Sainte Cellier offers us a new way to shop for fragrance. It’s a breath of fresh air…
Sainte Cellier’s Ladbroke Grove studio brings perfume obsessive Brooke Belldon’s successful website to life in a relaxed space. And with so many brands to try, you could be there for some time, writes Jo Fairley
Créations Neela Vermeire’s collection at Sainte Cellier
If you’ve ever felt rushed when fragrance shopping, Brooke Belldon would like to propose an alternative. The long-time perfume lover, who has described herself as ‘an obsessive collector and enthusiastic student’, has opened this beautiful, welcoming studio in Notting Hill. Because no matter how great a website is at offering samples – and Sainte Cellier is – there is nothing like sitting on a comfy sofa, trying fragrances on your skin and (above all) being able to take your time, while finding your next scent love.
Brooke spent many years working closely with independent perfumers and brands, helping to establish their retail presence – an experience that ‘helped shape Sainte Cellier’s focus on artistic independence, quality of materials, and letting the perfume speak for itself.
Perfect for scent nomads: Voyages Imaginaires
The Sainte Cellier website launched in 2022, the name referencing legendary perfumer Germaine Cellier. As Brooke explains, ‘Throughout the 1940s, 50s and 60s… Germaine Cellier redefined what was possible in perfumery with her daring compositions based around doses of ingredients in percentages never used before. The technical expertise exhibited in her work is matched by the strength of character found in each fragrance – the I-dare-you smirk of Piguet Bandit, Fracas’s weaponised femininity and the quiet malice lurking in the depths of Balmain Jolie Madame.’
Brooke continues: ‘In creating Sainte Cellier, I wanted to make a space for perfumes with the same strength of character… None of Sainte Cellier’s perfumes smell beige. The only acceptable neutral here is leopard print. Our perfumes are for dreamers and deep thinkers, deviants and disagreeable characters. Bonus points if you’re any combination of either.’
The collection of fragrances – many of them exclusive to Sainte Cellier – includes Danner & Flemming’s sublime iris trio, Bertrand Duchaufour’s L’Entropiste, Serviette, Créations Neela Vermeire, ERIS Parfums, Miskeo Parfums, Camille Goutal’s travel-inspired Voyages Imaginaires – as well as Peer Parfums’ talked-about new fragrance, inspired by Flaubert’s novel Madame Bovary. We could go on (and on) – but instead, we encourage you to go and explore for yourself, with Brooke’s promise, in mind: ‘No counters, no hovering, no rush. Just you and the perfume.’
What a breath of fresh – and at the same time, exquisitely perfumed – air.
Sainte Cellier Studio, Unit 60A Pall Mall Deposit, Block C, First Floor, 124-128 Barlby Road, Ladbroke Grove, London W10 6BL (closest Tube: Ladbroke Grove)
The Studio is open from Monday to Friday, midday to 6pm, and while drop-ins are always welcome, Brooke recommends WhatsApping or calling on +44 7980 174873, to let them know you’re coming.
Sit back, relax… and smell at your leisure
Danner & Flemming’s sublime trio of iris fragrances
Ever-popular Eris Parfums