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When Robert Tisserand sends you a lovely card - stop and smell the Wild Rose and Lemon Leaf!

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How Anya got her Aromatherapy and Natural Perfumery Groove on With Someone She's Admired for Almost 30 Years. Ok, that's just silly, but read on for a nice, sweet story about how I got to work with an industry icon I've admired for decades . (blogged about earlier today on the Guild blog, but here is the personal story behind it all.) In 1979 I was happily stunned, amazed and excited to find that there was a book that claimed that the beautiful essential oils I loved had the power to heal the mind, body and spirit. Robert Tisserand was the author of that book, and I collected every one of his books since then, and I regarded him as the #1 aromatherapist in the world in both scholarly endeavors and as spokesman for responsible aromatherapy. Fast forward to 2006. Robert found his way to the natural perfumery group I host on Yahoo and joined in the lively discussion. We corresponded behind the scenes and a true bond was formed. In early 2007 I agreed to join Tony Burfield of

Egyptologist and Perfumer David Mark - Expert Q&A Guest in Anya's Garden Natural Perfumery online Class

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On Saturday, May 3, 2008 Egyptologist and Perfumer David Mark of Chicago's Renaissance Aromas was the guest for the Expert Q&A session (formerly known as Guest Lecturer series) in Anya's Garden online Natural Perfumery class . Originally scheduled for the Spring 2008 students' Module, due to popular demand the Fall 2007 students joined the Q&A, resulting in a student audience of 45 for Marks' session. David had just returned from an Egyptologist conference in Seattle, so he was brimming with news and scholarly insight to share with the students. The subject was the legendary and mysterious Egyptian incense known as kyphi. David has studied kyphi for many years, and he explained that there is no one kyphi recipe - the use of kyphi spanned many dynasties and changed according to new ingredients being introduced to Egypt by trade route introductions. Additionally, it is impossible today to recreate some of the kyphi recipes, since the ancient Egyptian language is n

Cropwatch Asks for your Input

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STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008 CROPWATCH AT THE CROSSROADS - looking for your feedback note: if you wish to contact Tony about the questions below, you can write him at info@cropwatch.org After 4 or 5 years of continuous activity, Cropwatch has some choices to make. Do we go on the way that we have been, snapping at the ankles of those who run & regulate the aroma industry so badly, or should we 'old dogs' learn some new tricks? Cropwatch s upporters, and organisations sympathetic to our aims, regularly offer us donations and advise us of potential sources of grants, to which we have always said 'no thanks, we're non-financed'. Our current thinking is that this might be a mistake, since we are limiting our potential effectiveness. . We are certainly not asking everyone for money, but we are asking you to help us with some feedback on how a financial input could potentially help the aroma world to become a better & fairer place, so please mail

David Mark to Speak in Private Perfume Class on Ancient Egyptian incense Kyphi and its fragrance properties

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David Mark of Renaissance Aromas (website TBA shortly) and an Associate Member of the Natural Perfumers Guild will be a Guest Expert in my online Natural Perfumery class . David's topic will be Kyphi incense, the ancient Egyptian blend whose mystique and legend persists to this day. There are many "recipes" for Kyphi and for the Module 1 History section of my class, I give the students the option of choosing an ancient perfume or scent formula to recreate so that they get a hint of what was fashionable then. Overwhelmingly, they choose Kyphi. David has conducted scholarly research into Kyphi and graciously offered his services to me. I'm very thankful for his generosity, as it will give my students access to a great repository of information. Here's how I broke the good news of David's schedule being firmed up in our class: Well, guess why David can't meet with us this Saturday? Because he's going to a fabulous Egyptologist convention in Seattle! How

Patchouli in Rwanda - perfume industry safety net? Economic safety net for Rwandans?

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The price of patchouli essential oil has skyrocketed in the past year. An crucial and historic scent in perfume and body care products, various issues have conspired to create a shortage and suppliers and formulators are scrambling to control cost increases in their products. I know I'm an eternal optimist. I also have a strong background in ethnobotany, economic botany and agriculture. I specialized in tropical and subtropical agriculture in my studies, keep this in mind when you check out the You Tube link, below. In 2005, a team from Haiti met with the President of Rwanda to propose a Patchouli project. There is a series of five videos on You Tube recording the process of establishing a patchouli essential oil industry in Rwanda by the movers and shakers of this project. The videos are educational and uplifting. I am very aware of he political and military turmoils of Rwanda, having several close friends who traveled there in the aftermath and are helping with the rebuilding. Re

Bob Marley's Mother, Cedella has passed

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This photo was taken at the press party for the 10th Annual Bob Marley Caribbean Music Festival. It was the last year I worked as the PR person for the event, as perfumery business took more and more of my time. You can read more about Mother B here on Myspace I wish I knew how to work Myspace to leave a message, but I don't so I'll write here. Mother B was like a second mother to me and probably thousands of others. She spread her joy and wisdom and kindness to every soul she met, and she will be sorely missed. As I call friends today to tell them the news, and even as I told my own mother, I choked up and couldn't speak. I put a page up 10 years ago that hosts a photo I took of Mother B the night I met her in 1996. It remains one of my favorite photos of her, regal on her birthday throne, radiating her love out. Peace and joy and rest Mother B, now you are in Zion with Bob and Anthony.

I love lavender - and new study says you should, too

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One of my earliest scent memories is the fresh, uplifting scent of lavender soap. I know I liberally splashed on Yardley English Lavender cologne from about age 10 or so, when I got my first bottle. Always floral, herbal and clean, it's always has made me smile. It's one of the few "unisex" scents meaning men and women use it with no thought associations that it is more relevant to the opposite sex. For example, many men may balk at wearing a rose scent, but not lavender. I have about 20 different extracts of lavender in my perfumer's organ: organic essential oils from South Africa, England and the United States; conventioanlly farmed essential oils from all over the world; high altitude from the French Alps; absolutes and concretes from several different countries and several different species other than the most common one I'm discussing here, which is Lavandula vera aka L. angustifolia. I dilute them out to evaluate them, and I find one emotional thread run

Defining the word Natural

I recently attended an online webinar that addressed natural flavors and fragrances and one of the topics discussed was " developing realistic definitions of what is, and is not, natural ." First, as a lead-in they talked about the various ins and outs of the word "organic", how it is defined and the legislation that governs that word. The various agencies that have a piece the action as far as defining "organic" is large, varied, international, and (typically) non-binding. I'm deliberately vague because that definition is a related, but different subject from what I wish to cover here. The term organic seems rather fluid at times to me, and to write about it would keep me blogging for days, so I will pass on that effort. The word natural in the flavor and fragrance industries is unregulated at this time. That means that any company, for any reason, can label a product natural in an effort to market to the yoga moms and other marketing demographic that

Perfume Inside a Poem - Transport

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Click the image to enlarge it for viewing My entry in the Memory and Desire project was posted last night . I'll wait a few days to see the comments and answer them here, as that forum is just for reader comments, not perfumer-answers-the-readers comments. Thanks so much to Heather, she's a peach for all the effort and intellect she put into this monumental Internet project.

IFRA moves towards forcing perfumers to abandon citrus oils

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Below is a letter I just received from Tony Burfield of Cropwatch. Feel free to redistribute it. Dear All, Citrus Oils: the Situation Cropwatch is directly opposing IFRA's Risk Assessment on furanocoumarins, and its proposals to severely restrict citrus oil usage in cosmetics products. Unfortunately, because of the lack of transparency exercised by RIFM, IFRA and the EU Commission over this matter. it means that unless you, dear reader, belong to a professional association, probably won't get to see IFRA's information letter IL799 on the topic, or the Risk Assessment that the EU Commission was given in late 2007 by IFRA. IFRA have apparently suggested a cosy future chat with the EU Commissioners, some unnamed industry moguls and fragrance consumers (presumably IFRA or RIFM members) to 'explain matters' - presumably code for agreeing their highly restrictive citrus oil proposals (see below) with the EU regulator. Nobody with an independent or contrary opinion is to

Spring has Sprung Jasmine-liciously in Miami

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My gigantic plant of Jasmine sambac Duke of Tuscany is starting to bloom. This sambac is slow growing and has huge - for jasmine huge I should qualify - flowers about the size of a tiny carnation, full of tightly-packed petals and the most tender non-indolic jasmine scent ever. I just adore it! I just plucked the first blossom of the season from it today, and left one on for the birds and lizards to enjoy ;-) It's full of about-to-open buds, and I hope I have some to bring to the lunch tomorrow of the Miami NP crew so they can enjoy it. I coined the organoleptic term "tender" and I have to add that to the Aromatic Lexicon on the evaluation sheet my students use. So many of the home-grown jasmines I have become "tender" upon tincturing. Sigh. They're just so lovely, tender, powdery, soft, sweet and delicious. April and May are the big jasmine blooming months here in Miami, not August and September as they are in India and France. Don't know the reason fo

Will that be an anthracitic or a bituminous Eau de Parfum you desire?

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Click on the photo for enlarged view Long before the marketers and perfume houses got savvy, a display spilled the coal, er, the beans: the source of many of the synthetic aromachemicals used in perfumery since the 1880's were made from coal or petroleum sources. The lady in the photo seems to be raising a glass lid over a container that holds scent strips of the coal-derived scent, and the glass jars on top hold the natural materials of fragrance. I can identify rose and jasmine in the jars. Not much else to say about this, just that I do prefer the complexity, richness, sustainability and beauty of natural aromatics.

Natural Perfumers Guild Perfumer Dominique Dubrana Lauded by Luca Turin

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Luca Turin, perfume critic, author of the soon-to-be-released The Perfume Guide just wrote about a custom perfume he had made by Dominique Dubrana of Italy . We in the Guild know him as a Professional Perfumer who prefers to be called Salaam, a longtime member of my Yahoo Natural Perfumery group and Guild member. His keen insights and helpful comments offered in our private group always have a ring of experience and clarity, and he gets to the soul of the matter with ease. Turin found it refreshing that Salaam did not require a questionnaire about astrological sign, personality traits, or other psychological items that are so often the tool of the custom perfumer. Instead Turin got to choose the raw materials from a list. The resultant perfume has increased the openly-skeptical Turin's opinion of what a perfume made only with natural ingredients can be - and we must thank Salaam for that. Additionally, Salaam is the only natural perfumer included in Turin's new book, anothe

Cropwatch Claims Victory and Presents Good Science

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More Debunking of Bad Science from Tony Burfield of Cropwatch I've known Natural Perfumers Guild member Tony Burfield of Cropwatch for about ten years now. We "met" in online forums on aromatherapy, where we, and many others were real "safety nuts." All this precedes the recent upsurge in interest in niche perfumers creating fragrances in their (often unregulated) studios. At the time we were alarmed at the new folks flooding into the aromatherapy world, enticed with, and in love with, natural aromatics. Often they had no idea of maximum allowable usage rates and surrounding safety issues. Natural aromatics do have some risk factors, depending upon the chemical composition of the aromatic and the rate at which it is used in a blend. Some are fairly innocuous. Others can permanantly scar you with Berloque dermatitis markings, which look like dark, blotchy birthmarks. Others may cause blistering rashes, itching and lifelong sensitization. A few cause allergenic re

The Natural Perfumers Guild welcomes Albert Vieille as a Supplier

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There are several French suppliers with pristine reputations for supplying pure and natural aromatics, and fewer still that have a history of continuous manufacturing since the 1920's. Albert Vieille is such a company, and the people that work there are a delight and also very helpful, so it is a pleasure to work with them. The Natural Perfumers Guild is pleased to welcome Albert Vieille onboard as a Supplier member, and this membership is one more step forward as we join forces with those we admire and respect in the natural aromatics field.

Kaffir and Temple perfumes from Anya's Garden reviewed on NowSmellThis blog

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I completely missed these reviews when I was offline due to eye strain. Thank you Robin, the Queen of NowSmellThis for letting me know about Kevin's reviews .

The Natural Perfumers Guild is Honored to Welcome Three Industry Icons as Associate Members

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The Fragrance Foundation + Mindy Green + John Steele The Natural Perfumers Guild is proud to announce the addition of three new Associates to our membership roster. Two of the new members, John Steele of Lifetree Aromatix and Mindy Green of Green Scentsations are noted aromatherapists, authors and educators. Neither has a website, so the links above are to websites that summarize their illustrious careers. Trained in aromatherapy, John has taught natural perfumery, and Mindy wrote a seminal book on Natural Perfumery . Mindy is also the Clinical Aromatherapist for the Aveda Corporation , a founding member of the American Herbalists Guild and associate editor of the American Herb Association Newsletter Their careers are devoted to natural aromatics, writing, education and promoting the industry, and we are honored to have them on board. The Fragrance Foundation is the educational arm of the international fragrance industry. The Guild, just one-and-a-half yea

Separated at birth? Two natural perfumers with a huge link

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Left box and bottle: Ascent Natural Perfumes Right side: Janita Haan Perfumes In August 2007 the Guild welcomed natural perfumer Rohanna Goodwin Smith of Ascent Natural Perfumes onboard as a Professional Perfumer. I noted that the similarities between her packaging, down to the size and shape of the box, the color of the box, the shape of the perfume bottles and the delicate, sophisticated style of her perfume was nearly identical to that of Janita Haan, another Guild Professional Perfumer, who joined June 2007. My photograph here does not show the color similarity so well. I think the flash brought out too much red in Janita's box, the one on the right with the larger bottle. The gold drops you see behind the bottle are from the sealing wax. When anyone joins the Guild they submit some items to me for the Guild Library, so I've seen a lot of packaging, but never anything like the similarities between these two perfumers. When Janita saw the name of Rohanna's company, her

Great reading on Cropwatch

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Illustration for the article chosen for no reason other than its beauty - a bunch of blue lotus flowers. Bravo to Tony Burfield for waging a tough negotiation and getting two great copyrighted articles in this month's Cropwatch newsletter.  Downlload the .pdfs, such as the one that is a very funny speech by Kim Kleimann, President of Berje Inc. titled "What you'll never hear from your boss." Mr. Kleimann pulls no punches, but there are lots of punchlines - in the form of very comical takes on the state of the raw materials industry. No one is sacrosanct - REACH, buyers, Scandanavian dermatologists (what a back story that is to the current state of regulation!), IFRA, sellers, anybody. I like Mr. Kleimann - he's a real straight shooter. The WFFC that this speech was presented at is the Women in Fragrance and Flavor Commerce group in New Jersey. Robert Tisserand , noted aromatherapist and I'm proud to say a member of the Natural Perfumers Guild , gave a br

Cropwatch Challenges SCCP (Scientific Committee on Consumer Products) Stance on Tea Tree Oil

The Natural Perfumers Guild has partnered with Cropwatch in the past, most notably in early 2007, when the Guild joined them in challenging the adoption of IFRA's (International Fragrance Association) 40th Amendment without public review or input. We further support Cropwatch in their ongoing efforts to bring an outside evaluation as to the practices related to the legislative control of natural aromatics as they are used in the body care, aromatherapy and perfumery industries. The information presented below is further documentation of Cropwatch's ongoing efforts: CROPWATCH STATEMENT ON TEA TREE OIL Jan 2008. Pre-amble. The SCCP has the subject of tea tree oil (TTO) on its agenda for its Brussels meeting of 22.01.08. You will remember that allegations about the instability & skin safety of tea tree oil, as well as complaints about gaps in the toxicity data, were previously made in the flawed SCCP Opinion SCCP/0843/04, to which the Australian Te