L'Officine Universelle Buly

Today Kate and I went to the Marais to L'Officine Universelle Buly at 45 rue de Saintonge in the upper Marais. It is a beautiful little shop with a coffee bar on one side and upscale beauty products on the other.

Coffe Bar

Beauty Products

In 1803, a distiller, perfumer and cosmetician, Claude Bully, invented a vinaigre de toilette, a vinegar-based fragrance designed to fight body odors, cure disease, and nourish the skin. This later influenced the perfume industry. His son sought endorsements from doctors and scientists for their beauty products. But during the 1830 revolution, Bully lost his shop due to riots and he died in poverty. The brand was revitalized (and dropped one of the l's in Bully) in 2014 and sells high end beauty products for body, face, hair and even candles for the home.

Kate at the Beauty Counter

Candles

Fragrance Drawers

The reason Kate and I went was to look at their combs. They have many types of beautiful combs-maybe 25 or 30 styles-and also brushes. For an additional 5 euros, they will put your name on the comb or brush while you wait. Then they beautifully wrap everything and put your name on it.

Wrapped combs and shopping bag

The woman who helped us was a bit perplexed about my name. It is a French name that is usually spelled Janine. She was mystified as I spelled my name for her but it did come out right! Kate's name was much easier. Each comb came in a soft suede pouch.

We were pleased with our little souvenirs of Paris.