Introducing Juke

 Juke

Hot, humid nights, moonlight on water, night bugs singing, hot jazz in the distance. The air is heady with magnolia flowers releasing their scent into the darkness. Tucked into the bayou is a juke joint, music spilling out. A woman is dancing with a drink in her hand, dangling off of a perfumed wrist. A whiff of imported French perfume conjured with goods collected along the spice route mixes with moonshine and tobacco in the sweaty, humid speakeasy.

 Sweet honey bayou with earthy orris root, tobacco and syrupy balsams compose the bottom chord. Heady floral notes of pink champaca and orange flower concrete mingling with honey absolute create the heart with lime, clementine and white champa leaf (a newly discovered and new favorite oil).


                     Etsy

Top notes: lime, clementine, white champa leaf
Heart notes: pink champaca absolute, orange flower concrete, honey absolute
Base notes: tobacco absolute, orris root, peru balsam, majmua udd attar

Beautiful Options for Refilling Your Bespoke Perfume

One of my favorite parts of my job is doing custom consultations where clients come to my studio and together we create their signature scent.  I enjoy working one on one with people to create something truly unique for them.  I've kept all of the notes and the formula from our meeting and am now offering some lovely options for refills of your bespoke fragrance.

Quarter ounce straight sided rectangular bottle, $35

Quarter ounce straight sided rectangular spray bottle, $38

Half ounce rectangular bottle, $60

Half ounce rectangular spray bottle, $65

Half ounce round glass stoppered bottle, $70

One third ounce square glass stoppered bottle, $60

Oriental Perfumes

The idea of the Oriental perfume goes back as far as recorded history.  The people of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Rome were using the resins, balsams and spices available to them to create sacred incense and unguents.

The first modern Oriental perfume was Shalimar by Guerlain, created in 1921. It was formulated using a relatively new synthetic molecule, vanillin. Combined with labdanum and coumarin it formed the base of the perfume, along with incense and opoponax. The heart is composed of jasmine, rose and iris with lemon and lots of bergamot on top.
Shalimar caught the attention of the public at the perfect moment, when 1920's Europe was swept away by the exoticism and passion of the East.  It set a lasting trend that still intrigues and excites.

Oriental perfumes are almost always built around an amber accord.  There is no such thing as amber essential oil.  The accord is composed of a combination of vanilla and labdanum.  Other resinous notes are added for distinction, some to sweeten such as tonka bean or balsams, and some to darken and deepen like frankincense, myrrh and opoponax.

Oriental perfumes are further classified as Classical, Spicy, Woody, Soft (Incense) and Floral. Classical Oriental perfumes are dark and animalic with heady florals.  Shalimar is a perfect example. Spicy Orientals have a dry, woody base with spicy top note. Woody perfumes have a luminosity characterized by sandalwood and other rich woods.  Soft Orientals are darker and warmer but are less balsamic and animalic that Classical varieties.  They are ethereal and elegant with mysterious notes of incense and amber.  Floral Orientals combine the softness of florals with the warmth of orientals. Sweet spices mix with florals to create a sensual scent with depth and complexity.

To learn more and to create your own you can attend my Amber/Oriental Natural Perfumes class on Sunday, July 19th.

Amber

Amber, the fossilized resin.

There is no such thing as amber essential oil.  Essential oils (and absolutes for that matter) are derived from plants.  There is no one single plant that creates the note "amber". Some regard a certain species of fir grown in the Himalaya's as the source of the note but that would be false.  The oils we identify as "amber oil" are really proprietary blends, secret formulas, of oils and resins blended together to produce a warm, rich, caramel-like note. The concept of amber came into being in the late 19th Century with the development of vanillin (a synthetic vanilla) which was combined with labdanum, the exudate of Cistus labdanum.

Amber is a primary ingredient in Oriental perfumes, a classification heralded by Guerlain's Shalimar, which used vanillin, labdanum and coumarin (the principal note in tonka bean) to create a sweet, warm, powdery and erotic fragrance.  Not all Oriental perfumes, however, are ambery.  Opoponax and other balsamic and resinous materials are used as bases as well creating a wider spectrum of Orientals.

There are materials that are often confused with amber. The prehistoric tree, Pinus succinifera, produces a fossilized resin used in jewelry making.  A process called destructive distillation is used to produce a material called fossilized amber, or Baltic Amber. Most of what I've smelled is not pleasing and so not used much in perfumery.  I've sourced out a beautiful oil that is deep, rich and smokey with a subtly sweet and lasting dry down. Ambergis is the waxy secretion of the sperm whale.  It is secreted by the gastrointestinal tract of the whale to coat and soothe it from the sharp beaks of it's favorite meal, the cuttlefish.  The mass is excreted and floats on the ocean.  The synergy of sun and salt water transform it into a sensual, warm and somewhat ambery perfume substance that lasts and lasts. Ambrette is rendered from a type of hibiscus and is referred to as the vegetal equivalent of musk.  It is ever so slightly ambery (but more animalic) and becomes sweeter during its long dry down.

Cistus labdanum

Natural perfumers seeking to create amber accords will most heavily rely on labdanum. As well as vanilla, other balsamic materials are used to create the chord.  Benzoin, from the tree Styrax tonkenensis, is secreted when the tree is injured and is soft, warm and caramel-like with a powdery drydown. Styrax, from Liquidambar orientalis, is another tree resin and smells a little like glue and cinnamon.  Other materials would be Peru Balsam, Balsam Tolu, opoponax and tonka bean.  Other camphorous materials, incense resins, florals and woods are included to add distinction.

Amber Oil

Years ago, after reading about the realities of amber, I attempted to create my own amber accord.  I collected every material I'd ever read might be included in formulating the accord and began to create my own.  It's wonderful - and useful - to have my own formula to use for blending perfumes.  Pleased with my concoction, I made my own version of Amber Oil (available on my website and Etsy store).

On the heels of my recent Spice Route perfume class (and the resultant research I did) I'm teaching a class on Amber and Oriental perfume making in my home studio in Brooklyn on Sunday, July 19th. We'll review the Oriental classification and pass around some examples of established and niche perfumes.  Resins, balsams, florals and spices that were discovered along the Spice Route will be discussed, explored and available to work with to create two perfumes.  For more information and to register look here.

Orange Flower Water

Orange Flower Water in a vintage bottle.

Orange Flower comes from the blossoms of the bitter orange tree, Citrus sinensis.  The bitter orange plant actually gives us four fragrant oils.  The steam distillation of the blossoms is the coveted neroli.  When an absolute is made of the same flowers it is referred to as orange blossom absolute.  The pressed rinds delivers bitter orange essential oil and the unripe green fruit, stems and twigs give us petitgrain oil.

Bitter orange is a peculiar kind of citrus.  It is fresh yet dry and elegant with a lasting sweet undertone.  It's blossoms have a light, dry nature. They produce one of my absolute favorite scents in all of creation, the coveted orange blossom.  I should really live near orange groves.

Orange flower water is the water left over after the blossoms have been distilled to make essential oil. The blossoms are put into a vessel and steam is forced through it. The steam collects in another vessel with the essential oil floating on top. The oil is syphoned off, the water remaining is the hydrosol.

The scent is sublime.  It is floral, fruity with a hint of green, refreshing and very complex. When inhaled orange blossom is antidepressant and a mild sedative, so useful at night to ease insomnia.  It has a joyous, uplifting quality. It stops caffeine jitters and is a great choice for fretful babies. It is known for its supportive qualities during the detoxification process or when quitting an addictive habit.

Neroli is a wonderful treatment for delicate, sensitive and oily skin (due to its astringency).  Use it as a toner and in face masks with clay and honey.  It can also be used as a perfume!

Both rosewater and orange flower water have been used in cooking and baking for centuries.  Indian and Middle Eastern desserts are often delicately flavored with them.  It is what's used to flavor madeleines and prompted Marcel Proust to remember the past.  It's also often used to flavor marshmallows.  Add it to champagne as an aphrodisiac, or if you're not inclined to drink alcohol add it to plain seltzer. One tablespoon in a liter of seltzer would befit a toast at any occasion.  It's one of my favorite summer refreshers.

I've bottled some up in vintage bottles I found on the beach, all one of a kind. You can see them, and other hydrosols, in my Etsy store.

Resins and Balsams

My recent class on the Spice Route has me surrounded by various resins and balsams.  They're a principal ingredient in Oriental perfumes and have been used as a fixative since the dawn of the spice route.  I've looked up the definitions of both, as well as gum and oleoresin, and they all appear to be the same.  

According to Elena Vosnaki :
"The distinction between resin and balsam is one of form, on a fundamental level: Simply put and generalizing, resinous materials come in the form of solidified, gum-like "tears" seeping from the elixir vitae circulating into the bark of big trees, such as the Boswellia Carteri (which produces frankincense). Balsams on the other hand are tricky materials, not necessarily tree secretions, often coming as they do from flower pods or bushy twigs (such as vanilla orchids or the Mediterranean rockrose). But there are exceptions to every rule: Opopanax, though resinous smelling itself, actually comes from a herb, opopanax chironium.
So the real focus when referencing balsamic and resinous terminology is how the materials actually smell and how they're different or common in scent, rather than what their origin is.  Therefore, for ease, resinous & balsamic materials are classified into 3 distinct olfactory profiles according to their aromatic properties first and foremost." 

Styrax from the Liquidambar orientalis tree, smells a little like cinnamon and glue.

In my mind balsams such as benzoin, peru balsam, tolu balsam and labdanum are sweeter and softer. They're gentler and enveloping and add a fixative quality to florals.  Resins like frankincense, myrrh, oppoponax and styrax are widely used in incense and have a more defined characteristic.  They're usually antiseptic so have a medicinal quality to them.

These materials are the basis for Oriental and Amber perfumes, some of the first perfumes, created since antiquity.  In ancient Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Mesopotamia and classical Rome resins and balsams were combined with sweet and pungent spices and exotic flowers to create perfume for the gods.

I'll be hosting and Oriental/Amber perfume workshop in July in my home studio.  Email me for more information or to register.

Amber resin

Topiary and Creating a Green Fragrance

Topiary.  What a crazy idea if you think about it.  I was never a fan but during the course of the last year I've realized that it goes way beyond elephants and giraffes on the front lawn.  It's the crazy geometric shapes that confound and delight me.  I just love that people go about trimming their shrubbery into these exotic shapes.  Such folly!

I thought it might be a good idea to create a green perfume as an ode to topiary.  After some research I've discovered that some of the shrubs used to fashion topiary are easily available in essential oils. Unfortunately boxwood is not available (but the most used plant).  However laurel, myrtle and thuja are easily obtained.

The fun part is always ordering new oils to work with.  I found an absolutely gorgeous white champa leaf with green as well as beautiful floral notes of champaca.  Alba michelia leaf is from the common magnolia, another lovely green/floral note. Rhododendron leaf was surprise, very fresh and somewhat citrusy. I found a myrtle and thyme, both high in linalool, an alcohol found in rosewood.   Erigeron, thuja, tarragon absolute, wormwood, violet leaf and vetiver are some other choices.

I've decided on genet, otherwise known as broom, for the heart - which goes brilliantly with rhododendron leaf.  I'm really just fleshing out the bones of the perfume but I'm off to a terrific start with agarwood and africa stone on the bottom and white champaca leaf and petitgrain sur fleurs on top.  As I work I keep trying to imagine walking through one of these topiary gardens in Europe, marveling at the intense green and the whacky, comical shapes.  I really must plan a topiary tour.

Gift Packaging and Sample Sets

People often ask me if I sell sample sets and I usually file the idea away as something I should really get around to and then I just get back to whatever I was doing and forget about it.  This past winter while hibernating I had a little bit of fun with creating gift packaging and sample sets.

I have boxes of three quarter ounce vials of some of the extracts I've been making such as the Tea Collection, the Citrus Collection and the Toasted Nut Collection.  They come tucked in a brown velvet pouch nestled in a matte gold gift box.  To finish it's tied with a slender velvet ribbon.  I think it'll make a nice gift for the foodies out there.

The same packaging works beautifully with my four latest perfumes - Midnight Garden, Sol de la Foret, Flora and Foret de la Mer. To make them a bit more special I've chosen a millinery flower for each perfume and tucked them in the box.

I've also made sets of samples of eight of my perfumes: Aloft, Tourmaline, Midnight Garden, Moonrise, Sol de la Foret, Flora, Foret de la Mer and Garden Walk.

Playing with silk, paper and velvet flowers, pretty boxes and ribbons reminded me so much of projects I would have worked on in my youth.  In fact I've been doing this kind of thing for as long as I can remember, so I'm pleased to be offering work that comes from my heart.  I have more ideas for packaged sets of perfumes so expect to see more. Thanks for looking!

Ready to gift in a matte gold box with a slender brown velvet ribbon.

Set of three citrus extracts from the stormy winter of 2015; Tangerine, Meyer Lemon and Blood Orange.

Foret de la Mer packaged with millinery golden champaca flowers.

Tools of the Trade, Part One: Mortar and Pestle

Nothing makes me feel more like a "true apothecary" than when I'm grinding something up in one of my collection of mortars and pestles. When I'm grinding herbs for cologne making (or cooking) or powdering resins to tincture I feel I connect with centuries of healers and craftsmen. The word mortar is Latin for "receptacle for pounding", and pestle for "pounder". The earliest use of them was found in 1550BC Egyptian papyrus.  The tools became the symbol of the pharmacy as they were originally used in apothecaries and then eventually pharmacies in the making of medicine.  The act of mixing or reducing materials to particle size is called trituration.

These are some that I covet:

This one is actually mine, grinding up benzoin absolute to tincture.

Perfume Along the Spice Route

No one benefitted more from the Spice Route than the early perfumers. 

Prior to the abundance of materials becoming available from the spice trade, perfumers in Europe were using the materials available to them, mostly herbs and some locally growing flowers, to create the fragrances of the day. The explorations of Africa, India, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and the West Indies garnered fragrant spices, resins and balsams that created an olfactory palette that would create an industry.

I've always wanted to know more about the Spice Route and the Incense Road so took the opportunity when asked to teach a perfume blending class based on the fragrant discoveries of those ancient explorers. I've read that the search for far away treasure goes back as far as 3000BC.  Some of these materials, such as sandalwood and frankincense, have been in continuous use since then.

After a bit of looking into it I discerned that most of the oils in my perfumer's organ were discovered along those ancient routes.  My oils represent the whole world, not only from western countries but places far and wide, all with their own fragrant tale to tell.  I dug a little deeper when it came to purchasing oils for the class. Resins, spices and exotic flowers I've never imagined are all on their way to my studio.

In this workshop we’ll delve into the discoveries of the early explorers and learn about resinous frankincense, rich vanilla bean, piquant saffron and voluptuous sandalwood. You’ll gain a basic understanding of the sense of smell, the history of perfume and learn how to blend these precious oils into your own bespoke perfume. The process harkens back to a time several centuries past when these materials became available (long before synthetic scent molecules were invented in laboratories). Each participant will leave with two bottles of perfume.

Proteus Gowanus

Saturday, May 16th, 1-4pm

543 Union Street (at Nevins)

Brooklyn, NY

These are just some of the fragrant oils we'll be using in class:

Black pepper from Madagascar.

Mace, the delicate membrane surrounding nutmeg.

Vanilla orchids

Ground spices from a market in Sri Lanka

Frankincense bark exuding tears.

Bundles of cinnamon bark

Saffron, the fragrant stamens from a certain crocus.

Capturing the Elusive Violet

The Elusive Fragrance of Violet

I've been, along with many others, attempting to capture it's ethereal aroma in a bottle for a very long time. After working on two violet perfumes for over a year it finally occurred to me that I needed to stop everything I was doing and once again focus on creating a violet accord.

The elusive shrinking violet. The chemicals in them that give them their signature scent are ionones, specifically alpha and beta ionones. After having purchased a bottle of the isolated molecule alpha ionone from the talented Mandy Aftel I thought I was all the way there. What I realized was that it was only part of the equation.  I'd been using alpha ionone as the violet note and building around that.  What I needed was an accord (including alpha ionone) that I could use as a single note.

I did a little research on the chemical makeup of the violet and found some formulas for synthetic violet accords.  Once I had that I searched for natural oils that share some of that chemical makeup. Alpha ionone is a tricky substance to work with.  It awards the sniffer with a temporary anosmia after one or two whiffs making it particularly difficult as you have to take constant breaks to allow your nose to catch up.  After many trials I finally hit on something that captures the note in a pleasing way. At least I think I have.  Alpha ionone is the shapeshifter of all time, it changes constantly.

Now I begin working on my perfume again, basically starting from scratch using the accord as a single element. The one I'm working on currently is really a request from a small group of fans of one of my earliest perfumes, The Nethermead, named after a very special meadow in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. You must traverse The Midwood, an original managed forrest, and cross The Ambergill Ravine to get to the violet strewn meadow. The original perfume used synthetics of violet and amber, which I would never do now, with atlas cedarwood on the top. The amber note is being replicated by an amber accord I made a while back which is mostly labdanum paired with smokey fossilized amber. Violet accord will predominate the heart of the perfume along with coffee flower and nutmeg absolute.  I'm playing around with a variety of cedarwoods, primarily Japanese hinoki, and linalool rich ho wood. All subject to change, of course!

Yes, elusive, to say the least.  A plant with an aroma that robs the nose of its abilities is very elusive indeed. Stranger still is the fact that those beautiful purple flowers the plant sends up in the spring are not really flowers at all, they have no sexual parts.  The true flower comes up later in the season, loaded with seeds.

The violets that grow in my area, although lovely, have no particular scent.  The ones that do, viola odorata, are hard to come by.  I've attempted starting them from seed to no avail.  Last week the talented and darling Dabney Rose sent me four fragrant violet plants in the US Mail.  They're now safely tucked away in my community garden plot.  May they thrive and multiply!  Many thanks to Dabney!

My nose should be rested by now, time to roll around in a meadow of violets.

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.

Capturing the Fragrance and Flavor of Winter

Nut Extracts

The spring thaw is upon us.  The icebergs are melting, the sidewalks are passable again and the smell of thawing earth and sap rising are in the air. This time of year is always a little melancholy for me. I love winter, no matter the cold and snow, I love it. I'm a big fan of warm and cozy.  I love the holidays, love snow days, thick blankets, warm stews and soft cashmere sweaters (and socks, cashmere socks are the best). I'm going to miss it in the long warm, muggy, glaring, big, fat summer ahead.  Most people talk about capturing the flavors of summer to be used during the cold, lean months.  I do my share of that, mostly so that I can enjoy the winter that much more, but just to turn things on their ear I've been trying to capture the flavors and fragrance of winter to be enjoyed during the summer.

What are the flavors I love most in winter?  That's easy.  Juicy, fresh citrus fruits, roasted nuts, and cups and cups and cups of milky black tea.  So that's what I've attempted to capture. I've made extracts of tangerine, blood orange, meyer lemon, vanilla/orange, toasted almond, hazelnut and pistachio and peach, blackcurrant and vanilla black tea.  Thinking ahead to chocolate ice cream with blood orange extract, or pistachio ice cream amped up with a bit of extract and glasses of cold seltzer with carbonated bubbles popping peach tea extract.

Drying orange zest

I've also started zesting my citrus before I peel them and drying the zest.  It's nice to have home cured rinds for recipes.  You can zest any type of orange, lemon or lime - or anything else you can get your hands on like yuzu or buddah's hand.  I lay them on parchment covered wicker trays but even laid out evenly on a dinner plate works. Leave them at least a week, depending on humidity, before you put them in a jar to keep. Make sure they're absolutely dry before you do, any hidden moisture could cause your rinds to mold.  On the other hand don't leave them out too long or they'll lose their potency. Don't forget to label them, you'll want to remember which is tangerine and which is blood orange, especially as they dry and their flavor concentrates.

Straining Meyer Lemon Extract

So, while it's still winter take advantage of the fruits of the season and keep them for the warm seasons to come.  If preparing them seems too mind-boggling and time consuming check out the selection of extracts in my Etsy store.  Everything is made in small batches so there is a limited supply. I love to tinker and experiment so expect some new arrivals.

To read more about making extracts at home look here.

Etsy.com

Quarter ounce nut extract samples

Tea Extracts

Nut Extracts Sample Set

Tangerine Extract

New Perfume! Foret de la Mer, a Fougere for Men

Fougere's have been my passion for the past couple of years and the last time I was in California I was inspired to create one based on the expansive coastline rimmed with forests. This is a bolder and more voluptuous fragrance than I normally create but I was so moved by the drama of the natural surroundings that I wanted to try to capture it in a bottle. I became haunted by the smokey, maritime essence of choya nak, a destructive distillation of roasted seashells, and was compelled to use it in the base which gave it a definite masculine feel. I personally love men's fragrances and have been wanting to make one for some time. The result, Foret de la Mer (Forest of the Sea) is a mossy, maritime fragrance with luscious florals and fresh citruses.  It's more bracing than what I normally go for, and sometimes the smokey seashell seems nearly too much, but I'm always glad I stayed with it.  It really changes in the drydown and that smokiness turns sweeter.  It's weird, and that's partly what appeals to me about it.

The traditional fougere ingredients, tonka and oakmoss, sit at the bottom with ambrette seed and choya nak. Champaca absolute and orange blossom concrete mingle with French lavender absolute to create a sumptuous floral heart. Wild lavender essential oil blends beautifully with bergamot and wild sweet lavender to greet the nose in a tangy floral welcome.  It's bracing at first but gives way to sexy champaca and a surprisingly sweet dry down.

Foret de la Mer

Top notes: bergamot, wild sweet orange, wild lavender
Heart notes: champaca absolute, orange blossom concrete, lavender absolute
Base notes: tonka bean, oakmoss, ambrette, choya nak
5ml, 1/4 ounce, 15ml and sample sizes available.

Interview in the Park Slope Food Coop's Linewaiter's Gazette

Laugh if you want but my food coop is badass.  We have 16,000 members working cooperatively to run a store based on good politics, good value and great food.  We members of the Park Slope Food Coop all work a two and a half hour shift every four weeks and with the help of our paid staff we run the coop. We are a model for cooperation and sustainability.

The coop has its share of critics.  There are people who think there are too many rules and find it punitive.  There are only two rules I'm aware of.  One is to show up for your assigned shift, or at least call and let them know you're not coming.  That seems reasonable considering we're trying to run a store.  If you don't call in you have to do a second make-up shift.  This is also reasonable - there has to be a deterrent to not showing up or finding someone to cover your shift.  The other rule is don't shop in line. That just seems like common courtesy.

Every time someone from The New York Times writes about us they always make fun of our organic food and "all of those rules" and the way we check out or the long lines.  Every article is the same, let's make fun of the vegan hippies.  I'm waiting for someone to write an article about what a miracle it is that 16,000 people can work cooperatively to provide ourselves with sustainable organic food at reasonable prices.  There's the real story.

Poet and playwrite Pat Smith was kind enough to invite me to be interviewed, I'm chuffed by his kind words.  Check out page four of the March 5th, 2015 Linewaiter's Gazette to read the full article.

March Studio Classes

Natural Perfume Blending Workshops 

Coming in March 

I've been thoroughly enjoying teaching out of my home studio. The classes are more intimate and I have all of my materials at hand for every need.  


Saturday, March 7th
1 - 4pm
In this first workshop we will take a closer look at the artisanal art of natural perfumery. Students will gain a basic understanding of the sense of smell, the history of perfume, the advent of synthetic ingredients and the return to naturals.  Perfume ingredients and formulation will be explored and each participant will leave with two bottles of their own bespoke perfume.


Saturday, March 14th
1 - 4pm
For those students who have taken the first Natural Perfume Blending course and would like to study further I'm now offering Perfume Blending, Part Two. The original kit of 50 or so oils will be added to with some rare and precious oils such as hay absolute, magnolia flower, yuzu and pink pepper. A more in depth look at formulation and structure and becoming more intimate with your materials will be explored and there will be specific assignments to deepen your understanding of blending and perfume creation, as well as sharpen your sense of smell. 

To register visit herbalalchemy.net


Fougere Workshop

There has been some interest from a small group of students in doing another Fougere Workshop. You'll be choosing from tonka bean, sweet clover, concretes of lavender, geranium and clary sage, several lavender absolutes and essential oils, cedar moss, cassia and ho wood.  I also have samples of many perfumes in that category, including the original Fougere Royale and Jicky, along with many samples from some of the best natural perfumers working today.  We'll discuss the genre and explore the new materials and you'll create two perfumes.  $25 extra to make a third, time considering.

If you're interested email me at info@herbalalchemy.net.  The price will be $150.  If there's enough of us we can pick a date that works for everyone.  I could do it either Saturday, the 21st or 28th of March.  I hope it comes together, it's such a fun class.  Smells amazing, too.

My Etsy Store Gets a Scripted French Facelift

I've seen other Etsy stores using vintage letters as a backdrop for their products and I always thought they were really beautiful.  I've been wanting to change up my product photos so I went searching on Etsy for some antique letters.  I found two stores that sell letters from France from the turn of the last century.  One was Oscar Naylor in Canada.  The letter came gorgeously wrapped in vintage letters, the most beautiful package my mailbox has seen in a long time.  I struggled to open it and keep it intact so I could save it.  The other store was French Manufacture in France.  From them I bought two packages of several letters.  They're all written out in script with pen and ink, a harkening back to a a time when quite a lot more effort went into correspondence

MIDNIGHT GARDEN

e t s y. c o m

Samples of Eau Who and Noir

                        

Nice Write Up in Crain's New York

I've been remiss in posting this lovely article about myself and my perfume business in Crain's New York.  I was lucky enough to be contacted by the magazine for the interview.  They sent over a photographer with more equipment than I thought would fit into my studio or that he and his assistant could possibly use.  They used every bit of it!

Two New Colognes and Some Further Experiments

This year's Cologne Experiments are filtered, bottled, labeled, photographed and posted.  It was a long process but I'm happy to have all of the bottles I collected this summer (and scrubbed and sterilized) filled with my fragrant elixirs.

This year I made two new colognes, Eau Who and Noir, as well as tweaked the recipes on Florida Water, Violet Water and Bay Rum.  Eau Who is actually a re-creation that I worked on last summer in an attempt to replicate the classic cologne 4711.  This year it came out better than ever, I'm very pleased with it, so designed a whole new label for it.  It is no longer an "experiment" but a formula I'll be repeating.

I also finished Noir which has been coming along for a few years.  Every year I strain it and add more to it so it is a triple strength formula.  It's dark, rich and full bodied.

Bay Rum and Florida Water also got a bit of a makeover.  The Bay Rum is made with bayberry leaves and berries from the beaches of Brooklyn, as well as hand-dried orange peels and fresh herbs and spices.  Florida Water is composed of my own grown sweet woodruff and lavender as well as freshly ground spices.  Bay Rum is bottled in vintage amber apothecary bottles and Florida Water in green medicine bottles.

I love this process of making botanical colognes, I hope you enjoy the results of my experiments!

Review of Flora on EauMG

Once again the lovely Victoria Jent  of EauMG has reviewed one of my perfumes, Flora.

"Flora is a dusty, aromatic lavender in a haze of clove ciggie smoke. It opens with peach skin and spice. The heart is like a delicate, peachy green carnation smoothed by a soft, milky sandalwood and boozy vanilla. Flora dries down to a mélange of close-wearing exotic, earthy woods."

Many thanks to Victoria for her kind words and enthusiasm for the much maligned and neglected carnation.