Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  How to Make Perfume – Excerpts from my textbook by  Anya McCoy  |  Aug 9, 2015  |  How to Make Perfume ,  natural perfume ,  natural perfumery course ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  study perfumery  |  5 comments Slow Study Making perfume takes time and lots of thinking and introspection. As I work through adapting my textbook for my new website, I am finding many passages that are very helpful for anyone who wants to make perfume, or is already making perfume, whether you stick to 100% natural ingredients like I do, or if you use aroma chemicals. I’ve decided to excerpt some passages on a regular basis because I believe they can inspire and help others on this path. My first excerpt deals with the fear and indecision that every perfumer faces. If you don’t face it, I challenge you to challenge yourself, you’re too complacent. Springtime image from the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia, my hometown. I grew up knowing and loving ...

Making Perfume with a Shorthand Key of Descriptors by  Anya McCoy  |  Mar 30, 2015  |  natural perfumery course ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  study perfumery  |  1 comment In 2007, when I launched  my perfumery course   on the Internet, I put together an expansive, detailed series of forms, charts, and educational materials to assist my students in their studies. There are organoleptic evaluation forms, an aromatic lexicon, several Excel worksheets, and much more. One way to help students quickly and easily jot down scent impressions was a reference sheet I call the Shorthand Key to Comprehensive Descriptors for Organoleptic Evaluations. The Key is designed to allow the perfumer to use three-letter references for scent properties. Some “full terms” the perfumer is familiar with, and some “shorthand” key terms: The inspiration for the Key came from a similar resource in the book  An Introduction to Perfumery  by Tony Cu...

  How to Make Your Own Perfume Professionally by  Anya McCoy  |  Jun 18, 2014  |  natural perfumery course ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  study perfumery  |  2 comments I get frequent emails from potential students who want more information about the professional course I offer at the  Natural Perfumery Institute . It’s all about them wanting to learn how to make their own perfume, and what it entails. There is no short answer: even though my course is systematic, professional, and guarantees you will learn how to make perfume, the path is still different for each student. The secret to perfume making is that there is no secret, and no reason to hesitate in blending if you are given a firm foundation. A few years ago I was speaking with a good friend, now passed, the late perfumer Alec Lawless. He also taught perfumery, and we were comparing notes on what we observed with potential students that wrote us, asking how to make perfu...

  An Extravagant Perfumed Life – Newsletter by  Anya McCoy  |  Jul 28, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural perfumery course ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  raw materials of perfumery ,  study perfumery  |  0 comments An Extravagant Perfumed Life – Something we all want! 🙂 A closeout on the unctuous Kaffir perfume, 10% off through August 1st on botanicals and kits, and become the best perfumer you can be A Perfect Scent for Summer – Closeout and Savings         I love my kaffir lime tree, also known as Thai lime. I’ve grown it for twenty years in my back garden, using the leaves and fruits for food and to make perfumes. I had to discontinue Kaffir perfume because one of the ingredients has disappeared from the world market. I have seven bottles of the pure perfume left, and I’ve put them on sale at great savings. Kaffir is a heady, rich citrus scent, with a strong jasmine heart and a leather/wood ba...

 Originally published Aug. 1, 2013 My student Claire Lautier – who is already an accomplished perfumer, and a member of the Natural Perfumers Guild –  surprised me with a poem about the production of aromatics. who would have thought to find poetry in the growth, harvesting, distillation, enfleurage and other aspects of extracting the essences?  Well, actually, there is a lot of poetry in the process, but it takes an artist to ‘extract’ the words and turn them into art. Exhale A seed, a blueprint for a life Spiraling roots down into the dark damp Holds the earth and is held, still blind The volcanic flutter A gossamer moth’s wing within That yet Moves tides Sends planets hurtling through space Forces to the light A tender tendril This one not crushed underfoot With mighty swoops through the telescoped eye of time shudders toward the Sun Through the fat drops of rain It has a destiny A good thing it’s fearless Now all in flower Swaying with its sisters in the sacred hills ...