The Making of Soléor

Sydney in summer has always held a particular feeling for me.

It isn't one single memory, but hundreds layered together over a lifetime. Early swims before the city has fully woken. Bare feet on warm sandstone. Salt drying on sun-kissed skin. Long lunches that drift into the afternoon and the beautiful golden light that arrives before evening, when everything seems to slow down.

Having grown up here, these moments are part of how I know summer. Sydney has a way of drawing you outside and towards the water. Mornings begin with a swim, afternoons stretch out by the harbour and evenings are spent outdoors, reluctant to let the day end.

I've wanted to capture that feeling in fragrance for a long time.

When I began thinking about Soléor, I wasn't interested in creating a traditional interpretation of a summer scent. I kept coming back to how summer feels. The heat of the sun on skin, salt in the air, the sweetness of ripe fruit, the intimacy of golden hour and that sense of freedom that comes with long, warm days.

That became the brief for Soléor.

Creating Soléor with Gaël

I worked with Givaudan perfumer Gaël Montero to translate those memories into scent. From our first conversations, we spoke about atmosphere rather than individual notes. I shared the Sydney summers I remembered and the sensations I wanted the fragrance to evoke, and Gaël instinctively understood the intimacy I was searching for.

He describes it beautifully:

"I wanted to recreate the intimacy of summer in a scent. The warmth of sun-kissed skin, salt in the air, and that perfect moment when golden light begins to soften."
Gaël Montero

From there, we began composing warmth.

Amber and cedarwood create the first golden glow, softened by the sweetness of candied fruit. As Soléor warms on the skin, caramel and oak moss emerge alongside akigalawood, bringing texture, depth and a subtle sensuality. Vanilla, tonka and labdanum then settle into a smooth, resinous dry down that lingers close to the body.

I wanted it to feel warm without heaviness, gourmand without sweetness, and deeply personal to the person wearing it.

Discovering Akigalawood

One of the materials I found particularly fascinating during the creation of Soléor was Akigalawood.

Created by Givaudan using biotechnology, Akigalawood transforms upcycled fractions of patchouli oil that previously would not have entered the perfumer's palette into a completely new fragrance ingredient. It has a beautifully textured woody character, with facets of pepper, patchouli and agarwood, and gives Soléor much of its warmth and quiet depth.

I was equally drawn to the thinking behind it. Akigalawood is inherently biodegradable and gives existing natural material another life through innovation.

As a Certified B Corporation, this matters to me. I believe luxury and responsibility can, and should, exist together. Sustainability isn't about one ingredient or one decision. It's about continually questioning how we create, what we use and where we can make more considered choices.

Akigalawood represents the kind of innovation I find exciting. It allows a perfumer to create something beautiful and distinctive while finding new value in a material that already exists.

The feeling of summer

Soléor changes beautifully throughout the day. It begins radiant and warm before becoming softer, deeper and more intimate as it settles into the skin. Hours later, vanilla, tonka and labdanum remain as a warm trace, almost like the heat the body holds after a day spent in the sun.

For me, that is where Soléor really comes alive.

It reminds me of summer love, of skin still warm from the day, of being by the water as the light begins to change. It is that moment when you realise the afternoon has become evening, but nobody is ready to go home.

Although Soléor began with my memories of Sydney, I hope the feeling is universal. We all have a summer we remember. A place, a person, a particular afternoon or a feeling we would return to if we could.

That is what fragrance has always meant to me. It gives us a way to hold onto those moments.

Soléor is my love letter to Sydney, but more than that, it is my love letter to summer and everything the season makes us feel.

I hope when you wear it, it takes you somewhere of your own.

Almira x

Soléor
The feeling of summer.