Olfactive Creationism is the idea that the art of perfumery begins only with the creation of synthetic materials, such as Coumarin or Vanillin, as if no scent history existed before them.

Strict interpretations of Biblical texts assert that all life springs from Adam and Eve. Created in God’s image, they are considered the mother and father of all mankind. Stemming from that logic, Creationists believe we are all part of one great, incestuous family, living in a world roughly three thousand years old. Cavemen walked with dinosaurs, and Darwin’s theories of evolution are dismissed as lies promoted to deny the existence of God. Science and archaeology be damned. It is a convenient myth, upheld by religious institutions to maintain relevance in the modern world.

Similarly, Olfactive Creationism teaches that all perfume begins with the union of naturals and synthetics, beginning with Houbigant’s Fougére Royale in 1882. According to this view, the works of earlier perfumers such as Giovanni Maria Farina, Napoleon’s perfumer, or Jean-Louis Fargeon, Marie Antoinette’s perfumer, are not considered “true perfume” because they relied entirely on natural materials. This theory focuses narrowly on the contents of the bottle, disregarding the evolution of fragrance use, technique, and cultural significance over centuries.

This reductive approach diminishes the importance of Asian and Arabic civilizations, which advanced the methods used to extract fragrance materials, techniques that remain foundational to both natural and synthetic perfumery today. It also whitewashes the complex history of ingredient sourcing, including the Spice Wars and the Dutch colonization of Southeast Asia. As Edwin T. Morris writes in Fragrance: The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel:

“The more I studied the historical records, the more I saw that in all major civilizations fragrance was a cultural need associated with magic, pleasure, and even healing and therapy.”

Perfume has a long, vibrant global history, touching billions of lives over thousands of years. Its meaning, context, and social role are as essential as the molecules in the bottle. To ignore that history is to distort and diminish the art itself. At Charenton Macerations, we celebrate this rich legacy, drawing inspiration from it rather than denying it. The post-1882 period should be recognized for what it is: Modern Perfumery. It is part of a continuum, one chapter in a story that stretches back through centuries of human creativity, ingenuity, and passion.

True appreciation of fragrance begins with respect for the full arc of its history. From that foundation, we can create without limits, informed by the past but never constrained by myths.