No pictures, just rambling.
So I was in my beloved native city of San Francisco for the weekend. I partly had to go to help someone out but I went back later on in the day to stop by Barneys for the last day of their Love Yourself event.
While walking to Barneys I noticed that Forever 21 finally moved into the old Virgin store location. I remember a friend mentioning to me that Uniqlo originally wanted the old Bank of America location but that Forever 21 swooped it up. I didn't go by the B of A location to see if Forever 21 actually moved out, but to see them at the Virgin location brought my hopes up just a bit that I was that much closer to Heat Tech goodness.
I wonder what other kick-ass stores we're missing. I mean we have a pretty well rounded downtown area and lots of other shops located in other neighborhoods. But with most of the main department stores a bus ride away, what else do we need?
On to Barneys though......
So you may or may not know that twice a year Barneys has a cosmetics event where you get a goodie bag filled with luxe samples and full sized items after buying a certain amount.
When I got the card in the mail I was sad to see that the required purchase was raised (AGAIN!!!) so I really didn't have any plan on what to get. The last event I knew exactly what I wanted and left the store in 15 minutes with goodies in the bag. I did this the time before as well. But this time..... this time I didn't know what to get. I didn't do any research and I was kinda lost.
I ended up with fragrances because they make me feel pretty and require no skill at all. Also to note, DelRae Roth was there ( from Parfums DelRae ). She looked kinda bored really but no one was really engaging her at the time.
I tried to look aloof since I didn't really come prepared to meet her, but I was introduced to her by my SA as I was getting a bottle of Panache. I have a feeling my next bottle is going to be Bois de Paradis. If you haven't had the pleasure to try her fragrances I urge you to.
As for meeting her..... she was nice. And I felt like I was totally under-dressed. Granted this is just a department store, but still.... an Hermes scarf or something to show that I didn't wander in here to steal testers. It is Barneys after all. We only had a few words but I noticed in her words that the quality of the fragrance was key to how beautiful the finished product was. Some perfumers can be a bit egocentric, and to be honest the lady looked like she was better than me. Not just in her posture or her air of elegance, but in her understanding of the world. Am I crazy?
But she was very nice and very proper. And it shows that no matter how good the perfumer is, all perfumers must acknowledge the quality of raw ingredients in order to create an exceptional perfume.
But I digress..... The goodie bag was definitely filled with goodies. One of things that I've also been noticing is that the bags are more consistent. When I first took advantage of this event I had 2 bags that for the most part were the same but when it came to full sized products they weren't.
This time my store had a great bag that had more haircare than usual. There weren't too many fragrances either which is a plus since I already own a buttload. Plus the nail color included was Deborah Lippmann Across the Universe. Much more my style than Fashion or My Funny Valentine.
All in all this is a great bag that puts all other beauty events to shame. Nordstrom used to have a kick ass beauty event with a bag chock-full of samples, but I suppose times are not good.
My only gripe (seriously the ONLY gripe) is that when I first started going to these events I believe the minimum purchase price was $125 or $150. Now it's $200 which I would probably spend anyways, but I hate that now I have to.
Seriously Barneys I love your stuff but the economy is hurting all of us, have a little mercy.
