Perfume Classes Blog Launched - Online and Worldwide

Please visit the Perfume Classes blog for the latest update on the Basic Natural Perfumery Class I will be teaching this Fall. The class will be online and offer for the first time, online interaction with a teacher, learning modules, and a study forum.

Pandanus, wild and crazy, "screwy" fun scent

The male flower of the Pandanus odoritissimus can weigh two pounds or more.

The Pandanus is also known as the Screw Pine due to the swirl of the leaves. It is one of the most useful plants in the tropics. Practically every part of the Screw Pine is used for all type of different purposes: clothing, bowls, housebuilding, food, medicine and fragrance.

But it's the wild and crazy flower I'm interested in as a natural perfumer. High, pierceing, radish-y, rosy, green, dirt, glorious, sun-drenched, yet cool as can be - that's the hydrodistilled oil of the Pandanus odoritissimus. Also can be described as hyachinth-honey, fresh floral, addictive. Dilute it down to 1% to have some of the hyacinth notes really release - wow. Male flower only, please - like the male peacock with his technicolor plumage, only the male flower of this tree has the scent. Yes, the lady trees may have the bombastic, grenade-looking fruit, but it's the essence of the male flower that is craved. And coveted. And oh-so-rare to obtain.

I've obtained some of the rare essential hydrodistilled oil of this flower, and although I'm selling off tiny amounts of it to natural perfumers so that they may experience this and keep it in the scent library in their brains and their studios, I will hold on to it for my Fairchild perfume.

It's the fierce, fleeting topnote of Fairchild, grabbing your nose for the wild rollercoaster of a Tropical dreamscape perfume. Other than Fairchild, I cherish my "kewda" or "kewra" or "keora" water I get at the Indian grocery to flavor my dishes. The hydrosol left over after this process is softer and rounder both to the nose and the tastebuds.

I'll probably experiment making "floral water" with a gram of the oil in a liter or more of distilled water, so I can use it as an after-bath splash. It's a scent that has its own top, middle and bottom note, complex and intriguing as it slides down the scale towards drydown.

Arctander says once you have experienced the true pandanus essence, you will never forget it, and that is so true. I'm on the hunt for some absolute. I absolutely adore keora/kewda/pandanus, as do millions of folks in Northern India, where it is a culinary staple. Arctander also says fixation can be a bit of a problem, and I have to laugh and take that two ways -- "fixing" the scent so it lasts longer, or, in my case, my fixation with the scent.

Cropwatch gets conference with European Union Cosmetics Commission

STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008

For those of you who have been following this blog since January, when we first reported on Tony Burfield's watchdog organization Cropwatch challenging the IFRA 40th Amendment, and the European Union regulation of natural aromatics, I am happy to report there is progress. On July 3rd, Tony, along with representatives of the Perfume Foundation, sat down with the representatives of the EU Cosmetics Commission in the first-ever of its type of confab. We take this as a sign of a crack in the ongoing bulldozing effect of IFRA-fueled nonsensical and nonscientific regulation of natural aromatics in natural perfumery. You can read or download a PDF of Tony's report on the meeting here: Cropwatch sits down with the European Union (EU) Cosmetics Commission.
Back to lounging on the beach for me - yeah!

Just a Taste of Anya's Choice

Just a taste of what I've been up to: I started selling exotic, and some not-so-exotic, but absolutely knock-out beautiful,exceptional raw materials on my website here.
The hyacinth absolute is already sold out, but more is expected soon. Lush narcissus poeticus absolute is also sold out, both due in the end of July. Rose de Mai absolute is on the way, a non-CITES agarwood is for sale - it smells like a very posh leather good boutique, all freshly-sawn wood and buttery, fragrant leather. Vanilla absolute to die for! Heck, I'm even parting with some of my double-infused St. John's Wort oil, an incredible ruby red jewel of an oil for what ails ya. My perfumes have had a slight price reduction after the big June sale, and it's permanent.

All of the pure essential oils are suitable for aromatherapy use. I also term these rare essential oils because of the exceptional aroma quality of them. Absolutely knockout in strength and clarity of scent.

My most obvious reason for my absence here from weighty and even frivolous posts: preparing 18 hours a day for the Basic Natural Perfumery Course I'll be teaching online in September or October. I am planning for the perfumery class to be informative, exciting, global and the basis of a great foundation for someone to continue studies in natural perfumery.More about that here.

The hammock over the ocean is a dream. Perhaps in October!