Free Persephone: A New Fragrance Day Spa and Beauty Concept Store

Paris is a cosmopolitan city, attracting expatriates from around the world. But when it comes to chic meeting spots for smart, savvy newcomers to commingle, there’s a lack of options outside of bars and cafes. Ex-New Yorker Lauren Creecy took matters into her own hands by creating a novel concept, Paris’s first Fragrance Day Spa, Free Persephone. Lauren arrived to Paris 15 years ago with a nose for scents, having worked in the perfume industry for as many years. Her long-term dream was to channel her olfactory expertise to create an inviting environment where women (and men) can feel at home. Inspired by her mom’s eternally uplifting mindset, Lauren spent years creating four personalized fragrances in Grasse, the historical heart of French perfumery. These scents evoke “four liberated, international, and colorful women, at once individuals, yet united.” These perfumes found a home in Lauren’s relaxed yet stylish 150m2 space, when her dream became a reality in September 2015. Whether making new friends over tea and cake, baked by local suppliers, or catching up with old friends over a manicure, this is the perfect setting to meet and mingle, just steps away from shopping destination Le Bon Marché. With an enticing array of spa treatments, I chose the Luxury Spa Pedicure which included a heavenly back, shoulder and head massage. After soaking my feet in a lavender milk bath followed by a homemade sugar scrub, my expert beauty therapist painted my toes a vibrant shade of red using organic PritiNYC polish. Even on a gray Paris afternoon, I felt the lightness of spring in the air. The perfect sensory escape without needing to leave the city! While sipping on an herbal tea, feeling blissful from head to freshly-painted toe, I asked Lauren how she chose the name. “Like Persephone, the ancient goddess of spring who continuously breaks free from Hades releasing springtime from winter’s cold embrace, the Free Persephone brand empowers women— who may need a little help today to escape from the “wintery underworld” of life’s daily grind—to re-find “spring” any time of the year.” Already, I couldn’t wait to return and began plotting my next beauty treatment, and who would be joining me. Free Persephone, Fragrance Day Spa, 66 boulevard Raspail 75006 Paris. Tel: +33 (0)1 42 22 13 04. Treatments start at 34€ for Classic Spa Manicure, to 96€ for a Luxury Spa Pedicure. Closed Mondays.