Get a Whiff Of This: J. Crew and Urban Outfitters Expand Into Beauty

Stores continue their merchandising metamorphoses, with Urban Outfitters now stocking plenty of makeup to the new J. Crew Bridal Boutique offering the hard-to-get ('til now) Histoires de Parfums line.

The fast-fashion and hipster havens are getting into the beauty game. Urban Outfitters is the latest to open up shop in cosmetics, fragrance, hair- and skincare.  Boasting more than 50 brands in 1,000 colors, Urban's primping portfolio includes the likes of Anna Sui, Costume National, Kiss my Face, Malin + Goetz, Manic Panic, Paul & Joe, Stila, Too Faced, Japonesque, Demeter, Cutler, and more.  Sort of a Sephora for those adolescents (and adults in denial like us) who fancy themselves part of some kind of subculture.  While the expansion seems like a logical one for the chain, it's quite the leap for some of those brands to go in that direction, wethinks.

Then, cleaning up and moving uptown, the new J. Crew Bridal Boutique is doing something a little different, but equally beautious.  As part of its holistic pre-wedding experience, the retailer offers six editions of the hard-to-find and quite posh Histoires de Parfums.  The scents, which go for $185 per 120-millileter pop, blend ingredients from bergamot and cumin to patchouli and cedar under the names of popular icons and their respective eras of greatness.  T Magazine tells us that J. Crew's six selections include for women, 1873 Colette, 1826 Eugenie de Montijo, 1876 Mata-Hari, and 1969 named for the summer of love, and for men, 1725 Casanova and 1828 Jules Verne.

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