Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  A Banana-scented flower for Delight by  Anya McCoy  |  May 11, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural perfumery course ,  raw materials of perfumery ,  study perfumery  |  0 comments Michelia figo – banana-scented flowers A BANANA-scented flower! The Michelias are a beautiful group of magnolias. Of course, there’s the M. champaca, with glorious golden/orange fragrant flowers, known as the Joy Perfume tree, and M. alba, whose white flowers smell of fruit and sweetness, and I also love M. figo, with smaller, banana-scented flowers! I had this beauty transplanted from a spot in the front garden where it wasn’t thriving. It’s been in my back garden “plant hospital” for several months and is now blooming like crazy. Lots of fun! I don’t tincture this one, because I use tinctured freeze-dried bananas for that purpose. Don’t you just love it? You can grow this in a big pot, Northerners, and move it indoors in the winter. All sorts of fun and easy ways to extract natural scents from

  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

  Perfumed, Edible Galangal Root Harvest in Miami by  Anya McCoy  |  Jan 28, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes  |  1 comment Have you ever had Thai food with galangal root? Have you used the galangal root essential oil in perfume? I can say yes to both. This ginger relative really spreads in the garden, and I had a wheelbarrow’s worth dug up the other day. Anybody in the Miami area that wants some, let me know. Love the pink/salmon sprouts of new growth, it’s very decorative. Smells and tastes beautiful. A bit hotter than ginger, and indispensable to Thai soups.   1 Comment Laura   on February 1, 2015 at 8:01 am  (Edit) Anya – I am reading this +1 year but looking for Galangal today, actually (1 Feb 2015) to take out to Kenya with me – I leave tomorrow and a friend has made a very last minute request that I bring some!! If you have any please email me at  lmcpherson@cricons.com  and I will come pick it up – thanks – Laura

  Daniel Krasofski on Recycled Scent Strip Holders, Perfume, Ayurvedic, Aromatherapy Adaptations by  Anya McCoy  |  Oct 20, 2013  |  natural perfume ,  raw materials of perfumery ,  study perfumery  |  2 comments I  blogged recently  about the great discovery that Daniel Krasofski, one of my students, made on a visit to a thrift store. Daniel kindly offered to share details to help everyone find and adapt these stainless steel goodies for their perfume business. Here’s Daniel’s helpful blog, and don’t forget to check out the link and the end to the Institute for Art and Olfaction in Los Angeles, where he’s on the faculty. Greetings, I was surprised to wake up the other morning to Anya’s Blog post about the Film Developing Reels I have used for years, as Scent Strip holders. I also appreciate everyone, from all over the world, that has contacted me over the last week. Sharing helpful information and knowledge fills me with joy. Originally I found my first three “35mm Film Developing Ree

  Scented Geraniums Have Glorious Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Nov 19, 2013  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural perfume ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  2 comments Scented geraniums have delicate, beautiful flowers that also carry the scent of the particular variety I was delighted that several scented geraniums I planted last spring survived the hot, humid Miami summer. Pelargoniums are native to the high desert of South Africa, so they like it on the dry side. I just planted a dozen varieties so they can grow during the winter, and I’m looking forward to distilling and tincturing them come the Spring harvest. Did you know that these beautifully-scented geraniums often have gorgeous flowers?  The flowers are delicate and heavily scented also. I have attar of roses, bourbon, musk, several lemon types, almond, and some wild cards just for curiosity. I had a professor in Syracuse who had a 20-year-old scented geranium in his office, and I’ve grown them successfully indoors when I li