Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

In my first semester in college I wrote a paper on organic gardening.  I was studying horticulture and living in Berkeley, so it was a perfect topic.  At 21, I was managing the apartment complex where I lived (don't ask me how I snagged that job, just a bit assertive with the management, I guess) and wanted to research the basics of organic gardening to supplement what I had practiced since childhood. Years later, (again assertive!) I wrote to the editors of Organic Gardening magazine asking why they didn't have any Zone 10 (South Florida) seed testers.  Growing herbs, veggies and flowers in this climate was very different from the other zones I had lived and gardened in, inlcuding California, Oregon, Pennsylvania and New York.  Editor Mike McGrath asked me to be the first Zone 10 tester and I was happily overwhelmed with lots of seeds sent every Spring (wrong time of year!) to test. So, when they interviewed me I was able to explain the switch in seasons we ha...

I'll be here all day, on and off, as it's a great day for planting veggies and flowers according to the moon sign and phase, and a Libra can't help but want to plant under a Libra moon!  The calendulas I planted last week are already up! Now to the subject of perfumery, which is as close to my heart as gardening, I'm happy to answer your questions up until 10 PM tonight. Oh, I almost forgot!  Great news - Due to popular demand, the apprenticeship program of the Guild will begin in early 2013. Join the Guild in Nov and enjoy a 10% discount on the membership fee, and be in the random drawing for prizes in December. Use the code 92347 at http://naturalperfumers.com/

Until Nov. 10th - take 10% off http://perfumeclasses.com/enroll/signup.php Use coupon code E17502DE9B when enrolling. Anya McCoy's Natural Perfumer Institute students enjoy lifetime enrollment in a student discussion forum, lifetime access to updates to the course, experienced adjunct faculty to assist in answering questions. The course includes a 350-page comprehensive textbook that includes numerous charts, forms, color illustrations, an extensive glossary and links to suppliers of alcohol, supplies and raw materials worldwide.

Perfumers Relief Aid - for those in our community affected by Superstorm Sandy: If you could share this  it would be appreciated.  If you have alternate ideas on how to publicize this effort, I would welcome hearing from you. The information in this email is also at http://naturalperfumers.com/pra.php Hello Everyone in the perfume and aromatherapy community: Do you know a perfumer who lives in the area devastated by Superstorm Sandy?  If you are in contact with them, let them know about this.  We're collecting their names and addresses to try to bring them some joy in the upcoming holiday season. I've been suffering from PTSD since Sandy hit the Northeast.  As a repeat hurricane 'victim' living in Miami, I identified and empathized with those whose lives are disrupted by that monster storm.  I felt helpless, other than donating to the Red Cross.  I had a brainstorm this morning after reading a New York perfumers account of her studio being destroyed ...

Added:  Good luck to everyone in the draw! (See below in the comments section) Elena of Perfume Shrine blog reviewed my Room Candy, and she is hosting a draw over there - so leave a comment on her blog and you will double your chances of winning!  http://www.perfumeshrine.blogspot.gr/2012/11/home-for-holidays-home-fragrance-project.html xoxo Anya As the holiday season approaches, and homes and apartments are closed up against the cold weather, thoughts turn to making the indoors fragrant - naturally.  Home for the Holidays is the Natural Perfumers Guild's answer to indoor natural fragrance for this time of year. Call them room fragrance, ambient fragrance, the terms mean one thing - make your place smell nice! Flora, the Guild muse, is bundled up with boots and a sweater to ward off the chilly weather.  When she goes inside, she can enjoy the Home for the Hoilday scents.  Ambient fragrances include scented candles, potpourri, incense, room sprays, reed...

Ask the Perfumer for today is cancelled on account of gardening :-) There's lots to be done to prepare for the lunar-based planting days ahead. In Miami, our crops grow best between October and April, so I have lots and lots of veggies and pretty flowers to plant.  See you next week! Google translated this little Norwegian ditty as:  Tink leaves havens and tomatoes cucumbers and salads are solar comrades.  I have an email into a Norwegian friend to get an alternate.  The image is just so cute!  Yes, I do sing a little to my plants.  I have a riff on Figaro that is to the tuberose ;-) Add caption A little Anya's Garden Perfumes trivia: when I started Anya's Garden Perfumes in 2006, I originally used seed packets for my samples.  Here is the label I made for the sample/seed packets.

Someone asked me a question on one of my Facebook page, and since I often get asked similar questions, I thought I'd post my answer here and refer folks back to this blog post in the future. Question:     Hey you're probably the right person to ask! I ground some coriander by hand last night for a recipe. it went through several scenty stages, beginning with an almost minty/herbal scent and ending up smelling very much like bergamot. Are the two related? Answer: Coriander is in the Umbelliferae family, and bergamot (mint) is in the Labiatae. Unless you mean bergamot citrus, which smells like the bergamot mint - confused? I'm going to make you a little more confused, but I bet you learn something that'll stick with you, even though it doesn't answer your question directly: 1. All aromatics are made up of levels of scents, much like the top/middle/base notes we're familiar with with perfumes. 2. I'll admit I don't know the name of ...

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...