A Xmas gift with the scent of Seychelles: perfume from the coco de mer nut

The perfumes are made in Seychelles in the laboratory of Island Scent at Au Cap. (Silvana Bisogni) 

(Seychelles News Agency) - Looking for a last-minute Christmas gift that carries the scent of Seychelles? Three new perfumes made from the unique coco de mer, the world's biggest nut, are now available on the local market.

A brainchild of Silvana Bisogni, the perfumes are made in Seychelles in the laboratory of Island Scent at Au Cap. 

"We think that this is an ideal gift for Christmas. It is a perfume for lovers. We wrote the legend of the coco de mer right on the back of our package. It is the key to understand the spirit of the perfume," said Bisogni.

The legend tells the story of two Gods at the beginning of the time when the creator was building the earth. The disobedience of a water Goddess in sharing the secret of creation with her lover, the God of earth, resulted in them transformed into the male and female plant of the coco de mer.

Bisogni, who is also the owner of Island Scent, a company exporting coco de mer kernel since 2004, said the idea came while they were transporting the nuts to the distillery.

"I noticed this fragrance and I immediately loved it. So I decided as soon as I retire from the dental profession that I will develop a perfume from this fragrance," she said.

For the packaging and the colour of the bottles, the company took the Pantone numbers of the colours of the Seychelles flag.

All the perfumes have pure extracts of the coco de mer which is the key ingredient and some essential oil. (Silvana Bisogni) Photo License: All Rights Reserved

"This perfume can be blended as all the other perfumes and you can wear it on your skin as all the components have been analysed by two different universities in Italy and one laboratory in the UK," said Bisogni.

All the perfumes have pure extracts of the coco de mer which is the key ingredient and some essential oil.  

"For us, our clients are all Seychellois women and men because it is our own perfume belonging to us and nobody else in the world can reproduce it," said Bisogni.

The production of the perfume comes after the Seychelles' government approved the exportation of the coco de mer kernel as a value-added product.

The fragrance has been created by an Italian perfumer and he has been made respecting all the international standards.

Going forward Bisogni said: "We have the idea to create a cream, we already have the prototype and something else which is still a secret.".

The Lodoicea, commonly known as coco de mer, is the world's biggest nut and is endemic to Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean.