(Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

• Bath Junkie

  227 Mulberry St., nr. Prince St.; 212-925-5857

  It’s easy to lose hours in this tiny store, the first Manhattan outpost of a national chain. Using Junkie’s 200 essential oils, which range from familiars like musk or gardenia to chocolate or “snowstorm,” you can create a personalized scent (the choice can be overwhelming, so there are also some premade blends). Your concoction is then used to scent a body wash, a fabric softener, even a pet shampoo. There are shades for tinting, if you want your shea-butter moisturizer to be, say, pale green. The clerks will happily mix for as long as you want to linger. The Everywhere Foaming Body Wash is $22 for 8 ounces.

From the 2009 Best of New York issue of New York Magazine