If you’ve ever lusted after a liquid hand soap and wondered if perhaps you’d lost your marbles, you can thank (or blame) Núria Cruelles. The perfumer at Loewe, working with the designer Jonathan Anderson (who recently left to become the creative director of Dior), came up with the Tomato Leaves soap and set off a frenzy of desire. At the Jenna Perry salon, where highlights can cost $650, the bottle in the restroom is filched regularly. Loewe’s other soaps, candles, body lotions, and room sprays in Oregano, Marihuana, Ivy, and more are equally unexpected and captivating. Cruelles, who works in Madrid, draws on her love of everyday odors from nature. “Architects like Gaudí were inspired by nature to make buildings,” she says. “To me, it’s like that for perfumes.”
WHY DID TOMATO LEAVES CAPTURE PEOPLE’S IMAGINATION?
Sometimes you smell something, and it smells inspired of, but it’s not real. I worked with Jonathan [Anderson] on a combination of dreaming and reality. And it wasn’t expected. When I described this smell, people said, Really, are you sure? You have this greenness and the pulp of the tomato, the fruitiness, the little bit of sweetness. We did the candle first, and when we created the body care, I reformulated it a little because I thought it would be too much for the skin. We launched just after the pandemic when people wanted to feel nature, to breathe, to fly.
DOES THE SCENT OF A TOMATO HAVE ANY MEANING TO YOU?
I come from a little village in the middle of the countryside of Spain. It was like a natural park. We have a lot of tomatoes in summer. When they’re ripe, we preserve the tomatoes, and my cousins and I would peel them for my grandmother, who’s now 97 years old, to put in a jar. When I smell the tomato, I remember this time.
WHAT IS THE FIRST SCENT YOU REMEMBER?
The lipstick of my grandmother. The lipsticks then had the scent of rose. As a child, I would go into her drawer to try her makeup. You can’t find this odor in lipstick anymore.
WHAT SCENT IS YOUR PROUST MADELEINE?
The odor of the head of my newborn child. It’s musk, soft, it’s the smell of pure life. I love it.
IS THERE A SCENT FROM YOUR TRAVELS THAT CAPTIVATES YOU?
I always travel to see new ingredients. I went to Costa Rica to see coffee and chocolate. I went to Indonesia for the vetiver. To Marrakech for the roses. It’s not for work; it’s culture. In Indonesia, men and women need to be a married couple to harvest the vetiver. The man will pull the roots, and the woman cuts them. You can read a book, you can have the smells in a laboratory, but if you don’t go to the origin and see it and get involved with these people, it’s not the same. Vetiver, it’s like a person. The roots are like your roots, your feet. The flowers in a fragrance become like the beauty of your face.
HOW DO YOU EXPERIENCE SCENTS?
I have synesthesia; I see the perfume. When I smell, I see colors, shapes, and textures. I can feel it. Some ingredients, like citrus, are like an energy, an aura.
IS THERE A SCENT FROM NATURE THAT YOU MOST WANT TO RECREATE?
The last scent we made was mushroom. The smell of mushroom becomes something important after the rain. I like to replicate odors, but funny ones, and Loewe is a brand that allows you to do that.
IS THERE A PERFUME YOU MOST WANT TO RECREATE?
I’ll tell you a funny story. The first perfume I got was called Chispas when I was maybe six years old. It broke when I took it out of the box. It was very important for me to recreate it for myself, but not as a business.
IS THERE A FOOD SCENT YOU LOVE MOST?
Wow, I love food. I love to eat. I studied wines. I love all of them. I eat everything, even when I travel to different countries. Even the worms in South Africa and the raw sardines in Holland. I have to try everything.
IS THERE A SCENT THAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A PERFUMER?
Since I was maybe two or three years old, I smelled everything. I identified people by their smell. I didn’t know perfumery was a profession. In my little village no one was doing this. I studied chemistry because it was mandatory. I hated it then. I thought, I can’t believe my passion starts with this. But after a while, I learned to love chemistry.
FILL IN THE BLANK: I WISH THE WORLD SMELLED LIKE …
Because everyone is stressed and saturated with information and work, I would love a scent that would stop the moment so people can feel their senses, the odors, the colors, the shapes. To feel wellness and feel relaxed. It has to be white, the color, because that’s like a canvas. It creates the feeling of comfort, security. Ambroxan. Musk and ambroxan. It’s not the grease amber. It’s white. It’s clean. It’s crystal. It’s pure. It’s an amazing odor.
WHAT SCENT LIFTS YOUR MOOD?
When you wake up, you think, What do I feel like wearing? This jacket, this ring, this jewelry? Fragrance should be like this. How do you feel today, what do you want to show to the world? There is a perfume for every moment. Sometimes you need something citrusy, energetic, clean. Sometimes you need something more comforting and vanilla. It depends on the moment, the time, where you’re going. It’s like the dress. With the perfume you make an aura; you make your dress.
WHAT’S THE BEST SCENT TO MAKE YOU FEEL AWAKE?
Citrus notes. It’s the color of the sun. It’s yellow, it’s radiant, it’s shining.
IS THERE AN ODOR THAT CALMS YOU DOWN?
Aromatics, like lavender, make you feel relaxed and calm.
DO YOU EVER DREAM IN SCENTS?
It happened twice in my life. Wow, what a feeling! It was like the first time I knew how to swim, that moment when the water becomes you. When I dream about the smell, I knew I was dreaming because I could see it. Once, because of a dream, I replaced an accord [a combination of notes in a fragrance] when I woke up.
WHAT’S YOUR CURRENT INSPIRATION?
We’re collaborating with a foundation near Valencia, Todolì Citrus Fundació, that makes citrus. I thought I knew about citrus, but when I arrived in this place, I realized that I know nothing. There are 500 varieties of citrus. Can you imagine this? Shapes, colors, odors. You have citrus that’s yellow and very sweet. You expect a lemon, and your face it’s like this [puckers]. I chose one variety, and we’ll do the whole process, cultivate, harvest, and make it into a candle and soap.
Linda Wells is the Editor at Air Mail Look
