A Scent for Fine French Perfumes
Most of France’s great fashion houses, and many lesser boutiques, have placed their labels on fragrances and cosmetics for men and women.
In Paris, chic refers not only to one’s outfit. It is also one’s scent, the expression of personality and mood, and the tone of one’s skin.
Choice of product is important, and Paris, where most French fragrances and beauty products make their debut six months to a year before they reach the United States, offers opportunity to sample great variety and buy at substantial savings.
Start with the best. Guerlain is one of France’s most esteemed perfume makers. The company was founded in 1828 by Jean-Francois-Pascal Guerlain, a doctor-chemist from Picardy who opened shop on Rue de Rivoli. From the first, Guerlain fashioned fragrances that expressed personality or the mood of an event.
Fragrance for Readers
His reputation rose rapidly, leading to early commissions from Honore de Balzac and from the fashionable periodical La Sylphide, which ordered a special fragrance for each issue, to impress its sophisticated readers.
In 1853, during the heyday of Napoleon III, Guerlain created the famous Eau de Cologne Imperiale for Empress Eugenie. That fragrance is still sold, in .25-liter bottles decorated with the original white bees pattern (about $58) or gold bees (about $100). On bottles with gold bees you can have as many as three initials inscribed in gold for about $5 each.
Guerlain moved to 68 Champs-Elysees in 1914. The shop’s original decor of Italian marble and handsome oil paintings is still the background for the sale of Guerlain fragrances, including the famous Jicky (1889), L’Heure Bleue (1912), Mitsuko (1919), Shalimar (1925) and others. The most recent scents, developed by Jean Paul Guerlain, 49, the family’s fifth generation “nose,” are Jardins de Bagatelle (1983), a flowery, light fragrance for women, and Derby (1985) for men.
The Waiting Room
In 1937 Guerlain opened its Institute of Beauty above the Champs-Elysees shop. An elegant salon, decorated by Giocometti and other famous artists, is the setting for manicures. The waiting room has a balcony that overlooks the Champs-Elysees. Facials cost about $55 and are a fabulous experience. They use Guerlain’s newest skin-care line, Evolution (1986), including masques, cremes and toners.
The Evolution products, including “Intensive Extract with Revitenol” gel (about $56 for 30 milliliters), are sold, along with the Issima and Ultra-Sport (also recommended for men) skin-care lines and makeup, in the institute and in the shop below.
Guerlain strictly controls the distribution of all its products, guaranteeing quality and freshness. You won’t find these items in duty-free shops, so forget about discounts. But Guerlain does offer a tax rebate of as much as 22% on purchases of more than 1,200 francs (about $200), the detaxe minimum set by French law. It can amount to considerable savings.
Guerlain has additional boutiques at 29 Rue de Severs (with skin-care salon), 93 Rue de Passy, 35 Rue Tronchet and 2 Place Vendome.
Mistress of Napoleon III
Near Place Vendome is Payot, another highly respected perfumery and skin-care salon. Payot was founded in 1919 by Dr. Nadine Gregire Payot, a determined woman who had emigrated from Russia to Paris before World War I to study medicine. The salon, at 10 Rue Catiglione, occupies what was once the town house of Countess Castiglione. The countess was the mistress of Napoleon III, who reputedly climbed the spiral staircase (still in the salon) to visit her.
Payot is said to have been inspired by a meeting with the dancer Pavlova to pursue a solution to the troublesome problem of aging skin, especially that of the face, neck and hands. The doctor and her successors have combined a knowledge of medicine and chemistry to provide the revitalizing Aubelia line of skin care products.
Most recently, Payot has introduced the Jeunesse des Mains and Jeunesse du Cou, two intensive treatments for the hands and neck, respectively. These gels are about six times more concentrated than ordinary creams. They’re expensive (about $30 for 40 milliliters of Jeunesse des Mains, about $40 for 50 milliliters of Jeunesse du Cou), but the results are fabulous.
Facials at Payot are superb. They’re given in rooms named for famous women, including Sarah Bernhardt and Marie Laurencin among others, and cost about $50 for an hour session, including a marvelous makeup application.
Tax Rebate Offered
All Payot products are sold in the boutique, which offers the tax rebate on purchases of more than 1,200 francs. Payot’s fragrance is named after the good doctor’s inspiration: Pavlova.
Payot has its own credit card, accepted in Paris, the United States or wherever Payot products are sold. In addition, American customers are eligible for free facials if they book through Payot representatives in the United States.
Near Payot, at 6 Rue Castiglione, is Catherine, a duty-free shop famous for a wide variety of perfumes and cosmetics at maximum allowable discount prices. If you buy 1,200 francs worth of goods you get a 40% discount, including detaxe. Four bottles of perfume, or eau de toilette for men or woman usually add up to about that amount. Cosmetics by Lancome and Orlane may be included.
Catherine’s stock includes about 108 scents for men or women from 47 perfume makers. You’ll find .25-ounce perfume bottles of Miss Dior for $21.50, of Madame Carven for $42, of Arpege for $28, of Madame Rochas for $30 or Paloma Picasso for $39. Men’s toilet waters in three- to four-ounce bottles include Carven for $20 and Anataeus for $22.
Shopping by Mail
Catherine also provides convenient mail-order forms for future purchases from home. If you buy in the shop, you save on postage (air mail is about $11 per parcel, which may contain one to four bottles, depending upon size). And the shop is a great source for free sample bottles.
Catherine’s does not sell Guerlain or Payot products. Nor does it carry the scents of Paris’ latest “nose,” Annick Goutal, a former model, whose gold-and-ivory boutique is at 14 Rue Castiglione. The Goutal line, still relatively unknown in the United States, is the rage of Paris. There are six perfumes (mostly floral), as well as nine eaux de toilette, including three spicy scents for men and Eau d’Hadrien, a citrus blend for men and women, as well as an alcohol-free cologne for babies, skin-care products, bath salts and soaps, and room perfumes. Goutal has another shop at 16 Rue de Bellechasse, and also sells at the Hotel de Crillon Boutique on Place de la Concorde.
Another unusual source for scents is L’Artisan Parfumeur at 84 Bis Rue de Grenelle and other locations. Founder Jean Laporte believes that choice of scent should be made by sense rather than by name. His repertoire has dozens of fragrances, bottled without labels. You sniff until you’re satisfied. Helpful sales personnel assist by asking you about basic preferences, your habits, favorite colors.
Return Again and Again
Selecting a scent becomes an amusing game, and you’re welcome to go back as often as necessary before you make your choice. Bath oils and body lotions are also sold.
Men need not feel excluded in the never-ending search for the perfect scent and skin care. Paris has fine salons that cater exclusively to men, providing haircuts, curling, dying, manicures, pedicures, massage with sauna, and fabulous facials.
Among the most famous of these is Desfosse, over a sporting goods store at 19 Ave. Matignon. The salon has the relaxing hush of a fine men’s club.
The walls are lined with cabinets, filled with shaving paraphernalia and colognes, all sold for home use. Since its founding in 1888, Desfosse has been favored by French politicians and businessmen. Paco Rabanne and Aramis products are used, and a full treatment of about three hours includes massage and sauna. Or a facial takes about 45 minutes and costs about $26, which is also the price of a wash and cut. The salon does not follow the detaxe program.
Henry Courant, at 5 Rue Roget de Lisle (hidden away next door to the Mayfair Hotel) is also frequented by gentlemen of influence. The atmosphere is much like that at Desfosse, with an equally excellent selection of items to be bought for home use. Facials cost about $34, a wash and cut about $29. Nina Ricci men’s products are used.
In-Flight Purchases
If you’re a dedicated bargain hunter, not impatient, and you’ve selected a popular and perhaps somewhat pervasive scent, you might prefer to buy from in-flight duty-free shops. Prices are usually quite low. For example, in Pan Am’s duty free aboard its Paris-to-New York flight, 7 milliliters of Joy perfume costs $55; the price at Catherine is $66. Paco Rabanne’s Pour Homme Eau de Toilette costs $20 per 100 milliliters on Pan Am; at Catherine it’s $23.80.
But the selection in this and other in-flight boutiques is quite limited. If you prefer a more exotic scent, chances are that you won’t find it in-flight.
Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.
