Annelie Byström

About

Annelie Byström is the co-owner and creative lead of Corpo Sancto, a small Brighton house of botanical perfumes and rapeseed wax candles. She is the person named by the house as the source of its vision: scents inspired by a love of nature and music. She runs the business with her husband Chris, who started the candles with her in December 2014.

Byström is a Swedish ex-pat and a freelance make-up artist by trade. She moved to London in 2002 and to Brighton in 2006, and in 2015 she also managed Into You in the city. No perfumery school or apprenticeship is documented for her, so none is claimed. Her formative years were spent in Sweden, in ancient forests, foraging and swimming in lakes, and she says that Nordic landscape runs through the products she makes. She also says sourcing the best aromatic materials is central to everything she produces.

The perfumes began as botanical oils on a jojoba base, named after rock and pop songs, and the range now includes botanical eaux de parfum. The press describes the way they are made as a closely guarded process of weeks of sampling and testing. Fragrance databases credit her as the nose of six perfumes, among them This Bird Has Flown, Where The Wild Roses Grow, Marrakesh Express, Waiting For The Sun and Gold Dust Woman.

The style is natural, woody and resinous, built from plant-derived materials that reveal themselves in layers on the skin. Pine, cedar and rosewood sit beside oakmoss and patchouli, with roses, spices and incense for the warmer scents.