Perfume

Whether it is strong or sweet, we all have a favorite scent. Let's discover a little about perfume, a French industry present throughout the world.

History of perfume

The creation of perfume dates back to Antiquity, around 3500 BC in Mesopotamia (today's Iraq) and Egypt.
The Egyptians are in fact the inventors of cosmetics (body care, beauty) and aromatics (treatment of well-being disorders). They thought that these products were the sweat of the God RA, the God of the Sun...... and therefore sacred.

Closer to us, around 1370, the first creation of French perfume was "L'eau de la Reine de Hongrie", a new art was born: French perfumery.

Eau de Cologne represents another major development in perfume. This eau de Cologne was created around 1720 by an Italian, Jean Farina, who settled in Cologne, Germany, thanks to new distillation techniques.
It was an almost immediate success among the courts of Europe and in France, following the return of the French army from the war in Poland.

In 1830, France became, following the mention "made in France", the center of the world of perfume and some cities became famous for their perfume factories such as Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes department (on the Côte d'Azur), known and recognized as the world capital of perfumery, as well as Paris where the perfume industry is concentrated.

The perfume industry

This perfume industry plays an important role in the French budget since in 2021, the specialized services specify that exports of beauty products (including perfumes) brought in 16 billion euros. Indeed, perfume sales have increased by 35% and thus represent more than 30% of French exports, that annual growth has been around 3.4% for about twenty years, and that in 2021, around 70,000 people worked in this sector.
The land reserved for the cultivation of perfumery and aromatics represents, in France, an area of ​​40,000 hectares.

To date, the global perfumery market amounts to 50 billion dollars and shows a steady increase.

The biggest perfume brands are known worldwide, they are Dior, Yves St Laurent, Chanel, PacoRabanne, Jean Paul Gauthier, Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, Burberry, Tom Ford. But 3 groups dominate the French market: LVMH - L'Oréal and INTERPARFUMS are experiencing rapid growth abroad. The main markets are Asia and the Pacific, while China is one of the world's leading beauty markets.

Some perfume prices:

Lancôme "La Vie est Belle" €64.60 for a 50 ml bottle
Guerlain "La Petite Robe Noire" €65 for a 50 ml bottle

Dior "Eau Sauvage" €99 for a 60 ml bottle. "Eau Sauvage remains the best-selling perfume on the planet.

Jean Paul Gauthier "Divine" eau de parfum €67 for a 50 ml bottle.