Are you looking for the best French perfume brands?
France has had long success producing great figures in luxury fashion and lifestyle. With the world’s perfume capital being Grasse, it’s safe to say that the French create the best fragrances in the world.
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10 Best French Perfume Brands Every Girl Should Know
Let’s have a look at 10 of the best French perfume brands, both niche and designer, that every girl should know.
French Niche Perfume Brands
1. Parfums Caron
Founded by Ernest Daltroff in 1904, Parfums Caron is one of the oldest French perfume houses still exclusively devoted to fragrances.
Famous for its unique blends of pure essences in the most fabulous flacons, this legendary perfume brand offers 34 perfumes for men and women.
One of its various classics, Pour un Homme, was made famous by the late former French president, Jacques Chirac, who regularly wore it.
Two other most popular Caron fragrances are Royal Bain De Caron Perfume and Muguet Du Bonheur Perfume. The house is also notable for its Bulgarian rose-scented loose powders called Pompon Poudre.
If you want to create a long-lasting impression, Caron perfumes are timeless and won’t fail you.
2. Trudon
Trudon perfume is fairly new, starting only in 2017. However, its history takes us back to 1643, when its founder, Claude Trudon, started selling candles and spices at a store he owned in Paris.
In 1702, Trudon heir, Jérôme Trudon purchased a wax brand that manufactures beeswax candles. Some 89 years later, it started to supply candles to the French Imperial court, putting Louis XIV, Marie-Antoinette, and Napoleon to their list of elite clientele.
Trudon is famous for its scented beeswax candles and a champion of bee conservation, but since the launch of its first five perfumes in 2017, the brand quickly made its way to the nose of perfume connoisseurs.
Today, Trudon offers 7 eaux de parfums to choose from and still has a long way to go. I personally recommend Médie, a citrusy fragrance with a hint of white floral. This long-lasting scent is created for both men and women.
3. Annick Goutal
The history of niche perfumery is not complete without Annick Goutal, who is considered a pioneer with her first creation called L’Eau d’Hadrien in 1981.
The very same year, Annick Goutal – a pianist and a daughter of a confectioner – opened her first perfume boutique in Paris, France. Her avant-garde perfumes quickly won over the perfume afficionados of the time.
Goutal perfumes are known to be fresh, radiant, and sweet – pretty much like the confectionary treats she grew up with in the southern French city of Aix-en-Provence.
The legendary Eau d’Hadrien, which was inspired by the famous Tuscan hills and the Emperor Hadrian, became the houses’s emblematic perfume. This is, of course, an absolute must-have if you’re collecting niche perfumes.
4. Dyptique
Another pioneering niche perfume house, St. Germain Diptyque, commonly known as Diptyque, is a French luxury fragrance brand founded by Desmond Knox-Leet, Yves Coueslant, and Christiane Gautrot in the early 1960s. Its name means “two-panel image” in Ancient Greek.
The company creates perfumes and scented candles, as well as perfume oil diffusers. Eau des Sens is a must in every niche perfume collection, with its floral and fruity notes that remind one of bitter orange trees – from the roots to the branches, leaves, and fruits.
If you’re in Paris, you can still find Ditpyque’s s original boutique at 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain in the 5th arrondissement. It’s a trip you shouldn’t miss, especially if you’re a perfume junkie like myself.
5. Memo Paris
This one’s a rather interesting niche fragrance brand that captures attention at first meeting, what with its high-end prices that could cost you up to 500 plus USD per bottle to its fragrances being inspired by travel that the husband-and-wife founders are passionate about.
This Parisian luxury perfume house has been around since 2007, established by John and Clara Molloy. Memo fragrances are characterized by a vintage twist and known for their compositions that evolve on the skin and are long-lasting.
Simply put, the skin memorizes the scents, hence, the “Memo” brand name.
One of its most popular scents, Eau de Memo, is an amber floral fragrance for both men and women that smells like crisp lemon and tea, with hints of brand-new genuine leather bags. It’s very well-recommended.
French Designer Perfume Brands
6. Lancôme
Founded in 1935 Guillaume d’Ornano and Armand Petitjean in Paris, France, Lancôme is one of the most popular French brands and one of the most famous perfume manufacturers in the world.
Lancôme is easily one of my personal favorite perfume brands. I’ve had bottles of Miracle for over a decade now, and I have yet to grow tired of its scent. Another favorite, La Vie Est Belle, is the best-selling fragrance in Lancôme’s history.
So if I must recommend Lancôme to any girl who loves high-end girly scents, these are my two top picks.
7. Chanel
Of course, when it comes to designer perfumes, the very iconic classic Chanel No. 5 will always make it to the top list. This fragrance has permanently sealed Chanel’s name in perfume history.
Parfums Chanel was founded by Pierre Wertheimer in 1924, a lucrative move by the company to produce and sell perfumes and cosmetics. The parfumerie was a great success, proving to be the most profitable business division of the corporation.
Today, Chanel has over 40 iconic fragrances, with – of course – the No. 5 being the most famous of all. It’s a classic will never grow old, a must-have for every sophisticated lady.
8. Nina Ricci
This French fashion house, founded by Maria “Nina” Ricci and her son Robert in Paris in 1932, started out by creating gowns.
In 1941, Robert launched an in-house perfume division, creating his first fragrance, Coeur Joie, 7 years later.
It was in 1948 that Robert Ricci launched L’Air du Temps, the fragrance that marked the brand in perfume history. With its warm and spicy fragrance, L’Air du Temps made Nina Ricci a famous brand name.
L’Air du Temps remains a popular fragrance and continues to be a bestseller today.
9. Thierry Mugler
Thierry Mugler opened his first boutique in 1978 in Paris, France.
Mugler retired from fashion and his ready-to-wear brand was closed in 2003 due to financial losses. The perfume division, however, remained profitable. No doubt, his fragrance line is his biggest and most successful contribution to fashion.
Thierry Mugler perfumes continue to thrive today. The brand’s Angel and Alien fragrances make their way to the vanity kits of today’s women – and they are here to stay.
10. Chloé
This French luxury fashion house was founded by Gaby Aghion in 1952. Their first fragrance, the eponymous Chloé perfume for women, was launched 23 years later – in 1975. It remains a bestselling feminine classic to this day.
With a long list of famous clients the likes of Madonna, Emma Stone, and Katie Holmes, Chloé has kept its place among the world’s top designer brands.
Chloé, Nomade, and Love Story are favored by modern girls who purchase them bottles after bottles.
Hi, I’m Christine – a full-time traveler and career woman. Although I’m from the Philippines, my location independent career took me to over 40 countries and lived in 4 continents in the last 10 years, including France. A self-proclaimed Francophile, I love everything France.
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