Galimard Perfume Workshop in Grasse

by: Miguel Matos

Grasse is that iconic place every perfumista wants to visit and it is actually one of the places every fragrance addict should visit once in a lifetime. This summer I visited Grasse for the second time, so I can tell you the most important things to see. There is not a lot to do, really, since the historical center is a micro-village for tourists where everything dies after 7pm.

Three days are more than enough to get the basics. You have the beautiful and old medieval maze of small streets full of shops (most of them tourist traps) and the best you can do is wander around and smell the occasional whiff of jasmine. You have the great and unforgettable Musée Internationale de la Parfumerie (International Perfumery Museum) and its garden outside Grasse, where you will find everything you always wanted to see, smell and learn. And then you have the three pillars of tourism in Grasse: Molinard (which I explored in a previous article last year), Fragonard andGalimard, all of them with museums, factory shops and fragrance workshops.

I had loved the experience of the Molinard workshop last year so I wanted to try also the Fragonard and Galimard methods. They are all very different and offer complementary tools for the amateur perfumer. My favourite, I have to confess, was the one I least expected. Of the three historic brands in Grasse, Galimard is the least hyped about, the one which doesn't have billboards around every corner. And yet their perfume workshop is a winner, even when it competes against my favorite brand,Molinard.

Galimard is situated 3 km outside the center of Grasse, where you can find two buildings. One of them is for the fragrance workshops with a large shop where you can buy all the products, and also the factory and museum, where you can see new and old machinery, learn about the extraction techniques and walk around with a guide who can answer all your questions. In this factory you can actually see the staff working, filling bottles, manufacturing blends, etc.

At the entrance I was kindly received by a beautiful and rather shy young woman. Her name is Caroline de Boutiny. The name may not sound familiar but that is because of the low profile of the brand. She is the in-house perfumer for Galimard and she is responsible for all their creations since 2008. She was my teacher for the day. Caroline started by explaining that there are different workshops you can choose from: in groups, individually with an assistant or the highest privilege of having a personal session with her.  I felt honored and excited so we started right away.

The first step in this private workshop is a blind test. I was invited to sit in front of the perfume organ with dozens of different essences, like a real perfumer. All I had to do, at first, was smell a group of Galimard fragrances, all of them in small, non-identified bottles. After that, I had to separate the ones I liked from the ones I didn't like. From that selection, Caroline could have an idea of my taste. The information was important so she could understand which way to go in guiding me.

After the first step she explained the process of perfume making and the classic structure of a perfume. She also made me very comfortable, offering me coffee and giving me total freedom to smell all the bottles from the perfume organ. Now, one important piece of information: these bottles contained mostly accords. Not raw materials, which would be more difficult for an apprentice to work with. These were already diluted in eau de toilette concentration and consisted of a mix of notes. For example, castoreum, my favorite, was an accord made of several notes; tuberose was also an accord without the camphorous aspect. Civet was a milder accord than the pure civetone or civet absolute, more suitable for the heart note, not the base. Tobacco was a very soft and sweet composition, not the dominating and sometimes tricky raw material. I was very happy to see a lot of animalic ingredients, in comparison with the Molinard workshop, which had almost none. In Galimard I was in animalic heaven, which is the heaven my nose belongs to.

So, second step: base notes. In Galimard, the ingredient selection for the personal fragrance starts from the bottom. In Molinard it was the opposite. Different methods for different worlds. Caroline selected a bunch of materials she thought I might be interested in. From this selection, I had to pick my favorites. Well, this was hard, at least from the base notes she selected. I loved them all but eventually I settled for castoreum, amber, green moss, dried fruits, leather and tuberose. After I decided on these ingredients, Caroline did the math and decided on the proportions. She thought that tuberose might not be a good choice, but she let me use it in a small portion. After the proportions were figured out, I was left alone with a graduated cylinder, the bottles and the pipettes. Time to fill it up for base notes.

After filling the base notes, we dipped the blotter to see the result. And it was stunning. The reaction from Caroline was an expressive “incredible!” It was somewhat reminiscent of Bal a Versailles, in my opinion. Was I excited to continue ... This was already promising.

So we repeated the process for the heart notes. My final selections were civet, tobacco, ginger, sweet wood accord and frangipani. After the decision on quantities, Caroline left me alone again to fill it up. Time to smell the result, and I found it too sweet and heavy (maybe Caroline was right about that drop of tuberose). It lacked freshness. It was too syrupy and needed a blast of dynamic notes. That is the function of the top notes. Now, top notes are something I usually am not fond of. I always wait five minutes before I smell a perfume. But this concoction was really desperate for sparkle on top. So I added cardamom (a favorite note for Caroline; she puts it everywhere), cassis and grapefruit. My favorite top note was tomato leaf, which was a burst of green that would transform all the composition. It was risky but I took it. Proportion-wise, with the advice of my teacher: equal amounts of each. I was warned that the tomato could dominate it all, but still we went for it.

After working the bottles and pipettes for the third time, my composition was done. Time to smell the final result. And yes, it was an olfactive representation of me. The perfume resulted in a complex, warm, dense and animalic virile scent with a quirky green opening. I was happy but still in doubt, but Caroline assured me it was perfectly balanced and I would have to wait for at least two weeks of maceration before I could see the full development. Now, after almost three weeks I see that this is wonderful and even though I have never smelled anything like this before, it depicts my inner wishes. And yes, the tuberose was perfectly dosed after all. I am very happy and I recommend this workshop to anyone visiting Grasse. From the main three houses, this is the top one (I will tell you about the Fragonard workshop very soon).

Finally, I was given a glass of champagne to celebrate my creation and to wrap it all up in beauty, I was offered a gorgeous flacon. I mean gorgeous! I just had to name my perfume for the label. I named it “Chaleur” ("Heat"). It seemed appropriate, for it was 35ºC outside and this was a very hot perfume, too.

Done, bottled, named. When my bottle is empty I just have to order a new one, shipped to my house, for Galimard keeps the formula in their archives.

My perfume came to life and now I can walk from Galimard with an unforgettable experience, my personal composition inside a wonderful bottle, a student diploma and the pleasure of meeting Caroline de Boutiny.

Photos by Miguel Matos