We have distilled the list of the city's numerous perfume stores to offer you our top picks.

Paris has a long history with fragrances that dates back to centuries of research and craftsmanship. A history the city continues today boasting in some of the world’s most famous perfume houses like Maison Guerlain. 

Guerlain, in fact, is famous for having more than 600 fragrances in its vaults, no easy feat. But renowned perfume brands are not the only ones the city nurtures and grows. Paris is also home to creative custom-concept shops and niche young fragrance laboratories. 

So choosing which perfume shop to visit in a city rich in choices can be daunting. Here are our top 4 choices: 

GUERLAIN The 17,000-square-foot mirrored Guerlain boutique and spa on the Champs-Élysées has recently been renovated by architect Peter Marino and boasts in over 100 different fragrances displayed across its two shop floor. This is definitely a must if you crave to embark on a journey of senses and scent. 

However choosing a perfume here is not like choosing a perfume at a beauty counter. The Guerlain boutique provides its patrons with an hour long scent experience divided into two sections. 

Step 1. The visual test where U are asked to choose pictures that appeal to U thereby directing the staff to help draw a line of notes specific to Ur tastes. For example, if U are drawn to sea and water images U may prefer fresh scents. 

Step 2. U are then blindfolded and the notes are selected and presented, and U are once more asked to choose Ur favourites. 

Based on this one-hour long assessment three scents are chosen for you. Two ‘Identity’ options (for your everyday fragrance) and one ‘discovery scent (a special occasions scent when you want a little break from your everyday perfume). 

As body chemistry plays a great part in scent, the scents are then tested on the skin. Once U have selected your favourite the staff will reveal to U which out of the 100 perfumes in the store is the one you have chosen. 

BULY 1803 Discover seductive scents and skincare secrets at Paris’s legendary perfumer. Heritage Emporium Buly was established in 1803 on rue Saint-Honoré and today occupies a beautiful antique apothecary-style store on rue Bonaparte in the sixth. Its wooden shelves are stocked with fragrant pomades, perfumes and oils distilled from exotic flowers, body milk, make-up and even chemical-free nail varnish made from crushed sea shells.

Combining a passion for old recipes and contemporary cosmetics, products here draw on natural ingredients and are free of Parabens and other baddies. Buly’s own line stars eight fine water-based perfumes including Bergamot and Scottish Lichen, rose-enriched cleansers, facial creams fragrant with sweet almond and burnt Hinoki wood, soaps for sensitive skin and even scented ‘dental opiates’ for treating your teeth.

The packaging, like the ingredients, takes its cue from history, with evocative old-fashioned motifs capturing the mystery and allure of ancient unguents and balms. Accessories will appeal too, from scented matches and candles to Jasmine potpourri and Greek incense from Mount Athos.

Skip over to the Universal Beauty Counter to snap up global goodies, including brushes from Japan and India, Turkish bath gloves, Berber lipsticks and marine sponges. Tooth and hair brush sport bristles sourced from badgers, horses and wild boar! Oils, Powders ad clays promise more curious beauty solutions. A bottle of emu oil, favoured by indigenous Australians for its healing properties, will make an unforgettable souvenir.

NOSE  From the outside this concept store looks more like a modern cafe than a perfume shop, but step inside and niche fragrances awake Ur every pleasure. Modern like its design the store asks U to take a test on one of their iPads, to determine which scent is best, before selecting one. Through the questionnaire, U will be asked everything from Ur age and zip code to Ur preferences and last few perfumes. Then, U are blindfolded and eight scents are selected for U, and U are asked to rate them from -5 (detestable) to (indifferent) to 5 (love it). Most days the store’s co-founder Nicolas Cloutier will be the one conducting the test. Once the test is over you are asked to do it once more so that Nose can really be sure of your preference, from there two to three fragrances will be selected for you to choose from. 

Discover cool niche brands like Juliette Has a Gun, État Libre d’Orange, and Atelier Cologne. 

EX NIHILO  For a truly signature perfume this modern store located in Rue Saint-Honoré is the place to visit. Here you will be asked to choose from eight base perfumes like a rose, jasmine, and vetiver, released from high-tech glass orbs, that give U the purest expression of the scent. After you can either buy one of the base scents or mix with complimentary raw material to personalise your own fragrance.

Once U have decided on the raw material of your choice, and the base scent will be combined with the final ingredients (alcohol, water) and blended in the ‘Osmologue,’ a machine fragrance-dosing system and your unique perfume will be made right in front of you. We can’t think of anything more bespoke than that. 

Ideal For

Perfume lovers