
For Place de la Rêverie she composed Santal de Paris, released in 2023 alongside Passion Riviera. Like the rest of the range it is an extrait at 30 per cent. Sandalwood is the core: lily and amyris at the top, a powdery ambrette heart, and a base of vanilla, amber, ambroxan and benzoin.
