Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Chemists Promote Theory of "Shape Shifting" Odor Molecules Perfumers, perfumistas, scent geeks and assorted nose-governed folk have been aware of the shape theory of olfaction for years. Let's say a molecule of orange is square and of a certain size. Theory had it that your nasal receptor site had a square "hole" (for want of a better term) of that size that allowed that square orange molecule to travel up to the brain, where it was analyzed to be orange. Luca Turin had a different theory, and he postulated that odor molecules vibrated to a different frequency, and it was the receptor site that passed that frequency on to the brain, and thus, we knew an orange was an orange, not to be mixed with apple. Profs. Kevin Ryan and Stuart Firestein report in the journal " Chemistry and Senses " that they have a third theory, more linked to the shape theory - that molecules shape shift as they are inhaled. To me, it looks like a kind of hybrid between shape the...

Luca Turin, perfume critic, author of the soon-to-be-released The Perfume Guide just wrote about a custom perfume he had made by Dominique Dubrana of Italy . We in the Guild know him as a Professional Perfumer who prefers to be called Salaam, a longtime member of my Yahoo Natural Perfumery group and Guild member. His keen insights and helpful comments offered in our private group always have a ring of experience and clarity, and he gets to the soul of the matter with ease. Turin found it refreshing that Salaam did not require a questionnaire about astrological sign, personality traits, or other psychological items that are so often the tool of the custom perfumer. Instead Turin got to choose the raw materials from a list. The resultant perfume has increased the openly-skeptical Turin's opinion of what a perfume made only with natural ingredients can be - and we must thank Salaam for that. Additionally, Salaam is the only natural perfumer included in Turin's new book, anothe...