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Showing posts from August, 2008

Newbie member of Natural Perfumery group posts message #1000, wins rare aromatics

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Natural Perfumery Group on Yahoo is very active, with over 1600 members, 15 new ones in the past week alone, and over 1000 messages this month! Lucky Linda from Iowa introduced herself as a newbie member of the Yahoo group for Natural Perfumery that I've hosted for over six years. We always welcome newbies, and love to hear from them. Linda bemoaned the fact that she works in a florist shop where she is surrounded by scentless flowers! Breeding for looks and the ability to withstand shipping long distances has resulted in roses with no scent - how sad. The group is very active, with a LOT of dialogue between members on subject as far-ranging as fixatives, sourcing, tincturing plants from their garden, etc. We've had a surge in posts in the past month or two, and I was watching as we approached the 1000th post for the month of August - and it was Linda's intro. This week a sample of rare florals will be in the mail to her in Iowa for her good fortune in posting #1000. She&#

My response to Ruth Ruane - quoting her and her past actions

My Primer for my online natural perfumery course is copyrighted. Ruth Ruane aka White Witch is a former student and former member of the huge NP group I host who has been posting, without permission, and in violation of a copyright notice, excerpts of the original rough draft version of my Natural Perfumery Primer on her various blogs. I don't believe she will cease and desist this action, but perhaps what follows will give a clearer picture of the background on this issue. I have no publisher to back me on this, since I publish the Primer. Not she, or anyone else, has the legal or ethical right to post excerpts, except for small bits, with permission. She has stated her intent to post the entire Primer, over time. Ruth Ruane is, for the record, the only student who had a complaint. My online class for natural perfumery has dozens of great students enrolled, and I have testimonials to prove they find the coursework challenging, educational and that it is helping advance their car

Not perfume, just fun and had to share - Lulu the Lulupalooza kitty

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I submitted this photo to the famous LOLCats site, I can has cheezburger , and it's in the queue, but I just wanted to share it with y'all in a rare non-perfumed post. Lulu is the apple of my eye, the most amazing sweet crazy kitty ever. She'll be four on Sept. 1st, and she still does the mountain goat act of leaping to the top of the door/bookcase/armoire.

Plants Hunters and Helpful Hands in Natural Perfumery

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Gardenia flower When I was in school studying Economic Botany, (scroll down) I reveled in tales of the Plant Hunters. These were adventurous botanists who traveled to remote regions looking for plants that would be useful to us. Many focused on medicinal plants, but I was obsessed with fragrant plants - of course! I never did become a Plant Hunter, and was a bit disheartened to learn that for the past decade or so, the Plant Hunters tend to be governed by the headspace machine, which although it captures the scent of the flower, results ultimately in a recreation of the scent with synthetic chemicals. Headspace proponents argue that by doing so, they are ultimately protecting the plant because there is no need to harvest it. Well, I like my essences natural and I like them renewable, and I especially like the idea that there are still Plant Hunters like Trygve Harris of Enfleurage in New York and other entrepreneural souls who strive to establish new plantations and grassroots indust

Anya's Garden of Natural Perfume Launches First-Ever Handmade Recycled Paper Perfume Boxes Embedded With Wildflower Seeds - Flowers for You!

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Anya's Garden Packages with Handmade Boxes Created from Sustainable Nepalese "Daphne" Plant and Recycled USA Fibers mixed with USA Wildflower Seeds *plant and grow a wildflower garden with the box!* ~~~ 15% off everything in Anya's Garden to Celebrate - click here for the sale ~~~ enter the word garden for the discount ~~~ photo of Fairchild box taken in Anya's Garden Aug. 14, 2008, nestled in the branches of a flowering Aglaia odorata tree As a natural perfumer, I searched for years for an ecological, sustainable way to package my fragrances. I wanted to source boxes here in the US to keep the carbon footprint as small as possible, and I wanted the fiber for the boxes to be from a sustainable, renewable source. The fiber source is not from the USA, but I am very happy that the harvest supports wildcrafters in Nepal. The Lokta plant is a relative of the Daphne bush, and it's bark must be harvested to insure the plant survives. No fertilizers or sprays are us

A Perfumer's life can get so busy - with so much great stuff going on!

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A perfumer can sometimes dream - or daydream - of little dots/drops - and the dance of the aromatic molecules. Sometimes, if you're lucky, those drops coalesce into a perfume - a cornucopia of rewards of scent, time and place. They can be imagined as people moving together like the fractal cornucopia, all a different color with a unique beauty, all synchronized to help form a beautiful image. First off - to catch up: I haven't blogged for a few weeks because I've been so busy and caught up in great things. First, I got the perfect boxes and packaging for my perfumes. Finally. It's only been two years, lol. The company will make custom boxes for me in the future, but the regular ones are wonderful in the time being. I'll launch them in the next day or two. One of my webmasters (I have two!) turned out to be a graphic artist of sorts and got my labels fixed. Yay! Then the new Guild site launched last Friday 8.8.08 , and the feedback is fantastic! The Guild members are