Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, June 17, 2012 - until 10 PM EST

-
Tahitian Gardenia

Vietnamese gardenia









The photos are of the Vietnamese and Tahitian gardenias growing in my front garden in Miami Shores.  I've been making enfleurage pomade from them, and it is heavenly!  I just added two new tiny varieties of the Tahitian gardenia to my collection - Heaven Scent.  They're double flowered!

My co-author and I are in the midst of writing all the extraction secrets up for my book, Perfume From Your Garden.  We're at opposite ends of the country, so we'll have most growing zones covered.

Today is Ask the Perfumer Sunday, and I'll be here until 10PM ET to answer your perfumery questions.

Comments

  1. Anonymous6/17/2012 12:45 PM

    Hi Anya,
    A while ago a natural perfumer referred to another natural perfumers style as being "very french". I don't understand exactly what that means. Could you possibly expalin this to me?
    Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnyasGardenPerfumes6/17/2012 1:47 PM

    Hi Anon
    (please sign your posts, makes it more personable)

    That might have been me. Since I get to smell so many of the perfumes from around the world, I have noted the British, French, Italian, American styles. There might be more, but they don't come to mind right now. The French style is very classical in structure, with a hint of 'dirty' (sometimes.) British - clean, innocent. Italian - floral, citrusy, no 'dirty'. American - innovative, breaking new ground in structure, materials, sometimes sweet, sometimes dirty.

    HTH,
    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6/17/2012 6:16 PM

    Is there anyone making a pure lilac extract? Pacifica's French Lilac is lovely but doesn't contain lilac oil. I plan to try Rochester Lilac. Are you familiar with it? Thanks.
    Annia

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnyasGardenPerfumes6/17/2012 7:09 PM

    Hi Annia:

    Natural Perfumers Guild supplier Ecomaat in Bulgaria is making a lovely lilac CO2. It's tricky to blend into a perfume because of the waxes, but it can be done. Rochester Lilac is synth.

    HTH
    Anya

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boxgasm - for perfumers, aromatherapists, bath and body manufacturers, chandlers. What the heck is a boxgasm? Well, read below and you may have one.

-
Image
Project Boxgasm Announcement: If you are an artisan who makes perfume, bath & body products, aromatherapy products, candles - you can now make your own custom boxes! The Natural Perfumers Guild wishes to share this discovery with everyone, so please share the link to this blog with other groups, forums and chat places you may frequent.  The more the merrier - let's upgrade our products to the next level, with lovely, custom boxes!  I am the President of the Guild, and I like to roam social media sites and check out, and "like" the various projects and announcements of the Guild members.  Little did I dream when I visited a Facebook page of one of our members, a page that only had 21 followers, since it's new, that I'd discover something that can help all artisan small business owners. But there it was, an iconic image out of South Africa - custom perfume boxes! When I called some members of the Natural Perfumers Guild and told them about the discovery th
Read more

Ask the Perfumer Sunday Oct 21, 2012

-
Image
Ask the Perfumer - and an Ambergris hypothesis Guild member Lisa Coburn posted a link on Facebook that took me to a video on how cephalopods--squid, cuttlefish and octopus, are masters of disguise.  As I watched it, I made a perfume connection, straight to the elusive, mysterious, rare and valued ambergris, a gorgeous material used in perfumery. Photo of the famed 'Yeti' chunk of ambergris. Ambergris is produced by the stomach/intestinal secretions of the sperm whale to protect its insides from the sharp beaks of the squid and cuttlefish, two main items in its diet.  The whale evacuates the chunk of ambergris when it becomes large enough to be an irritant on its own, albeit a softer, rounder irritant compared to the beak and cartilage of the squid or cuttlefish.  As a perfumer, I often have to gently remind excitable newbies ;-)  that the scent of the ambergris is secondary to its major contribution to a perfume, which is its ability to 'marry' and allo
Read more

Contest: Fresh ginger, fresh ginger, wherefort art thou fresh ginger?

-
Image
Can you help me?  I need two things from my readers. There will be a freebie gift for two helpful souls who reply, one for each subject. First:  Back in late 2006, I stumbled across *fresh* ginger root essential oil at liberty natural.  There were two - one from Madagascar, one from Indonesia.  I immediately told my perfumery friends about it, and I used the fresh version in the kits for my students.  Why the excitement? Fresh grated ginger - zest, fresh, hot, spicy fragrance Previously, the only ginger root oil available was from the peeled, sun-dried roots, and it was a middle note for perfumery.  It had a mellow, soft fragrance, much like the dried ginger powder you get for baking purposes.  This fresh ginger, on the other hand, smelled just like the fresh cut or grated root!  Hot, spicy, wet, luscious, and a top note! I've used the aged, dried ginger EO, because it is valuable in perfumery and for food and drink purposes, but its soft character was just that, soft, c
Read more