In California, there has been a rising trend of boutique artisanal perfumers who focus more on the juice than the fancy bottles and glamorous ads. Indie perfumers are creating scents from what they know or may not know, and making them unique in their own way and not just to be another generic product on the beauty shelf. Smell Bent is one of the indie perfumers in Los Angeles, which was started by Brent Lenonesio after he got laid off from his fashion job. Brent told LA Times, “The goal of my perfume was always to put the money inside the bottle rather than outside.” We love how Brent is passionate about finding the world’s finest ingredients and adding fun to his scents with fantastic names, like Lady Gogo and Hungry Hungry Hippies. And of course, all of his scents are made right here in the USA!
Making music that evokes their love and the culture of California is the motto for this week’s band we love. Out of the hundreds of indie bands in California, Best Coast has thundered past the competition and intense level of scrutiny to become a phenomenal success. The duo prides themselves on straightforward love and relationship pop songs that tell simple stories, inspired by 60s and 70s California culture. And with influences such as Fleetwood Mac and the Beach Boys and the debut of their first album at No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, it’s no surprise that Best Coast’s sounds appeal to almost everyone.
As the release of their second album, The Only Place, fast approaches (you can get it on May 15th) Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno are gearing up for their first North American tour. Best Coast will continue to gain new fans and wow audiences from every corner of the country with their balance of imperfect sounds and friendly hooks, as they begin their 28 show tour next week. As everyone can relate to “loving someone so much, they make you crazy” we can’t wait to see Best Coast kick everything off in the city going back to their California roots, Los Angeles.
We recently met the couple behind Pollen Arts, a small business that creates beeswax candles molded in the shape of antique bottles. The pair literally stumbled upon the idea when they found an old bottle laying in a tidepool by the beach. They devised a way to take a mold of the bottle, and then filled it with melted beeswax. The results were stunning: a sweet smelling candle that serves as a hip-meets-antique decor object. They quickly experimented with milk bottles, apothecary bottles, inkwells, and even some of their own designs. As the candles burn down, the markings and designs on the bottle glow from within. Its no wonder their Etsy page has been a big hit.
The bottles demand a bit of a premium for a reason, they are still all handmade on the stove of a rehabbed winnebago in Long Beach, and the couple uses only 100% pure beeswax – no soy or paraffin wax blends here. As an added bonus, the beeswax is sustainable and helps support the disappearing bee colonies that farmers in states like California depend on to pollinate fruit and crops. We’re told they have plans to expand the concept to other antique objects soon – but we’ll have to wait and see exactly what that means.
