Scent in the City

When Bond No. 9 debuted they had one goal in mind: create a luxurious scent for every corner of their beloved New York City. The company now boasts 34 women’s, men’s and unisex eaux de parfum, from New Harlem to Wall Street.

Darren Elms

When Bond No. 9 debuted they had one goal in mind: create a luxurious scent for every corner of their beloved New York City. The company now boasts 34 women’s, men’s and unisex eaux de parfum, from New Harlem to Wall Street.

Their latest, Astor Place, pays tribute to the enclave stretching between Broadway and Third Avenue. Back in the day, when Downtown was Uptown, nowhere in New York was grander. Here, where much of the land was owned by the early 19th century fur-trading philanthropist John Jacob Astor, were situated the city’s greatest theaters, a row of colonnaded Greek Revival townhouses to rival Regent Park’s in London.

Astor Place, the scent, offers an intoxicatingly fresh spring floral that starts out with a bold and unapologetically seductive freesia-poppy-violet leaf composition, and then simmers down into the smooth, steady notes of teakwood and musk. It’s contemporary Downtown all right, with a lot of grace.

The surface design of the Astor Place flacon echoes the angles and cubes of the iconic Rosenthal sculpture, but renders them in a range of triangles displaying the richest array of colors ever seen in the Bond No. 9 bottle repertory. A special limited edition bottle shimmers with Swarovski crystals. Art abounds on Astor Place – and now it’s in liquid form too.

You can find Bond No. 9 eaux de parfum at Temptress, the South Bay’s purveyor of high-end beauty. In addition to this stunning collection, they also carry the hard-to-find Sisley skin care line, Darphin, Sonya Dackar, Kiehl’s, Creed, Santa Maria Novella body products, the Sue Devitt cosmetic line and more.

Visit Temptress at Plaza El Segundo, 730-D Allied Way. 310-647-3467. To view all the Bond No. 9 creations, visit bondno9.com.