There are certain thresholds you never forget crossing. Doors that don’t just open—they transform. For Papillon, one such threshold stood quietly on Elizabeth Street, its windows fragrant with history. Les Senteurs. A place where perfume is not sold, but revered. And for us, it marked a beginning as powerful as any creation.

Before then, our perfumes had lived privately—nurtured in a home studio filled with the hush of countryside mornings and the chaos of family life. Bottles were packed by hand, labels smoothed down by children’s fingers, every parcel sent out like a small, hopeful secret. There was wonder in that solitude. But one cannot stay hidden forever. Perfume, after all, is made to be worn. To be known.

Les Senteurs was the first to see us. Truly see us.

They welcomed our fledgling collection—Anubis, Tobacco Rose, and Angélique—into their sacred space, amongst shelves lined with legends. It was both humbling and exhilarating. To stand in a place where so many great noses had passed through, where generations of fragrance lovers had come seeking something that stirred their soul, and to find our bottles there… it was a moment we breathed in deeply.

No fanfare, no flourish. Just quiet pride. And gratitude.

For Liz, it felt like releasing the perfumes into the wild. No longer ours alone, they now belonged to anyone drawn to them—a whisper of myrrh catching on someone’s scarf, a trace of rose lingering on a wrist, a memory sparked in the middle of an ordinary day.

Being placed in Les Senteurs didn’t change our perfumes. It simply gave them a stage, and a reverent audience. And in doing so, it gave us permission to dream further.

The relationship has remained not just professional, but personal. The team at Les Senteurs didn’t just stock Papillon—they championed it. They told our story, understood our craft, and allowed the perfumes to speak in their own language. That kind of kinship is rare. And we treasure it.

Years on, the bottles still stand there—quietly, without arrogance, waiting to be discovered. Just as they were in our studio. And perhaps that’s the magic of it: from home to boutique, nothing essential was lost. Only expanded.

Papillon is still made in the same way. By hand, by heart. But now, when our customers walk into Les Senteurs and find us there, we hope they feel what we felt that first day: that they’ve found something timeless, waiting patiently, just for them.

ALL NEWS