At first sight, the Sephora branch in the El Triangle shopping mall on Plaça de Catalunya looks rather modestly sized. It’s an arrow-shaped space with entrances onto the street and the mall, and it seems to offer mainly skincare products and services.Worry not — there’s a discreet escalator in the middle, which takes you down to a HUGE basement perfume/ cosmetic space.
All the usual European department store fragrances can be found here…
If they ever had a contest for the smallest retail perfume space in the world, the Parfums de Nicolaï shop in London would surely be a hot contender.
Barely six feet by twenty, the shop is tucked into a corner on the plush end of Fulham Road. There’s no time for spacy minimalism here — every spare inch of the space is packed with goods. It’s like a treasure cave.
The main window display holds glass shelves of fancy perfume bottles, while the inside walls are crammed with personal fragrances, room sprays, candles, scented oils, soaps and toiletries and large bottles of lampe perfumeur liquid…
The SoHo outpost of La Perla, the Italian luxury lingerie company, couldn’t be more different from the raucous Victoria’s Secret located just two blocks away on Broadway. Its space is sunny and airy, decorated in shades of cream and white, and it feels private despite the large windows facing onto the cobble-stoned street. Sophisticated confections of satin and lace are meticulously displayed on the walls and in glass-topped cases; their price tags, as well as their delicate construction, may take your breath away.
Happily, the sales staff is also welcoming to visitors who are interested more in trying the store’s line of fragrances than in purchasing a very costly brassiere…
Chanel has introduced Beige, the latest edition to the Les Exclusifs collection. Like the others in the series, it was developed by Chanel house perfumer Jacques Polge, and will be in limited distribution.
“I take refuge in beige because it's natural,” said Mademoiselle Chanel. Sandy beige, honey beige, clay beige, whitish beige… She loved all shades of this colour, which evokes natural elegance and grace. An elusive colour with infinite variations, beige may seem quite ordinary…
There are four big department stores on Oxford Street, all between Oxford Circus and Marble Arch. Of these, Selfridges is by far the biggest and best, but John Lewis — closest to Oxford Circus of the four — has a treat or two for perfumistas.
Along with all the standard department store fragrances, John Lewis has a little cache of niche surprises — at present Acqua di Parma, Annick Goutal, Banana Republic, Creed, Il Profumo, Juliette has a Gun, Maître Parfumeur et Gantier, Rance and The Different Company…