Heroes' tribute: Symrise develops ‘renewable fragrance’ for COVID-19 frontliners in China, Singapore

The fragrance, aptly named HERO, was designed to invoke feelings of optimism and contribute to the well-being of those on the frontline of the COVID-19 fight, such as healthcare workers, police officers and other essential workers.

Symrise took inspiration from the history of perfume as a fragrance and a hygiene product for many centuries.

The firm believes the right scent can positively influence a person’s well-being and add positivity to an otherwise tense everyday life.

"By providing an add-on to daily essentials, fine fragrances increase our quality of life. In the current situation, we want to lift the mood of people with HERO and give positive feelings to their lives,”​ said Ricardo Omori, SVP global fine fragrance.

The firm began distributing HERO in US, France, China, Singapore, Brazil and Dubai from May 19 and has plans to expand the distribution to more markets in APAC.

“If hope had a scent”

This initiative followed Symrise’s partnership with Revlon to produce and donate hand sanitisers for medical facilities in the US, Germany in Brazil.

Julie Deschamp, head of creation, fine fragrance, APAC told CosmeticsDesign-Asia, ​that the firm’s fine fragrance team wanted to “go beyond” ​and that led to the creation of HERO.

HERO was created through a joint effort of 19 Symrise perfumers, including Singapore-based Png Wei Ling and Shanghai-based Lowiah Xin.

Each of the 19 perfumers contributed one sustainable ingredient to the fragrance to create HERO.

Png laid down the first accord with vanilla as she associated the scent with comfort and happiness, while Xin chose to add peppermint oil into the perfume for its history in traditional Chinese medicine as an anti-bacterial ingredient.

Other ingredients included Ambrostar, a Symrise captive, mandarin, bergamot, ambrette seeds, orris and rose.

Deschamp highlighted that the company made a point to utilise sustainable ingredients to create a “renewable fragrance for renewable hope”.​

“We really wanted it to be in line with the environment and with the planet – in balance. And the Symrise renewable palette is quite amazing so felt like the right path,” ​she said.

The result was described by Symrise as an “invigorating and supportive fragrance that combines energy and comfort”​

“[The fragrance is like] if hope had a scent,”​ said Deschamp.

Omori concluded: "We believe in the power of scent to touch our senses, our soul and the world. That's why we've developed a fragrance for all the heroes who, with their tireless and selfless efforts, are helping to fight the coronavirus crisis. HERO is our small token of thanks for the work they do.”​