Two years after it opened its first New York City boutique in 2005, L’Artisan Parfumeur now has four locations throughout Manhattan. The flagship boutique on Madison Avenue is the largest, with plenty of space to showcase the company’s imaginative approach to fragrance and sophisticated attention to detail.

Like the other boutiques, it offers L’Artisan’s full line of perfumes, including the candied-almond Jour de Fête and the spicy L’Eau de Navigateur, as well as the limited edition Harvest fragrances (the next one, in October, will be Iris Pallida 2007). Nestled into other display niches around the shop are L’Artisan’s home fragrance oils, candles, Jatamansi natural body products, and whimsical, colorful sachets. The gracious sales assistants are happy to guide you in exploring the product line, whether it’s your first visit to L’Artisan or you’ve been wearing Mûre et Musc for twenty years.

Best seller: La Chasse aux Papillons.

Not to be missed: The themed fragrance sets, such as the Mood Swings coffret and the Spices of Passion trio.

Details: 1100 Madison Avenue (between 82nd and 83rd Streets) New York, NY 10028 (212) 794-3600; website.

Nearby: On Madison Avenue, you can also visit L’Occitane (1046 Madison Avenue, at 80th Street) and Clarins Skin Spa (1061 Madison Avenue, between 80th and 81st Streets). A new Vosges Haut-Chocolat shop has opened just a few doors away from L’Artisan at 1100 Madison Avenue, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is located only a block away (5th Avenue at 82nd Street).

Other locations: 68 Thompson Street New York, NY 10014 (212) 334-1500; 222 Columbus Avenue New York, NY 10023 (212) 787-4400; 712 Fifth Avenue, 2nd floor New York, NY 10019 (212) 904-7910.

— report filed by Jessica, image courtesy of L'Artisan Parfumeur.

See also: Perfume Shopping in New York City

Update: in 2009, L'Artisan closed all of their freestanding New York boutiques. The boutique inside Henri Bendel is still open.