Christine Nagel was born on October 7, 1959, in Geneva to an Italian mother and a Swiss father. She originally set out to study medicine, with an eye toward becoming a midwife, but was drawn instead toward organic chemistry, which she studied at the University of Geneva. That scientific footing brought her into the research laboratories of the Swiss fragrance and flavor house Firmenich, where she worked in chromatography, learning to identify raw materials by nose alone rather than by machine. It was there that she first became fascinated with perfume creation itself, reportedly after watching the emotional reactions provoked by the work of colleague Alberto Morillas. She went on to train in perfumery under Michel Almairac at Créations Aromatiques in Geneva.

From that grounding, Nagel built a career across several major fragrance suppliers, including stints at Quest International, Givaudan, Fragrance Resources, and Mane, where she eventually served as creative director of the company's perfumery school. Working across these houses as a commissioned perfumer, she produced some of the era's best-known designer scents, co-creating Narciso Rodriguez for Her with Francis Kurkdjian in 2003 and composing Miss Dior Chérie for Christian Dior in 2005. She also became one of the principal noses behind Jo Malone London's catalogue, contributing dozens of fragrances to the brand, among them the widely worn Wood Sage & Sea Salt.

In 2014 Nagel moved in-house, joining Hermès Parfums alongside Jean-Claude Ellena, the house's first dedicated perfumer. When Ellena retired in 2016, she took over as Hermès's sole in-house perfumer and director of olfactive creation, becoming only the second woman (after Mathilde Laurent at Cartier) to hold such a position at a major luxury maison. In that role she has shaped the house's modern fragrance identity, creating Galop d'Hermès, built around the leathery Doblis accord drawn from the brand's archives, alongside Twilly d'Hermès and other entries in the house's Hermessence and Un Jardin lines.

Nagel's output across both her freelance years and her Hermès tenure is often associated with a fondness for patchouli, woody and leather materials, and bold structural contrasts, paired with an insistence on emotional storytelling over technical display. Her work has been recognized with a FiFi Award from the Fragrance Foundation France, the Prix François Coty, and a Marie Claire International Fragrance Award, among other industry honors. She is married to fellow perfumer Benoit Lapouza.