Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, January 8, 2012 - until 10 PM EST

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Happy New Year everyone, and welcome to the first Ask the Perfumer forum of 2012.  I've been busy over the holiday.  Two huge containers full of lemon petitgrain leaves were harvested and dried, and will be distilled soon. Several new fragrant plants were introduced to the garden and are being coddled through the transplant phase. I got lots of writing done, and am mulling over an anniversary post for Jan. 28 regarding the Guild.  A number of new students enrolled in the past few weeks, so day-to-day details were addressed to get them settled into the basic perfumery course.  We're working behind the scenes for the next Guild Internet project, due to launch next week, and I'm creating a new perfume for the Prima Aroma line.

I hope your holidays were a lot of fun and productive, too!

I'll be here until 10 PM EST, so feel free to submit questions until then.

Comments

  1. Nancy1/08/2012 1:08 PM

    Dear Anya:

    Happy New Year!!!!!!

    I have been waiting the return of Ask so that I may follow up on natural Isolates. Has the Guild decided anything yet?

    Nancy A.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1/08/2012 1:49 PM

    gosh. i wish you'd DO something. *wink*

    i can attest the lemon petitgrain is going to be something special!

    welcome back! ~einsof

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnyasGardenPerfumes1/08/2012 3:42 PM

    Hi nancy:

    Nice to hear from you and Happy New Year to you :-)

    I'll be blogging about the isolates problem soon. It will be my opinion only, since the Guild committee is just convening after the new year.

    Take care and xoxo
    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnyasGardenPerfumes1/08/2012 3:44 PM

    Ah, yes, einsof - I sent you some of the leaves a few months ago, and the pink lemons, too. Elise will do the distilling, she has a big unit as part of her Univ. grant. The branches were hung up in my shed, tied like huge bundles of herbs, and the leaves dried perfectly, and they were stripped from the branches, and the tips of the branches were snipped and collected separately. I can't wait to smell the petitgrain oil, since the leaves smell so great, even dried.

    xoxo
    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sandi1/08/2012 7:31 PM

    Hi anya,
    Happy New Year..... A great start to 2012 with the petitgrian. I was doing a scent test with Turkish rose absolute and notice this sour decay smell on the scent strip as it drydown. Is it normal. Or should I have dilute it before doing the test. What other perfume botanical can cover this sour recall scent.

    By the way thanks I receive the package. Love your amberess the most.

    Thank you and best regards,
    Sandi.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1/08/2012 7:36 PM

    Dear Anya,

    What is the highest quality perfume?


    Zivile S.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous1/08/2012 7:38 PM

    Dear Anya,

    I would like to ask : what is the highest quality perfume ?

    Thank you for answer,

    Zivile S.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnyasGardenPerfumes1/08/2012 10:56 PM

    Dear Sandi:

    Happy New Year to you, too! I hope all the best for you in 2012.

    A few things come into play about the rose absolute. First, buy samples from as many suppliers as possible. That way you will begin to recognize the good and the best, and sometimes, the clunkers. Always test your oils first undiluted, and then diluted, as I teach my students. You can't see the oil "fully open" until you dilute it, but you do need to see it in its undiluted form also.

    Rose can have a musty scent. One student likened it to garbage when she did her lateral organoleptic comparison of many rose ottos and absolutes from different countries. That's her perception, I did not get that. Even the test strip paper can affect drydown. Practice evaluating over and over and over. Perfumery requires constant testing.

    Yes, there are ways to overcome a sour drydown once the oil is used in a perfume. That is called bouquetting if one method is followed, quenching if another.

    I'm so pleased you like my Amberess perfume - it's loaded with musk rose! :-) The warm ambery base really floats the rose, doesn't it? I was just sniffing my stock today, as I have to make more soon. I'm also making a rose perfume for St. Valentine's day.

    No sourness there!

    Take care,
    xoxo
    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnyasGardenPerfumes1/08/2012 10:57 PM

    Dear Zivile:

    How do you mean the question? Taken at first glance, I would say a well-crafted 100% natural perfume is the highest quality.

    HTH,
    Anya

    ReplyDelete

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