France Summer 2014 No.7

品 遊
TRAVEL
century old or even bi centenary, Molinard,
Galimard and Fragonard. Each brand offers
courses for visitors to compose their own
perfume. Within one hour and a half, you
will learn what is a perfume's head notes,
heart notes and base notes, as well as
discover the scents of flowers, sental wood,
fruits, sea... Perfumers would lead you to
remember smells of your memories, and
you would be able to chose your favourite
from 99 or 40 sorts of essence. The choices
can't go up to 8, that you mix with your
own proportions, obtaining a bottle of
your very own fragrance, impregnated
with your personality. The mixture of your
favourite perfumes doesn't necessarily give
a perfume you like. But in case you really
like your mix, from now on you can order
the composition of your perfume according
to the proportions from the factory, with
your own name and number. After making
your own perfume, you will learn that a
perfume is not made in one day, and a great
© Antoine & Marta Konopka Grasse
perfumer's learning cannot be rushed into
one day.
Savouring fragrances is a process of
On the shores of Côte d'Azur, there are viewponts
everywhere, but to breathe a different air, you must
go to the town of perfume, Grasse. There, even the
gardens and the central plaza have perfume diffusing
pipes. In Summer, locals and visitors can rest on
the benches to nap or read, basking in the fresh and
sweet smell of perfume.
Every great name of perfume has its own flower field
in Grasse. The International Museum of Perfume
also has its own, visitors can breathe there all sorts
of fragrant flowers and herbs.
Arriving in the international museum of perfume,
the guide, has a little box full of little flasks of
perfume, a few flowers, cotton-tips and other
accessories. Along with her explanations, she would
have the visitors smell all sorts of fragrances.
Although it is a museum of perfume, unlike
what you might think, it is not all about
flowery or herbal scents. In a room where you
can press buttons to smell specific odours, you
can find buttons labelled tobacco, gasoline,
cola, leather, etc. even poppies. You can be
genuinely surprised!
Grasse has 3 perfume dynasties, all of them
remembering good memories, and prepare
for other good memories to come.
Museum:
grasse.fr/International-Perfumery-Museum
Perfumes:
molinard.com
galimard.com
fragonard.com
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