Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

The Natural Perfumers Guild has partnered with Cropwatch in the past, most notably in early 2007, when the Guild joined them in challenging the adoption of IFRA's (International Fragrance Association) 40th Amendment without public review or input. We further support Cropwatch in their ongoing efforts to bring an outside evaluation as to the practices related to the legislative control of natural aromatics as they are used in the body care, aromatherapy and perfumery industries. The information presented below is further documentation of Cropwatch's ongoing efforts: CROPWATCH STATEMENT ON TEA TREE OIL Jan 2008. Pre-amble. The SCCP has the subject of tea tree oil (TTO) on its agenda for its Brussels meeting of 22.01.08. You will remember that allegations about the instability & skin safety of tea tree oil, as well as complaints about gaps in the toxicity data, were previously made in the flawed SCCP Opinion SCCP/0843/04, to which the Australian Te

Sometimes it's difficult to find items for the work we do. Scent strip holders are nearly impossible to find, and the ones coming out of France, which are usually given away at trade shows, are ugly, in my opinion. I corresponded last year with the *only* firm in France that produces them (at least that's what I was told) and I just gave up. I am wanting to have some made with the Natural Perfumers Guild logo on them, either in steel or wood. I either had to contract for a minimum of 1000 or buy their squat, off-the-shelf ones. Sometimes photo or memo holders can do the job, like the Sputnik photo clip contraption found at Target and other stores. Diane Rowles, a student in my class , deserves a round of applause for discovering that antique wire "frogs", used to hold flowers in place in a vase, fit the bill. You can just push the scent strip in with one hand (a real advantage over the "clip" models,) and they're small and don't take up much room o

The image above is really nice viewed in its original size. Just click it on. The world image is used in the online course website's internal pages. The students see that pictorial banner when the log in for their study modules, chats, or when the access the site to catch up on the downloads needed for class, to follow links or any of the many options available. The image was chose to best illustrate the ability of this course to link up natural perfumery students worldwide. You can click on the detailed Classes page on Anya's Garden for details and to read a testimonial from a Fall 2007 student. More testimonials are available upon request. The Fall 2007 class contains 26 students spanning the globe from Australia to Belgium. The Spring 2008 class, which is just being formally announced here for pre-registration is already half full, and the geographic stretch is a little further: China to Italy. I am very, very humbled by the interest and passion and dedication these studen

It was a great surprise to find out this morning that I won something yesterday, the first day of the new year. Here's what I posted on my Yahoo group, and please note the contest I've now posted there is only open to members of that group: I'm not like many other perfumers -- I do not sample, or keep up with what's on the market. As an artist, I like to create for my own muse. I do get to sample the lovely perfumes of the Guild members, because they send them to me for the Guild Scent Library. Marina, of the great blog Perfume Smellin' Things http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/ recently had a drawing for eight of her special favorites of the past year, and I won, picked at random out of 112 entries! I used to win stuff all the time when I entered contents, and I haven't for a while (entered contests, that is), so I'm going to start again. Stuff I've won in the past: An Apple Ibook, a trip out of town to an away game with the Tampa Buccaneers, l

Kaffir Perfume has been reviewed on the Bittergrace blog and both Kaffir and Temple are reviewed by Helg on Perfume Shrine .

I've had a lot to celebrate lately, in both my professional life as a perfumer and President of the Natural Perfumers Guild, and my personal life. After 2.5 years of grueling work, I'm able to take some time off, party more, enjoy life and just have fun. One of these events was taking my 88 year-old mother to a favorite Slow Food restaurant of mine, Michael's Genuine Food and Drink in Miami's Design District. It's practically a neighborhood place for me, being just a short drive from my house. We had reservations for a little before noon, as I knew the place gets slammed with guests and I wanted to get her settled into her seat before the place filled. When we got to the Design District, Art Basel crowds filled the streets as the galleries were open and excitement was in the air. It was very festive and a lot of fun! Michael's is set back in a treed courtyard, with the choice of indoor or outdoor seating. We choose indoor, even though the weather was nice bec

I posted this the other day on both Perfume of Life and Basenotes. I've never met another perfumer before, and wanted to see the glitz and glamor surrounding Mr. Christian and his luxe line. He is well-known for creating "the world's most expensive perfume." Quite a heady experience for a niche artisan perfumer like me, LOL. One thing I didn't realize until afterwards -- the Neiman Marcus store was not awash in strong perfume fumes, despite many spraying and testing. I suppose they have good air "scrubbers". I appreciated this, as my nose is very sensitive, and it could have been an unpleasant experience. I was told his appearance made the nightly news locally, as did Paris Hilton's presentation of her perfume Can Can the next day. I did somehow restrain myself from going to her event, but had fun relating my visit to NM, the Chanel boutique next door, etc. Please not what a sanguine "reporter" I am, not even getting the names of the perf

The Winter 2007 issue of Glow, a beauty and fashion magazine published in Toronto, features an article "Two Scents" that yours truly is quoted in on the subject of natural perfumery. They give equal time to Thierry Wasser, perfumer with Firmenich, and a fragrance scientist both working on the synthhetics side of perfumery. The editor has written a rather balanced view of the two camps of natural perfumery, and I think it's a good read that will help the general public get a grasp on the major differences between our artisan art and their corporate product. Click here to visit my site where you can view the PDF of the article.

November 16, 2007 Two new perfumes launched by Anya's Garden 11/07 Be the first to experience and luxuriate in the fragrance of two very different, new-to-the-market citruses , paired in unexpected ways for very different results. Mirroring the new citruses, you'll find agarwood in the base, but two very different agarwoods - one light, golden and spicy, the other true Laotian and Vietnamese dark, deep, hypnotic Ouds. Read more on the perfumes page. Kaffir Fragrance Family: Citrus-Leather Exotic, gourmand, flirty, fun, and radiating good vibes of sexy playfulness, Kaffir can transport the wearer to explore their own version of intrigue and romance -- then smoothly moves into a rich, leather drydown. For the worldy and artistic man or woman. Temple Fragrance Family: Citrus-Spice-Wood Luscious, fresh and a wake-up delight, the orange juice essential oil grabs your attention, and t

Kaffir , a unique and groundbreaking perfume from Anya's Garden, truly is from Anya's Garden - in Miami Shores, Florida, USA. Kaffir Lime leaf, also called Thai Lime Leaf, is used in Asian cooking for the unusual, exciting, penetrating flavor it imparts. The petitgrain oil also imparts an aldehydic kick, and Kaffir the perfume honors and exalts that sensual experience. No other citrus comes close to the odor impact of kaffir, which I call the King of Citrus. There is a story of delight, destruction and rebirth behind the kaffir tree of my home garden. Nine citrus trees were planted - and ripped out - of my garden. I planted them when I moved in, but the State of Florida, in a misguided attempt to stop the spread of a non-threatening citrus disease, cut down over 1,000,000 citrus trees, including my kaffir tree. However, my kaffir was the only one to resprout from the root