Cos Bar Montecito, CA

On one of my last days on a recent trip to Santa Barbara, CA, I managed to combine two very incongruous activities into one day. The day started early with an all-day fishing trip off the coast of Santa Barbara with my mother (who lives there) and my son (who was soon to be starting college at USC about 1 1/2 hours away). My mom and son were very excited about going fishing and had high hopes of  grilling our catch for dinner if we were lucky enough to reel some in. I was OK with that but had my heart set on checking out niche beauty store Cos Bar, located in nearby in Montecito.a

The good and the bad news was that the fish were really biting and I ended up with the scales and fishy smell to prove it.

Fishing for the Big One

Luckily I was still able to make a mad dash to Cos Bar about an hour before their closing, feeling very disgusting and smelly but hoping I wouldn’t offend anyone. Sadly, hand sanitizer can only do so much to kill odors.

Side facts: I grew up in Montecito and visit frequently to visit family.  I had been meaning to stop by on my last Santa Barbara visit after I’d gotten an e-vite to celebrate the launching of Gwyneth Paltrow’s new skincare line, goop by Juice Beauty, but never made it.  This trip I knew that Cos Bar was celebrating 40 years in business and had just had a big party days before we arrived. I’d heard that they arguably had the best boutique fragrance selection in town. Cos Bar is actually mostly known for its cosmetics and skin care products for women and men, hence the “cos” in Cos Bar, which is rivaled only by SpaceNK  Apothecary located further down the street on Coast Village Road.

Entering the store I was greeted warmly by Marcella, the store manager. Despite the store being busy, she graciously led  me on a tour of the premises and gave me a little history of Cos Bar.

Cos Bar Montecito, CA

Cos Bar was started in 1976 by Lily Horn, a 25-year-old transplant from New York, with it’s first store in downtown Aspen, CO. At the time, luxury cosmetics were almost exclusively the realm of department stores like Bloomingdales, where Horn (now Garfield) had previously worked. With contacts from luxury lines like Germain Monteil and Borghese and $5,000 on her pocket, she built a successful business selling pricy, big-city skin-care products to mountain lovers and tourists. Today the chain has 14 stores from Colorado to Hawaii and most recently opened one at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan.

The chain prides itself on top-tier products and superior customer service. I was witness to that during my visit as Marcella went above and beyond to help me find a new fragrance. Quizzing me about my perfume preferences, she composed test vials of several perfumes she seemed confident that I’d love. Guess what, I did:)

And the winners are:

• By Kilian-In the Garden of Good and Evil, Forbidden Games By Kilian is an eco-luxe perfume brand from Paris, created by Kilian Hennessy, grandson of the founder of the LVMH group and the famed cognac-making family. Killian Hennessy spent his childhood in the family’s wine cellars in Cognac and eventually completed a program where he wrote a thesis on the semantics of odors. He went on to study with some of the greatest noses in perfumery, creating perfumes for some of the top fashion brands in the industry. In 2007, he launched his own perfume house, By Kilian.  Forbidden Games opens with a delicious blend of fruits (apple, peach and plum) followed by spicy cinnamon bark, before being overtaken by lush,vivacious heart notes of Bulgarian Rose, Geranium and night-blooming jasmine. The lingering base notes are of Madagascar Vanilla, honey and sweet myrrh. The bottle comes in a white clutch adorned with a gold snake. A 50 ml bottle costs around $260.
• Carven Le Parfum  Carven was started by George Baud (pronounced “Oh?”), a Paris perfume maker who decided to go into the perfume business in 1940 when he was a prisoner of the Germans. Formerly a mining engineer, he escaped in 1942 but had to wait until the war was over to start the business along with two partners. Carven perfumes quickly grew in popularity and in 1959 it became the first perfume company to sell fragrance in-flight. Le Parfum is an exceptionally pretty fragrance with a clean, bright disposition. The opening is notes of Mandarin Blossom and hyacinth, leading into a dazzling heart of sweet pea, yang-ylang and jasmine, before a dry down of sandalwood, osmanthus and patchouli. The scent reminds me of crisp white linen, timeless and elegant. A 3.3 oz bottle costs around $80.00.
• Parfums de Marly – Meloria Parfums de Marly embody the two great passions of Louis XV, horses and perfumes. As a tribute to the the time, each fragrance is named after a famous thoroughbred and comes in a bottle elaborately decorated with thoroughbred horses. Meloria pays homage to the mother of the famous stallion Tartar, who later sired  Herod, one of the Duke of Cumberland’s greatest racehorses. Opening with mouthwatering bursts of blackcurrant, raspberry and red fruits accord, the heart notes are a brilliant blend of fresh rose, sweet ylang-yang and green lily, creating a balanced feminine core. A woody, musky vanilla base is the final lingering scent. I picture a gorgeous, regal and full of life mare cheerfully cantering over wide open fields. A 75 ml. bottle costs around $275.

Cos Bar has a wide selection of fragrances at most price points. In addition to brands commonly found at Sephora or Nordstrom, such as Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Laura Mercier and Estee Lauder, they stock  higher-end brands like Creed and Ramon Monegal and uber high-end Clive Christian. They also carry nice smelling, beautifully packaged soaps, diffusers and candles.

In case you are wondering, no I didn’t make a purchase during my visit. I thought about it but I just wasn’t in the buying mood despite knowledgeable and helpful Marcella’s tempting selections. Plus I was anxious to get back, shower and heat up the grill for our fish tacos:) They were delicious by the way 😉

Rockfish Taco dinner

Until next time,