Moresque

Moresque is a niche Italian perfume house based in San Giuliano Milanese, on the outskirts of Milan. It was founded by Cindy Guillemant, who serves as its founder and chief executive, and it operates under the company HIC Beauty S.r.l [1]. The brand's name and visual language draw on Moorish art, while its fragrances are composed and manufactured entirely in Italy — a pairing the house frames as a meeting of Arabic aesthetics and Italian craft.

Sources disagree on exactly when the brand began. The retailer brand-story published by MaxAroma dates the founding to 2014 [6], while the editorial feature in Cent Magazine gives 2015 [5]. Moresque's own materials avoid a specific date, referring instead to "ten years of excellence" and to fragrances developed "over the past decade," wording consistent with either year [3].

Cindy Guillemant has Berber origins from Kabylia in northern Algeria, and the brand traces its sensibility to that heritage. According to the Cent Magazine profile, Arab perfume culture is central to her identity, and her inspiration grew from childhood memories of her grandmother Sadia, who each morning chose one of her small perfumes to suit the day [5]. The Perfume Society's house profile notes that Guillemant built her career across Monte Carlo, Paris, Miami and Milan before turning to fragrance.

The house took shape when Guillemant began working with the perfumer Andrea Casotti, with whom she shared an interest in modern art and a particular way of approaching scent. The Perfume Society describes Casotti as the brand's creative perfumer, building compositions with what it calls a "three-dimensional feel" and using oudh and musk in a measured rather than dominant way [4]. The stated aim of the collaboration was to unite, in the brand's own phrasing, "Italian taste and Arabic charm."

Moresque describes itself as "the harmonious synthesis between form and content, between aesthetics and essence," and positions its work as a tribute to Moorish art that blends an older tradition of oriental perfumery with Italian style [1]. The company emphasises restraint, stating that removing excess is what reveals timelessness in a fragrance. A recurring credo attributed to Guillemant holds that "a woman can always count on two qualities: sensitivity and precision."

The brand operates at the upper end of niche perfumery and sells exclusively in the fragrance category. Its packaging and naming lean on the same theme as its scents, with titles such as Sahara Blue, Scirocco, Jasminisha and Sandal Granada evoking the oriental and Moorish references the house cites as its foundation.

Moresque's range has been reorganised over time. Earlier editorial coverage grouped the fragrances into Gold, Black, White and Art collections — the Gold Collection, for example, included Fiamma, Aurum and Oroluna [4]. The current line-up is structured around two ranges: the Legacy Collection and the Art of Blend. The brand presents the Legacy Collection as eight creations — seven established fragrances that have "defined Moresque over the past decade," together with one new release, Barocco, which it describes as "an olfactory work of art that lives beyond the frame" [3].

Across the range, the house works chiefly with oriental, woody, floral and musky materials, with oudh and musk recurring as signature notes. All of its perfumes are made in Italy, a point the brand returns to as a nod to the country's long history in perfumery.

Moresque is owned by HIC Beauty S.r.l, registered at Via Privata Cadore 10 in San Giuliano Milanese [1]. The same parent group is associated with the niche fragrance brands Blend Oud and New Notes.

Moresque has been covered in niche-fragrance editorial rather than through formal awards. Cent Magazine published a feature on the house and its founder under the title "Immense; Moresque Parfum" [5], and The Perfume Society maintains a perfume-house profile covering its founder, its perfumer and its collections [4]. The fragrance blog ScentRabbit introduced the brand to readers in a May 2023 article, describing it as a house that "melds Eastern tradition with timeless Italian elegance" [7].

Moresque remains active. Its website sells a current catalogue spanning the Legacy Collection and the Art of Blend, including the recent arrival Barocco, and the house has marked roughly a decade in business with a relaunched range presented under the line "a new legacy begins today." It maintains an active Instagram presence and was the subject of editorial coverage as recently as 2023 [7]. Its fragrances are distributed across several European markets alongside international niche retailers.