The perfume of Provence

For a beauty editor, a visit to Grasse is a bit like an Elvis impersonator going to Graceland. L’Occitane en Provence, the stylish French beauty brand, was launching La Collection de Grasse, and had invited me to the perfume capital of the world to meet the creators and learn about traditional distillation methods. For weeks leading up to my trip, I fantasized about fragrant fields of rose and jasmine, waving delicately in a breeze that was redolent with the scent of spring. Known as the “balcony of the Cote d’Azur”, Grasse boasts a unique microclimate that is perfect for growing flowers and, in the springtime, it turns into an olfactory wonderland. In preparation I packed white cotton dresses and K.Jacques sandals and brushed up on my (abysmal) French.

Alas, my fleur-drenched fantasy will have to remain just that. A few weeks later, driving through the hills from Nice airport, there are no flowers in bloom. Europe has been in the vice of an icy, relentless winter and the plants were still curled beneath the earth, shivering in the morning frost.

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