March 28, 2024 |
A new kid on the block, fragrance house Bleu Nour has a USP that helps it stand out from the crowd. Informed by founder Nour Ibrahim’s synesthesia – a condition whereby scent can trigger a visual experience of colour – the Paris and London-based brand packages this phenomenon into small perfume bottles to sell to its ever-swelling band of fans. Bold and unapologetic, Bleu Nour is shaking up the perfume industry, stirring in a dash of well-spiced ingenuity for good measure.
The bustling hubbub of cities is the starting point for Ibrahim when she wants to find inspiration. First galvanised by the colours found swishing through the streets of Paris’ Montmarte, the creative also draws on the rich scents of traditional perfume houses like L’Officine Universelle Buly to create her rarefied offering. What pops out as a result is a cacophony of distinct aromas that feel both fresh and nostalgic. Extending its range to oils and candles as well as perfumes, Bleu Nour gives customers ample choice with how they want to smell its unique scents. Each product is packaged with colours that represent their synaesthetic counterparts and the multi-sensory crossover is clear.
Intent on generating new olfactory experience for consumers, Ibrahim is a true trailblazer in her field. With a passion to democratise the synaesthetic experience, her passion hasn’t come out of the blue. From a young age, Ibrahim realised her gift gave her the chance to experience smells in a different way to most other people. “When I was little I was obsessed by the smell of my grandparents’ basement, not that it was pleasant, but I found it truly addictive and indescribable,” she recalls.
Carrying this desire to make smell more accessible with her through the years, Ibrahim created The Synesthetic Lab whilst she was studying at CSM. A project that tackled the sensory challenges that resulted from Covid-19, she created creating a kit that connected odour with colour. Fast-forward a few years and this intention was repackaged to form Bleu Nour. “A lot of people have lost their sense of smell,” Ibrahim highlights, “our ambition with the brand is to create a multi-sensorial experience and build a bridge between smell and imagination, making it visual and tangible.”
Now Ibrahim has turned her nose to the eclectic streets of East London, using them as her main source of inspiration for the latest Bleu Nour scent, CannaCrush, exclusively stocked at Goodhood. “East London is super diverse and creative and I find it very inspiring. People come from different backgrounds and it’s so stylish,” Ibrahim says. Accompanied by a strong hue of brick red, the new release incorporates the musky smell of cannabis into a perfume that positions sensuality at its centre. Combining notes of clary sage, leather, white musk, pink pepper and osmanthus, Ibrahim notes, “the challenge was to create a sexy cannabis fragrance that would be sensual and addictive and become your new healthy addiction.”
Addictive is one way to describe it, with Bleu Nour’s boundary-breaking approach enticing a customer base with that same ethos. Speaking on the quintessential Bleu Nour buyer, Ibrahim notes, “Bleu Nour aims to create fragrances for the bold the creative and the visionary, for anyone who isn’t appealed by mainstream.” Catering to this type of person means the brand isn’t interested in standing still and its giving its fans much to look forward to. When asked what is coming up for them in the next year, Ibrahim responded that the summer will see the launch of a 50ml eau de parfum. “We’re so excited for these to launch,” Ibrahim notes, and all things considered, we wholeheartedly share that sentiment.
Shop Bleu Nour CannaCrush here. Photography courtesy of Bleu Nour.
