Fragrance oil on the other hand is the base for perfume and cosmetics manufacturers. In France perfume manufacture is an industry with an ancient tradition and Grasse on the French Riviera has been its capital since the 18th century; today, that industry is undergoing change. Indeed, even washing powder manufacturers have entered the market, whose growth has withstood the impact of economic crises.

Some one hundred new perfumes were launched last year, involving just as many operations with huge implications. Last autumn (the main launches always take place towards the end of the year, with Christmas presents in mind), Lancôme launched Poême; Dior, Dolce Vita; Cartier, So Pretty. Not to mention Le Mâle by Jean-Paul Gaultier or Nilang by Lalique and, of course, the half dozen or so perfumes signed by Italian or American stylists, which are often manufactured by the profession's big names.

Rarely has an industrial sector of such importance consisted of so many contradictions: as the quintessence of luxury, sensuality and refinement, the fragrance oil industry is also the domain of powerful industrialists, of experts in marketing and publicity launches at the global level. In spite of the product's somewhat frivolous connotation, the perfume industry has drifted through the recession virtually unaffected, without ever dropping into negative figures (in France, nine out of every ten women and one out of two men use perfume).