Goutal blossomed late and, after a career as an award-winning pianist and model, came to perfume. She then met a man, separated from him, found herself alone with a baby (her daughter Camille), was diagnosed with breast cancer, and married her childhood sweetheart. She entered the skin cream business with a friend and instinctively felt she was missing two things, the fragrance and the packaging.
“My fingers remember,” she says, harking back to her experience in her father's sweets. "I had acquired a great manual facility thanks to all the chocolate arrangements. I had the idea of presenting the jars of cream as dainty candy cartons. We engraved hundreds of tags to accompany the bags in beautiful handwriting."
Then, in 1977, she met perfumer Henri Sorsana and spent the next seven years memorizing the ingredients and sharpening her talent as an extraordinary nose. The words were the same: note, harmony, clef ... I was back with music, with that part of myself that I was sadly cut off from. ”Her first three fragrances, Folavril, Passion (her own personal perfume) and Eau d "Hadrien, set her apart and she opened her first salon on Rue de Bellechasse in Saint Germain. Each fragrance is a touchstone, a reminder of someone or something important in Goutal's life." Like precious bouquets, which are the rarest and most precious noble natural essences, they are composed like a symphony, note for note, in an eternal quest for balance, quality and perfect harmony. ”Her perfume follows is a cult - once you have tasted the fruits of Annick Goutal, you are a The intangible Eau d'Hadrien is a favorite of the fashion editors, Madonna, The Artist (formerly known as Prince) ... even the Guerlain family comes to Annick Goutal.
“It's very rare that a perfume maker can be free, as they are always associated with a large perfume company,” says Goutal. In the era of corporate perfume, it offers a truly tailor-made service. "I've always had complete freedom ... It's like making music on my own". Her scents are like a silk web of memory. She weaves a wonderful story around each perfume. “When my daughter Camille was seven years old, she stood on the patio with the ivy feel and said,“ Maman, I want such a fragrance. ”So she was the inspiration for Eau de Camille honeysuckle and privet tree mingle with freshly cut grass ".
Charlotte, her stepdaughter, wanted something less naive. So Goutal made a drawing on mimosa and cocoa. “This makes Eau de Charlotte a little more gourmand ... and for my husband (cellist Alain Meunier), I created Sables ...