Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  What a Great Scent Strip Holder Find! by  Anya McCoy  |  Oct 9, 2013  |  natural perfume ,  Natural Perfumery Institute ,  study perfumery  |  12 comments Daniel Krasofski’s skillful repurposing of a film developing reel! On the right: don’t do this! On the left: do this! I always am grateful for my connection to thousands of natural perfumery fans, perfumers, and members of the Yahoo groups. I’ve been on the Internet for twenty years, and have read about all the problems and opportunities in our art because of their posts and their private correspondence with me. Daniel Krasofski is one of my  students , and he wrote me from Napa, where he was taking Jeanne Rose’s day-long course at Eden Botanicals. It was this bit of a tiny photo in the collage of photos he sent me that caught my eye. What in the heck is that spiral stainless steel thing? He was in class and on the road for the rest of the weekend, so my email asking about it we...

Several natural perfumers and the owner of a natural perfume company joined me in writing "The State of Natural Perfumery 2012" for Basenotes. It's fascinating and enlightening to see everyone's individual take on our fragrant art. I hope you enjoy this unique, collaborative effort. http://www.basenotes.net/ content/ 1154-The-State-of-Natural-Perfu mery-2012

Sharing Their Story - an occasional series hosted by Anya McCoy.  Featuring the accomplished and  creative members of the Natural Perfumers Guild, the series is debuting with one of the lights of aromatherapy, and a pioneer in natural perfumery, Victoria Edwards of California and France.  Alongside Chrissie Wildwood and Mindy Green, two other accomplished aromatherapists, the three are, to my knowledge, the only aromatherapists who wrote about natural perfumery, and called it natural perfumery, in the 1990s. Visionary and prolific in the art of aromatherapy, please enjoy Victoria Edwards, in her own words:  I love this photo of Victoria, taken in France.  Doesn't she look like a good friend, animated and in high spirits, relating a story?  Well, this is her story. Biography of Victoria Edwards I was born in Chicago, grew up in Louisiana, my mothers family is from New Orleans. My Father is Swiss and I lived in Germany and Switzerland from 4 to...

 Joy in January - a three-day blogging event to help you deal with your SAD-ness this month. The Natural Perfumers Guild is an association of perfumers, suppliers and associates dedicated to the use of 100% natural aromatics.  Whether it be a perfume, body spray, soap, candle, lotion or other fragrance product, we concoct them with one goal in mind - to exalt the beauty of the product by adding a gorgeous scent. The Joy in January project is fourteen of the Guild members blogging about how naturally-scented products may help alleviate the depression and lethargy that often overcomes folks who live in dark, cold northern climates. The lack of sunlight during the short days of autumn and winter is a real problem, and those afflicted with this problem are said to suffer from SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder. Please read what we share with you about our reaction to the SAD phenemona, and leave comments on our blogs to be entered to win some SAD-alleviating naturally fr...

You know I can't take an outrageous statement like that lying down.  It comes from this poorly-written and poorly-researched article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/nov/28/not-easy-being-green-perfume-synthetic They don't allow comments there, but I welcome them here, where they will be out on the Internet.  Please post your feelings!

Turning the clock back has me up early, and I'll get you are, too, with perfumery questions. Ask away!

I posted this on the Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute's blog after I realized the recent list of articles on the Institute's website had never been listed before:   Director and Head Instructor Anya McCoy, natural perfumer of Anya's Garden, just published a list of articles she has authored on the subjects of natural perfumery, perfumery and book reviews since 2004. They are available for download from http://perfumeclasses.com/faculty.htm McCoy, A. - Natural Perfumery:  A Fragrant Evolution (pub. Aromatic Sage.com) McCoy, A. - Steve Earl - Position Paper: Defining Natural Perfumery (pub. self) McCoy, A. - Robert Tisserand, Tony Burfield - IFRA/EU Boycott Primer (pub. self) McCoy, A. - The Beauty of Botanicals Made Liquid: The Passion of Natural Perfumers (pub. Basenotes.net) McCoy, A. - The Stages of Public Acceptance of Natural Perfumery (pub. Basenotes.net) McCoy, A. - Book Review: What the Nose Knows (pub. Basenotes.net) McCoy, A. - Book Review:...

I got a late start today after an early visit to my mother, but I'm back in the studio now, so if you have any perfumery questions, ask away.

I rarely check the stats on my website, but I did the other day, and found someone had clicked through to my educational website Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute from Chinese Vogue . What the heck?! LOL.  There's a picture of 190 proof Everclear alcohol, and my name stands out in the chinese words, for sure, so I just had to run the copy through Google translator software. I like that 100% of the respondants wanted to make their own perfume! Here's the translation: Even if you are not an alcoholic, there is a wine you should know, not whiskey is not vodka, but Everclear, has recently been widely used home-made perfume. Everclear (pictured) are specifically fermented wine produced in cereal brands, only alcohol 75.5% (151proof) and 95% (190proof) two kinds of wine. Wow, even more than Erguotou "Lie" is much more alcoholic drink should be and it is no different. DIY for the natural fragrance of Modern Alchemy The modern trend in terms of the pu...

I'll be available to answer your perfumery questions until 10 PM EST.  I'm happy to help!

Are you laboring over perfumery issues this long, hot Labor Day weekend?  Let's see if I can help you solve them. Ask the Perfumer is open for questions.

 © Copyright Anya's Garden - 2010 All Rights Reserved I have been posting lectures in the online perfumery course I teach since 2007.  Previously available only to registered students, some of my short, informative lectures will be uploaded to the Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute's website within a week or so. These lectures will be available on the "public side" of of the website, where no log in is required. I'm thinking of uploading the pronunciation key, a short advisory on accessory notes and another topic I haven't determined yet. I hope you'll enjoy my Philly accent and a bit of humor I can't help but interjecting into the lectures occasionally. The lectures will probably be only five to ten minutes in length, in comparison to the more extensive lectures the enrolled students enjoy, which are often 20 to 30 minutes.  I'll post here when they're available.

Can you believe the summer in the Northern Hemisphere is almost over? Perfume wardrobes will be changing for those in temperate climates. Ask the Perfumer is open, thinking of hemispheric differences and the perfumes that love them. PS:  I've started a page for the Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute on Facebook - you can click to join there.  I'll be updating that page frequently.

Hi Everyone: I'll be here to answer your perfumery questions today, so please submit them via the comments option.

Hi Everyone: Ask the Perfumer is waiting for questions on this hot, humid mid-August day.  Wear some refreshing cologne and post your queries and I'll answer up to 10PM tonight.

I apologize for launching the "Ask the Perfumer" forum so late today. I slept late and then went to the hospital where my mother is for a long visit, went shopping, - and just plain forgot until now!  I'll answer your queries until late tonight, so ask away.

You can submit your questions about perfumery all day today, August 1, 2010.  I hope I can help you solve your scented dilemma.

Busy, busy this week -- almost forgot to open the blog for questions.  I'll keep it open a little longer tonight if folks post later than usual.

Ask the Perfumer - July 18th - please post your questions any time before 10PM EST USA and I'll help you with your perfumery questions.

The blog post today is the Table of Contents of the book: Essential Oils: Art, Agriculture, Science, Industry and Entrepreneurship: a Focus on the Asia-pacific Region by Murray Hunter My review of this must-have book is on Basenotes, click here to read the review .  The book is massive, informative and although the title may fool you into thinking it's just for those who are interested in EOs in the Asia-Pacific region - it's not. Just peruse this nine-page (single spaced) TOC. It's a legacy book, it must have taken decades to compile, and I have it on my shelf next to Arctander, Guenther, et al. Contents Preface Acknowledgements Chapter One: Introduction: The Development Issues Summary The Size of the Essential Oil Industry Definitions of Essential Oils and Other Natural Aromatic Extracts Product Strategy Choices The Development Issues Global Warming, the Food and Financial Crisis Market Turbulence Wild Collection and Threatened Plant Species Bargaining Power o...