Despite the name, you might walk past Cologne & Cotton without suspecting that it sells perfume. From the window display, you’d probably assume it specialized in upmarket nursery linen and silk nighties.

In fact, inside the shop you’ll find towels, bedding, cushions, china, ladies’ nightwear, children’s clothes and toys, home fragrance, bath and body products…and a surprising range of niche perfumes.

The shop’s ethos seems to be about supplying fine things to the mature (and financially secure) Yummy Mummy, for her boudoir and her baby. It’s full of objects of desire, and a good place to buy small but exquisite gifts that won’t add too much to the weight of your luggage. (The Claus Porto soaps alone make me melt with desire.)

At the back of the shop, a large counter is covered with bottles of scent, and behind this, a magnificent glass-fronted cupboard is also packed with perfume. The selection is eclectic, and there’s only a subset of each house represented, but a few of the lines, like Fragonard, are hard to find elsewhere in London.

There’s a good range of products to scent your home, including Lampe Berger goods, and reed diffusers.

Brands: 4711 (several colognes, not just the famous one), Abahna, Alvarez Gòmez, Annick Goutal, Acqua di Genova, Cath Collins, Claus Porto, Cologne & Cotton, Compagnie de Provence, Côté de Bastide, Creed, Dr. Vranje, E. Coudray, Fragonard, Geodesis, Lalique, Lampe Berger, Les Lalandieres en Provence, Les Vacances en Thoron, Lothantique, L.T. Piver, Marius Fabre, Molinard, Ortigia, Parfums de Nicolai (room scents), Parfums d’Orsay, Rosine, Sede France.

Getting there:

The nearest tube station is Baker Street, and it’s about ten minutes walk away. Emerge from the station, cross over Marylebone (pronounced ‘Marrlibun’) Road to Baker Street, proceed south a hundred yards, then turn left into Paddington Street. Walk all the way along here, and turn right at the T-junction. Cologne & Cotton is less than a minute’s walk away, on the right. There are currently six other locations; consult the website for details.

Cologne & Cotton
88 Marylebone High Street
London W1U 4QX
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7486 0595
website

Not to be missed: Patisserie Valerie, just down the road to the south. Enjoy the Italianate murals on the walls. Unfortunately, to get to the murals and the eating area, you have to squeeze past a display of exquisite patisserie. I defy you to leave without a little ribbon-wrapped box of yumminess.

Nearby: Madame Tussaud’s is five minutes away on Marylebone Road. Fresh is a few doors down.

— images & report filed by Nina.

See also: Perfume Shopping in London