Adventures in odors, part 3

Today I am wearing Hermes Jardin Sur le Nil, which I like very much--one for the frontrunner pile. Here is an article about how it was created.

Last night M. and I went to Aedes in the West Village. At the door, they asked us if we'd rsvp'd. Startled, we said, "Um, no..." They said, "Well, we're having an event. But come on in!"

A Parisian perfumer (with whose ouevre M. was quite familiar) was in the store signing bottles. "Prosecco?" proffered a clerk, clad like the others all in black. "Why yes, thank you," we said. Taking glass tumblers from a tray, we tried perfumes for about twenty minutes. At the counter, another haughty clerk sniffed our square black smelling papers, seeming to identify the perfumes' identity by his nose alone, and corked tiny sample vials. I came away with two samples and a third spritzed on my wrist, though it was hard to narrow down. (I'm learning that I like tuberose--the dominant smell in the Michael Kors I mentioned earlier--as well as citrus, which is what Jardin Sur le Nil makes me think of.) All the ones I smelled in that store were exquisite. I really, really don't even want to know what they cost!

The store was absolutely beautiful, a tiny dark glowing jewel box of antiques and crystal.

On a table near the checkout counter was a display of Laduree candles, another thing I don't want to know the cost of but that are highly covetable, while we're being all lavish and expensive on this blog here. Don't worry, thrift store posts to resume shortly.