Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

  The Secret World of Ambrette Seeds by  Anya McCoy  |  Mar 8, 2015  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  1 comment Oh, the incredible beauty of the inner chambers of ripe ambrette seeds! I have been growing a patch of them for several months, chronicled  here  and  here . Last night I sat down for another session removing the seeds from the hairy, prickly pod – ouch! The pod is made up of five segments, or locules, and I discovered the easiest way to “open” them was to pull them apart from the pointed non-stem end. I’ve taken some photos of the inside of the locules before, but last night I was determined to get a photo or two with most of the seeds lined up. Sounds easy? Not. When you pull the fully-ripened pod apart, no matter how gently, many of the seeds tend to drop down into the bowl or make a leap for freedom, flying about. Interior of ambrette seed locule, showing funiculus still attached to ripe seeds. Right-click the image and

  Attar of Roses Geranium Perfume Plant by  Anya McCoy  |  Feb 4, 2015  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  3 comments And they say scented geraniums can’t be grown in Miami! The beautifully-scented Pelargonium geraniums are native to the high, dry desert of South Africa. With minimal rainfall, low humidity, and far from the equator, they flourish there and in many Mediterranian climates around the world. Mine struggled but survived their first summer (2014) in Miami, and they are flourishing now, and their perfume is divine. In Miami, we have hot, humid summers and we’re close to the Equator. I babied the various scented geraniums, and about 50% of them survived. The Attar of Roses variety, Pelargonium captiatum is thriving, and I intend to harvest the leaves for distilling in late Spring. The deeper pink venation on the two upper petals is a sure sign of Attar of Roses scented geranium 3 Comments Michelle Martin   on February 5, 2015 a

  Ylang Tincture is a Beautiful Perfume by  Anya McCoy  |  Nov 13, 2014  |  Anya's Garden Perfumes ,  natural aromatics ,  raw materials of perfumery  |  4 comments I’ve blogged about tincturing the ylang-ylang flowers in my Miami garden. They only smell highly fragrant after the sun goes down, and the next morning the scent retreats into the stems, where the tree protects it from the hot sun. The big, deep yellow ylang flower is the type I harvest for the tincture. The smaller, green flower with its petal curved around the ripe flower is immature and needs a day or two to reach the maturity of the prized ylang. This tincture captures the high, sweetest notes of what is called the “Chanel No. 5” tree. If you’ve ever read about the women of the Philippines wrapping the fresh flowers in their hair to scent it, this is that scent. No heat was used to extract the scent, so it is at its purest height of beauty. The scent is richest at midnight, and that’s when I pick the flowers. The wo

  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