Posts

The Obama Natural Perfume project moves forward

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Members of the Yahoo Natural Perfumery group are moving forward with the plans I wrote about earlier. We wish to create a series of perfumes in honor of the election of Barack Obama, unifying the perfumes under one theme yet to be decided. The project is less than a week old, and many ideas have been submitted on the NP group, but we felt to be able to sort through participating members ideas and lists, we needed to create a smaller group for the project. Above is the photo just uploaded to the new group's webpage, and below is the draft description: This is a cooperative worldwide project of natural perfumers wishing to create a perfume honoring the spirit of unity and progressiveness we feel because of the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. We are going to create a list of natural aromatics that have relevance to the new President: oils from Africa, Indonesia, America and perhaps all the continents will be considered. We will refine the list and each per

On the critically endangered list: Rose de Mai from Grasse, one of the most beloved perfume ingredients

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Rosa centifolia harvested in Grasse, France Natural perfumer Haley Alexander van Oosten visited the rose fields of Grasse, France for the harvest and reports on some sad, inevitable news in the Huffington Post. She reports that the general public is so used to the scent of fake rose that they choose it in a sniff comparison. The price difference, declining demand and land development pressures may soon make this lovely oil a thing of the past.

Just got my review copy of Roja Dove's book "The Essence of Perfume

This is quite a beautiful book, lots of eye candy which links the mind to the scent candy. I'll be reviewing it soon, but all I can say for now is that I am very happy with it, just glancing through it, as it is a book I know I'll treasure for the photos. Shallow, yes, but eye candy is lovely, isn't it? ;-) I'll post here when the review is up - it will be on Basenotes .

So nice to see my works and methods copied, but please give me credit

When I discovered, a few years ago that Justine Crane, a very ambitious and gregarious perfumer, was happily taking ideas I posted in my Natural Perfumery group on Yahoo and posting them on her Yahoo group (as her own ideas), I contacted her and asked nicely that she credit me. Emails were exchanged, and in a telephone conversation she agreed, but nothing happened, so I let it slide - there are probably tens of thousands of words written by me over the years on the group, and if one person decides that the stuff is just too good to pass up, I decided I have to learn to live with it. In fact, I even sent her an early release of another Primer I did on the IFRA issue regarding regulation of aromatics to show there was no bad blood. After all, isn't it just the idea that knowledge and ideas have to be shared? Unless it's taken and passed off as one's own works with no credit. I wrote previously how Ruth Ruane violated copyright and posted my Primer contents on her blog (since

Celebrating Obama's Election - the Natural Perfumery Group on Yahoo is Blending up a Celebratory Perfume - Naturally!

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The photo that has graced the main page of the Yahoo Natural Perfumery Group for six years The Natural Perfumery Group on Yahoo that I host has a fun project just beginning. Some of us were posting today about how elated we are about Obama's election, and we decided to do something to celebrate - create a perfume in honor of the new era his presidency will usher in. Not sure how many will participate, since we just started posting about it a few hours ago, but I'm sure it will be international in scope, since the members - almost 1700 of them at this time - come from countries all over the globe. Evie - Selkie - posted a deliriously happy note about the election to the group that Adam picked up on, and I said something to the effect that this would be a wonderful extension of our artistic and emotional response to the election if we created a perfume. Here are the suggestions I threw out to get us started: Why don't we turn this into a group project? We could have worldwid

Redesigning my Anya's Garden Perfumes Website

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Anya's Garden Perfumes website due to relaunch with redesign in a few days. The photo above was taken by me two years ago on the spur of the moment with the only flower I could find blooming in my garden that day. It's a clereodendron and it's fragrant, and it's just "right." Paul Kiler, the photographer, cleaned up the photo and brightened it, and I am thankful for his help and his skills (see photo below.) The photo will be the "splash" page for the new website. Click on the photos to see them full size. You know how it is - artists always need to redesign, tweak, reevaluate and just plain fix everything. I was increasingly unhappy with my old website , despite lovely people telling me it was beautiful. It's still up there for now, but over time I have fiddled with the code and just found it blah. My webguy didn't respond to my request (probably sick of the templates I had sent his way, they were too complicated) and I found I had to do it

Vetiver - soil microbes create the scent and create healing properties, too

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Photo of soil microbe Rhizobium beneficially infecting the root of black eyed peas. The swollen nodules are the little "houses" the Rhizobium built by tunneling into the root. The Rhizobium supplies nitrogen to the plant, thus lessening the need for nitrogen fertilizer, cutting down on water pollution and costs . I love looking at the cycle of nature and how it relates to perfumery. Taste and scent are closely related, soil health and plants are a given equation, and how the world of insects and microbes interact with all of the above is fascinating. I have a background of study in agriculture, plant science and economic botany. I took courses in plant physiology, plant ecology, soil science and various other related subjects. It always is a wonder and a delight to read of yet another secret unlocked by plant scientists. The latest bit of information added to our knowledge database involves the symbiotic relationship between soil microbes and the roots of vetiver plants. Veti

Tagged! Surprised there's no perfume by that name

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Lucy of Indie Perfumes has tagged me - it a way to open up the rolodex of perfume bloggers out there. Here's the scoop on how to participate. 1. Link to the person who tagged you. (Lucy, above, in a fantasy pic with me, festooned with birds - why not?) 2. Post the rules on your blog. (here they are) 3. Write six random things about yourself. (below) 4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. (below) 5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog. (makes sense) 6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up. (OK) Six random things about me: 1. I've always wanted to live in an "underground" earthship type house. A Bucky Fuller dome would be second. 2. For as much as I'm in the car, I've never had road rage, and that's saying something in Miami, voted the worst city in the USA for bad drivers. I just shine them on - they have guns! 3. My fingernails and hair grow like they're on steroids - long and lush a

Patchouli Panties

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Photo of patchouli plant in Anya's Garden This is an genderless post, men and women can play patchouli panties/bras/undies/boxers/tighty whities! I've written here before I don't use scented laundry detergent. Think it's unnecessary, plus I try to keep my nose as "clean" as possible from extraneous scents. I keep large folded stacks of cotton washcloths in my bathroom for drying hands. Very sanitary, better than towels. About 10 days ago I had a patchouli spill in my perfumery studio. It was minor (thank goodness, with the price of patchouli, and this was gorgeous aged patchouli) and the spill tray caught it. After I poured the bulk of it back into the bottle, I grabbed one of the washcloths (had it nearby for a reason I forget now) splashed some alcohol on it, and wiped the tray clean. Even though only a teaspoon or so, the cloth reeked. Strong stuff. Tossed it into the hamper. Forgot about it. I wash my undies and washcloths together. Opened the garage door

Perfumer? Body Care Business? Own a Small Business? Oppose the "bailout" proposal for the US. Fight the FDA Globalization Act of 2008!

Vote Down H.R. 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 If you own a small business - and I know this blog is read by a lot of small business owners in the cosmetics and beauty industries - please be aware that the "bailout" bill being proposed by our government can harm your businesses. Donna Maria Coles Johnson of the Indie Beauty Network has blogged about this situation here and I encourage you to go to her site, read the article, and send the letter to your senators and congressional representatives. I have had trouble reaching my representative via email because the site keeps crashing due to high volume, so I called his local and his D.C. office to register my vote against the bill. Act now - this is a very time-sensitive and business-sensitive matter! Fight the FDA Globalization Act of 2008!