Etiket

After more than 25 years working in fashion for Michael Kors and Anne Klein, among other designer brands in Canada, Simon Tooley opened Etiket, a niche fragrance and scientific skin-care boutique selling one-of-a-kind beauty out of a former mansion on Montreal’s Sherbrooke Street.

Open since 2011, but this year expanding into Toronto with a third location opening in Vancouver in 2018, Etiket is purposefully small-batch and exclusive, an apothecary for the stylish set. “We’re different from Sephora,” says Tooley. “We offer a level of expertise you can’t find in chain or department stores.”

His curated selection of products comes from Canada and around the world. Among them is Zoologist, the Toronto-based artisanal perfume brand bottling the tangy smells of animals—civet cats, beavers, and bats included—and selling for $150 for two ounces. Also on the shelf is Amsterdam-based Mona di Orio whose fragrances, inspired by nature, light, and art, sell as high as $425 a bottle. All-natural skin-care lines like Tata Harper compete with medical grade SkinMedica TNS Essential Serum for customer attention. It’s a matter of personal preference, says Tooley. But his favourite? GrenzCine, which was developed in Canada and is the first multi-layer and multi-function anti-aging serum using a new molecule combined with Vitamin C to help repair cellular DNA and activate collagen. It sells for $305 an ounce but is worth it. “There’s actual science behind it and clinical data to prove that it works. It does what it says it will do, and isn’t that etiquette?” posits Tooley, disclosing the origins of his store’s name, “a set of rules by which we can live, knowing we are doing the right thing.”

Etiket, 1832 Sherbrooke St W, Montreal, QC H3H 1E4.

_________

Never miss a story. Sign up for NUVO’s weekly newsletter.