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Post by Val the Cookie Queen
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London Scent Shopping and Serial Killers
CQ´s way to Bloom Perfumery
I headed to London a couple of weeks ago for a wedding and to purchase two Vero Profumo fragrances. There are times when ordering online is just perfect, and others where I chose to wait until I can purchase from a shop. I saw that Vero´s perfumes were available in Harrod´s and in Bloom Perfumery in Spitalfields. Concept Scents Store. In the East End of London. No question in my mind where I was heading.
I stayed with at 23 Cranley Gardens in Muswell Hill with a couple of girlfriends. They were kind enough to take a few days off work, so off we went first thing on Monday morning. I was über-excited. Finally I could stop stretching my samples of Rubj EdP and Mito. We jumped off the bus in Spitalfields, and walked through the beautiful covered market, although newly renovated, it has been there since about 1887.
So we arrived. 4 Hanbury Street, London. Walking into the shop, felt like landing at the bottom of the proverbial rabbit hole. It smelled absolutely divine. I have not been into that many perfume stores, but enough to know that this one was special. It gave me the same feeling I used to get when I would discover small indie/reggae record stores off the beaten track when I was much younger. That feeling of having discovered something totally unique, cool, and not for the masses.
Oxana, the delightful owner, came to greet us. Originally from Moscow, she has now lived in London for about seven years. After making sure that my two Vero fragrances were there, we started to talk. I wondered how she had ended up selling Vero Profumo.
Oxana: “Yes, I met Vero a couple of years before I decided to open the boutique. er passion and great craftsmanship at making her perfume creations has influenced me somewhat. I eventually thought that there should be a place (just normal, not elitist like the Harrod´s establishment) where people can buy the very best of modern perfume made with creativity and passion. It´s disappointing how much the generic mass market perfumes get promoted and how little people know about the finest niche brands- Hopefully I am making my small contribution to change that and that independent perfumers get more attention.”
From Bloom
Oxana also told me that a Russian lady will have about 7 fragrances in her collection. If not full bottles, then at least decants. I found that very interesting actually, because that is about the number I regularly wear over a year. No counting samples I try of course, but how many of them do I go onto purchase?
The shop is elegantly simple. Perfumes I knew of, and those I had never heard of. I intend to work my way through, sniffing all of them. There are hand written labels on the perfumes giving the list of top, middle and base notes. There are small black glass jars next to some of the perfumes, and these contain only the base notes. Brilliant. If you don´t care for the base notes then you know you can move onto something else. (A bit like allowing special customers to smell my vanillas!!)
I left the shop elated, and fell exhausted into the iconic Poppie´s Fish and Chips restaurant, situated conveniently right next door. The best fish and chips in the world.
So APJ, this is CQ´s direction now. Scents from the here and now. For blogging at least. Because I do love other scents too!
Serial Killers? The first to recognize why this was a part of my fragrant trip, will receive a nice fat sample of Phaedon`s Rouge Avignon, my new love. Courtesy of Oxana.
If you’d like to shop at Bloom UK Website(<<<<JUMP)
Rock on and lock your doors at night.
CQ
CQ supplied all the photos from her iPhone
