Detaille, perfume house on the Rue Saint-Lazare since 1905

Detaille, the perfume and skincare house on the Rue Saint-Lazare, opened its shop in 1905. Its founder, the Comtesse de Presle, drove one of the first motor cars in Paris and found that speed and the lack of a windscreen dried out the skin.

With a chemist she developed a moisturising emulsion, the Baume Automobile, first given to her friends, then a whole line of body care. The house bears the name of her husband, brother of the painter Édouard Detaille. Marshal Lyautey had an eau de toilette made here to suit his skin.

The countess’s first eau de toilette took the name of the year the shop opened, 1905: a floral, powdery scent still made in Grasse to her specifications. The range grew in the 1920s and 1930s, and the house sells its creations only in its shop, by telephone or on its website.

At 10 Rue Saint-Lazare, in the 9th arrondissement, the wood-panelled shop presents the house’s eaux de toilette, the Baume Automobile and its skincare; online sales are suspended, but the shop remains open.