Emma Dancourt: On Being Born with No Sense of Smell, and the Making of Umema, the Perfume She Will Never Smell

Emma Dancourt is a French journalist, television host, podcaster, and the President of @MeTooMedia. She is a congenital anosmic and is an ambassador for Anosmie.org. You can read more about Emma’s experience with congenital anosmia in Born with NO Sense of Smell, the new book from Anosmie.org.

Stephanie Feuer, Co-founder of the World Taste & Smell Association spoke to Emma about her lack of smell and the creation of her signature perfume. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Congenital anosmia is a relatively rare condition. How did you first find out that you were unable to smell?

I was 11 and living with my parents and my brother in Dijon, France. We lived on the fifth floor. I was in the elevator with my brother, who was eight. When we were still on the first floor he said, “Oh, mom has made French fries.” I asked, “how do you know?” I thought my brother was magic.

I asked my mother how he could know that, and she told me he could smell it with his nose. I did not know what that meant. I knew that our noses help us breathe and I could breathe. How could I guess that there another function of the nose? To me it was so strange.

Another time, my brother went to the bathroom after I did, and he said “It stinks. Emma, you have to flush.” I didn't know why flushing was so important. I did sometimes, but I thought it was a lot of water for nothing. My little brother was very upset because it was very stinky. So, I went to my mother and asked what it meant, that it was stinky. My mother thought, okay, there is a problem.

My father brought me a bottle of my mother's perfume and asked if I could smell it. I asked what he meant, and he said, “breathe it, breathe it.” Of course, I couldn’t smell it. This is how we discovered that there was a problem.

They took me to a doctor who said it wasn’t a big deal. But it was a big deal, because, in fact, my type of anosmia is linked to Kallmann Syndrome. I had big problems. I stayed a little girl for 20 years. I didn't have my period. I didn't develop breasts. I had to have a lot of help to have kids.

You became an ambassador for Anosmie.org. Can you talk about connecting with people who share your condition?

The first time I connected with the other congenital anosmics was after COVID arrived in Europe, so we couldn't meet in person. We had a video call, and I remember when I first saw the faces on screen I was almost crying. I had never met someone like me. And I was 47 at the time.

We were asking each other questions, and for once we could talk about the differences between us, and there were so many differences, in fact. We asked about how we first discovered it, and then we asked about whether anyone could taste some tastes.

I can taste. Even though I cannot smell anything, I really enjoy eating, even if I know that my taste is nothing to compared with the norm. The meeting was so emotional, but so funny too, because it was the first time for everybody.

Let’s talk about your perfume. The WTSA is delighted to be working with you and Ugo Charron to introduce Umema to a broader audience. What was it like to have a perfume designed for you when you are unable to smell. Could you share the origin of the idea?

I wanted to do a podcast about synesthesia. I needed someone who spoke French, had a connection with synesthesia, and I wanted the guest to be a perfumer. I was lucky to find Ugo on Instagram.

I didn’t know much about synesthesia, so on the podcast Ugo told me about Kiki and Bouba (the experiment that assigned visual shapes to these two nonsense sounds), and his work with synesthesia. At the end of the podcast, we wondered if there was something we could do together—his beautiful nose, and me with no nose. We had the idea to do a perfume.

Can you talk about how this went from idea to reality?

We were very, very enthusiastic. But it was a big project. Ugo knew we would need the support of Mane. He told them about the project. Some people said, “what are you talking about? A perfume for someone who cannot smell?” And then some people said, “hey, it's interesting, let’s do something.”

Some of their people called me to try to understand who I was. They’d never talked to someone without a sense of smell. Because this is their life, smelling, it was so strange for them. Sometimes words are not enough to express your own experience!

It took us a few weeks to understand what we were going to do. Ugo decided that he had to come back to France and invited me to the south of France where the MANE factory is located. 

So, we were in the factory of Mane, an old factory, an historical one with some strange machines, and all the flowers and ingredients to make perfume. They asked, “What do you want in your perfume?”

Since I cannot smell, I put everything in my mouth, like the baby—things that you don't eat normally. Like Orris. It’s the root of a flower, and the most expensive thing you can put in a perfume. I put it in my mouth. And I made Ugo taste it, too.

We did that for all the ingredients. We did that with flowers, too, and that is how I decided what I wanted to put in the perfume. We spent two or three hours tasting molecules and decided that we were going to do a perfume based on umami, because umami, the fifth taste, is what we can taste better when we are congenital anosmics. Then Mane asked me so many questions about what I like to hear in music, what colors I like, and about everything in my life.

Finally, Ugo sent me three little bottles of perfume. I had a meeting with my family, who smelled them, and they all agreed that this one—Umema—was me.

What does it mean to you to have your own perfume?

Like all anosmics, I worry about how I smell.  I never knew if the perfume chosen by my partner or friends really suited me, really spoke about me. since Umema, I have a perfume tailor-made for me. It gives me an olfactory identity. Wearing it reassures me about my olfactory aura. Women's lives are full of doubts. Here is one that no longer exists and has disappeared.”

The idea for this perfume has always been to benefit the associations that support anosmic patients.

Is there anything else about congenital anosmia you'd like to share?

I have the impression that I live in another planet; my planet is called anosmia, your planet is called I can smell. I've spent 50 years of my life trying to understand, trying to adapt to a world full of dangers. Because it's dangerous to be like me. I've been to the hospital a few times because I couldn’t smell. I’m also always adapting to a world that is not made for me. It’s a big frustration.

A limited-edition of the perfume Umema will launch in September during World Taste & Smell Month, with a special reception and presentation scheduled for September 17th at the Global Taste & Smell Summit at MOFAD. It will be available for purchase at Perfumarie.com, TasteAndSmell.world, and at the Museum of Food & Drink (MOFAD). Umema is a special production aimed at raising awareness for Anosmia. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the World Taste & Smell Association  and Anosmie.org in the EU. The perfumer Ugo Charron developed Umema with and for Emma Dancourt, born with congenital anosmia. This project has been made possible through the generous support of Ugo Charron, Perfumarie, the World Taste & Smell Association, Mane, Stephanie Feuer and Emma Dancourt.