PARIS — Tucked away in the old, winding streets of this historic city are a growing number of exquisitely decorated boutiques that sell their own ranges of fragrance and home scents.
They are usually privately owned and often have their own in-house perfumer. They advertise little — or not at all, use the same bottle for their different fragrances and freely ignore the marketing imperatives of big-budget launches.
These somewhat exotic brands are popular in France among those who seek high-quality, exclusive fragrances. Their French cachet is proving easily exportable, and many of the companies now make most of their money abroad.
In New York, Henri Bendel carries Annick Goutal, Parfums de Rosine, L’Artisan Parfumeur and Maötre Parfumeur et Gantier. According to Ed Burstell, cosmetics and fragrance buyer, all these brands sell well.
He attributes their success to the quality of the juice. “The fragrances are all terrific, and they come from the background where the perfumer’s job is to create wonderful fragrance, instead of just moving on to the next trend,” Burstell said.
He also noted the collections “sell a European lifestyle more than a product” and that “they offer more than one option. They have fragrances that take you through the seasons and through different times of day.”
Nearby, Saks Fifth Avenue merchandises Annick Goutal and Octée.
Steve Bock, senior vice president and divisional merchandise manager, said the brands are “a very vibrant and exciting category with tremendous potential.”
One of the oldest is L’Artisan Parfumeur, founded in 1977 by perfumer Jean Laporte, who sold the company six years ago to private investors. Since his departure, one or two new fragrances a year are developed by fragrance suppliers.
The cozy Artisan stores have emerald green chintz walls and glossy black display units housing the 20 or so brands of eaux de toilette, mostly for women. The stores also merchandise bath and shower gel and body lotion, as well as five types of home fragrance.
The home fragrance line consists of sprays, potpourri, scented candles, perfumed oil to be dabbed on ceramic rings and activated by the heat of a light bulb or radiator, and the “boule d’ambre,” a decorative terra-cotta ball with lacy cutouts that is stuffed with amber.
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There are also scented sachets in linen, and two car sachets in leather or suedine, developed specially to perfume automobile interiors.
In France, the eaux de toilettes are priced between $43 (230 francs) for a 50-ml. spray and $107 (580 francs) for a 250-ml. spray, and the scented candles retail for $44 (240 francs).
Marie Dumont, managing director of L’Artisan Parfumeur, says that in spite of the boutiques’ old-style decor, the company does not launch traditional fragrances.
Rather, it introduces “creative or avant-garde” scents that don’t necessarily correspond to commercial trends. “Our role is to try to find new olfactive themes,” she said.
Dumont said one innovative composition was Voleur de Roses, a men’s scent “stolen from the world of women’s fragrances,” with an unexpected rose departure.
In the same vein, the company will launch Premier Figuier this fall, a new eau de toilette.
The leading Artisan women’s fragrance in France is Mure et MPsc, a berry and musk scent, while the number-one scent in the U.S. is Vanilia, a spicy vanilla-based mix.
Dumont attributes this difference to Americans’ penchant for fragrances that remind them of baby powder.
L’Artisan Parfumeur has 30 boutiques in France and as many store counters. Its products are exported to 70 doors in 15 countries in Europe, the Mideast and America.
In America, L’Artisan Parfumeur has its own boutique on Madison Avenue and 30 counters in department and specialty stores. This fall, the company will open its first Asian door in a Tokyo specialty shop.
The company’s worldwide volume last year was $5 million (27 million francs), of which 25 percent was retail sales rung up at the five company-owned boutiques — three in France, the other two in London and New York — and the rest was wholesale.
Dumont projects a 15 percent increase this year and will open 40 store counters in France by the end of the year. Only 25 percent of the volume was from export markets, but Dumont would like to double this over the next three years by opening doors in all European capitals.
After the sale of L’Artisan Parfumeur, Jean Laporte opened his own boutique called Maötre Parfumeur et Gantier, named after glove makers in 17th and 18th-century France, who also created perfumes.
His two boutiques in Paris are opulently decorated in red, gray and gold with wooden cabinets, trompe l’oeil ceilings and marble floors.
The scents contain a high percentage of natural ingredients, when possible, he added. The company does 85 percent of its $7.4 million (40 million francs) wholesale volume abroad, said Laporte.
The company also advertises in magazines worldwide, but Laporte would not disclose his advertising budget.
The products are sold in 300 doors in Europe, Asia, the Mideast, the French West Indies and North and South America.
In America, Laporte’s line is sold in 40 doors, including Bendel’s and specialty and home decoration stores.
The 15 women’s fragrances and 10 men’s eaux de toilettes are bottled in glass flacons with faux jewel caps — “diamonds” for women, “rubies” for men.
There are also bath oils, soaps and scented talc with a matching swan’s down puff. The top-selling women’s scent is Secrète Datura, a floral that Laporte says appeals both to Americans, who like heavier fragrances, and Japanese, who don’t.
Its bottle — different from the others — is frosted glass with a raised design of a woman with long, flowing hair.
In France, prices vary from $63 (340 francs) for a 100-ml. Rose Muskissime eau de Toilette to $157 (850 francs) for a 100-ml. Tubereuse eau de Toilette. Scented candles are priced around $25 (135 francs) for 125 milligrams.
Laporte’s stores sell the same types of home fragrance as L’Artisan Parfumeur, but the boules d’ambre are square rather than round.
True to its heritage, the Laporte boutique does carry gloves, which are sold with rose or iris sachets.
Parfums de Nicolaò also has its own in-house perfumer, Patricia de Nicolaò, a descendent of the Guerlain family.
After graduating from ISIPCA, the Versailles fragrance and flavor school, Nicolaò trained under master perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain, then worked at Firmenich and Quest, two fragrance houses.
Four and a half years ago, Nicolaò and her husband, Jean-Louis Michau, decided to start their own business.
Nicolaò blends the fragrances, adding a new one every year, and Michau runs the company. The laboratory is located at one of two wood-paneled boutiques in Paris that are brightened with blue and white striped fabric.
“We would like to have the position that Guerlain had 10 years ago,” said Michau. “We want to remain a family-run business, selling elegant products in elegant bottles that aren’t too expensive.”
Nicolaò fragrances retail for around 25 percent less than Christian Dior’s, he added.
Nicolaò sells eight women’s scents, one men’s eau de toilette and four unisex eaux de cologne, all boxed in signature blue and white cartons with gold lettering and a wax seal.
The women’s fragrances are bottled in tall, thin flacons designed by Serge Mansau, with the exception of the bestseller, Sacrebleu!, a floral oriental that comes in a blue bottle.
Nicolaò also carries spray home fragrances, scented candles and heat-activated oil and its ceramic ring. A special cabinet displays a collection of luxury bottles for sale.
Nicolaò’s products are sold in 150 counters in French home decoration stores, besides the two boutiques in Paris, and will roll out to 250 perfumery doors by the end of the year.
Last year the company did $1.6 (9 million francs) in volume, of which half was retail and half wholesale. The sales projection for this year is $2.8 million (15 million francs).
Parfums de Nicolaò exports to 26 countries in 100 doors in Europe, Asia, the Mideast and America.
In the U.S., Nicolaò fragrances are sold in around 15 speciality stores, and will make their debut at Bergdorf Goodman in September. “Our objective is to do over 100 million francs (volume) and be sold in most countries in the next five years,” said Michau.
Les Parfums de Rosine, a tiny fuchsia and gold boutique in the Palais Royal, resurrects forgotten fragrances from the early 1900s Paris couturier Paul Poiret.
Poiret, called the king of fashion from 1904 to 1924, was the first designer to launch his own scents. His first was called Rosine. The two-and- a-half-year-old boutique, owned by Bernard and Marie-Hélène Rogeon, has relaunched three of Poiret’s fragrances, although the formulas aren’t the same.
Rogeon plans to franchise the boutique’s name after the fifth fragrance has been introduced.
Two more fragrances will roll out next year. “Our objective is to introduce fragrances blended with lots of natural ingredients that are outside of the commercial circuit,” he said. “Our clients are women who are knowledgeable about fragrance, who look for new scents and a certain reception in the store.”
Parfums Rosine’s first scent, La Rose de Rosine, is a a blend of rose notes with touches of violet and ylang ylang. The second, La Coupe d’Or, is a fruity vanilla fragrance.
This fall’s launch, Mea Culpa, is a white floral with a dominant tuberose theme, blended by Dragoco perfumer Francois Robert.
The boutique also sells soap, scented lotion and deodorant in the Rose de Rosine line, scented candles and jewelry that ties in with the fragrance themes.
In France, Les Parfums de Rosine are sold at the boutique in Paris and at a perfumery in Lille. Rogeon is looking to open another boutique in Paris next year.
The fragrances are also sold at 62 doors worldwide in 13 countries in Europe, Asia, the Mideast and America. In the U.S., they are sold exclusively at Henri Bendel in New York and Chicago, at Fred Segal on the West Coast and at a handful of specialty stores in the rest of the country.
Next year, Parfums de Rosine will be launched at several doors in Canada. Volume last year for the two fragrances totaled more than $315,000 (1.7million francs) — of which $111,000 (600,000 francs) was retail, excluding sales tax.
A 50 percent increase to more than $480,000 (2.6 million francs) is projected for this year.
Octée takes a completely different approach to fragrance. The company’s two boutiques, with their minimalist white decor, sell a range of “personalized” fragrances that clients tailor to their taste, and a full skin care line. A former L’Oreal executive, Josiane Duadon, who is an owner, introduced the concept because she believes consumers “have had enough of standardized offers” and are ready for “products that correspond very precisely to their demand.”
Twelve numbered eaux de parfum can be adapted to the wearer’s personality with the addition of “pure scents,” liquid or solid single-note essences that warm, spice, sweeten or freshen the accord. The fragrances are not animal products. They are sold in simple glass bottles designed by Pierre Dinand. Each has a color-coded cap.
Instead of boxes, the bottles come wrapped in colored silk scarves that match their cap colors. The eaux de parfum retail for $55 and $60 (295 francs and 325 francs) for a 75-ml. pour and spray, respectively. All the pure scents are priced at $30 (160 francs). There are coordinating perfumed soaps, body lotions and bath gels.
Colored wooden cubes scented with the 12 notes are the only home fragrance item. The extensive treatment line, formulated with plant extracts, is targeted to 12 different skin types, which vary in sebum, hydration and age.
There are creams, eye-area products, cleansing and makeup-removing items and “effectiveness booster” serums. The 12 different Cremes Exactes are priced at $52 (280 francs) each for a 50-ml. jar, while the other products range from $36 (195 francs) for a 200-ml. Express Cleaner to 295 francs for a 30-ml. Reinforced Hydration Pure Active.
Octée is sold in England and Saudia Arabia, will be introduced in South Korea and Hong Kong and is making its debut in the U.S. this month.
In the U.S., the fragrance line is being introduced exclusively at Saks’s New York flagship and three branches, and will roll out to two more Saks stores in November.
Octée’s business consists of 70 percent fragrance and 30 percent skin care at its Left Bank store, where it should do more than $460,000 (2.5 million francs) at retail this year, said Daudon.
She projects that it will do $750,000 in sales its first year at the Saks stores.
Some of the most beautiful window displays in Paris can be found at Annick Goutal’s four boutiques. Golden garlands of ivy, swathes of velvet and moiré and sculpted dried flower arrangements showcase the romantic range of ivory and gold products.
Annick Goutal is a consultant to the company; she sold it to the Groupe du Louvre in 1985, five years after she opened her first boutique on the Left Bank.
The Paris-based Groupe du Louvre is a subsidiary of the Groupe Taittinger. Goutal blended the 14 fragrances herself, and will develop future scents, said Brigitte de Warren, president.
The next fragrance introduction is slated for the second half of next year. In addition to the fragrances, there is a wide variety of bath and body products, scented pebbles to be placed on a wire holder that clamps onto a light bulb, and a line of skin care products.
The line is sold in 60 doors in France. Eau d’Hadrien, the most popular Goutal fragrance worldwide outside of the U.S., is priced at $73 (395 francs) for a 100-ml. eau de toilette.
The bestseller in America is Gardenia Passion, which beat out Eau d’Hadrien by a small margin. The products and their environment are becoming very well known in the U.S., where the company did 70 percent of its $11.1 million (60 million francs) at wholesale last year.
De Warren projects a 16 percent increase this year to more than $13 million (70 million francs).
The collection is sold in 210 doors. Of those, 130 are major accounts, according to De Warren. The company advertises in the U.S., unlike in other countries. In the rest of the world, the brand is sold in almost 200 doors, covering several European countries, the Mideast, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Last year, the U.S. subsidiary’s advertising budget was around $2.8 million, or 35 percent of volume.
De Warren noted, “We have an excellent brand image in America.”