Moving into the firm started by her great grandfather in 1926 was an easy passage for Agnes, who now works with her two sisters, one a doctor who advises them on the chemical side of things, the other looking after administration and marketing, while she herself promotes the company worldwide as she loves to “talk and travel”.

“The vibrant colours, the scent of wild herbs, the olive trees and, of course, the cult of flowers...” All this represents the true Provencal culture in which the sisters grew up. Being in the perfume business is a special bonus for a lady, and if there’s one thing Agnes has realised, it’s how lucky she is.

“The perfume business is like a dream, full of imagination, full of joy. It’s working in a world of luxury,” Ms Costa gushes. True enough! Even basic, reasonably priced perfumes involve the best bottles and packaging. Her payback comes through loving her work and company and treating her staff as family.

Fragonard’s headquarters is in Grasse where they have two factories, two museums and five shops. They also have a factory and shop in Eze, and a strong presence in Paris with two museums with shops and an independent shop on the Left Bank. The company employs about 200 personnel. While manufacturing and marketing perfumes is the core business, Ms Costa’s also dealing in cosmetics, soaps, house accessories and jewellery.

Ms Costa feels they’ve made their mark in the industry. While nowhere near the biggest perfume house, they’ve managed to remain exclusive and have excelled in showing the know-how of perfumes. In a highly competitive market, Fragonard’s success in occupying a niche area makes them comfortable in a market scenario where people are seeking niche products.

So, what sells best? Their most popular perfumes are Soleil and Belle de Nuit (whose sequinned pouch comes from India).

Violets in January, carnations in June, jasmine all summer long, tuberoses in September... all picked in the fields around Grasse, to perpetuate a fragrant and very feminine tradition. Fragonard has managed to preserve the artisanal atmosphere of a long-established perfume house. Open for daily visits, the perfumery is a treasure house of information. Visitors are introduced to the world of perfumes, learning something about the “scents within scents”. My conducted tour through the establishment with its copper vats of sweet smelling essences, enabled me to see distillation being done in copper stills, with the use of local flowers like jasmine, rose, orange blossom and lavender. I was then encouraged to inspect the diverse product line ranging from bath oils and soaps to scented candles and those aluminium bottles of fragrances that are now so trendy, but which they’ve used since 1926.

There are cellars for maceration and filtration, a laboratory for essential oils’ purification, special rooms for making the pomades and a soap-manufacturing unit. One can also sample their special perfumes at the in-house boutique and buy them at ex-factory prices.

The perfumery’s museum exhibits a unique, priceless local and international collection of boxes, bottles, beauty cases and documents that record the perfume industry’s history going back almost 3,000 years. My guided tour done, I was introduced to the ‘nose’, a very special kind of professional in the business. Working, experimenting and adapting with scores of different products and scents to create one single perfume, the nose’s role is crucial, he being the person who actually creates the perfumes. In order to ‘smell’ his creation, he has to have ideas, taste, knowledge of the public’s tastes and also the ability to forecast fashion changes as they may come.

Fragonard also offers two-hour workshops on the preliminaries of aromatherapy. There is also a museum displaying perfume bottles dating back to the 16th century, collected by Jean-Francois Costa, father of Agnes and Francoise. Agnes and Francoise aren’t the only Costas involved in the family legacy of beauty. Their mother, Helene’s love of exquisite fabrics spawned another exciting venture in Grasse, the Museum of Provencal Costumes and Jewellery. Among its exhibits are Indian fabrics carted across the seas in earlier times.

Ms Costa now has a definite India connection. For the past six years, she’s been sourcing jewellery and fabrics like organdy and cotton from here. “We enjoy freedom. The judgement of the public is quick, defining success or failure. It’s up to us, and we have the freedom to charter our course. Being involved in a family operation, we’re free to follow our instincts and our hearts.” A heady, fragrant outburst! But it tells the whole story.