Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

I discovered this by accident, just because of my natural curiosity, on August 6th.  Historic day.  My jaw dropped, I was totally stunned by the simplicity and availability of a "thing" that will take all of our small businesses to the next level.  Everyone I've shared this secret with either yells or moans with excitement. When I teased one of the recipients of this good news that everyone sounds like they're either a screamer or moaner orgasmic type (she was a moaner), she said well, yes, it's "-------gasmic".  And it certainly is. So a few of the Natural Perfumers Guild members are in R&D right now, myself included.  We're holding off a little blogging event until we've got some good stuff to present to everyone.  I already have semi-good stuff, but there's tweaking that needs to be done.  I'll provide links, tips and more to get you on your way.  I have no financial interest in this, and I know it'll be affordable to most fo

It's been a very busy summer, between celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Natural Perfumers Guild on June 1st with a group blogging event, and now welcoming all the new members! We're also very happy at all of the renewing members, the professional perfumers, the associates, the suppliers and the friends. With a strong history of defending our business rights in the face of restrictive legislation, promoting the Guild members on various media, and moving forward as the only trade association devoted to real natural aromatics, the Guild is now a magnet for both established companies and non-commercial devotees of pure and natural fragrance products. In the true spirit of the Medieval Guilds, the enhancement of professional products by peer evaluation and the protection of our rights to have standards for our businesses and to defend them, the Natural Perfumers Guild is staying the true course of the Guild concept. In the past, we had an apprentice program, and we m

Natural Perfumers Guild Associates Francesca and Kate of Pacific Perfumes were rewarded for making the long trip from New Zealand to NYC because they just won the International Green Packaging award at the HBA Global Expo http://www.hbaexpo.com/ !  The award was for their new Artisan line, which is all natural perfume.  I know Guild member Michelyn Camen the EiC of Cafleurebon loves their perfumes and she's meeting with them on Thursday.  I can't wait for the interview/report! http://www.facebook.com/PacificPerfumes http://pacificperfumes.co.nz to get a look at the packaging.

Hi Everyone: Taking a vacation for a few weeks, keep those perfume-related questions on hold, and I'll answer them when I get back.

Shall we continue the discussion on isolates?  A few posts came in last week after the forum was closed, and I received some private emails, also.  Of course, feel free to ask anything you wish, I'm just inviting the other folks to post here.

Twenty Guild members are joining me in pulling out the stopper, uncorking the stories of our natural perfumery paths. Like effervescent top notes, our stories are released, ticking our memories and sharing them as they waft out over the Internet.  I hope you love reading all of the fragrant bios as much as I do.  Links to their blogs are at the bottom of this post.  Enjoy! I grew up thinking all fragrances were natural: flowers, gasoline, floor cleaner, deodorant, lightening bugs, hairspray, dirt, and particularly, perfumes. As a child I sniffed everything, and I dabbed myself with perfumes with wild abandon. I was lucky that I grew up two blocks away from the biggest public park in the world, Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.  It gave a bucolic respite from the row houses and tiny yards of the tightly-packed streets where I lived.  The street where I grew up in Philadelphia, two blocks from Fairmont Park. Memories of roses, boxwood, iris flowers flood me as I look at this photo. I

We're going to have a fun inter-Guild blogging event tomorrow, June 1st, to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the Guild. 21 Guild members are participating, and we're going to share our stories of our path to natural aromatics and natural perfumery. It should be a run read, clicking from member blog to member blog and taking in the bios of the members. I'm really looking forward to it! The Guild has many benefits associated with membership, from networking with others in the community to discounts on raw materials, educational programs, group buys and much more. Next week we're having an Online Marketing chat with the perfumers, and it will be archived and made available to all Guild members. I'll cover public relations, press releases, blogs and branding, and Larry Marsala will speak on google rankings, meta tags, search engine optimization and techie stuff. A 25% discount on the yearly membership fee will be given to new members who join between May 31 and J

I wish some folks would ask me about natural isolates.  What I have to say, with my limited, but growing knowledge, might surprise you.  I'll be here, on and off, throughout the day.

21 Guild members are set to blog on June 1st, the fifth anniversary of the Natural Perfumers Guild. It's going to be a fun, intimate event to let us get to know each other better, and you're all invited in for a peek. The theme is fun and the logo is bubbly, like a fizzy, diffusive top note!

Sometimes students say the darnedest things, and sometimes those gems turn your head around when you think about the process of making thick, pasty aromatics pourable. Michael Singels, a student from California, and a longtime member of the Yahoo Natural Perfumery group I host, posted about a new, simple process in the student chat group for my perfumery course that literally made my mouth drop open.  I have read every post on the NP group for almost nine years, and I've been on many other forums, and I've never seen this. Ready for this?  What to do instead of using a bain marie process to warm up thick aromatics so they can become liquid and mobile for use, or transfer from one bottle to another? First, for those who don't know what a bain marie is, it's a water bath. It can be as simple as heating some water in a cup and placing the bottle with the thick stuff in it, or as complex as a true "double boiler" type of set up for a large bottle or containe

Late start today due to gardening duties.  I'll be here until 10 PM my time to answer any questions you may have about perfumery.

Half way through May, and oh my, so much to do!  Still, I love to make time to answer your questions about perfumery.  I'll be here until 10 PM tonight, so ask away.

I got a late start today because I had to get the lilac blog posted.  May certainly is the time for lilac thoughts, and lily of the valley, too, eh?  Several bloggers are taking part in a blogging event for Natural Perfumers Guild member Dawn Spencer Hurwitz's new perfumes Muguet de Mai and Muguet Cologne (yes, two!) that are botanical accords of the lily of the valley flower, only available in synthetic form prior to this.  You can leap from blog to blog starting at Cafleurebon .

Guild news: We welcome Anu Prestonia of Anu's Essentials as a Professional Perfumer. Michelyn Camen upgraded her membership to Associate by adding CaFleureBon to our roster. Laura Natusch of Urban Eden joined as an Associate andBeverly Laird has joined us as a Friend. Many thanks to David of Renaissance Aromas and Nick of Sharini Parfums Naturels for renewing their membership. David is an Associate and Nick is a Professional Perfumer. Also Trygve Harris of Enfleurage (Associate) and Lydia Sabbah of Sabbah Perfumes (Professional Perfumer) renewed their memberships. It's been a busy month! Mandy Aftel, who founded the Guild in 2002, resigned from the Guild, by mutual decision.  The direction of the Guild is inclusive of those who wish to teach, and those who wish to sell various lines of oils they desire, a sharing and learning place for all.  Mandy is honored as the Founder, and as the leader in the natural perfumery world, and we treasure her for her gener

Trends are fun, and it's fun to be on the front end of one.  Funny thing about this trend, which is using essential oils for food and drinks, is that it's been around for a long time. I've been cooking with essential oils since 1978, starting out with the humble dill weed oil. Nobody noticed much except my friends and family and customers of my early-80's catering business. The difference is that now it's starting to get attention in the media.  Heck, I wanted to launch my latest line, Anya's Garden Food & Drink Oils , way  back in 2006.  At that time, I wrote a letter to a local chef who was opening a new restaurant, pitching her the idea.  She never replied, I got toooo busy with life and work, and had to put my line on the back burner. Now, the timing is better, anyway.  There are several mixologists who have been hosting perfumed cocktail soirees for the past year or so.  Menket Prince, whom I knew from aromatherapy groups back in the mid-90

The Natural Perfumers Guild’s Founder, Mandy Aftel submitted her resignation from the Guild on January 28, 2011, and announced it publicly on April 14, 2011.   We respect her decision, and wish her well in her endeavors and her three Fifi nominations, which paved the way for natural perfumery to be accepted as an ART.  We look forward to bringing the Guild to the next level as we work towards achieving our goals of even more awareness and new voices, noses and fans in   the 21st Century.

The Natural Perfumers Guild has added a new benefit to membership: group bottle buys.  What this does is bring affordable, beautiful bottles into the micro-businesses that make up the Guild.  No matter what category membership a Guild member holds, they can take part in this.  Elise Pearlstine generously offered to help organize the buy and administer it.  She made the initial contact with suppliers to identify what was available in case lots, then she received samples from them, and she and I evaluated them. We looked at the bottles and caps available, and determined that yes, even though five or six Guild members might be sharing the same buy, with different caps and labels, there would be enough of an aesthetic difference so that the perfume bottle would be "their own" as it were. After presenting about nine different bottles/sizes to the Guild members via a photo gallery in our private Yahoo group, bottles G and J were selected by those participating in the buy.  I

Admin Announcement from Anya McCoy, Guild President: The Natural Perfumers Guild Wekcines Elise Pearlstine as Administrative Manager.  Elise, the nose of Bellyflowers Perfumes , is taking on several projects as part of her duties for the Guild. First, Elise has inventoried and categorized all of the items in the Guild Scent Library.   As Perfumers and Associates join the Guild, they are requested to submit, according to their category, perhaps one full size bottle of perfume, and samples of their perfume line, or perhaps soaps, body lotions and other fragrant products.  It is important that we keep a reference library of the Perfumers products first and foremost, for historical purposes and also for PR and communication purposes.  Elise will contact Guild members who may need to send products to fill in the gaps of their materials in the Scent Library.  Second, Elis

I'm just soooo happy that the perfumers from the Guild followed me into Outlaw territory and won this award from Elena of Perfume Shrine: Rising Star of 2010 : "Outlaw" perfumers doing what they darn please irrespective of perfumery restriction, just for the heck of it. It was about time...

BEST BUZZ AWARD   MICHELYN: The Natural Perfumer’s Guild Blogger Events: The Mystery of Musk and Outlaw Perfume As Ida wrote,   “ It seems inconceivable that there can exist so many gifted natural perfumers, of whom one has never heard”.