Ex Nihilo: Who Is Behind the Paris Perfume House?

Three friends, a shop on Rue Saint-Honoré and a name that makes a statement. Ex Nihilo is Latin for "out of nothing", and that is exactly how it began in Paris in 2013: no heritage, no old formulas, no corporate group behind it. A little over a decade later the house is one of the most sought-after names in niche perfumery, with a blending robot called the Osmologue, a house colour with a nod to the French state and investors from the very top league. Who is behind Ex Nihilo, what makes its fragrances so recognisable – and which one should you start with?

Who founded Ex Nihilo?

Picture a founding team that sounds like the opening of a novel: Sylvie Loday, born in Princeton, an engineer who previously worked at the Swiss fragrance group Givaudan. Olivier Royère, born in Stockholm as the son of a diplomat, with a finance background and a first job as an intern at L'Oréal. And Benoît Verdier from Provence, who had worked as a marketing and luxury consultant for beauty brands such as L'Oréal, Coty and LVMH. Verdier and Royère knew each other from studying political science.

In 2013 the three put their careers on hold. Instead of buying a dusty heritage brand and giving it a new label, they started literally from zero. At launch, the team consisted of the three founders, one person for production and a design intern. It hardly gets more "out of nothing" than that.

The fragrance insider

Sylvie Loday

An engineer with a Givaudan past. Her network opened the doors to the big perfumers for the young house.

The numbers person

Olivier Royère

Finance, HR, business. He makes sure ideas turn into a company.

The strategist

Benoît Verdier

The face of the brand in interviews. Knows the luxury industry from the inside and still wants to do things differently.

What does the name Ex Nihilo mean?

"Ex nihilo" is Latin for "out of nothing", a term usually found in philosophy and creation stories. The brand itself translates its name with a wink as "Created out of the blue". That is doubly clever, because blue is the colour of the house: a deep, dark blue that Benoît Verdier described to Liberty London as typically French, citing the Élysée Palace and Air France.

This blue runs through everything. The very first boutique, opened in December 2013 at 352 Rue Saint-Honoré, was designed by Christophe Pillet with blue walls, Greek marble, walnut shelving and smoked-glass mirrors.

What is the Osmologue?

This is where it gets technical – charmingly so. The Osmologue is a high-precision fragrance blending system, named after osmology, the science of scents. Also designed by Christophe Pillet, it stands in the boutiques like a sculpture, with a body of polished metal and glass. The principle: you choose a fragrance from the Initiale or Babylone collections and give it an extra "boost", an ingredient pre-selected by the perfumer. According to the critic Persolaise, there were three such options per fragrance. The machine doses, a specialist weighs, filters, fills and finishes the bottle by hand. Ex Nihilo calls this "Techno Crafting".

Verdier himself describes the Osmologue as a smaller version of the lab robots used by Givaudan and IFF, and the service as "demi-bespoke": half made-to-measure, half ready-to-wear. On top of that, the bottle can be engraved, the cap chosen in mother of pearl, onyx or buffalo horn, and every blend comes with a numbered, signed certificate.

What does Ex Nihilo smell like? The house signature

Ex Nihilo describes itself as French avant-garde inspired by the 1970s and 1980s, "radically optimistic" and between craftsmanship and technology. Translated into scent, that means the compositions are rarely closed or heavy. They open brightly, often have a core of modern woods and white musk, and stay wearable. According to a portrait on Fragroom, Verdier's brief to perfumers is: addictive, welcoming, immediate.

Two more quirks: the names are deliberately cheeky, inspired by songs, films and fashion editorials, such as Lust in Paradise, Explicite or Demon Dancer. And according to Fragroom, the house never discontinues a fragrance. Once you have found your favourite, you need not fear the day it disappears.

When it comes to raw materials, the founders give perfumers a free hand, even with costly materials. And they like to use high-tech from the lab: Akigalawood, Ambrofix and Georgywood appear in many of the more recent fragrances. Read what the peppery wood Akigalawood is all about in our fragrance glossary entry on Akigalawood.

Which collections does Ex Nihilo have?

The range is organised into families, each with its own idea. An overview, with fragrances you will find at 4D:

Which perfumers work for Ex Nihilo?

Ex Nihilo has no in-house perfumer in the classic sense; instead it works with leading names from the big fragrance houses. A few pairings worth knowing (years according to Fragrantica):

• Quentin Bisch created Fleur Narcotique in 2014, the fragrance that made the house famous: lychee, peach, jasmine and peony over musk and moss.
• Louise Turner is behind Musc Infini (2014) and Lust in Paradise (2019).
• Jordi Fernández is something of a regular: Outcast Blue (2019), Gold Immortals (2020), The Hedonist (2021), Speed Legends, Blue Talisman (2023) and most recently Demon Dancer (2026).
• Antoine Maisondieu composed Santal Calling in 2022, Olivier Pescheux the Babylone fragrances Amber Sky (2016) and Midnight Special (2017), Shyamala Maisondieu Atlas Fever (2017).

How big is Ex Nihilo today?

The shop with five people has become an international house. Ex Nihilo lists flagship boutiques in Paris, London, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Taipei and Doha, among others, plus Riyadh and Dubai. The brand has been at Harrods in London since early 2015, and in 2026 a permanent boutique opened in the Paris department store Le Bon Marché Rive Gauche.

The financial world has taken notice too. In January 2024 the investment company Eurazeo came on board as a minority shareholder with around 25 million euros, while the founders kept the majority. According to Eurazeo, retail sales were around 60 million US dollars at the time. In January 2026 BeautyMatter reported that L Catterton, an investment firm linked to LVMH, was taking a significant minority stake and Eurazeo was exiting. The house launched with nine fragrances; according to BeautyMatter it now has 78.

Which Ex Nihilo fragrance suits me?

A little guide to getting started, no fragrance-pyramid exam required:

• You like it fresh and radiant? Blue Talisman with juicy pear and bright musk.
• You love flowers with lightness? Fleur Narcotique, the house classic.
• Rose with sex appeal? Lust in Paradise Extrait with blackcurrant, rose and jasmine sambac.
• Wood, spice, autumn mood? The Hedonist, Santal Calling and Speed Legends – three very different woods, which we present in The best woody fragrances by Ex Nihilo.
• Evening, opulent, oriental? Midnight Special with saffron, rose, an agarwood accord and vanilla.

Smell first, then fall in love

With every fragrance order we include a sample of exactly the fragrance you ordered, so you can get to know it at leisure before opening the bottle. Via the order note in the cart you can also request up to four more free samples, for example Fleur Narcotique, The Hedonist and Lust in Paradise for your personal Ex Nihilo tour. We ship free of charge from € 200.

Even better: come to our boutique in Bregenz and explore the entire Ex Nihilo collection with your nose. And if you would like to know how best to test your way through the bottles in a niche perfumery, read our little etiquette guide for niche perfumeries.

Your team at 4D OUTFITTERS, Bregenz

Sources: Ex Nihilo – La Maison · Dezeen · Liberty London · Fashion Magazine · Persolaise · Eurazeo · BeautyMatter · Glossy · Peter Auto · Fragrantica