Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Ambrosia Jones' Perfume by Nature JoAnne Bassett Perfumes

I ignore IFRA. I'm an independent artisan perfumer who is not a member of an organization that is a member of IFRA, so I have no danger of being "publicly shamed" (their words) if I use an aromatic that exceeds their allowable levels, or is prohibited by IFRA. I know the dangers of phototoxicity, allergens, and other problems that may be caused by some aromatics, and I take care forumulating my perfumes to safeguard the safety of my customers as much as possible.  There is a backlash against IFRA, and this shows their weakening stance. Since their regs are built upon, IMO, bad science, I hope it all goes away soon and the mainstream perfumes of old can return.  Here's a link to their latest statement, where the effervescent Jean-Pierre Houri talks about how “This year’s Amendment will hardly affect the palettes of perfumers.” Well, they've destroyed the palettes of perfumers in the past few decades, and that's why many mainstream perfumes smell like ...

Not that I have any time to waste, since I'm up to my eyeballs in work, but I stumbled on this website and had to share.

A Natural Perfumers Guild Internet Project June – July 2010 Who: The Perfumers of the Natural Perfumers Guild and Internet Bloggers and Forum members. Only 10 perfumers will be selected in a random draw, conducted by a third party. This is to avoid an excessive number of participants, which can overwhelm the evaluators. This is a cooperative blogging event, and the bloggers should link to the other blogger’s websites. You will be provided with an image to post on your blog that will be the unifying visual for the co-op. Why: To celebrate the Fourth Anniversary of the Guild. We think it would be a great idea to get out there on the Internet blogs and forums with a creative, artistic expression of our beloved perfume base note, the musk. Where: Internet blogs, Basenotes and the Yahoo Natural Perfumery group . What: Musk, musk and more musk. Perfumistas are fascinated with musk, there is no doubt about that, so The Mystery of Musk is the theme. P...

Thank you, Donna Hathaway, for the lovely reviews posted today on Perfume Smelling Things

I've rewritten some of the homepage for my online natural perfumery course at Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery Institute , and I've added some Q & A about how to choose an instructor. Not many potential students knew who I was, or my credentials before I began teaching online in 2007, but I had some independently-reviewed perfumes to my credit, and five years of helping aspiring perfumers for free in the Yahoo group I host . I also had about 15 years of experience with a perfume line - Anya's Tropical Essences - and both private label and custom perfume creation. I'll soon be admitting students year-round, due to the high demand for a place in the class. After I cut off the registration in February, more than a dozen students wrote in the week following that, and, at first I was going to begin a new semester in October 2010, but after speaking with other veteran online instructors, am going to allow the open admittance policy. Here are some of the benefits o...

Just a reminder to everyone - post your questions to me in this thread.

I created this graphic collage for Fairchild Perfume when it was released. When I remember back to 2005 and the resistance among perfumistas to natural perfumes, I can only smile at how we're being accepted now by mainstream perfume reviewers. As many on the forums say "I don't care now if a perfume is natural or contains synthetics, I only want a perfume to smell beautiful." Mark Behnke, who writes for Cafleurebon and Basenotes, and who has reviewed 500 perfumes in his career, is definitely someone who keeps an open mind about natural perfumes. I am truly awed by the power my first release, Fairchild, had over him. I'm so happy it brought back memories of walks with his father in Fairchild Gardens, which was the real world place I based this perfume upon. The other review on Cafleurebon today is by Rodney Hughes, a Professional Perfumer in the Natural Perfumers Guild. Rodney creates gorgeous perfumes himself, and imagine my surprise when he declared my...

Hi Everyone: I'll be here for questions about perfumery until 9PM EST USA tonight. I've had to put the blog on moderated comment status because of Chinese spam, so there may be a delay between your posting your question and me OKing it for the blog.

Karin of Savvy Thinker has reviewed two of my perfumes, RiverCali and Temple and she will be reviewing the rest over the next week. Thanks so much Karin. It sounds like Temple really reached you. It's my aromatherapy perfume, the only one in my line, created with the intent to calm, restore and bring peace to the wearer.

Hi Everyone: Hope you're all having a nice Mother's Day - and if you have an questions about perfumery, just post your question and I'll answer them.

Here's the solution for the perfume crossword of the other day. In the future, I'll try other ways to post the puzzle, maybe with the questions shown in a sidebar, or add the ability to print it out and work on it on paper.

Just a reminder to everyone - post your questions to me tomorrow, Sunday, May 2, 2010 in this thread.

...................when you have a head for perfume, it shows! My $5 score at an antique store today. She is officially Ms. PerfumeHead. Funny thing is I've been thinking about the phrase PerfumeHead a lot lately, probably due to the influence of Natural Perfumers Guild member Aromahead, and I just registered the domain. I guess I'll just build a fun little domain around her. Maybe stories of perfumeheads. Oh, I'm in a silly mood! FTR, she's 5" tall. Probably pewter. No labels on the base. Here she's vamping with some just-picked peach-scented frangipanis from the garden. I just had the background clipped out: