A bath gel to fall in love with

Finding a niche scent isn’t easy now that we’re inundated with perfumes from anybody who has the smallest claim to a name…

Finding a niche scent, one that all the world doesn’t have access to, isn’t easy now that we’re inundated with perfumes from anybody who has the smallest claim to a name. So if you find yourself at Nice airport this summer (or in the Provençal town of Grasse), then check out the name of Fragonard. It is a small local producer of artisanale perfumed products (soaps, shampoos, bath salts and the like), and I fell in love with its fig-scented shower gel which was in the bathroom of the divine little family-owned hotel where I was staying, La Bastide St Antoine, Grasse.

Fragonard products are sold in its own shop in Grasse, but they don’t stock the fig shower gel (“It’s not on general sale as we make it only for special hotels and spas,” I was told). Well, it is on sale, in the duty free section of Nice airport. A little sachet of four shower gels, including the fig (Figuier Fleur), but also Rose de Mai, Verveine and Fleur d’Oranger, costs just €10.20, and a very good present it makes, too. The same sachet of gels is also available via Fragonard’s website for €12.

Fact Box:

Fragonard, 20 Boulevard Fragonard, 06130 Grasse (+330-4933 64465; www.fragonard.com).