Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

 Originally published June 18, 2013 I clearly remember when I first received samples of Christi Meshell’s “ House of Matriarch ” perfumes.  She had submitted them to the  Natural Perfumers Guild  for evaluation by the Review Committee.  The masterful use of white cognac as a sparkling top-note was amazing.  The perfumes had a professional touch to them that elevated them in my eyes, and I have sniffed a lot of perfumes, so take my words as those of someone who was really, really impressed.  For example, I had been working with white cognac and hadn’t reached the success Christi had, so that is a big reason for the good memory. Christi’s perfumes were accepted into the Guild Scent Library, and she was awarded the title of Professional Perfumer.  Since then, Christi has been an active and progressive member of the Guild, and we have shared talks and emails about many topics.  I called her a few months ago when a store owner stated that Christi ...

Originally published May 19, 2013 I welcome any questions about what constitutes a 100% natural fragrance today.  The Natural Perfumers Guild, which I head, will be seven years old on June 1st. It’s the only trade association devoted to 100% natural perfume.  That simple sentence hides a lot of controversy, challenges, and, ultimately, rewards. Every major controversy, and there have been a handful, within the Guild has centered around members, or outsiders, defining what natural is, on their terms.  Sometimes it’s a “greenwashing” issue, sometimes it’s naiveté, and on a few awkward occasions, subterfuge. The Guild members have worked on various committees and writing projects to help us move forward in defining natural perfume and set standards for member compliance.  The ultimate goal is to preserve and enhance the art, educate the public and promote our artisans, and make us a self-regulating Chinese honeysuckle: a fragrant, beautiful new addition to the natural p...

  Anya's Garden Perfumes - Free Christmas Tree Scent Room Candy Wax Melt  It's my way of thanking my customers and giving back with a unique, limited-edition fragrance product. The scent of a fir balsam holiday tree is so beautiful! I miss the scent in my home because I have cats and well, you know what a cat-astrophe that can be with a tree in the house. As I blended and hand-poured the Room Candy limited edition Fir Tree wax melts I was happy with the thought that these would be my giveaway to 25 lucky customers. Leave a note with any order that you would like a Room Candy Fir Tree wax melt and it will be included in your order, for free! (a $12 value) Each melt can be relit again and again and will provide many hours of holiday delight. You must have a tea-light burner for these, and observe typical precautions with any flame product. A safe holiday is a happy holiday! (So is a fir balsam-scented holiday!) 25% Holiday Discount...

Perfumers Relief Aid - for those in our community affected by Superstorm Sandy: If you could share this  it would be appreciated.  If you have alternate ideas on how to publicize this effort, I would welcome hearing from you. The information in this email is also at http://naturalperfumers.com/pra.php Hello Everyone in the perfume and aromatherapy community: Do you know a perfumer who lives in the area devastated by Superstorm Sandy?  If you are in contact with them, let them know about this.  We're collecting their names and addresses to try to bring them some joy in the upcoming holiday season. I've been suffering from PTSD since Sandy hit the Northeast.  As a repeat hurricane 'victim' living in Miami, I identified and empathized with those whose lives are disrupted by that monster storm.  I felt helpless, other than donating to the Red Cross.  I had a brainstorm this morning after reading a New York perfumers account of her studio being destroyed ...

Are synthetic fragrances harmful?      October 2012   Sep. 28, 2012 Jessica Rubino  |  Delicious Living http://newhope360.com/beauty-cosmetics-amp-skincare/are-synthetic-fragrances-harmful Are synthetic fragrances harmful? 4 tips for buying natural fragrances Are synthetic fragrances bad for my health? What's the difference between a natural and synthetic fragrance? How do I know if a fragrance is truly natural? Your top questions answered, plus shopping tips.  When made from plant-based ingredients such as herbs, flowers, spices, and essential oils , fragrances don’t just make you smell good—they can make you feel good, too. Unfortunately, most conventional sweet- smelling ingredients today are synthetic. After the invention of synthetic fragrances in the 1800s, perfumers quickly replaced natural, plant-based ingredients with artificial ones. Now, fragrances can contain any number of 3,100 natural or synthetic in...

Fan carved from sandalwood Santalum album  -  even the botanical name is beautiful and strong. If rose and jasmine are feminine, sandalwood is strongly, sexily, masculine.  All male. And I fell hard for “him” from the first sniff.  Here’s my decades-long love/lust story, and I’m sorry to say it might not have a happy ending. Sandalwood Mala bead necklace I didn’t get my first bottle of sandalwood oil until I was 18 or so.  I already had some patchouli, as it was the scent of choice for hippies, and if I had some oils from the racks in hippie stores, they’re long forgotten, and I now know they were probably synthetic.  One day I was helping someone unpack some imported goods in the back of the store, and some of the merchandise was from India.  There were lovely colorful glass beads strung into necklaces that were woven from brass wire. Then I found a packet of scented wooden beads made into jewelry.  I’ll always associate the glass gr...

Get a cup of coffee or tea - this is a long blog post, with lots of twists and turns and surprises - good surprises!  Please see the blog post yesterday on the Guild member vote on the definition of natural isolates if you have not already read it. Backstory Do you ever wonder why I never taught a course in natural isolates or began to sell them on my website? After all, I was the pioneer natural perfumer who first used them in my MoonDance and StarFlower perfumes, both best sellers and award winners. Something told me that I needed to do a lot more research because a wrong move, the wrong isolate sold, could ruin the creations of lots of perfumes made by my (natural perfumer) customers. I have a duty as a trusted authority in natural perfumery, a person who heads the Natural Perfumers Guild, and who started a Yahoo discussion group on natural perfumeryin 2002, to be responsible and proceed slowly. Currently there are no regulations that address natural isolates, or ...