‘Heliotropin,’ said the Frenchman mournfully. I was midway through lunch in Mayfair with Benoit Brosseau, whose father, Jean-Charles, created the fragrance Ombre Rose, and who now leads the company of the same name. I had asked the question I always put to fragrance people, in the full knowledge it will make them either sad or furious: how do they cope with Ifra, the Brussels-based regulatory, or representative, body of the fragrance industry?

One of the latest in the list of ingredients Ifra may be curbing is based on heliotrope, which not only gives a powdery aspect to scent, but conjures up the elusive smell of cherries. (If you know that marvellous, evocative Guerlain scent L’Heure Bleu, that has it.) M. Brosseau was fed up. In common with every good fragrance maker, he’s hemmed in by a list of regulations about what can go in his scent that gets longer and more onerous with every amendment.

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Ifra has most recently introduced its 51st amendment, which restricts the use of 48 ingredients, chiefly because of concerns about potential effects like skin sensitisation. Weirdly, the same regulations apply to fabric softener for sheets and moustache........

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