Local perfumes of France
The home of modern perfumery. Grasse, in the south, grows and distills the raw materials; Paris is where the great houses sell them. Come for historic flagships and for workshops where you blend your own.
Cities
- Grasse The old perfume town above Cannes, where you can tour working factories for free, make your own scent at a house that has been here for centuries, and shop small local perfumers in the old town.
- Paris Blend your own perfume in an hour, visit the flagships of houses founded here, then hunt for rare scents in the niche shops.
Perfume houses from France
1000 Flowers
Small independent house run by perfumer Jessica September Buchanan, who trained in Grasse and has worked there since 2011. It says each scent is made by hand in small batches, and it sells only in its Grasse boutique and online.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026
Diptyque
Started in 1961 by three friends, Christiane Gautrot, Desmond Knox-Leet and Yves Coueslant, as a shop at 34 boulevard Saint-Germain. Its scent '34 boulevard Saint Germain' is named after, and meant to smell like, that first shop.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026
Fragonard
Perfume house founded in Grasse in 1926. In Paris it runs a free perfume museum next to the Opéra Garnier.
Checked 27 Sept 2026
Gaglewski
Independent perfumer Didier Gaglewski was born in Grasse and makes his perfumes there, with a focus on natural raw materials. His shop sits on a narrow old-town street a few steps from the International Perfume Museum.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026
Galimard
One of the oldest perfume houses in Grasse. Galimard says it was founded in 1747 by Jean de Galimard, who supplied the court of Louis XV. Today it runs a factory museum and a perfume creation studio in Grasse, plus shops in the old town.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026
Geodora
Perfume brand created by perfumer Gérard Gatty near Grasse. Its lab and workshop are on the family estate in Montauroux, a few kilometres from Grasse, and it has a boutique on place aux Aires in the old town.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026
Guerlain
One of the oldest Paris perfume houses. Its flagship at 68 Champs-Élysées is a townhouse the Guerlain family built in 1914, now listed as a historic monument. Owned by LVMH since 1994.
Checked 27 Sept 2026
Molinard
Family-run perfume house from Grasse. Molinard says it created the first public perfume creation workshops in 1994, and it still runs them in Paris, Grasse, Nice and Cannes.
Checked 27 Sept 2026
Serge Lutens
The Palais-Royal salon opened in 1992 as Les Salons du Palais Royal Shiseido, selling bell-jar bottles created by Serge Lutens, and was later renamed Palais Royal Serge Lutens. Visit Paris Region says Lutens designed its amethyst-toned interior himself. Japan's Shiseido agreed to buy the Serge Lutens trademark in 2015.
Partly checked 29 Sept 2026