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Christopher Brosius hates perfume. That is, he detests the stuffy mass-produced stuff found in most department stores. But he loves original scents, hand-crafted from rare, unusual elements with precision and creativity. So the veteran perfumer (previously of cult-fave Demeter, and now the creator of actor Alan Cumming's fragrance) opened this sliver of a boutique in 2004 as a tiny gallery dedicated to all things fragrant. Sparsely adorned with minimalist white shelves and a utilitarian cement floor, his shop is a hybrid of chemist’s and scent museum. Walls are lined with hundreds of intricately labeled glass vials, each containing a single fragrance, or essence. Smells are grouped in 14 categories, ranging from the sweet (Red Velvet Cake, Toffee Pudding), to the unnatural (Coppertone 1967, Vinyl Handbag). Customers can buy a 15 ml bottle of a single essence or stick around for a personal consultation with Brosius, complete with custom-created scent. Brosius also offers two of his own fragrance lines for the home and body.
— Carolyn Murnick

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