Remembering the moms

BEST BUYS

Find ideal Mother’s Day gifts at the following stores:

Sniff The Elixer Bar is a specialty shop for custom lotions and

potions. For Mother’s Day they are offering gift boxes from $35.

Essential and fragrance oils can be custom blended then added to

bubble bath, shower gels, massage oils and more. They have wonderful

new scents for spring: lilac, gardenia, ruby red grapefruit. There

are also home made soaps, select candles, Borotalco baby power from

Italy and an incense line from New Mexico made of hand dipped resins.

Packages and baskets filled with Sniff products make great gifts.

Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday at 332 Forest Ave. (949) 494-8711 snifflb@yahoo.com

THE SCENTED HUG

With two successful stores on the Riverwalk in New Orleans and the

gem of Lincoln Road in South Beach Miami, The Fragrance Shop is also

here in Laguna. It’s a specialty perfume store that sells pure oil

perfumes. More than 400 fragrance oils are available, including oils

of famous men’s and women’s brand name scents, musks, aromatherapy

oils, house blends and domestic oils. Co-owner Lee Rasmussen says

that fragrances and smells can’t be patented, so The Fragrance Shop

can sell pure oils of famous fragrances. Rasmussen says that most

perfumes contain 80% alcohol and fillers. The perfume oils are a

better buy. They have no alcohol, their shelf life is longer, they

don’t evaporate or deteriorate and the scent lasts longer. The

Fragrance Shop can custom blend fragrances, and can even duplicate

any scent for a nominal fee. Many customers bring in nearly empty

perfume bottles and within a few weeks they can have a new bottle.

The shop will keep a “recipe card” for refills. A Mother’s Day

Special is a house gift pack of four fragrance samples for $50

(regularly priced at $60).Other gift ideas are one-of-a-kind

hand-blown perfume bottles and customized bath and body products.

Open noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, noon to 5:30 p.m. Friday

and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at Panno Plaza at 490 S. Coast Highway

No. 7. (949) 494-2114.

RARE BOUQUET

Laguna Flower Co. specializes in rare and exotic flowers imported

from all over the world. The specialty flower shop even has tropicals

shipped in from Hawaii weekly. It’s a gift shop too. Open 9 a.m. to 5

p.m. Monday through Saturday at 384 Forest Ave. (949) 497-1236

LAST-MINUTE BLOOMS

Need flowers in a hurry for mom? Blooms is a quick stop for

beautiful flowers. Ready- to-go bouquets, Dutch bouquets and

hand-ties are always available. Blooms has flowers for everyone:

traditional roses, exotic flowers, Casablanca lilies and Stargazers.

They take special orders too. A gift room carries Votivo candles,

decorative trays, orchids, topiaries, vases, cache pots and porcelain

pieces. Open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to

4 p.m. Sunday at 1191 N. Coast Highway. (949) 376-6964

EXOTIC CHOICES

Fabulous flowers and furnishings are at Every Bloomin’ Thing.

Owner Bettina Miller has a great eye for design. Exotic and unusual

flowers are her specialty. Clove and orange are her favorite scents;

she carries the scent in candles and potpourri. Gift items include

decorative glass candle rings, gourmet boxed olive oils and stoneware

from Casafina, vases and antiques. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday

through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at 1936 S. Coast

Highway. (949) 376-9501

NICELY PRICED

Browne’s Flowers has good prices on fresh flowers and has a

certified balloonist service. Roses are their best bargain. A dozen

roses cost $5.95 all year, excluding Valentine’s Day; then a dozen

costs $13 to $15. Open 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday

and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at 2094 1/2 S. Coast Highway. (949)

497-2489

* BEST BUYS is a weekly feature of the Coastline Pilot. Send

information to Greer Wylder at greerwylder@yahoo.com; at P.O. Box

248, Laguna Beach, CA 92652.