The second edition of an event is undoubtedly the most feared. Will the audience show up? Will exhibitors and partners feel the same excitement as during the inaugural edition? Over the past four days, these questions have been answered brilliantly. Paris Perfume Week 2025 lived up to all expectations, bringing together enthusiasts and professionals in a unique celebration of perfume and olfactory culture. Everyone is already eager to see what 2026 has in store!
It all started with an Arm Wrestling match—olfactory, of course!
Imagine 32 participants eager to compete and win this challenge, created by the Bordeaux-based boutique Le Nez Insurgé. During the opening night of Paris Perfume Week, the competition immediately set the tone for an event marked by conviviality and exchange!
Maximum tension for the Olfactory Arm Wrestling, by Le Nez Insurgé!
Paris, City of Light. Paris, City of Perfume!
The first novelty of the 2025 edition: Paris Perfume Week began even before the opening night, with an off-site program that, starting Monday, March 17, engaged around thirty locations across Paris. Organized in partnership with the Fragrance Foundation France, this initiative aimed to unveil the backstage world of perfumery through workshops, meetings, and conferences hosted by brands, training institutions, and fragrance composition houses.
The workshops of Paris Perfume Week also embraced the off-site concept this year, taking place in settings more conducive to intimate exchanges. Twenty-two workshops allowed participants to explore the connections between wine and perfume, travel to Japan, Peru, and Oman, engage in olfactory—or even musical—games, taste chocolate, inhale tea aromas, discover raw materials, and experience vintage perfumes.
“Olfactory Journey to Oman” Workshop at Maison Bréguet
With Renaud Salmon, Artistic Director of Amouage, and Éléonore de Bonneval (Nez)
The beating heart of this journey was, of course, the Bastille Design Center—a venue whose charm was unanimously praised and which once again helped create a unique atmosphere. Perfectly in tune with the DNA of the event and its organizer, Nez, it embodied both warmth and authenticity.
An uninterrupted ballet
For four days, we witnessed an uninterrupted ballet of curious visitors, enthusiastic perfume lovers, and professionals eager for meaningful encounters. This year, the Bastille Design Center had the feel of a Tower of Babel. The international audience, particularly professionals, was even more present than in 2024… but, of course, it was a tower with a common language—the passion for perfume!
Everyone had the opportunity to move from counter to counter, experiencing the creations of 50 niche brands from all over the world (France, Italy, China, Scotland, Lithuania…). Paris Perfume Week has truly become a key moment for these brands, some of which unveil their latest launches here.
De belles surprises attendaient aussi les visiteurs comme des pop up inédits (Coty, Granado) pour des expériences plus intimistes et immersives, ou un tour du monde des matières premières naturelles avec LMR Naturals by IFF, inspirée des contenus de la collection « Nez+LMR Cahiers des naturels ».
The « Village des Naturels » with LMR Naturals, by IFF
Speaking of natural materials, the exhibition “Wadi Dawkah, the Valley of Frankincense” was a must-see. The result of a long-term editorial collaboration between Nez and Amouage, it offered a pedagogical and, of course, olfactory journey into the history—both past and present—of a valley listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, home to nearly 5,000 frankincense trees.
At the edge of this exhibition stood the now unmissable Smell Talks stage. As we know, at Nez, everything is about content. This is the very foundation of its purpose: 4 days, 8 Smell Talks per day… a total of 32 opportunities to enrich one’s olfactory culture. This year, experts, perfumers, and practitioners took turns, including Dominique Ropion, Mathilde Laurent, Isabelle Doyen, Delphine Jelk, and Jean-Claude Ellena—truly the crème de la crème of perfume creation from the last 40 years!
For the first time, these Smell Talks were streamed live, allowing nearly a thousand of you to enjoy them, both in France and abroad. Of course, all these conferences will be available again on the Podcasts by Nez channel.
For some of these masterclasses, the experience continued at the Librairie Olfactive by Nez, where participants gathered around a book… and a pen, during 11 book signing sessions.
Jean-Claude Ellena signing his book L’Écrivain d’odeurs (The Writer of Scents) published by Éditions Nez.
On the way to Grasse Perfume Week!
On Sunday evening, as Jean-Claude Ellena’s masterclass came to a close, a dreamlike interlude ended for all participants. Or did it? Not quite. The Perfume Week continues to resist and will make its way to Grasse next July for the first-ever Grasse Perfume Week. From one capital to another, in essence!
Paris 2026: new venue, new dates… new ambitions!
The Bastille Design Center allowed Paris Perfume Week, during its first two editions, to test its ability to unite a large community in France and abroad around an unprecedented event, far from the standards of traditional trade shows. For the 2026 edition, the organizers wanted to give it a new dimension by moving it to an iconic, more spacious, and central location in the capital.
One building naturally stood out: the Palais Brongniart. Built in the 19th century, exactly 100 years ago, this former Paris Stock Exchange, which ceased trading in 1998, will come alive for three days to the rhythm of perfume and olfactory culture.
Paris Perfume Week invites you to meet from April 9 to 11, 2026… and, of course, starting Monday, April 6, for its off-site program, which will be even more spectacular!
The Nave of the Palais Brongniart
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KEY FIGURES
4 000 visitors (+30% vs 2024)
90 content creators and journalists
70 retailers
EXHIBITORS
60 exhibitors, including 50 brands
3 fragrance houses
1 producer of natural raw ingredients
EXPOSITION
1 exhibition dedicated to Wadi Dawkah with Amouage
SMELL TALKS
32 round tables, masterclass and conferences
80 speakers
2000 attendees
1000 online viewers
WORKSHOPS
22 workshops
30 experts
300 participants
OFF-SITE PROGRAMM
30 venues
1 500 participants
OLFACTORY BOOKSHOP
More than 50 livres presented
11 signings
… and thousand of perfumers smelled!!
Pictures : Clément Savel
