Anya McCoy founded the USA's first modern natural perfume line in 1991. Since then, she has nurtured and educated natural perfumers and hosts a discussion group for them. Anya is the Head Instructor at the Natural Perfumery Institute that she founded in 2007 to provide a professional course for perfumers. In 2006 she revived the Natural Perfumers Guild, a trade association. She is a recognized leader in the art and the 'go-to' person for anyone interested in natural perfume.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - until 10 PM EST
Happy Fourth of July to my USA readers! Any perfumery questions on this lazy, fun weekend? Someone wrote me during the week they want to continue the labdanum discussion. Short answer: you can't call your perfume a botanical perfume if it has animal essence in it, including labdanum. Natural perfume is a recognized, true representation of what you should call your perfume.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Anya!
ReplyDeleteI have two questions.
One, I just saw your post about labdanum. I thought it was derived form the rock rose and plant-based only?
Also, I have a question about tincturing. I recently made a tincture from a flowering tree in my yard. I put the flowers in a jar and covered them completely with grain alcohol. Then I'd change the flowers every day or two and replace them with fresh flowers. However, some flowers would float to the top of the jar and get brown from exposure to air, so the scent did not come out right. Do you have any suggestions for how to avoid this happening?
Many thanks!
Amanda
OH, I FOUND YOUR POST ABOUT GOATS' FUR AND LABDANUM, SO YOU CAN IGNORE MY FIRST QUESTION. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteAMANDA
Dear Anya:
ReplyDeleteJust stopping by to say hello and thank you for the labdanum information. Thanks again for being such a great instructor in the natural perfumery course. I never knew there was so much involved in learning this! I love all the notes and tips and scientific exercises. Thank you, thank you.
Gratefully yours,
Margaret
Hi Amanda
ReplyDeleteGlad you found the labdanum/goat musk post.
First, what flower were you tincturing? When you say "didn't come out right", what do you mean?
Flowers often turn brown or translucent in alcohol, that doesn't mean they've gone bad. If it wasn't strong enough in scent, you may have just had to change the flowers a lot of times. It's called recharging.
HTH,
Anya
Dear Margaret:
ReplyDeleteGlad I could clear up the labdanum question.
Keep up the good work with your studies!
Anya