BASTILLE – NATURAL AND REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH PERFUMERS.

Bastille Paris | Natural and Revolutionary Perfumers

3rd November 2022

BASTILLE – NATURAL AND REVOLUTIONARY FRENCH PERFUMERS.

Bastille are a brand of true originality and quality. As a niche perfume house, they work with the best and brightest perfumers to create beautiful and seductive scents that are unisex, modern and impudent.

UNIQUE AND TRANSPARENT

Bastille give their perfumers complete creative freedom to create unique fragrances, using only the finest raw materials, formulated without any controversial ingredients, and revealing their complete ingredient list on their website so you can know exactly what is in your perfume. This transparency is revolutionary in the perfume industry, where fragrance formulations are protected by law as they are considered a ‘trade secret’. This opacity has favoured the use by some brands of controversial ingredients, such as BHT, an additive used as an antioxidant and suspected of being an endocrine disruptor.

GOOD FOR YOU, BODY AND SOUL

Bastille perfumes are made of 95% natural ingredients, with 5% clean synthetics and organic wheat alcohol, with no additives, no stabilisers, no UV filters, and no colourant. this makes them gentle on your skin. The natural materials are difficult to obtain: for example, it takes 6 years to produce iris absolute - 3 years for the plant to grow, and 3 years for it to mature after harvesting... Their structure, more complex than their synthetic counterparts, also makes them more difficult for perfumers to work with. Bastille are vegan and cruelty-free and contain no hormone disruptors. This makes them good for your soul.

WHY NOT JUST MAKE THE PERFUME 100% NATURAL?

This is actually where the Bastille adventure began: their perfumers first set out to create 100% natural perfumes. Unfortunately, the result lacked finesse and staying power, so they reintegrated a few carefully selected 'clean' synthetic molecules to accompany their natural raw materials, and give life to exceptional accords.

WHAT IS IN THE 5% SYNTHETICS?

Only quality ingredients that respect your body. And they can often be synthesised from natural raw materials. For example, ambergris, a historical ingredient in perfumery made and released naturally by sperm whales, is used by perfumers to prolong the sillage of fragrances (the trail of scent left behind). At Bastille, all the fragrances are vegan, so they use the synthetic version, ambroxan, which is synthesised from a molecule naturally present in sage, then transformed into its final state by humans. It is 100% safe to use, even for sensitive skin.

GOOD FOR THE PLANET

Bastille use minimal packaging and absolutely no cellophane. Their perfumes are created in Paris, handcrafted in Grasse, and bottled in the Loire Valley. Even their packaging, made from recycled cardboard, is made in France so everything is kept as local as possible. Their bottles are made in Italy and decorated by a craftsman from Val-de-Marne in France.

Bastille are a member of the 1% For The Planet movement: 1% of their sales goes to the Surfrider foundation who work to protect the worlds oceans, waves and beaches. Bastille is gentle on the planet and actively involved in conservation.

FAIR TRADE AND FAIRLY PRICED

Bastille pay over the market rate for their ingredients to be sure that they are paying fairly, but their perfumes are still less expensive than most natural fragrance brands (though obviously more expensive than mainstream, mass-produced perfume).

UNISEX FRAGRANCES

Bastille scents are genderfluid and appeal to men and women alike. There are some preferences across genders, but some men really love Pleine Lune which could be seen as a more feminine fragrance, with its seductive floral notes, and some women buy Bataille, a woody scent that could be seen as more masculine.

DEFIANTLY FRENCH, AND REVOLUTIONARY

Bastille are proud to be French. Grasse, where their perfume is handcrafted, is considered the home of fragrance, and France is the home of the world’s best perfumers. The founders chose the name Bastille because it symbolises revolution and it is also the vibrant Parisian neighbourhood where they live and work, and where their office is located. Here at USTUDIO we love Bastille for their unique and unisex scents, their determination to use natural ingredients whenever possible, the fact that their perfumes are vegan and cruelty free… we could go on, but you get the picture. We REALLY love this brand. Vive La Révolution!