New York, The Clairmonde Perfume Project – and a Draw from MiN (and the Posse)

 SO Much Stuff To Talk About, I’m Going to Number Them All, Okay?  That way nobody misses anything (or if they do It’s NOT MY FAULT!)

1. Before I Reminisce,  Here’s a Fabulous Opportunity for those in (or coming into) New York this weekend:

MiN New York is offering TWO tickets to their amazing Clairmonde  Perfume Project .   This is for the SATURDAY EVENT 27 October (This coming Saturday) from 7:30p-9:30p.  Click on the link for Details.

Yet another reason to be jealous of New Yorkers.  I get to go to the Dollar Store.

To enter, drop a comment below – put the word Clairmonde in there so I know which giveaway (there are two in this post).  Also, let me know if you want one or both tickets.  The first random.org name that gets pulled determines how this will go.  If it’s a singleton, then the next name pulled that is a singleton wins the other ticket.  If it’s a two-fer, then that winner wins both.  Fair enough, right?  Hope so!  Given the quick turnaround, I will do random.org at 11p CST Wednesday 24 October.  Announced here and on the Perfume Posse and MiN New York Facebook pages.

2. New York, How I’ve Missed You!

For years, New York was my hangout place.  I’d go for a long weekend, visit my babies at the Met, the Frick,  I remember the delight when  Takashimaya floral  expanded to become...Takashimaya, with the gorgeous atrium and  tea and insanely fabulous tchotchkes!  soooo cooool , T where I had one of the best hot chocolates ever (with the pastilles), on a freezing January day…. Pearl Paint, Canal Street knockoffs……Zabar’s……Bergdorf Goodman.  The original Henri Bendel…. Maud Frizon for shoes (and lord, did I buy that gal’s shoes!!!) Martha , where I bought my first Jimmy Gamba suit (yet another reason to not gain weight.  That was a KILLAH! suit.  And peplums are BACK!  Of course, I couldn’t get my ankle in that skirt now!

What has this got to do with Perfume?  Nothing.  I was just rambling my old self down memory lane….

but a lot of old memories came flooding back, as I hobbled through New York last weekend.  And a lot of new memories were made.   Martha and Maud are now gone and Bendel is …well, it’s.uh..it’s …different.  Bergdorf has reinvented itself – it’s not the original Bergdorf (it’s lovely – but with a distinct N-M vibe now) – but at least they’re back from the Dark Days when the once-vaunted beauty department looked like a cross between TJ Maxx and Chenonceaux after a glancing hit from an ICBM, with the signature dove-grey carpet stained (and with HOLES!  At BERGDORF!) and ripped-open packing boxes just tossed in the aisles, like zombies were coming up 5th Avenue or something.

But enough of those old memories.  Let’s get to some new ones.  Patty already recapped Sniffa in general, with the mints and all.  Y’all know that March and I won the Bergdorf Box!  That was a hoot!   Lots of fun stuff in there, including an Histoires that I hadn’t sniffed (1969)  and a beautiful bottle of By Killian Beyond Love  and a MFK! And Atelier….(hang on)…Grand Neroli (which is pretty!)  And a bottle of Amouage Lyric Woman!  Squeee!!!!.  My BESTIE, Missy March?  She hates rose.  I love that Missy March hates rose.  Because I love Lyric.  There were lots of other cool things, too many to mention here.

Patty, March and I did Gangnam Style on the subway.  A couple of times.  We are ridiculous.  And apparently way behind the curve.   But we’re honeybadgers, remember?  We. Don’t. Care.  And it’s New York so nobody even glanced up.

Btw, if you’re doing ‘subway’ anywhere in the world you want Patty as your wing-gal.   Not only does she have an app for everything, she knows how to use them!

New York. U.S. Capital of  Fabulous.   I met some fabbo peoople and hung out at some incredible salons.  CB I Hate Perfume, which I blathered on about last Wednesday. Christopher Brosius?  Happy in his own gorgeous skin and not working too hard at cool, which makes him….cool.    A fabulous little  gallery full of …NOT PERFUME!   Just really cool olfactory experiences.  Visiting New York?  Get Thee to Brooklyn.  Love it!  It always has a bit of a gritty edge – you don’t want to act the fool in Brooklyn lest, as my dad says, somebody pop you upside the head.  You can show up in Brooklyn wearing sweats and feel okay – not that I would…..no, really.  I wouldn’t.

And I sure wouldn’t wear sweats to MiN New York.  In fashionable Soho, down the street from the Lana Sutra Yarn People. (caution:  this is totally NSFW, even though they are Yarn People)  MiN’s the love-child of the incredibly fashionable and beautiful Mindy Yang and her fabulous partner (and owner of MiN), Chad Murawczyk.  I walked in, saw Mindy in the candlelight and pretty much wanted to go back home and Just Start Over.  Mindy is gorgeous.  And very stylish.  And absolutely delightful…….(me, watching Mindy walk in a pair of skyscraper pumps that made my knees buckle just looking at them:  “omg!  how…do you walk in those?”  She could’ve just given me A Look.  Instead, she twinkled and said “I practiced for 5 days.  And I still can’t feel my toes”.  Gotta love a gal who ‘fesses up.  And looks great doing it). Let’s just stop for a second and imagine Musette in these pumps.  ERs all over the world stand at Red Alert!

And …Chad is super-cute (in a ‘guy’ way) and totally charming.  His dad’s an engineer and designed a ‘decant-helper’ that is one of those ‘d’oh!  why didn’t I think of that!!’ things….    And Chad & Mindy make a totally gorgeous and charming couple.  And their shop is one of the most comfortable perfume ‘places’ I’ve been in – ever.    With so much beauty and style and high-end product and chic-ness you’d think it would be really haughty.  But it’s the exact opposite.   From the moment we walked in, we just felt at home.  It’s like a combo living room/atelier, with a big leather sofa, comfy chairs and candlelight and … would you like a glass of wine?  Oh, btw…try one of Mandy Aftel’s essences” (her chocolate essence in a glass of red wine is the stuff of fantasy, never overwhelming the wine…instead, it ..I love the pairing of chocolate and wine – in theory.  In reality one always tends to overwhelm the other.  A drop of Mandy’s essence allows for a chiaroscuro of tastes, amping the wine without trampling it).  Yeah, I’ve got a Big Ol’ Crush on MiN New York.  It’s like Ali Baba’s Cave, with little boxes of fabulousness tucked here and there…and some of the coolest, cutting-edge apothecary ‘stuff’ – I’m TreatmentQueen so the idea of Fab New Skin Stuff and   Cool New Hair Stuff just makes my heart go pitty pat.

And I got to play with the Amouage Body Creams, which always  makes my heart go even pittier-pattier!    Hey, Amber Lovers!!    Did you know Cote Bastide does an Ambre Body Cream?   That just sounds…decadent, doesn’t it? like the legendary Amber Room of Peter the Great.       Candles and Incense, oh my!                                                                                                 A Certain Someone Who Is Not Me, dammit! picked up this little beauty

(I’m going over to her house.  In the dead of night.  With a lockpick)

We got there a bit later than planned, which is just as well.  Otherwise I’d have been thrown in debtor’s prison.  It’s a seriously seductive place, with beautiful, charming people.  And I was of a mind that if I just stayed there a leeeeetle longer I, too, could wear skyscraper heels, have perfect skin and hair and drop 3 dress sizes  – the ‘charming’ part is a crapshoot.  They don’t call me Cranky Old Bat for nothing.

Alas, even charming and beautiful people want to go home.  So they kindly let us throw ourselves out.  But, as Ahhh-nuld says “I’ll be back”.

 3. Next up: Another Soho Stop.  Or:  How Musette Drop-Kicked the  Head Across the Marble Floor!   Stay tuned!

 4. But before you run off, I promised you some Giveaway Loot!  Drop me a line, telling me what you most love about NY (real or imagined).  Carmine will hit the random.org button and the winner will receive some of the sample swag we got in New York!  (Clairmonde  Perfume Project enterers can enter this as well – but it has to be a separate comment)