Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Victoria of Bois de Jasmin blog honored me with a surprise review of Temple, a perfume I launched in 2007.  Lovely review, thoughtful and touching on spiritual and timeless threads.  Temple was meant to be a limited edition, due to the cost and rarity of the aromatics, but so many crave it, I decided to keep it in stock.  It's wonderful when a few years later, a review pops up that was expected, and validates my dedication to producing quality, timeless perfumes.

Anya's Garden Perfumes Celebrates the Festival of Lights with an eight-day perfume giveaway. The Jewish tribe of the Macabees regained control of their temple in 167 B.C., and celebrated the event by lighting an oil lamp.  Despite the fact that there was only enough oil for one day, the lamp burned brightly for eight days.  This is the birth of the miracle of the Festival of Lights, known as Hanukkah, or Chanukah, and is commemorated each year.  Typically, foods such as latkes, a potato pancake, are fried in oil in remembrance of the long-lasting oil of the Macabees. I was raised in a "mixed" household, where I was made to attend Catholic school, but where I was allowed to light the Hanukkah candles by my Jewish relatives, while often still wearing the Catholic school uniform, having rushed over after classes to attend the sundown ritual. I'd like to up the ante on Hanukkah gifts, which are often responsible, everyday items like socks and sweaters, by hosting a

  Soon after I started blogging in 2006, I began to write of the incredibly restrictive and unreasonable "guidelines" of the International Fragrance Association, and the resultant laws from the European Union that effectively killed perfumery.  True, they also ranked some synthetics as "dangerous" (brain disruptions), but the list of naturals, which had been used for centuries without major problems, was overwhelming.  I rarely bother to blog about these issues anymore.  I discovered I was the ONLY perfumer doing so at the time, and it cast a bit of a bitter pall over my blog.  I'd rather be blogging about the beauty and luxury of naturals, so here I am. I passed the ball on to other bloggers! Nine bloggers will be participating this week, and you can find their links at the end of this post. They're all insightful, intelligent and passionate about perfumery.  Their readership far outstrips mine, and the Outlaw Perfume project is a great way for them to

I'll be here on and off all day to answer your perfumery questions. Hope y'all are enjoying the weather and having fun!

I have a !signed! first edition (1945) of Edward Sagarin's The Science and Art of Perfumery, and I love the fact that I got a lagniappe when I purchased it. Tucked inside was the business card of a Givaudan employee.  I had high hopes that when I scanned the card, the perfume alchemist image would be clear, but age, and the texture of the card worked against my wishes. However, it is still fun to look at, so I'm sharing it with you.

Hi Everyone: I'll be here to answer your perfumery questions today, so please submit them via the comments option.

Hi Everyone: Ask the Perfumer is waiting for questions on this hot, humid mid-August day.  Wear some refreshing cologne and post your queries and I'll answer up to 10PM tonight.

I apologize for launching the "Ask the Perfumer" forum so late today. I slept late and then went to the hospital where my mother is for a long visit, went shopping, - and just plain forgot until now!  I'll answer your queries until late tonight, so ask away.

You can submit your questions about perfumery all day today, August 1, 2010.  I hope I can help you solve your scented dilemma.

Ask the Perfumer - July 18th - please post your questions any time before 10PM EST USA and I'll help you with your perfumery questions.

Ask the Perfumer anything about perfume creation - Sunday July 11, 2010. I'll answer your questions and give you tips on how to pursue your dream of perfumery

Photo of Andrine Olson from the New York Times article on Making Flowers into Perfume. Andrine is the editor for my Natural Perfumery textbook, soon to be published. T he New York Times carried an article on professionals and hobbyists who are extracting the scent of plants from their garden to make perfume. Andrine Olson and Maggie Mahboubian Diana Burrell-Shipton from the Natural Perfumery Yahoo group I host also got on board, along with a lady who is an urban gardener in Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York. Only two of us were lucky enough to get links to our websites included, and I can say I'm SWAMPED with orders. Funny thing is, I had closed my online store because June is so busy for me with students and special projects. I have an assistant coming in tomorrow to help with bottling and labeling. Plus, I created new juice today faster than I ever have - MoonDance flies out of here, and I was low on two other perfumes. Oh, plus I had to create Kudra for the Mystery of Musk projec

Well, due to family emergencies, I totally forgot to have an "Ask the Perfumer" last Sunday! I think I remembered on Tuesday or Wednesday. Yes, it's been that hectic. So, I'm actually posting this on Saturday, the 5th, and I'll open the blog for questions now.

I ignore IFRA. I'm an independent artisan perfumer who is not a member of an organization that is a member of IFRA, so I have no danger of being "publicly shamed" (their words) if I use an aromatic that exceeds their allowable levels, or is prohibited by IFRA. I know the dangers of phototoxicity, allergens, and other problems that may be caused by some aromatics, and I take care forumulating my perfumes to safeguard the safety of my customers as much as possible.  There is a backlash against IFRA, and this shows their weakening stance. Since their regs are built upon, IMO, bad science, I hope it all goes away soon and the mainstream perfumes of old can return.  Here's a link to their latest statement, where the effervescent Jean-Pierre Houri talks about how “This year’s Amendment will hardly affect the palettes of perfumers.” Well, they've destroyed the palettes of perfumers in the past few decades, and that's why many mainstream perfumes smell like

Just a reminder to everyone - post your questions to me in this thread.

Hi Everyone: I'll be here for questions about perfumery until 9PM EST USA tonight. I've had to put the blog on moderated comment status because of Chinese spam, so there may be a delay between your posting your question and me OKing it for the blog.

Karin of Savvy Thinker has reviewed two of my perfumes, RiverCali and Temple and she will be reviewing the rest over the next week. Thanks so much Karin. It sounds like Temple really reached you. It's my aromatherapy perfume, the only one in my line, created with the intent to calm, restore and bring peace to the wearer.

Hi Everyone: Hope you're all having a nice Mother's Day - and if you have an questions about perfumery, just post your question and I'll answer them.

Here's the solution for the perfume crossword of the other day. In the future, I'll try other ways to post the puzzle, maybe with the questions shown in a sidebar, or add the ability to print it out and work on it on paper.

Just a reminder to everyone - post your questions to me tomorrow, Sunday, May 2, 2010 in this thread.