Launching her career off as a facialist, Jo Malone began hand-mixing her own Nutmeg & Ginger Bath Oils as presents to her best clients. Instantly, people fell in love, and began purchasing numerous orders from her for dinner party favors and gifts. Her company officially took off.
Maintaining scents of elegance, class, and unexpected endings, Jo Malone opened up her first London boutique in 1994, and since then the company has gone global, but it still based there and most of their products are continued to be produced in England as well.
My friend Paige and I are huge fans of the eclectic scents behind the products of Jo Malone, and decided to have some girls over this past weekend to celebrate the company over champagne and canapés!
The Jo Malone team was so lovely, and arrived right on time to set up for the party. The cream boxes accented with black ribbon complemented the color scheme in my apartment perfectly, and the creativity behind the women setting up was truly inspirational.
Since Paige and I each invited a handful of girls who did not know each other, we decided it would be a wonderful idea to tie a name label on every champagne glass via string from Paper Presentation.
Precisely thirty minutes before the party, a Jo Malone representative announced, “Wow! I’ve never tried Almond flavored white wine!” – Paige and I looked at each other in shock. We had gone days before to purchase the Champagne from Trader Joes, and had decided on one from Almond Creek Vineyards. Little did we see that it was almond flavored wine! We decided to pop a bottle, and taste it….it was absolutely horrible! I topped mine with a raspberry to see if it would benefit the flavor, but it only made it worse. Luckily, a liquor store nearby was still open on this Sunday evening, and we immediately had a few cases delivered of champagne. Triple confirming that it was not flavored!
Once all of the girls catched up and settled into the couches, Kristine Thomas, the Jo Malone Business Manager at Bloomingdale’s, stood up and began discussing the company and their many products. She began spraying samples of every scent they carry, and every girl was given their own swatch of each! The best part about Jo Malone is that you can mix and match the flavors, and they smell incredibly different if you change which scent you spray onto yourself first.
At the end, Kristine included a trivia game on what was discussed, and my friend Alison answered the majority of the questions correctly {pictured above}. She was given more products as a prize to take home! She also brought the most beautiful flowers with her to the party…
They offered to give all of us hand massages topped with our favorite scent of the evening, which felt so amazing!
It was truly a wonderful event celebrating the Jo Malone company and getting some of our favorite girls together!
To thank the representatives for coming, Paige and I gave them gift bags filled with Nunu Chocolates and Whimsy&Spice hazelnut whiskey sandwich cookies, both of which had been served during the party.
Paige and I were both presented with beautiful hostess gifts. When they left I found my favorite Orange Blossom Bath Oil and Body Lotion in my bathroom…I remembered that earlier that night Kristine told me, “Jo Malone is consistent to give clients unexpected surprises!” How lovely!
The day before the party I had found these delicious hand dipped caramels from Nunu chocolates at new store downtown called Nolita Mart & Espresso Bar as well as these yummy Whimsy&Spice honey and lavender shortbread cookies. I decided that the chocolates would go perfectly placed on top of the shortbread cookies. If you haven’t been to that store yet I definitely suggest going! The shelves are filled with products from England to Brooklyn, and the owners, James and Selina, have created such a beautiful layout that is easy to shop. It took me an hour to leave!
On the day of the party, I was shopping at Eataly and saw a man with a large bag of bread loaves. The bread looked so delicious and I was very curious as to where he purchased them because it wasn’t Eataly. He told me it was his favorite bread from the Balthazar Bakery and generously gave me an entire loaf to take home! I decided to incorporate the bread into the cocktail party, so Paige and I smothered it with ricotta cheese, drizzled with a little honey, and topped with chopped peppers. Divine!
During my trip to Eataly, I also saw a chef making an interesting dish of tiny Shishito peppers. He saw how interested I was with the preparation, and asked if I wanted to learn how to make them. Of course I said YES… They were incredibly easy to make, and all you have to do is heat up a little bit of Canola oil into a pan, saute the peppers into the pan for one minute while sautéing, squirt a little lemon juice on top!
Paige made delicious dates filled with an almond and wrapped in bacon. They were the perfect finger food!
Another munch food that accented the other canapés well were some delicious Eataly olives surrounded by pieces of extra Balthazar bread.
An appetizer that was quite the hit of the party was brought by a friend named Lindsay, who made the most incredible hot artichoke-spinach dip! Try the recipe below featured on The Food Network – it was fabulous!
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 1 10-ounce bag baby spinach
- 1 cup packed fresh basil
- 3/4 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 6 ounces Neufchatel cream cheese
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 14-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained, squeezed dry and finely chopped
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 3/4 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 or 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Cooking spray
- Baked chips, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and prepare a bowl of ice water. Stir the spinach and basil into the boiling water and cook until bright green, about 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge in the ice water. Drain and squeeze dry, then roughly chop.
Puree the beans, cream cheese, garlic and chicken broth in a food processor until smooth, scraping the sides as needed. Transfer to a medium bowl and fold in the spinach and basil, artichokes, parmesan and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Add the cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste.
Mist a deep 1-quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Spread the dip mixture in the dish and top with the remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella. Bake until golden and bubbly, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve warm with baked chips.
It was truly a fabulous evening to celebrate an elegant brand!
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