Fougere Workshop

Create the scent of the forrest floor.

There has been some interest amongst a small group of students in doing another Fougere Workshop.  I'm so happy to teach this class again on Sunday, April 12th, 1-4pm.

Fougere is a fragrance family that came into fashion towards the end of the 19th C.  The word means fern, which makes it a fantasy category seeing how ferns don't really have a fragrance.  Fougere's are meant to smell like the forrest floor and, to my understanding, must have three ingredients:  lavender, oakmoss and a coumarin note (found in tonka bean, hay, sweet clover, etc.).  Often herbs like geranium, linalool rich rosewood and more assertive notes like patchouli are added but it's the careful consideration of the other ingredients that makes the fougere your own.

In class we'll explore the genre and sample many perfumes including the original Fougere Royale and Jicky - the vanguards of the classification -  along with samples from some of the best natural perfumers working today. You'll be choosing from materials like tonka bean, sweet clover, concretes of lavender, geranium and clary sage, several lavender absolutes and essential oils, cedarmoss, cassia and ho wood.  You'll have the opportunity to create two perfumes.  $25 extra to make a third, time considering.

Sunday, April 12th, 1-4pm.  You can register here.

You can see the coumarin crystals forming on these tonka beans.

Once oakmoss is harvested it rests for seven years to develop it's wet forrest scent.

Clover also contain coumarins.

Lavender, one of the key ingredients in a fougere, also contains coumarins.

Lovely Review of Sol de la Foret

Victoria Jent of the fragrance and beauty blog EauMG.net has written a lovely review of Sol de la Foret.

"Sol de la Foret is a dark as a forest during the new moon. The heart introduces a spicy, clove-like carnation floral with a musky sage, still retaining a balance of bitter and sweet.The dry-down radiates warmth with a dry oakmoss and hay – sweet and musky. Overall, the fragrance has a lush vintage feel and to me, this is absolutely gorgeous."

I'm over the moon (although a bit tardy in posting this!).
Thanks Victoria!

Lovely Review of Sol de la Foret in Cafleurebon

So pleased to offer up this stunning review by John Reasinger of Cafleurebon.  John is a Senior Editor and the Natural Perfume Editor for the venerable blog.  I don't think I or anything I've ever created has ever been written about quite so rhapsodically.

"Without being dated or trying to be "fresh" this fougere radiates gentle green, but also timeless strength, in a unique almost brooding manner.  Its power is evident from the first sniff.  It is, however, in its restraint and poise that Sol de la Foret truly impresses me.  Old world charm and sophistication in a modern all natural perfume that still keeps its classic grandeur is indeed wonderful."

Sol de la Foret

available on Etsy

or herbalalchemy.net

Home Studio Classes

It's official.  I've begun teaching small groups in my cozy and intimate home studio.  I've been wanting to teach here for many years and the surprise closing of 3rd Ward last month deemed it time to begin.  I taught a beginner's class a few weeks ago but this past Saturday I taught my Fougere Workshop, the one I've been talking about for months now.

It's no secret that I've been fascinated by fougere's and the delightful and enticing molecule, coumarin, for some time now.  I'm a natural born researcher so when I set out to make my first creation (which turned out to be Sol de la Foret) I had to do my homework first and read up on it.  I began to send for samples of some of the original fougere's, notably Fougere Royale by Houbigant and Jicky by Guerlain, and also from some of the natural perfume world's best perfumers who've made a perfume in this classification.  As I compiled information, both factually and sensorily, I realized that I had the makings of a great workshop devoted specifically to this genre.

After taking in the samples and getting an idea of the generalities of a fougere and the wide breadth of different varieties we explored the materials in a little more depth.  Tonka bean, hay absolute, sweet clover absolute, oak moss, cedar moss, ho wood and cassia as well as a selection of lavender essential oils, absolutes and concretes were introduced.  At this point the students set out to make their own quintessential fougere.  After a little gentle critiquing of their creations we went further and discussed the different classifications more in depth (amber, floral, fresh, leather, oriental and precious wood fougere's).  A few new materials were introduced such as davana, buddahwood, ambrette, choya nak, aglaia and magnolia and then the students set out to create their second perfume.

Tester strips of some of the perfumes we sampled

The class was such a success and the students so enthusiastic that I broached the subject of a salon series meeting semi-regularly to break down the fragrance classifications.  The group was so enamored of the choya nak (a destructive distillation of roasted seashells) that the conversation kept turning to leather notes.   They were excited about the notion of an exploration in leather perfumes so I can see I have my work cut out for me with my next research project.  My head is already spinning with images of 16th Century Parisian glove makers using gorgeous florals to cover up the smell of animal skin.  Smokey cade, birch, myrtle, styrax...  Expect a leather perfume to follow!


If you're interested in being part of the Salon please email me at info@herbalalchemy.net. Space is limited.

Sol de la Foret

Sol de la Foret, my newest fragrance, is a true labor of love.  After falling head over heals with the fragrance family, fougere, I set out to make my own.  To be a true fougere a perfume must contain a coumarin note, oakmoss and lavender.  Coumarin was the first synthetic chemical created in a laboratory in 1886 and was the principal ingredient in Houbigant's Fougere Royale, since considered the industry standard.  Coumarins are found in abundance in materials like tonka bean, sweet clover, flouve and deertongue.  It is also found, rather surprisingly, in lavender.

For this creation I've used a generous amount of rich caramelic tonka bean.  To give it a greener, mossier and more coumaranic note I also added sweet clover, a new favorite of mine.  I used a bit of fossilized amber, a tree resin that is millions of years old from  high in the Himalayan Mountains, in the bottom to add a dry smokey quality to the earth element of the blend.  It dries down very soft and sweetens adding a slight powdery note at the bottom - along with great fixation.  Tobacco and Vanilla CO2 add some warmth to the whole bottom.  Following the rules of the true genre there is also the addition of oakmoss, adding a wet roots and leaves note to the forrest floor.  Those sensitive to oakmoss be warned.

At the heart of the perfume is a lovely synergy of carnation and lavender absoutes with a touch of clary sage and orange blossom concretes.  Tunisian neroli was a perfect match for high linalool ho wood at the top, with just a drop of blood orange.

Top:  ho wood, neroli, blood orange

Heart:  carnation and lavender absolutes, clary sage and orange blossom concretes

Base:  tonka bean, sweet clover, oak moss, fossilized amber and tobacco absolutes with vanilla CO2

This perfume comes beautifully packaged in a brown velvet envelope in a gold box with a vintage velvet millinery leaf nestled inside.  No markings of any kind have been made to the box or velvet envelope so that they bay be reused (or regifted as the case may be).  The leaf is your keepsake, that and the lingering fragrance.

Introducing Sol de la Foret, the forest floor.

See the listing on my website or Etsy store.

To learn more about fougere's, and a chance to make some yourself, sign up for my Fougere Workshop, Saturday, November 16th.

Fougere

I've fallen in love with a fragrance family, the fougere.  French for fern, fougere is a fantasy concept meant to capture the scent of the natural habitat of ferns - the forest floor.  The principal notes in a fougere are oakmoss, tonka bean and lavender.

The first fougere was Fougere Royale by Houbigant, created in 1882, and spurred a whole new perfume category.  While it's probable that these fragrant chords were popular before the release of Fougere Royale, the fragrance captured a moment in time and has forever become linked with it's origination.  Houbigant was the first house to develop a scent chemical meant to replicate the scent of fresh mown hay, otherwise known as coumarin.  Coumarin is present in tonka beans, hay, sweet clover, sweet woodruff, sweetgrass, flouve and deertounge and in lesser degrees lavender, cassia, cherries, strawberries and apricots.  It is an overall pleasant odor reminiscent of sweet grass with vanilla overtones.

Jicky by Guerlain was created soon after in 1889 and it has notes of lavender, rosemary, bergamot,  opoponax, precious woods, vanilla, and tonka bean.


Fougere captured the imagination of perfumers who used tonka, oakmoss and lavender as a base to create new versions of the concept.  Often the base is supplemented by patchouli, vetiver, sandalwood and myrrh.  Often there is a rosy heart supported by geranium and clary sage, jasmine and orange blossom with top notes of lavender, rosewood, citrus, rosemary and bergamot.  There are sub-categories of floral, fresh, oriental, amber, leather and precious wood fougeres.

I'm hosting a fougere workshop in my home atelier on Saturday, July 27th.  We'll be sampling Fougere Royale, Jicky and a careful selection of fragrances by some of the botanical perfume world's best perfumers including Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, Charna Ethier, Ayala Moriel and others.  Each participant will get to create two perfumes using an assortment of oils I've collected just for the occasion.  Tonka bean, sweet clover and hay absolute will be on hand along with several lavender absolutes and essential oils.  This will be an opportunity to experiment with a few rare and precious oils like orris, ambrette, choya nak, ho wood, buddahwood and wild sweet orange.

Fougere Workshop

Saturday, July 27th

1:30 to 4:30

$130 includes all materials

Park Slope, Brooklyn

Call (718)788-6480 or send an email to info@herbalalchemy.net for more information or to register.