Jul 20, 2011

New home fragrance, candle and gift shop Cameos & Crowns has good scentsBy Alison BrownriggNWSource.com

There’s nothing like a shop owner who knows her inventory inside and out, trusts its quality, uses the products herself and can even tell you the name of the person who makes them.

That couldn’t be truer for shop owner Lynette Vertoch, whose new store, Cameos & Crowns, opened on July 8 in the small, but growing boutique community along 34th Avenue in Madrona.

Next to Guesthouse and across the street from Driftwood, Cameos & Crowns is a sweetly scented extravaganza of candles, body care, soap, cosmetics and other gift items worthy of the fragrance-loving king, queen, prince or princess in your life.

Vertoch, a recent California transplant, established herself as a comer in the world of scented candles in the mid-1990s with Illume, a retail store that developed into a still-popular line of candles (available at Dream boutique in Fremont for $30). Illume catered to a cadre of Hollywood A-listers, garnered mentions in every conceivable glossy magazine and created gift baskets for guests on “The Tonight Show.”

After selling Illume in 1999, Vertoch went on to develop more scent-based product lines, open a clothing store and work as a consultant and at Pacific Market Center, Seattle’s wholesale gift mart.

“I knew I’d have another store,” Vertoch explains, “and this time it’s filled with pretty things that I like and believe in.”

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