Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

 Originally published Aug. 19, 2013 (Note: the book was published as Homemade Perfume by Page Street Publishers in July 2018, available on Amazon and other online booksellers) When Elise and I sat down to discuss the options for the illustrations for our upcoming book Perfume From Your Garden, color photos were considered, but the ability to get similar lighting and composition for them ruled them out.  Maybe in the future, but our timeline for a publication date of late Fall (Nov 8 is the target date) means we can’t get them together by then.  I told Elise of some drawings that I had traced out of an herb book in 1983 or so. The doctor’s wife loved the illustrations in the book and asked I used them for this drawing, as it was going to be hung on the wall in the office. So, I used them for a private, not-for-publication illustration for a doctor’s office.  At the time I was in grad school for landscape architecture, but had a landscape and interiorscape business on...

In my first semester in college I wrote a paper on organic gardening.  I was studying horticulture and living in Berkeley, so it was a perfect topic.  At 21, I was managing the apartment complex where I lived (don't ask me how I snagged that job, just a bit assertive with the management, I guess) and wanted to research the basics of organic gardening to supplement what I had practiced since childhood. Years later, (again assertive!) I wrote to the editors of Organic Gardening magazine asking why they didn't have any Zone 10 (South Florida) seed testers.  Growing herbs, veggies and flowers in this climate was very different from the other zones I had lived and gardened in, inlcuding California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and New York.  Editor Mike McGrath asked me to be the first Zone 10 tester and I was happily overwhelmed with lots of seeds sent every Spring (wrong time of year!) to test. So, when they interviewed me I was able to explain the switch in seasons we ha...

Are synthetic fragrances harmful?      October 2012   Sep. 28, 2012 Jessica Rubino  |  Delicious Living http://newhope360.com/beauty-cosmetics-amp-skincare/are-synthetic-fragrances-harmful Are synthetic fragrances harmful? 4 tips for buying natural fragrances Are synthetic fragrances bad for my health? What's the difference between a natural and synthetic fragrance? How do I know if a fragrance is truly natural? Your top questions answered, plus shopping tips.  When made from plant-based ingredients such as herbs, flowers, spices, and essential oils , fragrances don’t just make you smell good—they can make you feel good, too. Unfortunately, most conventional sweet- smelling ingredients today are synthetic. After the invention of synthetic fragrances in the 1800s, perfumers quickly replaced natural, plant-based ingredients with artificial ones. Now, fragrances can contain any number of 3,100 natural or synthetic in...

A message from Anya McCoy, Head Instructor and Director of the Natural Perfumery Institute:   In 2007, after five years of hosting the largest and oldest Yahoo  group for natural perfumers , and at the request of many members, I created a formal curriculum for online perfumery study. Since then, students from around the world have enjoyed a professional education in perfumery without having to leave the comforts of their home.   To celebrate the Fifth year of the perfumery education method and materials I developed, new home study students of the Natural Perfumery Institute who purchase the textbook will be able to deduct 10% off the cost of the book until Sept. 23, 2012 at midnight. For students outside the USA, this $50 savings off the $500 price, equals getting the Express mail shipping for free.   Online interactive students will receive $130 refunded, a 5% savings on their $2600 tuition (not applicable to payment plan students). There are no coupons...

PRESS RELEASE:  June 14, 2012 (Miami Shores, Florida, USA) On June 14, 2002, natural perfumer Anya McCoy founded the Natural Perfumery group on Yahoo!.  She had several goals in mind: promote the ideals of 100% natural perfume; establish files, links, databases, archives and other materials that would establish a strong educational foundation for members; and hold standards of friendly discussion and respect for other's ideas paramount to maintain a helpful, sharing group. The group now has over 2300 members, and those goals have been met and surpassed. The Natural Perfumery group on Yahoo was founded on June 14, 2002 by Natural Perfumery icon Anya McCoy and is the largest perfumery group of its type worldwide. The group website health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalPerfumery/ has been the center of the growth of the natural perfumery world during its dynamic grow...

Several natural perfumers and the owner of a natural perfume company joined me in writing "The State of Natural Perfumery 2012" for Basenotes. It's fascinating and enlightening to see everyone's individual take on our fragrant art. I hope you enjoy this unique, collaborative effort. http://www.basenotes.net/ content/ 1154-The-State-of-Natural-Perfu mery-2012

I wrote an article for CaFleureBon that gives you alternatives. http://www.cafleurebon.com/what-to-do-when-you-love-a-perfume-but-it-doesnt-like-you-unrequited-love-draw/ Introduction: "Scrubber"; the dreaded word of every die hard perfumista . We want to love you  Guerlain's Vol A Nuit, but you can be a swamp thing on our our skin, Carnal Flower by Dominique Ropion can be a venus flytrap, Chanel No 5 is an adehydlic nightmare and Fairchild by Anya McCoy is an unloved-child.   So what do you, if you love the fragrance  but not on you? You ask a perfumer who created a difficult scent to wear…(Disclaimer: On Editor's skin all of the above people have been known to run away in fear). Anya McCoy of  Anya's Garden :  When you go to a department store, perfume boutique, or buy a perfume sample online, the first thing you should do, after smelling the perfume out of the bottle or on a scent strip, is conduct a skin test. Most of us just dab o...