Sunday, July 31, 2016

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Has anyone else seen the French trailer for Beauty and the Beast? It was mentioned on HighSnobiety.


Le Labo

Running through Paris the other day, we ran into Le Labo, the perfume store! Based in NYC to our knowledge, we were by the Mabillon metro and it was right there 6 Rue de Bourbon le Château. It has such a New York vibe to it, you really forget you're in Paris.

They had the interesting selection, including the murky 'Thé Noir 29' and really excellent 'Figue 15'; they have so many scents. It was great -- you could just browse the scented cards at your leisure, it was very casual.




The Smiths in Paris

We made the trek out to The Smiths Bakery [by St Germain or Mabillon metro], for its quiche lorraine, and it was worth it! We tried that and the tarte of the day [pêche]. With outdoor cafe tables and a nice little interior beside the glass counter, it was a great time. The street was quiet and the place even had a Berthillon ice cream cart! We should have gotten it there and not do the trek out to the island [île St Louis].


In the Marais

Paris New York is a must-do when up in the Marais. We were going to see the hyped up Broken Arm cafe and concept store, but while the store had a few interesting things in its very sparse layout, the cafe was silent with a tiny, spare pastry case. Instead we went back up the street to PNY.

You can have a set plate of a sandwich/burger, frites and a nice drink. We tried the Arnold Palmer [great and almost fizzy], the lemonade, the burger and a crispy chicken. The beautiful Danish models next to us remarked on the fact that they had not know there was poulet as an option when ours came out. The place was packed, and we happened to grab an outside table on that quiet, lovely street as a server was resetting it, by pure luck!




Friday, July 29, 2016

Jovoy

Jovoy is such a great rare perfume store -- and it's right by the gardens of the Louvre. They have a great website in French where you can type in scent notes in the search bar [make sure to use French words only] and perfumes with those notes pop up [the top 3 are listed with little descriptive icons].

They have many brands of niche perfume, including Frapin, Lubin, and the interesting Terry de Gunzburg line. Apparently the store also has candles [as does IUNX]. The young man who works in Jovoy was great, and stood out.

The brands they have are listed on their website as such:

 A  AEDES DE VENUSTAS AFFINESSENCE ALEXANDRE. J AMOUAGE ANATOLE LEBRETON ANNA RIVKA ANTONIO ALESSANDRIA ARTE PROFUMI ARTY FRAGRANCE BY ELISABETH DE FEYDEAU ATELIER DES ORS ATELIER FLOU
K  KEMI
V  VOLNAY
X  XERJOFF

JAR

JAR perfume is holy ground for scent lovers that have come to Paris. No itinerary is complete without it. We sometimes do perfume tours in Paris for people, and this is a special visit. Right near the famous Jovoy perfume store and close to the Louvre [and Annick Goutal, not to mention the luxe shopping street St Honoré], JAR is very unique and very eccentric.

All the scents are extremely complex and odd.

We just visited twice in a few days, and it was well worth it. Your perception of each of the scents in the table jars changes as time passes. They did not have 'Bolt of Lightening' out when we were there, but never give up hope. The door was open for us, we did not have to ring the bell.

As perfume people know, you cannot ask any questions about the scents, only the names are not secrets. The room was much smaller than we had thought from the pictures online, and was not as gleaming and pristine as I had imagined. Somehow that kind of added to the charm when a truly gorgeous young man strolled in to conduct the visit's activities.

They had 'Diamond Water' out, which was a standout great scent [in terms of normalcy and a regular person wearing it], and the others were 'Ferme tes Yeux', 'Golconda', 'Jardenia', 'Jarling' and 'Shadow'.


Paris

Who isn't in France during the summer? It's an essential a stop as Capri. Many go just to visit the perfume mecca of the world -- and they will not be disappointed. We've read all the 'Paris perfume pilgrimage' ideas online, and visited them all. There are many stores with purely niche perfumes, like:

Sens Unique -- in the Marais [by St Paul metro, land of incredible take-away falafel sandwiches at L'As du fallafel], there is a tiny, white walled shop that features Pierre Guillaume/Parfumerie Generale, for one. Try his light garden scent '16 Jardins de Kérylos'.

Liquides -- this is a small store near the incredible, top notch cafe Paris New York, near the sadly much overrated Jacques Genin in the 3ème [ie Filles du Calvaire Metro]. Be sure to try the Edgar Allen Poe perfume 'Nevermore' by Frapin. It also has the unique and hard to find 'L'Etrog' by Arquiste, which smells like the bitter, odd ancient lemons that are on Jewish passover plates.

Parfums et senteurs du pays basque [in the Marais] is another option if you like to try dozens and dozens of handmade, more etsy-type quality scents.

Stores that feature a particular brand are equally great -- especially the large, darkly lit, purple Serge Lutens store. Many of his scents are very famous. It is located in a lovely windy garden at the Palais Royal a bit away from the Louvre hustle and noise. It's a very transporting location, and going on a cool, dark, windy day only make it a better experience. You may have to ring the bell even if the store should be open.

It's a good idea to go to the big, busy Sephora at the Champs-Elysées and try all Serge Lutens perfumes before going to his own store. That way, you know what you want to smell again and have a passing familiarity with it all. We like to be armed with a question about a particular scent when we enter any perfume shop. Be sure to try the famous red liquid [be careful] rosey La fille de Berlin, Feminite du Bois [woody], and the deep rose Sa Majeste La Rose.

IUNX is another great perfume store. We sought out the less seen location at the Luxembourg Gardens [at the top of it], but you can buy/smell it at their store in a hotel on the luxury St Honoré street near the Louvre. Try 'No. 04 L'Eau Azteque', which is a nice light scent -- on some it smells like white peaches.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Ercolano

Better than Pompeii, or as they say Pompei Scavi, is Herculaneum. It's much smaller and richer in terms of houses, paintings on the walls, and there are less people there. It's so memorable and more fun that slogging through the enormity, heat, difficult walking/stones and bugs of Pompeii. There are even terrifying bodies frozen in death by the dozens at the bottom.

The paintings on the interior walls of these elite's houses are so unique, delicate and mysterious -- here's a quick snap of one little section:


Enchantress

The most interesting character in Suicide Squad so far has to be the Enchantress [ie Cara D.] by our count [her new promo video shows a new costume, love it] -- and if she were walking by, what would her dark mystery and power be like in terms of scent? Maybe either Lvnea's forest line or Principal Parfum's line of perfumes on nightmares and trauma. So interesting and creative, and of course unique. Has that ever even been done before; who knows? [Ca Fleure Bon did an incredible article on them here]. 

We bought a solid black spruce perfume bar and are trying to find where we misplaced it... so in reality we'll just buy another when we give up looking. 


Italy Travel recs

Naples is a place few people think of first when traveling to Italy, and they're missing out. It's very safe [for the most part] and many people will help you as you use your Italian and they try their weak English. The food is better than the rest of Italy, no joke. The marinara and margherita pizzas are the best in the world -- literally.

It's easy to stay in an 'American' type hotel and get around on the metro or train, and you can always take a cab as well [like today, when there was a train strike and we were out in the countryside exploring!] Another thing to seek out is a sfogliatella frolla, which is a sweet cream center in a sweet pie crust ball [unlike the typical sfogliatella that look like shells]. Here is a recipe if you want to make some, send the extra to us!

Sorbillo is hidden away on Via dei Tribunali (near # 32, though it's the one with the stone engraved sign above it, not the blue/white awning) is the best place for pizza -- this is a '4 seasons' [quattro stagioni] one with vegetables and meats. It was literally incredible. The pictures don't reflect how perfect this wood fired pizza was:


Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Mail


When you carry a Mansur Gavriel or Fauré Le Page bag, it's de rigueur to also send out personalized stationary--but nowadays there are options beyond the usual monograms. Typically people turn to the mainstays of initialed cards and letters, but most of what's out there is rather boring.


One line we like for stationary is The Grove Street Press -- these examples below are our favorites! I love the drinks one, but the others are gorgeous, and so unique. The birthday one is so sweet, and so much more personal, thoughtful, than a typical card.

The collages is of course the now famous bucket bags -- the pink ones are so sweet.





Sunday, July 10, 2016

Recs of Instas

Best travel instagrams, mostly scenic pics without people in them:

@danielkordan, @youngadventuress, @lebackpacker, @colerise, @chrisburkard, @expertvagabond

Best style instagrams, living the life with luxury place, food, bags, etc:

@thebagsnob

@thebaghag

@bagaholicboy

Saturday, July 9, 2016

A world all its own

The Okhtein 'Palmette flower minaudière oval gold' clutch here at Wolf&Badger is a purse worthy of Paris--who isn't stopping by this year, it's such a great travel destination. This piece is such a work of art, so detailed and the Okhtein brand is created by Egyptian sisters [that's the brand name, 'sisters' in Arabic].



The 'Palmette flower minaudière square silver' clutch is also incredible, it has this Tibetan vibe to some in a way:



A few unique bags

TheCorner is one the sites like FarFetch, Lyst and Net-à-porter, and it has a few things that haven't been seen on other sites, like these bags:

This Maiyet one is incredible, it's a small yet complex bag located here:







And this Dolce & Gabbana one here, is so classic looking, light, lovely and sweet, all bright skies and Mediterranean atmosphere:


This bag is so unique, it's a clutch that is very modern/Bali vacation appropriate [it is fair trade as well, the site says], it's a 'Black reins wrap clutch' here at Sahel:




And also there is the really neat 'Polaroid' necklace [you can put in a photo supposedly, but the natural one has a lot of appeal/charm] by Epiphanie here.





New Finds: Not Just a Label


The infamous indie designer site NJaL has incredible finds -- like this Flying Witch Bag below on left. It's by the brand Mrs Herskin, which has other unique gothic pieces like the Witches' Sabbath Bag [very shocking and a piece of art]The Demon Box Bag is another amazing piece that is gorgeous: it's below on the right]. It's some kind of steampunk dream fantasy with a dangerous medieval edge. Mrs Herskin has a website here.


Travel essentials for fashion lovers

For typical jet setting, classic-minded travelers, it's a hard call between Fauré Le Page and Goyard. Both are Paris classics that are unique in design and a little under the radar. Fauré wins by a hair, though, because of their innovative re-interpretations of past house designs. Goyard needs to step up its game and get some unique evolutions in design happening.

People often monogram or stripe their Goyards, but really you can commission that anywhere on anything. Hopefully that will come back in style

The third more indie options is of course VeryTroubledChild, which took inspiration from the Wes Anderson movies. You can buy their stuff at their site VTC here.

Fauré Le Page is available online at different sites, including the VestiaireCollective here. In Paris it's at 21 Rue Cambon.

Goyard is at 233 Rue St Honoré in Paris. You can buy vintage items at TheRealReal here.