Fragrance house

Nejma

Nejma is a French niche perfume house associated with Grasse and founded by Marie-Lise Bischoff. After working in fragrance distribution, Bischoff decided around 2004 to create her own perfume house, having become interested in oud. The name Nejma means “star” in Arabic and was also inspired by an Arabic story about a woman named Nejma. In that tale, Nejma and a vizier have seven daughters, a narrative that gave rise to the house’s seven numbered fragrances, now presented in its Heritage Collection. Nejma’s olfactory identity combines French perfumery made in Grasse with an Eastern-inspired emphasis on oud, spices, flowers, woods, and narrative symbolism. The house later developed Les Quintessences, a collection of extract oils, and its fragrance activity included Parfum d’Alice, created with perfumer Alice Lavenat after she won the 2014 French Young Perfumer of the Year competition.