Comptoir Sud Pacifique: Paradise in a bottle

Cameron Diaz can’t go to the beach without it. Britney Spears considers it her favorite out-of-town accessory. Nicole Kidman prefers combining it with her other favorite, Coco by Chanel, while Isabelle Adjani mixes it with Guerlain, and Brittany Murphy loves it, along with Chanel No. 5 and Creed’s Jasmal. Jessica Simpson and Sienna Miller love it in vanilla flavors and nothing but. Claudia Schiffer says she likes it because it comes in a travel-friendly can. Denise Richards says that when she uses it, "men always ask what I’m wearing."

Okay, end of a long, name-dropping paragraph. We are talking about Comptoir Sud Pacifique, the scent that beach lovers and jetsetters love. It’s one of the top 10 scents in the United States. It’s the No. 1 favorite of women in Sephora’s l00 stores.

Why is Comptoir Sud Pacifique such a hit when, compared to other top-sellers, it is a young brand?

We love it, too, so we followed our nose all the way to Comptoir Sud Pacifique’s headquarters at Place du Marche Saint Honore in Paris recently to find out.

There, in an all-white setting with a redolence that evokes white sand, green palm trees and blue waters, we were warmly welcomed by Comptoir’s top man, Benoit Rouquayrol de Boisse.

It was Benoit and his partner, William Millet, who acquired and took over Comptoir in 2002 and gave it a new scent-sible makeover. Not that it needed one, for Comptoir had been making waves since in was established in l974.

"Takeover" just had to mean "makeover" for Benoit and William, both of whom are seasoned globetrotters with a rich experience in the fashion and perfume industry. William was a Chanel executive while Benoit spent 20 years in the industry, having worked at Givenchy, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and L’Oreal.

It was an exciting challenge for these two men to create a new big splash for Comptoir Sud Pacifique.

Conceived by a team of professional perfumers and designers in France, Comptoir Sud Pacifique offers "the quintessence of travel." Benoit explained that aside from perfumes, the brand also has a line of accessories, leather goods and beach wear.

"Comptoir offers everything you need for a holiday. It caters to people with a passion for colors and island-inspired scents," said Benoit. "You feel like it is a store from the South Pacific. It is inspired by exotic places and that holiday attitude. Ours is a niche market. It is for people who are always on the go, traveling, working and giving themselves a treat in the South Pacific. It is for people who are forever dreaming of Tahiti and if going to Tahiti is not possible at the moment, you can have paradise in a bottle. When you open a Comptoir scent, you smell the flowers, the fruits, the forests, the waters, the beaches."

Comptoir sells like uh, seashells, in places like Saint Tropez, Biarritz and Cannes where Comptoir has boutiques. "Comptoir is sold in 3,000 stores worldwide. We are in over 50 countries, and the United States is our top market," said Benoit. "We are really famous among movie stars and celebrities and we have very good feedback at our boutiques in places ranging from the Ritz in Paris to the Hilton in the Maldives. We are available at very exclusive spas in New York and London."

In the Philippines, Comptoir Sud Pacifique is available at Rustan’s Essenses where it is a top-seller as well. "I have been to the Philippines 10 times," said Benoit who loves the country’s resorts.

So what makes Comptoir Sud Pacifique such a top-seller? "Our scents come in six categories in different colors of containers to suit varied tastes–florals in red, spicy in brown, forest in green, fresh water in blue, vanilla in yellow, and fruity in maroon. Our Les Eaux de Voyage, made in Grasse, which is France’s historic perfumery capital, comes in four variants (Aloha Tiare, Princesses Muscat, Mora Bella and Aqua Motu). We get our blends of ingredients after thorough studies by our team of perfumers." Like a good perfumer, Comptoir does thorough testing and market studies.

"Our bestseller in the United States is Vanille Abricot," stated Benoit, noting that it seems to be the favorite of many movie stars as well.

One big difference between Comptoir and other scents is that it is contained in brushed aluminum bottles. "They are easy to carry, giving the user no problem about broken bottles especially on the beach. Aluminum is the most ideal perfume container because it protects the perfume from light, shock and temperature changes."

The new Comptoir team has introduced candles – Senteurs de Voyage – in five scents, and will launch a full range of bath and body products by February 2006. "We will introduce sun tan products as well," clarified Benoit, who actually breathes and lives the Comptoir lifestyle, which is so simply captured in the redesigned logo that he and his partner introduced in 2002. The logo depicts Motu, the emblematic island of Comptoir Sud Pacifique, between a sky and a lagoon.

Comptoir Sud Pacifique is a hit because it smells closest to the things that we like so much in nature. It reminds us of that walk in the forest, that stroll on the seashore, that flower in our treasured memories of favorite things. It is natural, it is cool, it is refreshing. It could have been named Paradise in a Bottle.

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E-mail the author at milletmm_philstar@pldtdsl.net or milletmananquil@yahoo.com.