You’ve probably noticed that Melange has picked up a LOT of small gift, accessories, and jewelry items lately. We’re branching out a little deeper into all kinds of little treasures.
When I was in Europe last summer, and traveling in Spain, Portugal & France in particular, one of my favorite things to do was to shop the little boutiques. There are SO many, and while I’m sure there are plenty of the big box stores as well, in the areas we gravitated toward (old sections of town, little villages etc.), there were ONLY boutiques. What I loved about the little shops over there was what a wide variety of things they carried. You’d walk into a little store and it would be filled with such diversity. When I say little, I mean LITTLE. To have three people in the store at the same time would seem crowded. I’m visualizing this little neighborhood shop in Bordeaux right now in particular. It was tucked into a block of apartments, with really not much around it in terms of retail other than the grocery store ½ a block up that we went to regularly, and the drug store 2 blocks the other way that we also went to. There might have been other stores, but honestly the hours were so sporadic and odd that I didn’t actually see them ever open.
Anyway, this tiny little shop was darling, and while they didn’t have a ton of anything, they had a little of everything. I could buy a pair of cute sandals, or earrings, or a dress, or a little zippered yellow animal print pocketbook (which is what I actually DID buy). It was clearly the neighborhood boutique, and curated with only the things she liked the most in such a darling and special way.
That was my inspiration. We’ve always carried a little jewelry here and there, and we’ve dabbled in certain accessories more than others (like scarves), but I wanted to find more....great hair items, and the coolest handful of beauty things, and maybe a perfume or two that we loved. Well, we’re definitely on the way to creating that shop with a million wonderful treasures in it. I walk in now and think, “I could totally find everything I need here from a birthday gift, to a new lip gloss, to a basic white cami, to a new dress or pair of jeans.) It's a slow process though for us to get to know all the different gift, beauty, accessory, and jewelry options out there and then find the designers that we can really get excited about--ones that have a story to tell, and a purpose in what they are creating. We've definitely found some good ones though. I'm a huge fan of Collin Garrity vases (they are just beautiful),
and Elizabeth W. lip scrub (which I only mention because I literally just used it last night and it was amazing.)
We're still getting the hang of the right quantities to buy, and how to merchandise it so that everyone sees how awesome all these things are (vs. them getting lost in the shuffle). It’s coming together slowly but surely though, and we hope everyone enjoys the new goodies, there will be more to come in 2020!
Signed, ME {lv}
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