Treget by Chatillon Lux, an airy, woody, citrus and jasmine reinvention ten years in the making

Ten years ago, I began working on what would become my first composition ever. It would be the keystone of what would end up becoming Chatillon Lux. I wanted the first fragrance in the line to be something classic, timeless and highly wearable. 

The original fragrance, Delor de Treget, was named after the founder of Carondelet, what would eventually become South Saint Louis. He was also the grandfather of Henri Chatillon. It had notes of orange, bergamot, lavender, cedar wood and labdanum. 

Now, with ten years of experience, I wanted to reimagine this original scent as Chatillon Lux prepares to enter its tenth year as of June 15. While I wanted something related to the original, bright, woody and easy to wear, I also was determined to make it modern and constructed in a way that I wasn’t able to do with the original. 

Treget Eau de Toilette is a light, airy woody scent, with tinges of sparkling bergamot and a slight whiff of jasmine, on top of a breeze of sandalwood, Siam wood and cedar wood. 

The top note of bergamot is simply bergamot essential oil from Italy, rectified in order to reduce the photosensitizing aspects of the material. It is combined with a jasmine accord that features Hedione, aka dihydro jasmonate, very prominently. This material is a jasmine breeze, something that filled in the gaps more than stand out on its own. 

Additionally, the cedar wood note is simply my favorite red cedar essential oil, Virginia red cedar. It’s rich and thick, and is combined with an even richer Siam wood essential oil, which is very rich and silky. That is further enhanced by the resinous labdanum note, but it is a lighter, clear labdanum absolute. So it doesn’t tip the sales too heavily. 

But the featured note of the whole thing is a very light, crisp sandalwood. The sandalwood materials of santaliff and ebanol and offset by a higher proportion of the supplementary notes that I use in the sandalwood accord. Dihydro ionone beta is a creamy, white floral often found in jasmine and iris accords, but it also has a woody tinge to it and is great for adding the creamy top note to a sandalwood accord. Additionally, nerolidol is also a woody, floral type notes that I used in a higher proportion than usual. 

Finally, a big dose of Iso E Super makes the woody notes airy, clean and crisp. It adds longevity but also lift to the entire composition, and using it in this proportion is a big reason as to why it smells so modern and wearable. 

Now, ten years later, Treget Eau de Toilette will be available at ChatillonLux.com on May 19. It will also soon be available at American Perfumer. The samples from the test batch have been a big hit, and so I’m excited to share this one with you!