Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Michelyn Camen, the editor-in-chief of Cafleurebon launched a new feature, the Letter from the Editor, which will be a monthly event.  I think it's a great read on many levels.  Click here and leave a comment, if you wish.

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you have a chance to have a relaxing day, and I hope you will enjoy beautiful weather this lovely Spring day.  I'll be online on and off today, and I'm happy to check in for your perfumery questions. There were quite a few comments that were added to last Sunday's "Ask the Perfumer" during the week, so if you were following a topic there, you may wish to visit the comments thread again.

Guild news: We welcome Anu Prestonia of Anu's Essentials as a Professional Perfumer. Michelyn Camen upgraded her membership to Associate by adding CaFleureBon to our roster. Laura Natusch of Urban Eden joined as an Associate andBeverly Laird has joined us as a Friend. Many thanks to David of Renaissance Aromas and Nick of Sharini Parfums Naturels for renewing their membership. David is an Associate and Nick is a Professional Perfumer. Also Trygve Harris of Enfleurage (Associate) and Lydia Sabbah of Sabbah Perfumes (Professional Perfumer) renewed their memberships. It's been a busy month! Mandy Aftel, who founded the Guild in 2002, resigned from the Guild, by mutual decision.  The direction of the Guild is inclusive of those who wish to teach, and those who wish to sell various lines of oils they desire, a sharing and learning place for all.  Mandy is honored as the Founder, and as the leader in the natural perfumery world, and we treasure her for her gene...

CaFleureBon, one of the highest-ranked perfume blogs in the world, has a great Earth Day post up.  EIC Michelyn Camen invited a number of perfumers, myself included, to share our thoughts on what Earth Day means to us.  There is also a great giveaway, via a random draw,  for those who leave a comment. Read the blog here and leave a comment, sharing your thoughts.  I have to say the folks who have posted so far are really impressed me with their comments.  So thoughful!

Trends are fun, and it's fun to be on the front end of one.  Funny thing about this trend, which is using essential oils for food and drinks, is that it's been around for a long time. I've been cooking with essential oils since 1978, starting out with the humble dill weed oil. Nobody noticed much except my friends and family and customers of my early-80's catering business. The difference is that now it's starting to get attention in the media.  Heck, I wanted to launch my latest line, Anya's Garden Food & Drink Oils , way  back in 2006.  At that time, I wrote a letter to a local chef who was opening a new restaurant, pitching her the idea.  She never replied, I got toooo busy with life and work, and had to put my line on the back burner. Now, the timing is better, anyway.  There are several mixologists who have been hosting perfumed cocktail soirees for the past year or so.  Menket Prince, whom I knew from aromatherapy groups back in the...

I was honored that Editor-in-Chief Michelyn Camen asked me for my professional opinion on how specific essential oils or absolutes can help alleviate phobias.   I have studied aromatherapy enthusiastically since I first obtained Robert Tisserand's book The Art of Aromatherapy in 1979.  I was fascinated with the theory (followed up by clinical practice trials) that the beautiful oils I loved could help all sorts of medical issues. I submitted information about vanilla, lavender and neroli, which is orange blossom.  Then I noticed not many men were leaving comments on CaFleureBon.  I think men hide their phobias, don't you?  Do they have a phobia about asking for directions? LOL.  That is a common complaint of the women who accompany men on road trips. Here's one I never heard of - Arachibutyrophobia - fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. Just some silliness to break up the monotony of the day.  My contribution to helping some...

I'm up early because it's going to be a busy, busy day, but I'm not too busy to answer your questions about perfumery.  If you know what I'm "soft" launching tomorrow in an expansion of the Anya's Garden Perfumes fragrant products, and you post here with the correct answer, you'll win two of the launch products ;-)

The Natural Perfumers Guild’s Founder, Mandy Aftel submitted her resignation from the Guild on January 28, 2011, and announced it publicly on April 14, 2011.   We respect her decision, and wish her well in her endeavors and her three Fifi nominations, which paved the way for natural perfumery to be accepted as an ART.  We look forward to bringing the Guild to the next level as we work towards achieving our goals of even more awareness and new voices, noses and fans in   the 21st Century.

I'll be here until 10 PM, EST, USA, so if you have any questions, please post.  I'm working on the lilac post I promised two days ago, but life sure has a way of messing up your plans, eh? ;-)  Are the lilacs blooming where you are?  I have tips on how to capture it's scent.

Oh, no, my beloved kewda flower, the male flower of the Pandanus odoritissimus, a Prehistoric plant that has survived for millions of year, may be in danger because of a proposed Indian law.   It seems that the kewda flower is one ingredient used in a rather toxic chewing gum known as gutkha.  You can read the article for all the details, but I will cut the chase about the problem:  an industry may be shut down because of this, an industry that supports many families and a beautiful product that is used in perfumery.  I use pandanus flower oil in two of my perfumes, Fairchild and Kewdra.  I will be able to harvest the flower here in Miami or grow my own if supply dries up.   Pandanus - aka Kewda flower I truly don't think it will dry up, because some of the distilleries will remain active.  Perhaps the distilleries could have been more forward-thinking and used some long range planning for alternative uses for their kewda oil, but often industries ...

It's a hot and steamy day in Miami, the peach-scented frangipanis, Vietnamese gardenias, gardenias, white champaka and long-petaled jasmine, next to the Confederate jasmines, are blooming.  I'll be enfleuraging and tincturing all day, but will still love to answer your perfumery questions. Oh, and once I sort through all the entries, write the respondent's names down, cut the paper with the name into strips, I'll choose the winners from the Guild- and ginger-helpful respnses this past week.  Well, one name will be selected because I like the name they've suggested for the non-fresh ginger. First, though, coffee!

The Natural Perfumers Guild has added a new benefit to membership: group bottle buys.  What this does is bring affordable, beautiful bottles into the micro-businesses that make up the Guild.  No matter what category membership a Guild member holds, they can take part in this.  Elise Pearlstine generously offered to help organize the buy and administer it.  She made the initial contact with suppliers to identify what was available in case lots, then she received samples from them, and she and I evaluated them. We looked at the bottles and caps available, and determined that yes, even though five or six Guild members might be sharing the same buy, with different caps and labels, there would be enough of an aesthetic difference so that the perfume bottle would be "their own" as it were. After presenting about nine different bottles/sizes to the Guild members via a photo gallery in our private Yahoo group, bottles G and J were selected by those participating in th...

Can you help me?  I need two things from my readers. There will be a freebie gift for two helpful souls who reply, one for each subject. First:  Back in late 2006, I stumbled across *fresh* ginger root essential oil at liberty natural.  There were two - one from Madagascar, one from Indonesia.  I immediately told my perfumery friends about it, and I used the fresh version in the kits for my students.  Why the excitement? Fresh grated ginger - zest, fresh, hot, spicy fragrance Previously, the only ginger root oil available was from the peeled, sun-dried roots, and it was a middle note for perfumery.  It had a mellow, soft fragrance, much like the dried ginger powder you get for baking purposes.  This fresh ginger, on the other hand, smelled just like the fresh cut or grated root!  Hot, spicy, wet, luscious, and a top note! I've used the aged, dried ginger EO, because it is valuable in perfumery and for food and drink purposes, but its so...

Nowhere in the 350 page textbook, nor in the online study area of the website (access via password to the private area) will at student of the Natural Perfumery Institu te find a formula.  Not a formula for an accord.  Not a formula for a basic perfume.  I don't instruct students to study existing perfumes, either mainstream or niche, synthetic types, or natural. Students are given the skill set to properly evaluate, analyze and categorize the array of natural aromatics that they obtain, either by purchasing the course kits, or have purchased on their own.  They are instructed how to create accords and evaluate how the aromatics interact.  They then are given instructions on how make a perfume. This system works beautifully, in my opinion, and allows the students intellect and creativity to combine, allowing them to set their own aesthetic.  They still adhere to the fragrance family paradigm, and select a cohesive theme for their perfume, say, a gourm...