The Story Behind the Prose Fragrance Collection

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Our exclusive collection

Prose now has a collection of eight core fragrances along with our current seasonal, winter fragrance, Candela. Our fragrances cover all of the bases and range wide enough to meet all preferences—from floral to fruity to botanical to woody. Our Signature scent is a universal fragrance and is particularly special for Prose Co-Founder, Paul Michaux who says the scent was inspired by his sister Victoria, “It’s a combination of all of the different products she uses, from her lotions to her hair care to perfume.” Here are a breakdown of the final notes:

Signature: Floral + Powdery (Violet Leaf, Peony & Blue Iris)

Botanica: Herbal + Aromatic (Eucalyptus, Lavender and Rosemary)

Perle: Powdery + Musky (Bergamot, White Lilac & Musk)

Prelude: Floral + Cool (Rose, Black Currant & Musk)

Corsica: Fresh + Cool (Anjou Pear, Peony & Cedar Wood)

Arcadia (limited edition!): Citrusy + Woodsy (Grapefruit, Lemon, Basil, Mint & Cedar)

Master perfumers

For us, your hair care’s fragrance goes beyond that of just a traditional scent. That’s why we enlisted the expertise of renowned French nose Karine Dubreuil-Sereni whose portfolio includes fragrances for Guerlain, L’Occitane and Jo Malone to develop our original seven scents. Born in Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, developing premium fragrances was in her blood. She studied at the school of Roure (now, Givaudan) but she’ll tell you that her appreciation for beautiful scents began much earlier. She forged her olfactory heritage in the gardens of her grandmothers, which blossomed and grew all kinds of fragrant plants—like roses, jasmine, and daffodils—but also the fragrances of Italy, like the aromas of coffee and of Mediterranean cuisine.

To develop our extremely popular summer-turned-permanent fragrance, Corsica, we enlisted a new nose in Cecile Hua. She also boasts an impressive resume as she’s been in the perfuming industry for over twenty years. For fifteen of those years she worked in fine fragrance and then branched out into hair care five years ago and continues to work in both industries today. She grew up in an artistic, supportive and multi-cultural family in Marseille, France where she mapped her childhood out by olfactive sensations. Cecile loved the process of developing the salty, summery scent that is Corsica as it was a call back to her youth growing up by the sea

A haute couture experience

A perfumer with Karine Dubreuil-Sereni’s background is not easily convinced to create a fragrance collection for a hair care brand, that is, until she understood the passion behind the request. “I caught the fragrance bug early on,” says Michaux who also spent some time working at Parfums Christian Dior. “I have a strong olfactory memory. A scent can bring me back to early childhood days in no time.” After one meeting with Michaux, Dubreuil-Sereni was sold. “I developed these fragrances in the same way I would for a luxury perfume, not the way you might for a personal care brand,” she says. “We used concentrations for high end perfumes without holding back on the best quality raw materials.” They also didn’t go into the project with any predefined notes, but worked on them together after having thought about the story they would tell for Prose.

Together with Michaux, she reflected on the themes the notes would center around and on the ingredients most suitable for different hair types. Then, they discussed the emotional aspect, like the moods they would insight from the Prose experience.

This is only the beginning

Eight fragrances is a great start, but the Prose dedication to co-creation means it will some day expand to more. “There are so many things we can do,” says Michaux. “Fragrance is so personal, just like Prose. We are excited to see how far we can take it.”

*Some of the fragrances mentioned in this article may no longer be available due to our ongoing process to make upgrades to our fragrances based on the feedback of our community.*