Discover the History of Master Parfums, Educational Games About Perfume
“We live in an over-perfumed world, and yet the sense of smell remains the most underestimated, the most under-used, and also the most mysterious sense.” This is the observation made by Anne-Laure Hennequin – founder of the olfactory games brand Master Parfums. If you are only just discovering us, you could not have come at a better time: we propose to go back to the genesis of Master Parfums, retracing Anne-Laure’s journey before exploring the brand’s philosophy as well as each work in the collection.
And even if no one beats you at a game of Pocket Quiz, we bet that there are probably still a few grey areas for you regarding the history of Master Parfums – let us clear them up without further ado.
“I’ve Sniffed Everything Since I Was Tiny”: the Journey of an Enthusiast
Anne-Laure Hennequin was hooked very early: her fascination with perfume and smells in general goes back to her childhood. “I’ve sniffed everything since I was tiny,” she explains. “Like many little girls, I amused myself by macerating flowers from the garden to create perfumes, not really memorable ones! My favourite game was one that let you compose perfumes. While I can picture the box very well, I can’t manage to remember the name. But it was well before Sentosphère! I remember my favourite creation, which was based on lilac and which I had poured into a little bottle of Cléa by Yves Rocher to give to my mum. I also, of course, had a collection of perfume samples and miniatures.” But at the time, Anne-Laure did not limit herself to admiring the pretty coloured juices in her pretty bottles—she was already amusing herself by smelling them blind and trying to recognise them, even organising contests with her aunt.
Not really scientific at heart, a career as a perfumer was not even to be considered at that time. When it came to higher education, she therefore chose the path of languages and, after a year in the United States, she joined a translation school. Her love for perfume did not leave her for all that—on the contrary: she did her end-of-studies internship at Clarins (which counted Angel and Elysium in its perfume catalogue), within the international training department. There, she translated the manual intended for training the teams. It was at that moment that she found her calling: that of transmission, and in this case, the transmission of a passion for the fifth sense and perfumed creation.
Anne-Laure then completed a course in perfume and cosmetics distribution, while working as a temporary beauty adviser at weekends. “Working for different brands each time, I was able to benefit from many training courses.” Then she held the position of trainer-presenter at Kenzo, first in France, then in the United States, for nearly ten years. Her mission? “To make the saleswomen understand the brand’s DNA and the new products.” Europe called, and it was in Barcelona that she settled to work for eleven years for Puig, beginning with training for Prada before extending her training to the entire group as international training director.
While Anne-Laure Hennequin was acquiring no fewer than twenty years of experience as a trainer for major perfume brands on an international scale, she realised that the means best suited to her educational objective was that of the game: she designed, with her team, training modules based on edutainment, a method combining education and entertainment—in a word, education through play. Because when one blends learning and play, one learns simply, quickly and effectively: directly involved and not just silent spectators of a teacher or tacit readers of a book, we retain much better what people are trying to transmit to us!
So, how did these edutainment modules end up giving rise to Master Parfums?
Master Parfums: Why?
Gaps in the Way of Training
In her professional life, Anne-Laure Hennequin had a front-row seat to an unfortunate observation: training courses favour knowledge of the new products, and the teaching of sales techniques serving these new products takes precedence over everything else. The brand image and the communication that carry a launch take up a great deal of space, to the detriment of olfactory culture. The result? The proliferation of “sleeping beauties”: olfactory creations that fall into oblivion under the weight of new products, gathering dust on the shelves instead of living on skins.
It is not only the saleswomen who are neglected: consumers are even more so, faced with a growing offering, but not necessarily with the expertise needed to find their way in this ocean of perfumed products. Yet Anne-Laure is convinced of it: once educated, one knows how to recognise quality, and this would allow many fragrances to be appreciated at their true value, and for us, to learn to honour and pamper our sense of smell.
An Olfactory Paradox
Beyond her professional journey, something else has struck Anne-Laure for a long time. On one side, everything is perfumed: hygiene and beauty products, supermarkets, shops, waiting rooms, the metro, food… Not a second of respite for our nostrils, our nose being solicited constantly, as if the world were a pomander.
On the other… The sense of smell is neglected! “Smell is the sense to which we give the least importance,” observes Anne-Laure. “Not only does school not bring us knowledge on this subject, but our sense of smell is not even tested, whereas we undergo tests from a very young age to check our sight, our hearing, or touch through manual activities. It is the most overlooked sense.” The Covid-19 health crisis, moreover, brought to light just how much the sense of smell is often taken for granted… Before, many people did not know that it was even possible to lose the sense of smell!
How to explain that our fifth sense is left abandoned, and above all, how to remedy it? This is where Master Parfums comes into play.
The Birth of Master Parfums
An idea then germinated in Anne-Laure’s mind: what if we could transmit the culture of perfume directly to consumers? “I felt myself invested with a mission: to simplify perfume education in order to promote its culture among everyone.”
The result? A concept of educational games within reach of complete beginners as well as enthusiasts and perfumery professionals: Master Parfums! It is time to restore the reputation of the fifth sense: not only does one learn about the fascinating world of perfume, one also puts one’s sense of smell and imagination into action. If you do not yet know the range of games, do get acquainted…
The Master Parfums Games Collection
The Master Parfums Pocket Quiz
The adventure begins in 2018 with the Pocket Quiz, a perfume quiz in the form of a card game that can accompany you everywhere. A small format that is nonetheless incredibly rich! Its 120 questions are divided into four categories:
- The olfactory palette
- Brands, perfumes, tips
- History, literature, mythology
- Behind the scenes of perfume
With the questions ranging from amateur level to expert level, passing through connoisseur level, you can start a game whatever your knowledge of perfume! But to become the Master, you will need to climb the levels by answering 12 questions correctly (the 3 levels of the 4 categories), while avoiding, if possible, landing on the “anosmia” and “mystery” cards.
The Master Parfums Olfactory Game-Book
Talking about perfume is good, but it is even better to do it with an olfactory dimension! And so here comes a larger format: the Olfactory Game-Book. It contains an educational booklet and a new quiz, still with the same 4 categories and 3 levels of difficulty, but the 120 questions are different. If you own the Pocket Quiz, you can play with twice as many questions!
Another bonus: 40 olfactory challenges that rest on the little jewel of the Game-Book, its 12 scented pencils corresponding to the 12 olfactory facets most used in perfumery (hesperidic, aromatic, floral…). With these pencils, you can…
- Smell the notes and describe what they make you feel – this is the way to learn to speak (or speak better) about your olfactory emotions.
- Work on your olfactory memory by playing at recognising smells and explaining what they evoke for you, and why. Which pencil takes you back to an afternoon by the sea, a walk in the forest or your childhood snack time?
- Create a perfume from little briefs that will be given to you. The dream opportunity to momentarily bring to life that unique fragrance you have always dreamed of!
With its scented pencils, the Game-Book has even been recognised by speech therapists as a tool to aid olfactory rehabilitation!
Master Parfums then released the Pocket Quiz special Jovoy edition: it is the same concept as the first Pocket Quiz, the questions this time revolving around the niche brands present at Jovoy, the essential temple of niche perfumery on rue de Castiglione, in Paris.
And the latest addition to the Master Parfums family, brand new and fresh, is the Pocket Quiz: Around the World in Perfumes. Here again, we take up the concept of the Pocket Quiz, with questions this time about the perfume cultures of the four corners of the world.
The 3 Pocket Quizzes can enrich the Olfactory Game-Book with new questions to enrich the games, the whole collection now bringing together 480 questions!
Beyond a playful learning experience stimulating knowledge and creativity, the Master Parfums games are also a way of (re)creating a bond, by sharing your passion with the people around you, or by initiating yourselves into the wonderful world of perfume, together. As the festive season approaches, why not take advantage of it?
Furthermore, Anne-Laure Hennequin is currently offering a new edition of her traditional Master Advent Quiz: one day, one question about perfume – it happens right here. If you get caught up in the game, that works out well, as we have just whispered a few gift ideas to you to slip under the Christmas trees…
