Advertisement
Although Paris can't claim to be the font of western perfume excellence - that honour goes to Grasse, near Cannes, where the bulk of the world's exotic wafts are manufactured - it is the centre of choice when it comes to fragrances, many of which are custom made and priced on application.
Megastore Sephora (70 Avenue des Champs-Elysees; tel: 33 1 5393 2250, www.sephora.com) blooms with hundreds of scents, from the familiar to the rare. Sephora has a handy 'scent wheel' to help you gauge if you are herby, woody or spicy. Sephora branches are opening worldwide but this remains the company's dazzling flagship.
If Sephora leaves you feeling 'choice fatigued', veer off France's most famous shopping street towards Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, on Avenue Victor Hugo (below right; tel: 33 1 4505 3902; www.editionsdeparfum.com) for a limited number of creations by Frederic Malle. The former consultant for Lacroix and Hermes has been highly successful in switching his talents away from the eye to the nose. The Une Fleur de Cassie (Euro95/HK$970), for example, is a distillation of the rare cassie flower and similarly exotic mimosa and jasmine.
Advertisement
For more exotic scents head east towards Galeries Lafayette (40 Boulevard Haussmann, tel: 33 1 4282 3456; www.galerieslafayette.com). Seven floors of luxury from fashion to interiors are joined by a beauty laboratory under an exquisite stained-glass dome. It features a cosmetics crossroads at the centre, where enormous Dior, Chanel, Lancome and Guerlain zones wait to be navigated.
Head south for the romantic Palais Royal Gardens and the equally dreamy marble-floored, lilac-hued Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido (below left;142 Galerie de Valois, tel: 33 1 4927 0909; www.
Advertisement
salons-shiseido.com). France may be a republic, but here you'll be treated like a queen (or king) and emerge smelling like one. For an exclusive present, you can order initials be engraved on a perfume
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x