New York’s SoHo neighborhood draws mixed feelings from me. The real estate is phenomenal, the shopping is outstanding, the restaurants are adorable, the cobble stones are charming, but the people… while the people can be so frustrating. I know it’s the city, and I signed up to live here, and yes it can really be a grind sometimes, but managing the HOARDS of SoHo shoppers is just the worst some days. Slow walkers! People who open doors without looking! People who walk in groups and take up the ENTIRE sidewalk meandering from edge to edge making it impossible to move by politely!
That is not the New York way. We’re fast walkers, and usually we’ve got someplace to be, and even if we don’t we want you to think we do, so please just HURRY. Just a little. Or at least let me pass you nicely.
In general, the other people who live or travel here are both the the best and the worst part of living in this city (i’m looking at you person with your giant dog off leash in the Natural History Museum lawn), but SoHo can really feel choked and overwhelmed by people, and the frustration is not worth the charm most days.
Except for snowy weekends! And then it’s a dream neighborhood, where I can gaze at the industrial buildings, soaring lofts, and lovely store fronts all day as I speed walk from shop to shop on the near empty sidewalks. The Mr. and I have ventured down to SoHo for various reasons the past several weekends, and have been smitten with one shop in particular: Min New York. It’s so dark from the outside that I’ve thought it was closed every time we walked by, but it’s not, and if you’re a beauty lover it will be one of the best stops you make all day.
Min’s is covered in delicious wood paneling, with distressed tables, leather chesterfields, an antique bar, and the most covetable floor-to-ceiling luxury grooming and fragrance collection I have ever laid eyes on. It’s a wonderland of scents, products, accessories, and small homewares that rivals the joys of Barney’s foundation level, but with even more boutique, bespoke, and hard to find lines than I’ve ever encountered.
On our first visit, I’d just run out of my beloved Byredo Gypsy Water perfume, and the incredibly knowledgeable sales gentleman showed me the most glorious fragrances that might replace it, but nothing was quite right, UNTIL… Mancera Roses Vanilla. Life changing. Not a fragrance name I would ever gravitate toward (I don’t like old lady rose fragrances! I’m not wild about sweet vanilla!), but this scent is heaven in a bottle, and I can’t stop awkwardly smelling myself whenever I’m wearing it.
The Mr. has a verrryyy limited sense of smell (he can get a whiff of probably 1/4 of the perfumes or scented candles i ask him to smell, the others I imagine just smell..blank), but I find scent to be one of the most important features of a person and my day. The smell of urine anywhere in the city can ruin my mood, while walking by a tea shop and inhaling the earthy smells brightens even the bleakest of days. And this perfume is the stuff of my dreams. We went back to visit the fragrance 2 more times, and then the Mr. surprised me with it on Valentine’s Day!
Of course, it’s only sold at this one shop, and they are now sold out. So… I’ll get my bottle when the next shipment comes in. Until then, I’ll be wearing my precious samples and dreaming of delicious warm scents. And the next time you’re in SoHo, GO TO Min. It’s well worth the trip.
Sadly, this is not a sponsored post, I just really love the shop!
beauty in the big city 