Along with the usual suspects — Tabu, Old Spice, Jean Naté — drugstores in the United States these days seem to carry a few fragrances also found in department stores. In the drugstores I visited, they’re an odd collection. In the Rite Aid downtown, I found minis of Britney Spears Curious and Calvin Klein Escape, but also a 50 ml bottle of Christian Dior Dune Eau de Toilette for $35. I thought Dior had tightened up its supply outlets. What is Dune doing in a store known for its deals on multipacks of Pringles? In my neighborhood Walgreens, Guerlain Shalimar sits next to Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds and Coty Emeraude. Shalimar? For real? How did that happen?
Continuing this week of drugstore fragrances, I picked up a mini of department store fragrance I’d never tried: Giorgio Beverly Hills Red “extraordinary Eau de Toilette spray.” It seemed emblematic of some of the other mid-level perfumes I saw at drugstores in that it was an old favorite that still had a following but didn’t have enough cachet to regain its lost seat at Nordstrom…
