Alec Kugler
Before Paris’ coolest hotel, Les Bains, opened its 39 rooms three years ago, the Le Marais building served as one of the most major nightclubs in the world, bringing in regulars like Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Jack Nicholson, and shows by Joy Division and the Sex Pistols through the ’80s and ’90s. And before that, it was as its name says: a bathhouse dating back to 1885—in fact, some consider it Paris’ first spa. Fitting, then, that the hotel has rolled out a line of luxury fragrances and scented body products that any cool girl—Parisian or otherwise—would completely clear off her vanity for. Like, immediately. With her arm.
While Les Bains merch is aplenty (including bathrobes designed by Descamps, steak knives by Perceval, travel pouches by Pierre Hardy, and the retro in-room telephone in the hotel’s signature mint color), the fragrances are hardly an afterthought. Tapping legendary nose Michel Almairac (of Chloé, Gucci, and Bond No 9, to name a few of his past successes), all five scents of Les Bain Guerbois are sophisticated, artistic, and delicious. A theme of spice, wood, and musk runs through the line, but you’ll find an herbaceous fruity floral out of 1885 Bains Sulfureux and a boozy smokeshow out of 1978 Les Bains Douches. The spice, wood, and incense 2015 Le Phenix is a sexy ode to the hotel opening and just won a French Fragrance Foundation Award.
While Les Bains merch is aplenty (including bathrobes designed by Descamps, steak knives by Perceval, travel pouches by Pierre Hardy, and the retro in-room telephone in the hotel’s signature mint color), the fragrances are hardly an afterthought. Tapping legendary nose Michel Almairac (of Chloé, Gucci, and Bond No 9, to name a few of his past successes), all five scents of Les Bain Guerbois are sophisticated, artistic, and delicious. A theme of spice, wood, and musk runs through the line, but you’ll find an herbaceous fruity floral out of 1885 Bains Sulfureux and a boozy smokeshow out of 1978 Les Bains Douches. The spice, wood, and incense 2015 Le Phenix is a sexy ode to the hotel opening and just won a French Fragrance Foundation Award.
On top of all that, the accordion design of the bottle essentially makes for vanity porn, especially when sunlight hits the dozens of facets. We also love the the subtle color combos on the disc-shaped label around the neck, such as peach and evergreen, or grey and orange. As for the newest editions, the four bath products are scented with the woodsy signature scent of the hotel, and we are particularly in love with the scrub, which has three different salts and also literally melts into your skin while you buff. [Insert drool emoji here.]
Thankfully, you do not have to have a trip booked to Paris to pick up the fragrances. Now sold in-store and online at L.A.’s Lucky Scent, you can stumble in to test them out or order them to your place without international shipping. If you’re in New York, hang tight: We hear they may be available somewhere in the Big Apple by the end of the year.
Want more stories like this?
We Made a Custom Fragrance with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Perfumer
Behind the Scenes In Louis Vuitton’s Exclusive Fragrance Lab
This Is What It Looks Like to Farm Roses for Dior Perfumes
Thankfully, you do not have to have a trip booked to Paris to pick up the fragrances. Now sold in-store and online at L.A.’s Lucky Scent, you can stumble in to test them out or order them to your place without international shipping. If you’re in New York, hang tight: We hear they may be available somewhere in the Big Apple by the end of the year.
Want more stories like this?
We Made a Custom Fragrance with Gwyneth Paltrow’s Perfumer
Behind the Scenes In Louis Vuitton’s Exclusive Fragrance Lab
This Is What It Looks Like to Farm Roses for Dior Perfumes