Browsing by author: Guest Shopper

MiN New York ~ shopping for perfume in New York City

Interior, MiN New York

MiN New York looks like a combination of an apothecary, a curiosity shop, and a private club; it’s actually a one-stop-shopping destination for men’s upscale shaving and grooming products as well as niche perfumes for both men and women. This SoHo boutique’s walls of custom-made wood shelving, complete with a rolling library ladder in one alcove, hold the MiN house line of haircare and skincare, male-geared grooming lines (such as Nickel and Proraso), and more unisex products like LaRoche Posay skincare and Marvis toothpaste. Men’s traditional shaving accessories, including some very fancy straight razors and an assortment of shave brushes, are neatly arranged in glass-front cases; a few liquor flasks lurk invitingly on a higher shelf. Last but not least, counters and small tables display a well-thought-out assortment of fragrance lines. Despite the store’s name, which is a permutation of “New York Minute,” there’s definitely a European slant to the product offerings. (MiN also acts as the United States distributor for several of these fragrance brands.)

Every corner of MiN is punctuated with antiques…

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Ormonde Jayne in Chelsea ~ shopping for perfume in London

Ormonde Jayne Pavilion Road interior

Ormonde Jayne fans will be pleased to know that there’s a new standalone Ormonde Jayne shop in Chelsea, just off Sloane Square. The new shop is much bigger than the tiny space in the Royal Arcade, which means that more goodies are on display, rather than tucked away in drawers.

The new flagship store, swimming beautifully in smoked mirror glass, offers the chance to sit down and have your Perfume Portrait created for you…

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Knows Perfume ~ shopping for perfume in Seattle

Knows Perfume in Seattle

Knows Perfume, in the West Seattle Junction neighborhood, has one of the most eclectic selections of perfumes and home fragrance products in Seattle (and Seattle isn’t a slouch in the perfume department these days). Owner Christen Cottam, perfume lover, raconteuse, former roller derby skater known as “Flirtation Device,” and ex-biotech rep, opened Knows Perfume last summer.

The high-ceilinged store, with dark wood floors, natural (non-aggressive) lighting, and a large comfortable sofa, provides a calm/relaxed atmosphere for sampling fragrances. Cottam would not be unhappy if you decided to stay the afternoon and try every fragrance in the shop; there is no hyper, hard-sell atmosphere at Knows Perfume…

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L’Artisan Parfumeur in Covent Garden ~ shopping for perfume in London

L'Artisan Parfumeur in Covent Garden

Over the last year or so, L’Artisan Parfumeur have been gradually closing down their standalone stores in London. There are no longer stores in Marylebone High Street or Royal Exchange, and the third store in Cale Street will soon go too, I learned. Presumably this is linked to the fact that L’Artisan is now stocked by SpaceNK, which gives them a broader distribution without the overhead of London premises.

However, there is still one L’Artisan shop still in London for now — the newish store in Covent Garden. It’s in the space left vacant by the demise of B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful, or rather in the upper half of that space — the space is shared with another business that gets the intriguing caverned cellar downstairs…

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Amouage ~ shopping for perfume in London

Amouage London boutique, store exterior

Amouage perfumes have been available in London for several years, via small counters in Harrods and Selfridges. Fab as these stores are, they’re crowded and busy — not the best environment to take in the finer points of what are pretty darn expensive perfumes.

It’s therefore not surprising that Amouage has opened its own standalone boutique, and equally unshocking that the new shop is in the swanky shopping area that Annick Goutal chose for its London flagship.

(There’s a hint of lèse-majesté in the fact that the block housing Amouage is currently shrouded in scaffolding, so that the new shop peeps out between padded poles. It doesn’t make for the best photo-opportunity.)

The shop’s interior, consisting of two spacious rooms, offers a bright and serene environment for appreciating the scents…

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