Piesse was a leading author and innovator of modern perfume ideas, inventing the concept of notes in perfumery that are still used universally today.
[7] According to an article titled "Making the Synthetic Epic" in the journal, The Senses and Society, Andrew Kettler recounted the story of how Piesse, in later editions of The Art of Perfumery, invented the character named Mercutio Frangipani.
The invention of Frangipani was meant to correlate Piesse's perfume practice, particularly a scent called "Frangipanni," to the "exotic encounters in the Atlantic World."
[8] Piesse and Lubin created a number of popular perfumes in the late 19th century, including Hungary Water (1873), Kiss Me Quick (1873), Frangipanni (1880), and Vashti (1900).
[9] In 2011, anthropologist Philippe Rouja found several bottles of Piesse and Lubin's Bouquet Opoponax[10] in the sand near the shipwreck of the Mary Celestia, a Civil War-era boat that crashed into a reef off of Bermuda in 1864.