I wanted to make Mo’s 30th birthday really special. He has a real passion for fragrance and skincare so after a lot of research I decided to take him to the world capital of perfume: Grasse. I wanted to plan a complete trip, find places of interest, places he could learn from and find boutique perfumers for him to meet. Now, at the time I didn’t have much interest in ‘smells’ and how they were made etc. but I sure do now! This trip opened both of our eyes to the fascinating world of perfume creation, set within this quaint little town in the South of France.
I had booked early on for us to stay at La Rivolte, the lady there, Suzie, who was helping me pointed out popular places of interest for me to research.
I have to say though, my saving grace and inspiration for this trip was from a blog by Clayton Ilolahia. The blog titled ‘What men should smell like’ pretty much provided a complete itinerary for our trip. I read through his posts which delved into his experience and knew that everything he mentioned would be of interest to us when we visited for ourselves. He covered a number of areas in his post with some great images.
So I think it only makes sense to share Clayton’s words with you and hope he inspires you the way he did for me:
http://whatmenshouldsmelllike.com/2012/12/03/scent-adventure-provence-alpes-cote-dazur-france/
I would also like to add that Clayton was kind enough to message me with a few tips at the time, for which I am ever so grateful. I needed all the help I could get.
Oh wait, I’m still not done… it seems I have a lot to say about this blog!
Just remembered that ‘what men should smell like’ was also the turning point for me falling in love with blog reading and using them as tools for everyday life. Our trip to the South of France was the first time I hardly consulted my guide book, and it was really refreshing. We pretty much only used the map inside that I had written notes all over based on Clayton’s post recommendations. I had been able to plan our days so they flowed and we weren’t wasting lots of time trying to make decisions and walking back and forth to try and fit in everything we wanted to do.
I realised that for every type of holiday out there, there will more than often be someone who has experienced it or can offer help and advice. The best bit, it’s all online, literally at our fingertips, for us to find. I hope one day my posts are able to help inspire someone, the way Clayton’s did for me.
Have you been to Grasse? Would a trip through perfume history be of any interest to you?
