Fall Ball Part I

Ahem! Well ...

Here I am back in the valley of the sun and so jet lagged I feel like the walking dead. However, any discomfort I am experiencing now is a small price to pay for the incredible experience I had in New York City. What a fabulous weekend Karen D. and Karen A. managed to put together! Because each day was chock full of noteworthy (heh!) moments, I will offer up some of the best via bullet points. Without further ado, here they are:

Bergdorf Goodman

• Meeting the illustrious Aurelien Guichard, creator of Bond No. 9 Chinatown and the new offering from Piguet, Visa
• Meeting Antonia Ballanca of Antonia's Flowers
• Discussing one of my favorite houses, Annick Goutal, with their charming representative Tom Crutchfield
• Listening to Neil Morris describe his love of Tom Ford's Purple Patchouli
• Discovering the new Kilian fragrances and falling in love with them
• Other discoveries included Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, Etro Magot, Etro Vicolo Fiore

• Scents further explored and liked included Chanel Bois des Iles (Oh, how I wish I could get a smaller bottle of this than the gargantuan EDT!), Annick Goutal Mandragore, Annick Goutal Passion
• Meeting my dear friend Chaya Ruchama face-to-face

Lunch at Seppi's

• Meeting sweet, fun and fabulous new perfumista friends Azjavagirl, My3sons, R. and L. and seeing Rbrewer!
• New offerings from Crazy Libellule and the Poppies
• Discussion from Chandler Burr on his new book The Perfect Scent
• Neil Morris' discussion of his new scents Storm and Coral

Takashimaya

• Sniffing offerings from Yosh in wine glasses - discoveries included Winter Rose and Ginger Ciao
• Speaking with owner and perfumer of Ineke perfumes and experiencing her unique A, B, C and D fragrances
• Meeting Estesmcc in person, an angel of kindness who sent me a fabulous package overflowing with perfume last spring!
• Listening to owner of 06130 and experiencing Feuille de Reglisse, Lentisque and Lierre Rose, all created by Jacques Chabert and meant to evoke the scents of Mediterranean flowers
• Red Velvet cupcakes from Sunshine bakery
• Meeting owner of Summerscent perfume and experiencing her exquisite fragrance
• Sampling Detaille, Fragonard and Sage lines!

Henri Bendel

• Experiencing L'Artisan Jour de Fete sprayed onto my skin rather than dabbed with my tiny sample
• Memoire Liquide!!!! Remember my review of Voleur? (see it here) I expressed intrigue in exploring the line further and wow, did I get my fill along with many others! This unique line calls to the creative nose in everyone by allowing the customer to come up with their own blend of two or three fragrances. After nearly an hour experimenting, I chose Enfant Innocent and Ivoire for a beautiful, soft, skin musk fragrance.

All of this activity was followed by drinks at the top of the Peninsula Hotel with my fantastic new friends! Cheers!

I will continue tomorrow with details regarding Sunday. If you can believe it, Sunday was just as packed with glorious sights and smells!