Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

 Originally posted March 17, 2013 I am always surprised by my perfumery students.  Their insights, thoughtful and passionate, jump off the pages of their submittals for the modules.  Aba Williams, a food chemist from Ghana, is always a joy to interact with.  I’ve corresponded with her for years and now that she is a student in my  Natural Perfumery Institute , I have to say she definitely surprised – and delighted – me with her Module 1 submittal on becoming a contextual perfumer.  In my course, there are three levels of accomplishment that the students strive for: contextual understanding of the aromatics is first, signifying they have completed the Organoleptic Evaluation Forms (OEFs) for the base, middle and top notes. Aba stepped outside the usual essay that with her graphic image, using it as part of the assignment.  Yes, her submitted OEFs showed she correctly worked through the first professional process in the course, and she refers to it in the graphic (below) but the graphic

 Originally posted March 8, 2013 One of my students posted this recently in the private student forum for the  Natural Perfumery Institute .  Once enrolled, students enjoy lifetime membership in the forum, which is where they can interact with other students to build up their network and friendships, ask questions of myself and the adjunct faculty, and receive updates. This lovely note can be inspiring to all perfumery students, no matter where you are studying, because it is that universal “A-ha” moment, aka the “Eureka!” moment when it all starts to come together. Ecstasy by Ana Bikic Here are Nuala_fae’s words (used with permission): That ecstatic moment when you realise you have found the modification, after months of work, the only one which will become a perfume, the one you went diving for. I haven’t posted much before, but I really had to share this with people who can truly understand my joy. Learning horizontal accords was exhilarating, intuitive, a huge boost to my confidenc