Fragonard perfume factory, Grasse

On our way to Juan les Pins, Antibes, we made a stop at the town of Grasse to visit the Fragonard perfume factory. We learned a bit about making fragrances, such as it takes one tonne of flowers to make one litre of essential oil. For more subtle fragrances, it can take up to three and a half tonnes of flowers to make the litre of oil. We also learned that perfume makers have 13 years of schooling before graduation, but then they are called " the nose". Their worktable of essential oils arranged in tiers of scent families are called "pianos" and each fragrance is called a "note".
This factory makes perfume, l'eau de toilette, soaps and cosmetics, all of which we were introduced to at the end of the tour. We were invited to smell several samples of scents from citrus based, to floral and also musky notes before being encouraged to buy some bottles to bring home.
Sweet Douglas selected 5 l'eau de toilette scents for the important women in his life as he thought this was a special gift he could share with them from France.Read more