Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

I was noodling around the Internet this morning and found this: "Until recently, the EU banned the sale of ugly carrots with knobby protrusions, cucumbers that were grossly curved, and equally unaesthetic specimens of 24 other fruits and vegetables. "It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the 'wrong' shape," said the EU's commissioner for agriculture." I've often related to disbelieving friends and colleagues that the EU is so out of hand with their Draconian, bad-science, big brother is watching you (and forcing you out of business) mentality that they regulated the curve in bananas. Too much curve, can't be sold in the EU. My particular peeve with them is the bad science and horrid fees they impose on perfumers both artisanal and corporate alike. They've been partly to blame for the reformulation of many perfume classics, deeming oakmoss and orange oil alike too dangerous for us poor silly une...

Confused about chypre, ambergris, ylang ylang, absolute or concrete? Well, let my New York/Philly accented voice clue you in and I hope, help you out ;-) I originally recorded a version of this for my online perfumery course and I've seen over the years how often these terms are the subject of concern on my yahoo perfumery group , so have a listen - it's short and sweet ;-) PS: Is this the first-ever perfumery podcast by a perfumer? I've searched and never found one. Let me know if you know of any, otherwise I'm laying claim to being the first perfumer to podcast. Beauty blogs where they pod about the latest perfume releases don't count, LOL. Click below to play:

Anya's Garden is Celebrating the Redesigned Website with a Giveaway Celebrate the Natural Perfumers Guild-designated "December is Natural Perfume Month" With Us! Click on the graceful photo of Anya's Garden perfumes with a fabulous clereodendron flower and wander down the fragrant garden path to discover the new aromatherapy and potpourri line that I'll be launching next year. Post here with the name of the new line and you will be entered in a giveaway. The winner will receive a set of samples of Pan, Kaffir, Fairchild, RiverCali, Temple and a 2ml tincture of the legendary rare and gorgeous ambergris. These samples retail for $30 and the ambergris is very hard to find, and I know a lot of perfumistas would love to experience my private stash aged, glorious tincture. This contest closes in five days on Dec 7th at midnight, so check back here after visiting my new site, and post. This offer is open to anyone anywhere in the world with the exception of Germany an...

All Allured Publishing Media books on sale for 20% off through 12/31/08 The image above is of the Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin volume - generously offered separately by Allured when they realized the demand for it among natural perfumers. Previously it was bundled in a three-volume set and cost $900 dollars. When Guild member David Mark contacted them, and their Book Manager and I talked, they realized that the natural perfumery group on Yahoo and the Natural Perfumers Guild were signs that this book was needed as a solo item. We will forever be grateful to Allured Business Media for this. For several months now Allured has made a very generous discount offer on all the books they publish. Now, through December 31, 2008 just use the code anyaperfume at checkout. The Steffen Arctander book Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin is widely regarded as the natural perfumers bible. Click here for the Arctander book on Allured.com - but don't limit yourself t...

The Natural Perfumers Guild Celebrates "December is Natural Perfume Month" December is Natural Perfume Month - When Fragrant Trees and Wreaths Bring the Outdoors In, and Natural Perfume is the Gift of Choice for Many For a limited time only - in celebration of Natural Perfume Month - join the Natural Perfumers Guild and receive 20% off your membership fee. In 2006 The Natural Perfumers Guild named December Natural Perfume Month in recognition of the growing interest in natural fragrances. The first naturally-perfumed gifts associated with the month of December were frankincense and myrrh which we use in their pure form in our perfumes. Click below to see a picture of rare Hojari Frankincense incense, one of the most beautiful fragrances in the world: Ancient traditions called for a fragrant conifer tree, wreaths and boughs decorating the home during this time of year. Today, the wonderful aroma of cooking with sweet spices like cinnamon and clove adds to the ambiance, creatin...

The dreamy, sensual image above is the chosen graphic for one of my two new perfumes, MoonDance . It's one of the few images I've used that aren't either a collage piece of art that I created or a photograph I took. I just fell in love with it when I saw it, and it snapped me right out of the mindset I was in, with rather literal images of people dancing under a full moon. I also believe that the image helps a person imagine the gossamer beauty of a perfume, wafting and swirling up off their skin, an item of delight - and don't we all need a little delight right now? As my friend Chris said "I refuse to participate in this recession." You might not be able to buy a new car, or you're worried about your job, but a recent article - or two or three - have pointed out that perfume and lipstick are two luxuries women refuse to give up when the economy tanks. I've decided to push back the launch of MoonDance, and it's accompanying launch partner, StarFlo...

Thanksgiving always is the day when I give thanks for living in the subtropics because the weather has cooled down from steam bath to cool and breezy. It's also the real beginning of our growing season. This year I regret not getting tomatoes or veggies in the ground yet because I've been so busy, but my herbs are always booming at this time of year and ready to go into the holiday dishes. I harvested bay leaf, sweet marjoram, oregano, lemon balm and lemongrass today, and I just love the slight fragrance they leave on my fingers throughout the day. The meal is in various stages of preparation, and I'm feeling very relaxed, fulfilled and happy. What more could you ask for on a Thanksgiving day? I'm thankful for everything in my life, it's all wonderful and prosperous. I'm especially thankful for natural perfumery, because the gorgeous botanical essences compliment a meal, and a gathering of people because of their understated scent - you won't have to "s...

Actually, this test can analyze your blog personality, perfumer or not. I found this fun bit of time-wasting silliness floating around the 'net . Supposedly based on the Myers-Briggs Personality system (which has classified me as a Field Marshal in lengthy tests I took a few years ago.) Maybe I'm mellowing with age. Probably not, but truthfully I guess I have little patience for time wasting, although my silliness meter is often set pretty high. So I'm a "Doer" aka an ESTP. The image of a teenage dribbler for the Doer is pretty silly, actually, but I'm game. Get it - game? OK, so here's my profile: The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it throug...

I blogged a few days ago about the decline of the rose-de-mai farmland in Grasse and a French Perfumer, Isabelle Gelle commented on the Natural Perfumery group listing the reasons she perceived to be at fault, and offering her prediction as to the future of rose (and other natural aromatics) production. Reprinted here with permission: To me, there are 2 main guilty ones: 1) the consumers who will not pay for pure rose products because as mentioned in the article 'rose is not rose' any longer - I actually browsed the latest website of Scents of Time in which I saw that the great idea of reproducing various Scents of Time has been once again transformed into another 'chemical' venture, using the now widely spread HEADSPACE technique (which is still leading to reproducing scents in a laboratory). 2) the European Union who by trying to place every citizen in a sterilised bubble and create a Federal Europe is slowly killing national identities and regional specialties. ...

This is a graphic collage I created for the launch of Fairchild, the first perfume in the Anya's Garden line. The image is meant to show the wild and exuberant nature of the perfume, where citrus and powerful tropical flowers mix with seaweed and clamshells - yes, toasted clamshells. The levels of drydown are many - some joke over a dozen according to their nose. It's such a strong perfume I can only wear it at night, because if I wear it during the day I become woozy, it's that narcotic and demands that much of your attention. Imagine my surprise when I checked back into the comments section on Perfume Shrine today and saw that both Helg of PS and Maria of the BitterGrace blog are asking I create some food that contains Fairchild. The blog topic was cooking with animal essences, so I suppose the ambergris, dosed generously in Fairchild, was the jumping-off point for the request. It did get me to thinking - perhaps a drop in vodka? A drop in some honey? It would certainly ...

A student in my online perfumery course stopped me short during our live chat the other day: she had no scent memory connections with the aromatics in the study kit supplied with the course. She's from Nigeria, and rose, jasmine, lemon, etc. - many of the common scents we know and associate with people or places in our past have no reference point for her. I'm just guessing here, but I suppose they just aren't used in the home and environment as they are here. I'll have to ask if there are any lemon-based dishes or lemon-accented food in Nigeria. I have a book on perfumes made for regions of Africa based on the travels of several French perfumers. Perhaps that will assist me in helping her. There are, of course, many aromatics produced for perfumery in Africa: rose geranium, jasmine and rose, frankincense, grapefruit, clove, vanilla, etc. Since we were in the middle of class, I didn't have time to question her in depth, but I did promise to look further into how to ...

Members of the Yahoo Natural Perfumery group are moving forward with the plans I wrote about earlier. We wish to create a series of perfumes in honor of the election of Barack Obama, unifying the perfumes under one theme yet to be decided. The project is less than a week old, and many ideas have been submitted on the NP group, but we felt to be able to sort through participating members ideas and lists, we needed to create a smaller group for the project. Above is the photo just uploaded to the new group's webpage, and below is the draft description: This is a cooperative worldwide project of natural perfumers wishing to create a perfume honoring the spirit of unity and progressiveness we feel because of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. We are going to create a list of natural aromatics that have relevance to the new President: oils from Africa, Indonesia, America and perhaps all the continents will be considered. We will refine the list and each per...

Rosa centifolia harvested in Grasse, France Natural perfumer Haley Alexander van Oosten visited the rose fields of Grasse, France for the harvest and reports on some sad, inevitable news in the Huffington Post. She reports that the general public is so used to the scent of fake rose that they choose it in a sniff comparison. The price difference, declining demand and land development pressures may soon make this lovely oil a thing of the past.

This is quite a beautiful book, lots of eye candy which links the mind to the scent candy. I'll be reviewing it soon, but all I can say for now is that I am very happy with it, just glancing through it, as it is a book I know I'll treasure for the photos. Shallow, yes, but eye candy is lovely, isn't it? ;-) I'll post here when the review is up - it will be on Basenotes .