That’s the Smell of Cherry in the Air

03 Apr That’s the Smell of Cherry in the Air

Last Wednesday, wait, two Wednesdays ago now, kicked off one of those surreal moments for me. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Two Fridays ago, my itinerary was messaged to my office, (don’t judge, this is all shiny and new for me), letting me now that I was to be picked up and taken to New York Penn Station and board a train  to Union Square in Washington, DC. While I waited for the train to board, I looked around Penn Station, trying to guess the other ladies who would be joining me on this trip: Amber Katz of Beauty Blogging Junkie, Christene Carr of ThisThatBeauty, Amy Wicks of Glamour, Taylor Barringter of Elle.com, Annie Tomlin of Refinery29, Carly Cardellino of Cosmo.com, Edun Univer of TeenVogue.com, and Klaudia Kaczmarek of Beauty Blitz and Carolyn Hsu of The Daily Obession.

We were all invited to Washington to learn about Escada’s new limited-edition fragrance, Cherry in the Air. Here’s the tie in to Washington, DC, the Cherry Blossom Festival, officially started the day that we arrived complete with a Pink Tie cocktail party. Y’all, my gratitude list for Wednesday was like and I quote, “Dear Lord, it’s too good.”

We get to the train station where we are ushered to the W across the street from the White House. The last time I was in DC was when my family toured the White House, so I was riding along staring out of the window, pretending not to picture Olivia and Fitz walking into some monument, when we stop in front of the W, and I’m like, I know where I am! Duh, before we stood in line across the street, I had time to learn the sights. Anyway, we check into the hotel and are greeted with a welcome bag, told to freshen up drop our bags and come back down in time for lunch.

Lunch was ahmazing. I sat between Amy Wicks of Glamour and Emily Macculloch of Fashion magazine (she flew in from Canada) with Elle.com’s Taylor Barringer across from me. I have a bit of girl crush on her, she is heeelarious. We had the chance to learn more about the scent, smell the individual notes and speak to the marketing director, who explained that she envisioned a girl in the South of France riding her bike through a cherry orchid and Cherry in the Air is what she would smell. Yall know she had me at France, right?

The scent, it’s definitely fruity with hints of raspberry and mandarin but sweet with traces of coconut and marshmallow but the sandalwook and musk balance it out with an air of sophistication. Basically, everything we would expect an effortless French girl to be. Fun and flirty but mysterious. I like it. They commissioned an illustration by Margo Mace specifically for the box showing just that. At this very moment, I am staring at the box trying to figure out a way to decorate with it.

We head out to see the actual blossoms, but they haven’t bloomed, yet. Cue sad face. But we did get the chance to see the Washington monument, Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson’s memorial–Dr. King’s, too. Which coincidently, our tour guide said that the two men are facing each other. Isn’t that interesting?

A quick mani at the Bliss Spa in the hotel, and I was off to put on my pink for the evening. I had so much fun with Christene Carr, the managing editor for ThisThatBeauty.com. We drank pink champagne, danced, and some how ended up at the Escada booth, spritzing the scent on customers and art directing Instagram photos.

It was a quick trip, just shy of 24 hours, but a good one. I found a new summer scent, made a few new friends and best of all I remember all of that every time I see that big display bottle I had shipped back to New York from the DC.

Pretty perfect for my very first press trip.