Carolyn Mix and Darcy Doniger
2 Note Botanical Perfumery

Carolyn Mix and Darcy Doniger are both New Yorkers, Carolyn from Upstate, Darcy from the City. Carolyn moved to Portland over a decade ago to study writing at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, fell in love with the ocean and the people, and decided to make a life for herself here. Darcy landed in Bangor, Maine fresh out of college to work on a film that never got made. She says, “every year since I’ve told myself I would leave, but twenty years later I’m still here, because I love it and I can do what I do—whatever it is, I’ve reinvented myself twenty times in twenty years—and make a living and enjoy my life.”

Darcy and Carolyn met through music, when Darcy showed up as Carolyn’s violin student. They became friends and “partners in every crime soon after that,” including life and business. Carolyn and Darcy continue to share their passion for music, which is evident in 2 Note, the name of their botanical perfumery. All of 2 Notes products—perfumes, bath salts, body and facial creams, shaving cream, and candles—are handmade “the old-fashioned way using purely things that come from nature.” Darcy says, “if it’s not extracted from a plant, we don’t use it, which can limit the things we create, but we like to think ‘what a beautiful palette to work from.’” Their tidy and bright shop sits on the corner of cobble-stoned Moulton and Wharf Streets in the Old Port, though their loyal customers live in all corners of the country, from Chicago to San Francisco.

Explore 2 Note’s “compositions” on their website, become a fan on Facebook, or follow 2 Note on Twitter.