She later sourced rare perfumery, cosmetic and aroma-therapeutic ingredients from the Himalayas and Southeast Asia, assisting communities there to ensure fair trade, sustainable development and geographic protectionism.
In her final year, Saget wrote perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain and secured an interview to discuss her project on the potential of artificial intelligence in perfumery composition.
Impressed by the results, Guerlain sent Saget to train in Geneva under perfumer Arturo Jordi-Pey, followed by an apprenticeship with naturals expert Monique Rémy at Camilli, Albert & Laloue in Grasse.
Originally called Centurion, the composition developed from a leather note, combined with a fougère and dimetol accord resembling Paco Rabanne pour Homme (1973), requested by the marketing department.
The perfumers settled on an unusually large dose of Mysore sandalwood oil, similar to their overdose of natural rose featured in Nahema a decade prior.
[13] After leaving Guerlain in 1989, Anne-Marie Saget embarked on a yearlong journey through East and Southeast Asia, researching traditional perfumery, cosmetics and aroma-therapy in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.
On the strength of her research, Saget was approached by Mane SA, a historic raw materials supplier in Grasse, and hired to establish and manage the company's Asian division in Singapore.
[17] After leaving the Laboratoire Monique Rémy, Saget spent several years exploring the Himalayas and Southeast Asia in search of rare natural products.
She discovered in both regions a wealth of aromatic and therapeutic plants virtually unknown in Western perfumery and cosmetics, and local communities unable to exploit them sustainably.
[18] The initiatives of Saget and her Nepalese team led to the creation of The Plants of the Himalayas, a database on biodiversity and ethnobotany in the region, with a focus on olfactory, cosmetic and aroma-therapeutic applications.