It’s August. I can’t believe it’s August.
I’ve never been to New Orleans. Always wanted to go when I still lived in the US – and I even have a relative now living there. Just never happened. Sigh. Too many places to go.
Anyway, Strange Invisible Perfumes – SIP – is located in another place I would like to visit … at some point: Venice in California. It’s a militantly natural fragrance company. Their ‘About’ section states quite strongly that their essences are made up of all-natural ingredients.
Their offering now seems to have settled into a sane number of fragrances (there was a period, as with many ‘niche’ companies, when they were launching loads of stuff). Well, sort of. The Signature Collection includes 12; the Perfumes of the Zodiac obviously has 12; and the Reserve Series has five and four of those are sold out. So, 29, in theory. Plus, there’s a sample set called the Perfume Minibar which contains 12 0.6ml ‘minis’ plus a $50 gift card redeemable against purchase of a 50 or 100ml bottle of a Signature Collection perfume (the Minibar costs $90).
SIP stuff isn’t cheap: $210-ish (approx. £160/€178) for a 50ml bottle. The Zodiac Series is more and the Reserve Series is significantly more.
I got samples of some things years ago (not the Minibar) and the standout for me was Magazine Street: magnolia, vanilla, vetyver, botanical musc. Inspired by the smell of New Orleans this is a warm, slightly rubbery floral on me, with a resinous drydown. I think all the vanilla does is mute the rubber a bit. It is strange and beautiful (and probably evocative, though I wouldn’t know), though not that long-lived.
Note that I didn’t pay the full whack for my bottle. Content (https://www.contentbeautywellbeing.com/collections/perfume), which is the UK stockist (I think they are trying not to be the stockist any more), has been offloading SIP for a while and I believe my bottle was £115 around eight months ago (no Magazine Street left at this point) which was bearable because I’d been thinking about Magazine Street for years.
So, anyone have any SIP in your collection? If so, what, and what do you think of them as a company?
PS This is my second go at making bagels. Taste good and look far better than first effort.
Your bagels look amazing!!! We’re at 63F for the next few days so I might (MIGHT!) attempt to do some sort of baking/breadmaking….. then again, maybe not… SIP is a great house – I loved Lady Day (which I think they had to rename, if I am correctly recalling). It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been to Venice and it’s a shame because it’s such a weird, wonderful little town. xoxoxo
Hey there Cinnamon,
SIP are cool.
Back in 2013 I fell in love with them and was taken to the Venice Beach store. The owner is the daughter of some super famous rock star but I can’t remember who, SOZ.
Here in the collection there are 5 bottles. Extraits of Moon Garden an Epic Gardenia. EdPs of Epic Gardenia, Urban Lily and Black Rosette. They are all insanely good but Black Rosette is my fave, SO WEIRD!
Portia xx
Thank you for telling about SIP; I was not up on their line. I haven’t been to either Venice, CA or New Orleans, LA, and I’m American. Your bagels turned out super in my opinion! Funny story: in college I spent four hours making homemade bagels. They turned out hard as rocks because I didn’t know that yeast expired! Sad trombone.
Oh, sad face. We had a period earlier this year when you couldn’t find yeast anywhere — people hoarding it like TP. You’re welcome on SIP — I think the perfumes are worth investigating.
I have … at least two? I had Lady Day, a gardenia, but sold it awhile ago. But I have their other gardenia, which is phenomenal, and some other oddball thing. They’re one of those lines I find really compelling. The scents latch on to me and I can’t get them out of my head. They remind me stylistically of another OG niche-perfume brand which I’m blanking on…. Aftelier!
Lady Day … I recall a lot of noise about that. What was it like? Aftelier Cepes & Tuberose … Was having one of those waking dreams earlier about walking along 7th Ave in Park Slope and ordering stuff I can’t get ahold of here to take home (like Aftelier and CBIHP). Oh, and getting ice cream at Ample Hills, which apparently has been sold …
I visited SIP many years ago in Venice. I remember liking Magazine Street quite a bit, but after testing many of their scents, could not find one that lasted more than 15 minutes on my skin. They all just literally went poof after spraying, even copiously.
Hmmmm, I get longer than that — 4-5 hours. Which doesn’t bother me that much as I actually like the opening hour best.
I had a decant of Magazine Street at some point (might still be in one of my unpacked bins post move) and remember really liking it.
I hope it resurfaced and you get another go?