Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Ask the Perfumer - and an Ambergris hypothesis Guild member Lisa Coburn posted a link on Facebook that took me to a video on how cephalopods--squid, cuttlefish and octopus, are masters of disguise.  As I watched it, I made a perfume connection, straight to the elusive, mysterious, rare and valued ambergris, a gorgeous material used in perfumery. Photo of the famed 'Yeti' chunk of ambergris. Ambergris is produced by the stomach/intestinal secretions of the sperm whale to protect its insides from the sharp beaks of the squid and cuttlefish, two main items in its diet.  The whale evacuates the chunk of ambergris when it becomes large enough to be an irritant on its own, albeit a softer, rounder irritant compared to the beak and cartilage of the squid or cuttlefish.  As a perfumer, I often have to gently remind excitable newbies ;-)  that the scent of the ambergris is secondary to its major contribution to a perfume, which is its ability to 'marry' and a...

The Natural Perfumery Institute logo - click to visit the website Do you want to be a perfumer?  Do you want to be a perfumer who takes a basic course that covers dozens of topics in professional perfumery, in addition to learning professional techniques as taught by the French schools?  We all know the French schools are impossible to get in, because they only accept a few dozen students a year, plus they teach about artificial/synthetic perfume materials. The classic techniques of those schools are brought into the light by my course, except I teach only natural materials. The course launched in 2007, and is imitated, but never duplicated ;-) The Natural Perfumery Institute's course was the first natural perfumery course to offer: - Instructions on how to properly dilute materials for evaluation and making accords.  This method save money and allows the student to smell the aromatic "opened up". If you're blending with undiluted materials - stop! ...

Tincture a perfume material that's a purèe?!  Yes, that's the advice I saw someone give on Facebook.  Dear Readers, there are lots of people on the Internet putting themselves forth as an expert, and they're making it up as they go.  I teach my students, and I've been sharing with the general public for years, the proper way to make tinctures.  No, I won't advise you to tincture applesauce to get an apple-scented alcohol ;-) I'll be here until 10 PM ET today to answer all your perfumery questions, as I have been for several years.  This is a purèe-free zone. snark off/ An "artsy" photo I made of a deerstongue tincture I made in 2005, with the window screen forming the pattern in the background.  Isn't that color beautiful?  Deerstongue is a vanilla/coumarinic-scented herb and I love it.

I purchased this bottle from England.  The quality of the crystal is impeccable, and the pewter is fancifully beautiful, with dragonfly and botanical figures.  I believe the bottle would hold two ounces (60mls) of perfume. The bottle is clear crystal, but my camera's lighting makes it look grey here. Anyone have an idea how old it is? I admit I'm embarrassed but at the moment, I can't remember the industry term for a bottle such as this, purchased to be filled with perfume, unlike a perfume you purchase from me or a perfume house that of which is a commercial bottle. Here's a nice reference to differenty types of bottles.  I'll take some time and try to refresh my memory.  Can anyone assist with the name of this type of bottle?

Do you make candles with essential oils and absolutes?  Do you wish they had more 'throw'?  (For those who don't know the term 'throw' - it's the amount of distance the candle scent is detected after the wick is lit.) This blog is a bit about me and what I believe is a great discovery in room fragrance products made by natural perfumers - but it's really more about You . And how to make a wonderful, highly-scented room fragrance product that may delegate your scented candles to a secondary place in your product line. I'll bet your #1 complaint is that there is little 'throw'.  I've heard this lament for decades, since the first aromatherapy candles appeared on the market.  Most aromatherapists instead turn to aromatherapy 'oil burners' to scent a room. My problem with using them is that despite how much water your put in the reservoir to 'float' the oils, they tended to scorch the oils if you didn't watch them ca...

Are synthetic fragrances harmful?      October 2012   Sep. 28, 2012 Jessica Rubino  |  Delicious Living http://newhope360.com/beauty-cosmetics-amp-skincare/are-synthetic-fragrances-harmful Are synthetic fragrances harmful? 4 tips for buying natural fragrances Are synthetic fragrances bad for my health? What's the difference between a natural and synthetic fragrance? How do I know if a fragrance is truly natural? Your top questions answered, plus shopping tips.  When made from plant-based ingredients such as herbs, flowers, spices, and essential oils , fragrances don’t just make you smell good—they can make you feel good, too. Unfortunately, most conventional sweet- smelling ingredients today are synthetic. After the invention of synthetic fragrances in the 1800s, perfumers quickly replaced natural, plant-based ingredients with artificial ones. Now, fragrances can contain any number of 3,100 natural or synthetic in...

This photo was taken the weekend my mother had major surgery.  Though sniffing the beauty of the peach-scented frangipani (plumeria) I can see the sorrow and worry I'm trying to hide. Flowers are a blessing and a comfort in times of pain, that is why we bring them to people who are ill. My entire garden is a comfort zone, full of scent and beauty. I have some huge cuttings of this particular frangipani and I'll give them free to anyone in Miami.  Just email me and we'll make arrangements. Part of the front garden next to the walkway was giving me a lot of problems with weeds.  Despite my new landscape guy insisting on weed killer spray, I persisted in using a scuffle hoe.  It took two months to finally get the persistant nutgrass to give up, but it has!  I have some fragrant plants and pretty annuals that will go in there soon. Fall is the time of renewal in Miami, when most of North America is harvesting and and putting their garden to sleep, we're a...

                                                    When the senior-year literary magazines for my high school were distributed, I was surprised that a botanical pen-and-ink drawing of mine was chosen for the table of contents artwork, and was on mirror pages.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I had an intuitive grasp of plants growing up from the soil.  No wonder I became a botanist and landscape architect, and given that my subject was the rose in this drawing, a natural perfumer. If you have any questions for my weekly forum, please post them before 10 PM ET, USA.

I snapped this wooden perfume case up, even though it looked a little rough, and one bottle was missing.  Sadly, another bottle broke during transit, and only four of the original six remain.  The bottles stoppers are fused into the bottle very strongly, and I'll think about trying to get them open.  Only a tiny scent, very oxidized, remains where the stoppers meet the bottles, nothing I can identify. Do you love antique perfumery items?  I sure do, and I like sharing them with you.  It's been a long, lazy summer, and now I am going to revive my Vintage Vault series.  I have LOTS to share with you! Spare, elegant gilt work on the top of the box The silver mirror is tarnished.  I wonder what faces gazed into it as the lady (ladies) who owned it dabbed on the perfumes? Lovely that the key survived all these years, along with four of the original bottles.

Good morning everyone, as we move into Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring in the Southern.  Here in Miami, I can both plant and harvest at this time of year, so maybe we're in the Middle Hemisphere? The Ask the Perfumer forum is open, so please ask any questions you have about perfumery, the emphasis on the natural aspect of our art. Here's a photo of some of the unmolded fragrant wax melts from my new line of ambient scents, Room Candy. I'll be blogging about them later this week.  If you're a blogger and would like a sample to review, write me via my website http://anyasgarden.com

A message from Anya McCoy, Head Instructor and Director of the Natural Perfumery Institute:   In 2007, after five years of hosting the largest and oldest Yahoo  group for natural perfumers , and at the request of many members, I created a formal curriculum for online perfumery study. Since then, students from around the world have enjoyed a professional education in perfumery without having to leave the comforts of their home.   To celebrate the Fifth year of the perfumery education method and materials I developed, new home study students of the Natural Perfumery Institute who purchase the textbook will be able to deduct 10% off the cost of the book until Sept. 23, 2012 at midnight. For students outside the USA, this $50 savings off the $500 price, equals getting the Express mail shipping for free.   Online interactive students will receive $130 refunded, a 5% savings on their $2600 tuition (not applicable to payment plan students). There are no coupons...

Not the prettiest picture I've ever posted, but working with oakmoss isn't pretty! On the left you can see the slurry oozing out of the bottle neck a bit - and on the right, the primordial reception pool.  Plop, plop. Lisa asked a question in my weekly "Ask the Perfumer" forum yesterday, and it is timely.  She asked about the safety of oakmoss, a known sensitizer. I need some more for my Outlaw fragrance wax melts in my Room Candy line.  They contain oakmoss, bergamot and lime - yummy chypre!  I am also getting my assistant ready to pour a lot of kits for my students and customers, and bottle of 3% oakmoss dilution is included. Anyway, I'm sensitized to it, but I know people who could bathe in the stuff and not have a problem. Besides the sensitization, my problem with oakmoss and other thick aromatics, even those that don't cause a problem for me, and that is that suppliers still bottle them in narrow-necked bottles that require a lot of warming to sem...

If you have any natural perfume-related questions, I'll be here until 10PM tonight to answer them for you.  Tincturing? Sourcing? Packaging - oh, the dreaded packaging problems!  What's on your mind?

I'll be here until 10 PM ET to answer your questions about perfumery, and in the meantime read my update, below, including a giveaway of my latest launch, Patchouli Silk ! This has been my laziest summer ever!  Now it's time to get seriously back into the perfumery world.  I'll have Prima Rosa , a perfume, to release in October.  I may only release one perfume a year, because that pace, to me, seems "right".  I will be releasing Room Candy , my line of 100% organic and natural room fragrance wax tarts, later this month, as soon as the packaging is finalized.  The response from my newsletter readers who received samples of Room Candy has been very positive, with kudos for "long lasting", "the scent fills my big house" and "love the fragrance". Now, for a surprise - luxury bar soap!  The first soap launched will be Patchouli Silk .  100% natural, exceptionally creamy and yes, it feels silky and will leave your skin silky - and perf...