TRENDS IN PHOENIX
By Bill Macomber
IN THE PINK
SMELLBENT ON SUCCESS
From the time she was a little girl, Andrea Evans knew she wanted to run her own store. Armed with a degree in Fashion Merchandising with a minor in business, she interned at three design markets before joining In the Pink Boutique in Phoenix as an employee. After a few years of working at In the Pink, she bought the company from the owner. The Arizona native has now brought the store into a younger, fresher direction. In the Pink offers unique home accessories, furniture, and the best gifts for girlfriends as well as family members. After doing Web research and traveling to New York, Dallas, California, and Europe, Evans brings in items to sell in the shop and online. She makes three or four trips a year to find unique items. Evans focuses on the Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Arcadia markets, selling one-of-a-kind accessories and gifts. “I want to stay exclusive,” Evans says. “I want to keep that special feeling within the store and online for my customers.”
Brent Leonesio is an Arizona native, but he’s gone L.A. on us, and while there he and his partners have started an amazing Web site. Smellbent is an L.A.-based niche perfume company that comes up with super fun fragrances that will delight the nose and the funny bone. They hand-blend fragrances using the world’s finest ingredients, but you wouldn’t guess it from the prices. “We think that perfume should be fun and shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg,” he says. “We know life can be hard, but it shouldn’t have to smell bad.” Smellbent offers samples so you can try something before you buy it. “We know that buying perfume on the Internet is kind of weird, but we do it all the time.” The company uses natural ingredients. “Unlike their synthetic counterparts, they don’t all take to being mixed in solution. So, if you notice sediment in the bottle of your fragrance, or your oil comes with a ‘shake me’ label, this is why. Don’t worry, the appearance of these ingredients will only add to the complexity of your scent.” You want to know something like, Is this perfume vegan friendly? Brent encourages you to e-mail and ask. They love talking scent.
In the Pink boutique is at 4422 E. Camelback Road, Suite B, Phoenix. 602.957.7270 or www.inthepinkboutique.com.
If you’re in the area, visit them at 7985 Santa Monica Blvd., No. 31, West Hollywood, Calif. 90046. Or visit www.smellbent.com. Brent is at brent@smellbent.com.
GET GROUNDED Arizona resident Sharon Whiteley wondered why she felt so good after walking on bare grass or feeling beach sand between her toes. She did a little research. Sharon found there’s actual research suggesting that free radicals in our bodies that cause inflammation and irritation can be neutralized to some extent by what’s called “earthing,” making contact with ground beneath us. She put this theory into a practical test and invented pluggz shoes. Each pair of pluggz contains black plugs made of a carbon and rubber compound that sit under the weight-bearing part of the foot. According to Whiteley, the plugs are designed to allow the flow of free electrons into our bodies. The free electrons, the theory goes, help neutralize free radicals in the body. The first time someone wears pluggz, her company claims, they “might feel a small sensation coming from the ball of the foot. That’s the plug going to work. As you wear them you’re likely to start feeling what other pluggz wearers have reported feeling: more balanced, more energized, a sense of well-being, or calmer or fewer aches and pains.” That’s quite a claim, but you never know. For men pluggz come in flip-flops. For women there are flip-flops and comfortable ballet flats. Let us know if you get results. Visit www.pluggz.com for more information or to order a pair.
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TRENDS MAGAZINE