Meet the Founder & Perfumer
Hi, I’m Gabrielle Durand, the Nose behind On The Nose Perfumes.
The start of the perfumery obsession
From a young age, I was fascinated by fragrance. I’d even considered studying chemistry in college and becoming a perfumer. But the stars aligning to make that happen seemed impossible.
Over the years, my interest in perfumery would be piqued from time to time. I’d research opportunities for perfumery education and drop the idea again when I didn’t find great options.
The start of my learning journey
Eventually, I discovered the Institute for Art + Olfaction’s Summer Intensive perfumery program, but the timing for traveling to Los Angeles for it never worked out. Then COVID hit and the program went online in the summer of 2020. I enrolled in the course and was hooked immediately. Over the ensuing months, though, I realized that working with synthetics didn’t feed my soul.
Choosing naturals
The beauty of natural materials, on the other hand, made me want to create perfume daily. Once I made the switch to all-natural perfumery, everything clicked. I started studying with a number of renowned natural perfumers and perfume educators and completed a 2-year diploma in natural perfumery.
The birth of On The Nose Perfumes
Throughout the time that I was learning perfumery, I was also setting up On The Nose Perfumes. I purchased the website in 2020, applied for a trademark in 2022, and then registered the company in March of 2023, with the goal of going live by end of 2024.
I’m so pleased to share what I’ve learned with you through my perfumes, blog posts, and videos. Keep reading to learn about On The Nose Perfumes’ mission, vision, and values. And don’t forget to connect with us on social!
xo,
Gabrielle
Our Values
Quality
We use natural materials from some of the best-known producers in the world, as well as smaller, specialized naturals companies. Our suppliers are trusted partners who we’ve carefully and thoroughly vetted.
In addition to purchasing all-natural fragrance materials, we also handmake our own tinctures, most of which we age for at least one year before including them in our fragrances.
We personally make, dilute, filter, and bottle each batch of natural fragrance by hand in Virginia.
Our perfume bottles are from the same 400-year-old French company that produces bottles for the likes of Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and other iconic perfume brands.
Each fragrance concept goes through multiple tests and trials before determining the perfect combination and proportion of materials for the perfume we have in mind. Generally, we develop our formulas over a 6 to 12 month period and then the final perfumes spend 4 to 6 months maturing and macerating before they’re bottled.
Luxury
Our philosophy is that perfume is a luxury product, so we treat it that way: with the best quality materials money can buy, bottles from an iconic French manufacturer, and thoughtful packaging.
Education
The fragrance industry is famously opaque. The natural perfume industry is slightly better, but not by much.
We aim to educate consumers about perfumery and, in particular, about natural perfumery methods and materials.
In the end, we believe our ideal customer is an educated one.
Philanthropy
Natural perfumery owes a great debt to trees, since so many of our materials come directly from them: resins and bark, leaves and branches, blossoms and berries, fruits and nuts, and sometimes heartwood.
When you place an order with On The Nose Perfumes, we give back by donating a tree through our partner charity, One Tree Planted.
While there are several charities that specialize in planting trees, we’ve selected One Tree Planted for their excellent reputation and global reach, as well as their flexibility in allowing their partners to choose where in the world sponsored trees are planted. Also, they plant trees in keeping with the planting location vs. only offering one kind of tree (such as mangroves).
Sustainability: Upcycling, Recycling, & Dual Use
Perfumery Materials
We love including upcycled materials in our natural fragrances because they result in additional yield from the same source materials and they help to expand the natural perfumer’s palette, providing new facets to beloved ingredients.
We proudly use natural isolates, which are also upcycled ingredients. Unlike synthetic aroma chemicals which start with petrochemicals and undergo multiple chemical reactions, natural isolates are manually extracted from natural ingredients. They’re frequently produced from essential oils that don’t commonly appear in perfumery (because of off-notes or other issues) or plant parts that otherwise wouldn’t get used (such as tree roots), resulting in the best and highest use of those starting materials. Some examples are natural veratraldehyde from pine tree roots or natural vanillin from clove essential oil.
Product Packaging
You can use our magnetic boxes to store your perfume to keep it out of direct light. Or, if you’re someone who likes to display your perfume, upcycle the box by using it to store whatever you’d like.
You can upcycle our glass bottles by removing the sprayer, washing them out, and using them however you’d like. Alternatively, you can recycle them if permitted by your waste management provider.
When we seal our product boxes, we use biodegradable Biolefin. Biolefin biodegrades within 2 to 3 years in the landfill. It can also be recycled.
Shipping and Printed Materials
We use FSC-verified materials whenever possible
You can either recycle or compost our shipping boxes and envelopes.
Printed inserts can be recycled.
Our business cards are printed on blotter paper for sampling our fragrances. Scan for our website on the front and spray perfume on the back. It’s the mullet of business cards.