The Marais district — essentially the 3rd arrondissement — is a quiet area that’s becoming increasingly trendy and popular with designers. The Stéphanie de Saint-Aignan boutique is in a quiet cobbled residential street with cute shops at ground level and apartments above.

The shop is bright and uncluttered, in a modern style, with the perfumes arranged around the walls on white cupboards. There’s a dinky spiral staircase leading to an upstairs stockroom.

The shop offers essentially what’s on the website, with Stéphanie’s (image above, at left) own personal attention.

At the time of my visit, there was lots of activity — there was a video being shot, and a member of staff was outside cleaning graffiti from the frontage (which is absolutely NOT typical for this part of Paris).

Getting there: Boutique du Marias, 26 rue de Poitou, 75003 Paris. Tel: +33 (0) 1 42 24 07 99. You can park outside if you can find a space.

Nearest Metro station: St. Sébastien-Froissart on line 8.

Nearby: The Picasso museum is a few minutes’ walk away, as is the Esteban shop on rue des Francs-Bourgeois.

— images & report filed by Nina.