New York-based jewelry designer Jennifer Fisher is a St. Bart's regular. She’s been going to the French speaking, picture-perfect Caribbean island for six years, and has her shopping routine down. And it starts at the airport.
“Right across from the airport there’s this pharmacy, Pharmacie de l’Aéoport, that everybody goes to,” she told DEPARTURES. It’s where she stocks up on goodies like the Innoxa Gouttes Bleues eyedrops sold in two-packs that she buys in bulk and brings back for friends. “They whiten your eyes and make you look more awake," she said. "I learned about them from makeup artists."
Fisher also grabs as many Halter bonbons (especially the “just sweet enough” raspberry, cola, and mint flavors) as she can carry and Spray de Ricqles breath freshener, which she always keeps in whichever tote from her Balenciaga collection she happens to be carrying.
“You’re talking so much at parties, so I always bring this spray,” she said. “Breath spray from Europe is a little stronger—I like it better than Listerine squares.”
Related: Jennifer Fisher's Packing List: The Carry-On Essentials
Even though the kitchen of her New York City apartment is currently under construction, Fisher is taking full advantage of her travels to fill up her soon-to-be new and improved pantry. "I eat mustard on everything, it's my second favorite condiment next to hot sauce," she said. "Anytime I can pick up packets of Dijon to throw in my bag, I do. This particular one happened to come from the airport when I was looking for something healthy to eat on the plane."
That same logic applies to locally grown spices, which she “plays around with” for her own line of salts. On this trip, while Fisher’s husband, Kevin, picked up a surfboard rental and some surf wax (“He’s a really good surfer and uses the wax in the Hamptons,” she says), she popped into an unassuming storefront. “It looked kind of touristy from the outside, but it turned out that...it was filled with spices, many of which were grown on the island," she said. "I wish I could bring all of them back!"
She did bring back some vanilla beans, though, which is typically used in the ubiquitous vanilla bean-infused rum found throughout the island. “I don’t drink rum, but I drink that rum,” Fisher said. “The vanilla rum is amazing, and most of the restaurants give you some to drink after a meal, but you can’t bring it back to the U.S. for some reason.”
Asked if she’ll recreate the traditional vanilla rum stateside, she pauses. “That’s a really good idea.”
Jennifer Fisher is a member of the American Express Platinum Collective, an advisory board that helps create experiences and benefits for Platinum Card Members.
