Inside Stacey Bresnahan’s Eccentric Wisconsin Beauty and Fashion Boutique

Lovett House is where functional chocolates, sci-fi novel inspired perfumes and Versace towels that have been repurposed into handbags coexist under one roof.

Newly opened in Delavan, Wisconsin, the 1,500-square-foot boutique is a reflection of founder Stacey Bresnahan’s own appetite for the unexpected.

“My husband found the house and said, ‘What do you think?’ — right away, I knew it would make a great boutique to house these brands I love,” said Bresnahan, who founded the fragrance brand Laubahn Perfumes, in 2020.

“Fragrance has been a passion of mine since I was young; my grandmother had this garden when I was six or seven years old where she’d grow all these different herbs — peppermint, cilantro — and I was just blown away by what they smelled like and how they stayed on my hands,” Bresnahan said.

The Laubahn line includes six fine fragrances, ranging in price from $110 to $175 and each inspired by elements of a sci-fi novel Bresnahan dreamed up. She recruited author Sassy AyR to pen the book, titled “Life on a Star,” and perfumer Ralf Schwieger (designer of Frederic Malle’s Lipstick Rose) to craft two of the scents within the line.

Laubahn’s perfumes and soaps will be available for purchase at Lovett, alongside other fragrance brands including Van Dang Fragrances and Wicker’s Creek. And while Bresnahan is pausing on crafting new fragrances for Laubahn while she grows her boutique, she developed separate Lovett candles and diffusers in a signature herb-infused scent and retailing for $55 and $45, respectively.

“We chose Delavan because it’s up-and-coming,” Bresnahan said. “Everyone who has come in [to Lovett] so far has said ‘Oh, we needed something like this.’”

Beauty brands carried at the boutique include Philip B., Derma E and Tammy Fender; there are also ingestibles from The Functional Chocolate, which claim to stabilize stress and combat PMS symptoms. Lovett’s growing selection of niche clothing and accessory brands includes Los Angeles-based Flying Tomato, jewelry brand Sea Lily, and Lola’s Bag, which sells purses made in Mexico of woven recycled plastic.

“What draws me to a brand is their passion for what they do and their creativity; they aren’t huge, mainstream brands, but they’re being creative with what they’re doing,” said Bresnahan, who envisions Lovett as a space for the local community not just shop, but to socialize and gather.

“We’re going to have yoga, music, art — everything,” Bresnahan said.