“A woman’s perfume tells more about her than her handwriting. ” – Christian Dior

During my trip to Paris I turned into a serial tourist and managed to see absolutely everything I wanted to see in Paris in just 6 days while managing to attend a French course everyday from 9 – 5, I also managed to fit in a French cooking course and a day trip to Versailles. Where there’s a will there is a way! I was mostly able to do so by having the most wonderful guide, my friend Tom, who lives in Paris and was able to bring me to all the best places and in the most efficient way. It was impressive how well he maneuvered the city. Not only did we sight-see but Tom also brought me to his favourite shops and restaurants along the way. I loved almost all of them but I fell in love with one shop he showed me in particular, and that was Sens Unique.

Sens Unique is unlike any shop I’ve ever been in before. It’s a perfumery. And, I don’t know about you but my experience of perfume shops in the past have never been very pleasant. Ordinarily they consist of me getting a headache from smelling so many different scents mixed together that cause a stench in the air.

This was an entirely different experience. Sens Unique only holds original brands of perfumes so you won’t find any Dior or Chanel in there nor will you find Britney Spears’ or One Directions newest fragrance! Which means you’re more than likely going in without any idea of what you want. The expertise of the Sens Unique ladies makes up for that discrepancy. The women who work in the parfumerie are extremely welcoming and the way it works is, you tell one of them what you like, tell them a bit about yourself and they will try to suit your preferences and your personality to a scent. I adored the very first fragrance that was picked for me. I sniffed around (get it?!) but in the end I went for the first smell that was picked for me. They’re geniuses in there!

As you can see the décor is to die for. The other thing I loved about it was that every scent has a story behind it – once you smell a fragrance, you’ll then be told the back-story to the fragrance, which I loved because I always find scents do transport you to certain places and times in your life. The ladies can also recount the stories or information about each perfume seamlessly in either French or English. It’s such a fabulous idea and now I am hooked. The only issue is that I don’t live in Paris! Unfortunately (for the world!), they only have a shop in Paris and Caen. So, what I have been doing ever since is kindly asking people I know who happen to be flying to Paris to pick up my perfume for me while they’re there, if they can.

I wanted to tell you about something you may not have already heard about Paris, considering travel bloggers have done Paris to death! This is definitely a must-see in Paris (that rhymes… if you say it in a Parisienne accent!). They do fragrances for men and women. It’s a fabulous afternoon break during a hectic day of sight-seeing and it’s on a beautiful street near to the Georges Pompidou centre, which is full of Parisian bakeries and café’s, so you can get lunch while you’re there.

It is said that memories triggered by scent have the strongest emotional connections and appear more intense than other memory triggers – who doesn’t want to be transported back to Paris every time they spritz their perfume? I know I am when I spray mine.

The address is 13 rue du roi de Sicile, 75004, Paris. You can find their website here, and you can also find them on instagram or facebook.

If you go, I’d love to hear about it, I’ll be so jealous. I’d do anything to go back! Tweet, insta or facebook me. Or you can also send me a snap (imperfectlyfree).

Winging it,

R x