In 2015, September 15, Jan Ewoud Vos and Cécile Zarokian met for the first time in Paris to discuss a possible new fragrance for Puredistance. Perfumer Cécile Zarokian is an independent perfumer in Paris who has the luxury of working in her own laboratory. Her creations are beautifully composed from the finest raw materials, and from the first conversation on, Mr. Vos felt they shared the same passion for authenticity and excellence.
Mr. Vos had prepared a first brief based around the name SHEIDUNA. A name composed of various, suggestive elements: ‘She’, ‘Sheika’ and ‘Dune’, while having the same cadence as the word ‘Seduction. Mr. Vos felt the name would perfectly reflect the sensual oriental Perfume he had in mind. At the end of the meeting Cécile took the challenge.
In the following weeks Mr. Vos would every week send a postcard to Cécile with visuals and text to brief the fine essence of SHEIDUNA.
In 2016, January 30, the Puredistance Team received a first creation SHEIDUNA version A. The feedback was unanimously: too heavy and too oriental. We kindly asked Cécile to start all over again instead of reworking version A.
Thursday, February 25, Mr. Vos and Cécile met in her laboratory at Rue de Vinaigres in the centre of Paris to smell SHEIDUNA version B. Bingo! Mr. Vos immediately could feel the soul of SHEIDUNA in this version. Key in his concept was the idea to bridge the sensuality from the Orient with the elegance from Paris and Cécile exactly had done so!
In the following months version B was further refined and after trying out various percentages, the right perfume oil percentage was decided (27%). This final version now had to be tested for 3 months in an external laboratory to see if it was compliant with EU and IFRA regulations. By the end of July all results were good, so we could order the Perfume oil and will start the process of maceration, filling and maturation later on in September.
In September, at the fragrance event Pitti Fragranze in Florence, we will officially launch SHEIDUNA and late October we expect the first flacons to be in the stores that sell Puredistance.
The SHEIDUNA experience in words? The Perfume is rich and intense, inspired by a panoramic view of golden sand dunes in the desert during sunset – soft curves changing from deep gold to warm, orangey red – embodying a promise of sensual comfort and silent seduction. Wearing SHEIDUNA one wafts sensuality and at the same time feels like being wrapped up in a warm, soft blanket. Deep colours of Persian rugs touch the senses… the perfect marriage between Sensuality and Style.
