Notes from the table

Dinner at the Sabelle house starts at eight. The candles are lit at half past seven so the room has time to warm. By the time the first guest arrives, the dining room smells of beeswax, cut peonies and whatever is in the oven. That smell is where Le Dîner began.

The first glass

Every dinner opens the same way. Someone pours, someone laughs too loudly, and the whole room leans towards the evening. We wanted that moment at the top of the fragrance. Le Dîner opens on black cherry and pink pepper, with a little bergamot to keep it bright. It is the smell of the first glass, before anyone has sat down.

Through the courses

Then the table settles. The heart is peony and rose absolute, warmed with cinnamon bark, like the flowers in the middle of the table once the room has heated up. This is the part of the scent that lasts through dinner. It sits close to the skin and lets the conversation do the talking.

After the guests have gone

The base is for the hour nobody photographs. Smoked oud, labdanum and tonka bean, like candles burnt down to stubs and chairs pushed back from the table. Le Dîner is an extrait de parfum at 25%, and it stays for ten to twelve hours. Most guests notice it on their coat the next morning.

The guests

Le Dîner is the table. The other house fragrances are the people sitting at it.

• La Comtesse arrives in feathers, laughing from the next room. Peony, Turkish rose and pink pepper.
• Le Dandy wears a carnation in his buttonhole and has an opinion about everything. Carnation, tobacco leaf and vetiver.
• Madame Bleu arrives last, in powder-blue fur and dark glasses. Iris, orris butter and suede.
• La Tigresse stays until the candles are stubs. Saffron, oud and amber.
• Tournesol is the sunflowers on the mantel in late August. Fig leaf, mimosa and beeswax.

Find your seat

If you cannot decide who you came as, Le Coffret des Invités holds all six fragrances in 10 ml vials. The cost of the set is credited against your first full-size flacon.

If you would rather scent the room than the guest, Bougie Le Dîner pours the same table into lacquer-red glass. When the wax is gone, the vessel stays on the table.

Dinner is at eight. Dress as though you were the reason for it. Find your place at the table.

Maison Sabelle is a concept store by Neat Digital.