Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  Best Lemongrass Oil for Making Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Mar 1, 2015  |  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  2 comments I grow both of the most common types of lemongrass in my garden: the bulbous stalk type we’re most familiar with,  Cymbopogon citratus, known as West Indian lemongrass.  This is the one used in stirfrys, Asian marinade pastes, and many savory dishes. I also grow  Cymbopogon flexuosus, known as East Indian lemongrass , which grows much taller than the citratus, and has a skinny stalk, no swelling at the base. Earlier research showed me that the flexuosus is used in sweet recipes in the Far East, such as sodas, syrups, candies, and such. Cymbopogon flexuosus aka East Indian lemongrass. Notice the base of the stalks is not swollen, it’s a slender stem. Love this old photo, it’s from 2003 when I first got my C. flexuosus plant. Here’s a shot of the planted flexuosus in my garden today, it’s a bit beaten down by rain, but notice the tall, rangy growth ha

  Growing Ambrette Seeds for Making Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Oct 13, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  Perfume From Your Garden book ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  2 comments Just a quick post about the progress of my patch of ambrette seed plants. Known as Abelmoschas moschata or (Syn.  Hibiscus abelmoschus  L.), is prized for food, drink, industrial and medicinal uses, but I prize it for the musk-scented seeds, which are valuable in perfumery. The seeds have a floral, musky scent, and can substitute, in their own way, not identically, the scent of the musk deer grains. They’re a true cruelty-free way to add a musky scent to perfume. Imagine my surprise when I went out to re-shoot the blurry yellow ambrette flower, and found it had morphed to a lovely salmon color! There are dozens of flower buds on my 15 plants, but there was only one flower yesterday and today, the first of the patch. I didn’t notice the blurry nature of the first photo until I went in

  Ylang Ylang Flower Tincture is Gorgeous Perfume! by  Anya McCoy  |  May 13, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  natural perfumery course ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  Perfume From Your Garden book ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  6 comments The first charge of flowers is in the jar. The slightly-wilted second recharge flowers are in the foreground. The liter jar holds about eight flowers, and they give color and scent immediately to the alcohol. If you have Ylang Ylang growing, you must tincture it, it’s so beautiful, so easy. My ylang-ylang is blooming here in Miami, and I gathered flowers in various stages of maturity, from green to the “ripest” with yellow petals and a red throat, and put them into 190 proof alcohol. Within a few minutes, they had surrendered their perfume to the alcohol. I let them sit for a day and then recharged the alcohol. The flowers are slightly wilted, as you see, and that is the best way to prepare them for the alcohol, as it

  Ylang Ylang Tincture is Gorgeous! by  Anya McCoy  |  Jun 16, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  Perfume From Your Garden book ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  0 comments I wish you could smell these ylang-ylangs!! They look limp, and that’s because I wilt them for an hour or so before putting into tincturing alcohol. The tincture I wrote about a few weeks ago is dark green, and saturated with so much scent, it could be ylang absolute. Incredibly sweet and heady. There are about two dozen in the basket. ( I wrote about this tincture a month ago  when I started it, and it is so saturated with aroma molecules now, the alcohol looks black) Ylang Ylang flowers ready for the alcohol tincture. I posted this on my Facebook page the other day and had a tremendous amount of interest. Most aromatherapists and natural perfumers know the ylang ylang essential oils and concrete that is available for blends. I’m fortunate in that I live in the subtropics so that I can grow

Powder Enfleurage! An Ancient Fragrant Art And a Giveaway by  Anya McCoy  |  Jun 26, 2014  |  Anya McCoy ,  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  enfleurage ,  Giveaway ,  Perfume From Your Garden book ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  176 comments How to Make Enfleurage des Poudres – Powder Enfleurage Fragrant Body Powders – An Ancient Art Rediscovered       Update April 19, 2015: I do recommend using a bit of powdered orris root or powdered oakmoss as a fixative. The ylang-ylang enfleurage was overpoweringly strong at first, but the scent faded over time. I’m going to mix orris root in with the powder and re-enfleurage the flowers. (make sure you read to the end to discover how to win the fabulous giveaway prize!) On June 15, I was working on the first re-edit of my upcoming book Perfume From Your Garden, checking references, when I stumbled across a few sentences in a vintage perfumer book that stopped me, and truly surprised me with some wonderful information. The process of  enfleurage de