Heartbeets

You’re invited: A Housewarming Party!

At long last! The new website has finally arrived – as many of you learned when you saw me post on my personal Twitter yesterday, because I just couldn’t contain myself! I’m terribly, terribly excited, and I’ll cover all the nitty gritty as how this is going to make my life easier later, but for now, I’d like to invite you to our virtual Housewarming Party!

Join us for Sweeps Week at the website and use the code “housewarming” for 10% off your order. Please note that I’m only offering samples of the Summertiming scents right now, not Vault scents, because of the limited nature of the batches. A good size to try things out though is the ever-popular solid perfume twist, and there are plenty of those available in Vault scents.

How do you enter a code, you might ask? Here’s a tip from the pro.

1. Add items to your cart.

2. Go to your cart and fill out all the information for step 1.

3. Enter “housewarming” in the “discount code” section on step 2, as shown below.

And…voila! Follow the remaining prompts and you’re set!

Other questions

1. Can I use the disconut code in the brick and mortar shop?
Right now, no. Sorry. You CAN use the code on the new website and pickup your order locally, but I’d like for it to be put to good use! Also, ordering online gives me advance warning and will help make sure your order is ready when you get here to West Seattle.

2. Are the “pick 3” sets available at the new website?
Yes! You can pick 3 fragrances in a variety of formats at the Customized Gift Set section. I wasn’t sure what to call that one, so if you have a better name, please feel free to suggest it! :)

Enjoy, my lovelies! I’m off to get coffee before the atelier opens! If you encounter any errors or bugs, please do let me know! 

Pinterest Giveaway Winner and a Salebration

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who made a pin board about their favorite perfumes. I have been really enjoying stalking the sweetanthem tag and watching all the submissions come in. :) Here are all the boards that were submitted officially:

They are all lovely and I highly recommend checking them out! But, there can only be three winners. The winners of the 10ml Perfume Oil of Joan are:

• Gioa
• Cait
• Melissa

Also, I simply couldn’t choose a favorite. They were all too good! Anybody else who posted a Pinterest board for the contest receives a $10 gift voucher to my shop — thank you so much for playing! If I didn’t catch your pin board, please feel free to comment so I know you get a voucher. Please e-mail me to redeem!

Phew. Now, if you thought you weren’t lucky enough to get in on the deal today, don’t fret! I’ve got YOU covered too!

We’re salebrating this weekend with 30% off shop-wide: use code YOURLUCKYDAY on Etsy, and enjoy!

YAY!

Thank you!

I’ve got photos from the tea party forthcoming, but first: three things.

1. Thank you for coming to our Tea Party! We all really appreciate everyone’s support in West Seattle and I was really happy to see some new faces. If I do say so myself, it was a resounding success. I’ve received a lot of lovely email feedback, and I’m already looking forward to next year!

2. We’re open Sunday and Tuesday for last minute shopping! (Monday is my permanent day off, by the way.) Have a handy graphic about our special holiday hours:

3. We’re today’s feature on Living Social! This in-store only deal is live through Tuesday, but vouchers are good for six months to redeem for products, custom work, or classes. I apologize to my out-of-town customers that this isn’t available for online purchases, but I promise to make it up to you real soon! (Of course if you think you’ll be trekking to Seattle before August, I think you can still grab it.)

Also please note: using the vouchers for classes is subject to availability of space. There are only a limited number of Saturdays per month and only 6 spots for class. Any vouchers unable to redeem for classes can be redeemed for custom perfumes instead.

* * *
More announcements coming soon! Have a lovely Sunday!

Saturday at Sweet Anthem

{ Print by What Nikki Made on Etsy }

Sorry it’s been quiet over here on the blog this week. I’ve been heads down in shipping, production, and prep for our tea party ~ plus working on a few top secret things. Y’know. The usual.

I just wanted to quickly remind you all that we’re having a Tea Party this Saturday! Some fabulous local artisans will be here to show you their stuff, so please come prepared to swoon! We’ve had quite a bit of good press already so I’m looking forward to a decent turnout despite what is supposed to be some usual Seattle February weather. You can find the full details on the Facebook event page.

One last thing: if you stop by the shop during the week, please knock. I’ve had an unseasonal amount of unwelcome visitors (and I don’t mean those who are just browsing, but clearly loitering or, in some cases, badgering) in the last week and I’ve started to lock the door on weekdays as a result. I’m here ~ probably even out front ~ just a little wary of the company coming in on some occasions. (I wish I had a buzzer so I could just buzz you in like in all the boutiques we visited in NYC … maybe someday.)

See you Saturday!

Uncommon Valentines Tea Party

We are having a tea party at Sweet Anthem Saturday, February 11 from 12-4 PM. By tea party, I mean serving freshly brewed loose leaf, and by we, I mean:

• Nikki Sherritt (Gabriel’s Aunt - fabulous candles)
• Anne Dowell (Garden Bon Bons - fabulous seed truffles)
• Lydia Love (Chakralat - fabulous low-cal artisan chocolates)

Each of these lovely artisans will be in shop for you to meet and get chatty with.

You can RSVP on Facebook to get a reminder about all the fun. There will be gifts with purchases, by the way — my contribution includes perfume oil sample sets of my Springtiming scents!

Hope to see you there!

Springtiming is here (for preorder)!

Sweeps Week is upon us! The Springtiming scents are available for pre-order in the Etsy shop and on the website! If you’d like something specific from The Vault, please let me know – I’ll be setting up Vault listings throughout Sweeps.

One final note: YES, Springtiming orders are guaranteed to arrive by Valentine’s Day pretty much anywhere you live. The last call for Valentine orders in the shop is Feb 1.

5 Perfumes: Warding off the Winter Chill

It’s been cold in Seattle. We had a snow day yesterday and today’s scheduled snowfall is supposed to be The Storm of the Century, so surely some warm, uplifting perfumes are in order to get you dancing in your underwear even though it’s brisk out in the world. Here are 5 perfumes to surely ward off the winter chill:

1. Little Stars by Olympic Orchids : this is a new addition to the West Seattle gallery and a perfectly sultry blend of spices, an indolic jasmine, cloves, and an arid base of my favorite wood note, oud.

2. Jeke by Slumberhouse : refined and opulent ~ like a well-oiled, wood-paneled study stacked with leather bound first editions. It’s a sleek, warm woods, though ~ nothing dusty here, and nothing shameless. 

3. Kulfi by L’Aromatica : based on the popular Indian desert, this one leaves me literally licking my lips. I just want to throw this one on and sit down by the fireplace.

4. Honey Blossom by Aftelier : A warm skin scent rich with decadent florals, though that description hardly justifies the depth of this perfume. This is a must-sniff for honey lovers.

5. Gingerbread and Fir by Plume Perfumery : I’ll admit to owning a full size bottle of this one. It’s a bit like a Christmas tree, twinkling in the evening hours, circled in holiday spice ~ and yet, I could find myself living in this one year round. 

To sniff any of these, come visit us in West Seattle, Wed-Sat, 11am-6pm. Or, call 206-937-1415 to order over the phone.

ETA: the gallery is closed today due to the weather!! You can take 10% off your Etsy order by using code STAYINSIDE.

5 Perfumes is a new occasional here on Heartbeets to expose and express our love for our favorite indie treasures (they won’t always be ones we carry, this just worked out this way this time). If you have a suggestion for a 5 Perfumes topic, please comment!

Spring 2012 Vault Update

Coming with the Springtiming release is a relatively sizable Vault update. I’ve already confused the Hell out of at least one beauty blogger with it, so let’s see how far I get with you guys. :) The Big Picture idea behind the Vault is that it is a place for my reserve of old fragrances ~ sort of a Sweet Anthem history museum, if you will. I rarely tend to throw things away ~ I still have quite a few fragrances in the old 1oz EDP size, for instance ~ and I hate for things to simply collect dust in my studio. So, the vault is a win-win for all of us!

Long story short, there will be 16 fragrances on tap for the very first Vault update, in addition to the year-round scents and the Springtiming LE’s. As will trend with Vault updates, it’s a mishmash of the previous season’s LE’s, past current season releases, and and past future season releases (in this case, Holiday, Spring, and Summer). The scents are:

• #018: Anastasia
• #020: Ayn
• #025: Corrin (included with Springtiming pre-orders)
• #026: Eleanor
• #027: Esther (included with Springtiming pre-orders)
• #032: Karen
• #033: Leslie
• #035: Lizie
• #036: Lori
• #037: Louise
• #038: Marianne
• #039: Mary
• #040: Maureen
• #047: Sheila
• #048: Stanford
• #049: Sylvia

You’ll notice (if you’ve been paying attention) that the numbers have changed, as they will at the end of each year. I realize that’s confusing, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much if I were you. ;)

I’m hoping to have this in place in the atelier by the time the Springtiming pre-order is live, but the actual piece of furniture that is to be The Vault (pictured above) arrived in rather poor condition and I’m having to basically restore it, and there’s a whole heck of a lot on my plate right now. Ah, the catch of buying vintage online. It arrived yesterday though, and I’m about 1/4 of the way through soaking the rust off the drawers, and will probably hose down the unit itself over the weekend. My UPS man thinks I’m insane, by the way. 

In completely separate news, over the break I was able to upgrade 75% of my labeling so that most of it is white gloss vinyl, now, and waterproof to boot! This is a huge step forward in streamlining the production process around here. We’re still printing the solid perfume labels in house, but hopefully that will change shortly.

There are also three fabulous lines of artisan perfumeries from the West Coast coming to the atelier over the next week or so ~ 2 of them are 100% natural. One was named 2011 Favorite Perfume You’ve Never Heard Of over at the Ca Fleure Bon blog, and the others are past and present Indie Fifi nominees. More on that, next time!

Springtiming at Sweet Anthem

It’s still sweater weather here in Seattle, so much so, that I can’t believe I’m ready to discuss the Spring 2012 line-up. It doesn’t hurt that I was in Detroit last week and ever since I’ve had trouble warming back up. Anyway, I’ve been working on these for awhile ~ pretty much since Winter was released ~ though the concepts have only recently been finalized. These notes have stayed in my head for so long that I’m please to finally sniff the outcomes. 

I won’t hesitate to admit that part of the inspiration for the collection came while watching Deathly Hallows Part 2 (in 3D) at my in-laws house over the holidays. I am a pretty big fantasy lit geek (part of my self-inflicted linguistics studies in college were on Sindarin, one of Tolkien’s Elvish languages) and, knowing that - much like Tolkien - JK Rowling rarely does anything accidental, including naming her characters, I decided to embark on an etymology lesson of the name “Rowena”. (In case you were wondering, yes, I’m a Ravenclaw. Why do you ask?)

And I know, you’re thinking, oh god, not Harry Potter perfumes. Before long, she’ll be all over those blood-splattered Twilight scents. Nope ~ not here. If you’ve been following along, you know I prefer to skillfully imply rather than put up a road sign. Through uncharted waters of the Internet, I learned of Rowena, a beautiful femme fatale, who seduced her way into queendom in old High Briton, in the 5th century. She became one of the original wicked stepmother characters, and it’s likely that her treachery and paganism are a large basis for the character Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legends.

Thus, this collection has flashes of the medieval history thrown in, spirits of forgotten lore, each of them. Without further adieu, I present Sweet Anthem’s Spring 2012 collection: 

CORRIN and ESTHER (conveniently queens of old themselves) should look familiar if you’ve been following along for a hot minute, but GWENDOLYN, MARGARET, and ROWENA are all brand new for Spring. The Springtiming collection will launch January 20 for pre-order during our first-ever Sweeps Week.

Speaking of which, I’m gearing up to post a Vault Update sometime early next week and will probably start listing things I have on hand on Etsy. You know how to find out about this, so I don’t need to tell you these things anymore, do I?

What do you all think about the new perfumes? 

Ready for 2012.

You can visit us on Etsy, our website, or in store!

There are some Catalog changes and Spring offerings coming soon!