Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

Second Edmond Routnitska article available for download at Anya's Garden - "Perfumery and Marketing" Written in 1970, "Perfumery and Marketing" is the second in a series of six articles by Edmond Roudnitska that are being made available for the first time on the Internet. Michel Roudnitska, Edmond's son and a renowned perfumer in his own right , was kind enough to share them with me when I inquired about the availability of English language writings by his father. The articles are available in PDF format, which requires Adobe Reader. Please feel free to spread the word about these treasures, because for so long those of us who only speak English, or have English as a second language, but not French as a first, have been unable to take in his wisdom. I have scanned the articles to the best of my ability while still attempting to minimize their size for those with slow downloads. I have found that with the two articles so far that even though they are a big

Here's a quick, fun giveaway - sign up for the Anya's Garden Perfumes newsletter between now and Sunday October 25, 2009 9PM EST USA and you'll be in the random drawing to receive a 3.5ml pure perfume from my line. If you are already a newsletter subscriber, I'll have a random giveaway next week for you folks, and I think a full set of perfume samples with my new labeling will be perfect! Just go to http://anyasgarden.com/signup.htm to subscribe. Please know I don't send many newsletters out, so you will have no worry there, and I often have newsletter-only offers and giveaways, so it's a great deal for you ;-)

Edmond Roudnitska image courtesy Art et Parfum site Many English-only-speaking perfumers have commented on various internet forums that they are frustrated by the fact that they cannot read the written works of famed French perfumer Edmond Roudnitska. His books, L'Intimit du Parfum and L'Esthtique en Question and L'Esthtique du Parfum, when they are available, are only in French. An essay in English was published in the 1974 book Perfume by William I. Kaufman, and that is where I first became acquainted with his writing, and I have reread that essay many, many times over the years. A chapter from Perfumes: Art, Science and Technology edited by Lamparsky and Muller is available via Google books but I was very frustrated at only able to see a portion of a page at a time, so I gave up trying to read it. Reading off a screen really strains my eyes. So I wrote to Edmond's son, Michel, a renowned perfumer in his own right, asking if he knew of any English language articles b

This is the image I have used for Temple Perfume since its release I haven't released new perfumes for over a year now. I believe each perfume should be a work of art, not just an exercise in fragrance creation. I create fragrances all the time, accords both vertical and horizontal, and I've not a notion to release them. Every perfume I release must have a definite purpose of expression and intent. When I recently sent out my two latest perfumes, MoonDance and StarFlower, to media reviewers, I also sent samples of m previous creations to reviewers who were not familiar with my line. Elena Knezhevich of Fragrantica fell in love with Temple and reviewed it today . Temple is the first, and so far, the only aromatherapy perfume I created. At the time, with hurricanes, wildfires, illnesses, wars, earthquakes and so many other shocks upon the human race seemingly coming at us at record speed, I wanted to draw upon my knowledge of specific scents that could calm and center a person, a

All gardenias are not the same. Modern natural perfumery has a growing selection of raw materials from different species and varieties of gardenia to choose from, and we're all the better because of it. This image typifies the gardenia perfume fragrance we all want: lush, sensual, wanton, spicy, buttery, floral, intoxicating, over-the-top and proud of it. The creamy, green, almost-obnoxious scent of the full-blown gardenia that is common in gardens, the cultivated Gardenia jasminoides aka Gardenia augusta: Gardenia jasminoides aka Gardenia augusta In the early-to-mid part of the 20th century, there were a few who produced gardenia absolute form the G. jasminoides/augusta. Story has it that the advent of World War II and the discovery of synthetic aromachemicals that mimicked the scent of gardenia put an end to the natural gardenia absolute. In the early 21st century, with the rise of natural perfumery, the demand for a gardenia absolute arose again. I am enfleuraging gardenias, and

MoonDance - an Evolutionary Style Perfume StarFlower - a Morphing Style Perfume I recently-launched StarFlower and MoonDance, two fragrances that were designed in two very different ways. There is a historic perfume style that is classic: evolution. Most traditional perfumery schools and textbooks teach that a perfume should evolve smoothly, transiting from top to base notes, with a heart that melds them together. My MoonDance perfume is blended in that manner, and as one reviewer wrote me privately "is very subtle in the changes." That is the exact effect I was looking for. The lovely, fragrant MoonFlower (not to be confused with MoonDance!) slowly unfolds in an evolution that is subtle and beautiful. The tiny bud slowly opens to reveal a larger version of itself, color intact, form barely changed over time. The pointed petal tips, arranged in a rounded, clock-like fashion, softly blend into the overall form of the fully-emerged flower. There is an innate, sophisticated b

Anya's Garden Perfume Sampling Suggestion List I created a new card that I include when mailing out samples of my perfume. Realizing that a whiff of Fairchild could overwhelm the nose if the next whiff was a delicate perfume like Pan, I decided to create the card to guide my customers through a 'vertical flight' of scent intensity. Not saying Pan perfume is weak - it's not at all. It's cozy and musky and a cult favorite. It's longlasting and extremely wearable, too. It's just that on a scent intensity scale of 1 to 5, it's a 3 and Fairchild is a 4. Definitely a 4, bordering on a 5, which I reserve for Kaffir and StarFlower. The perfumistas on the Perfume of Life forum are chatting in a thread that was started today that touches upon this, comparing wine descriptives to perfume terms, so I joined in with the intensity factor, which I feel is very important. It's good to keep this in mind if you're visiting a perfume counter and have an array of p

MoonDance Perfume Launched October 5, 2009 to celebrate Anya McCoy's birthday and the next "perfume as art reflecting life" phase of Anya's Garden Perfumes Cool, sophisticated romantic love, as you slowly dance under the full moon, and a sweet and long-forgotten memory of eternity emerges from MoonDance . Sweet violet flowers, a touch of mint, sulty tuberose and sambac and the iconic accord of rose and apple-scented chamomile softly radiate over a woody, sultry base. Top notes: American Violet Flower Isolate, Indian Water Mint Middle notes: French Tuberose, Chinese Jasmine Sambac, French Rose de Mai, American Chamomile Base notes: Carolina Ambergris, Haitian Sandalwood, Sustainable White Sandalwood, South African Hyrax MoonDance is now my signature scent. I originally conceived this perfume at the end of 2007, and thought I'd release it in 2008, along with StarFlower. They're both homages to tuberose, that heady, swoon-inducing and sensual flower from Mexi

StarFlower Perfume and EdP Fragrances Launched by Anya's Garden Perfumes: An Homage to Mexican aromatics The tuberose flower has always captivated me. When nighttime comes, and the fragrance billows out into the night air, few can remain stoic in its presence. The alluring beauty of the strong, spicy scent can draw people to it like moths to a flame. A native of Mexico, the tuberose has spread across the world, thriving in many climates, from the tropics to the coldest termperate zones, so many know its beauty. In Mexico, they also know its flavor, because they have used it in sweet treats for recorded history. I first became aware of its use in ice cream from an 18th Century book Encarnación's Kitchen: Mexican Recipes from Nineteenth-Century California, and further research showed its use in other sweet desserts. My perfume musings got me to thinking, well, let's see how it would pair with vanilla and chocolate, two other tasty and fragrant offerings from Mexico. All I can

Allured Business Media offering 20% discount until Dec. 31, 2009 If you are a perfumer, flavorist, perfumista, spa owner, formulator of body care products, in the fragrance field or any related industry, you'll be happy to know that Natural Perfumers Guild member Allured Business Media, a leading source of publications, monographs, CDs and other educational and industrial materials for the industry is once again offering a great discount to readers of this blog. However, please feel free to spread the word about the discounts to other websites, as this great deal is also meant to reach the bigger internet audience. Now through December 31, 2009, you can get 20% off any book by using the code Anya20 at checkout. Your discount won't show up until you click through the checkout process. Just click here to see the wealth of reading materials offered in this special deal. Hope you have some great publications in your hands soon, thanks to them!

Trademark squatters over common words are so out of control. A few years ago, I was threatened by Bond No. 9 owner Laurice Rahme's attorneys because I named one of my perfumes Riverside, and she claimed control over the name Riverside in fragrance due to her Riverside Drive. I simply changed the name to RiverCali. Then another perfumer got heat from the same attorneys over the use of the word "Peace" in a perfume, because again, Rahme claimed the word was hers alone to use. If you google Anya's Garden, Rahme, trademark, you'll find many bloggers covered this issue. I didn't have the money or inclination to fight Rahme, but now the squatters fight is getting lots of press and money thrown at it. Two folks with lots of money are going to battle , and the squatter lost the first round. Who in the heck thinks its reasonable to squat on the word "nude"? I have termed the word "squatter" for the omnivorous trademarker who, like those who squat

New Lilac Flower CO2 too faint and too short-lived - but let's keep hoping! I was very excited to be offered a sample of an ambitious extraction that could have rocked the natural perfumery world - a CO2 form of lilac flowers. The only lilac flower scent in perfumery is synthetic, and many of us long for the ethereal, green sweet tangy floral note on our perfume organ. The CO2 is a pale yellow wax, and at first sniff out of the bottle, I was pleasantly surprised - true lilac scent! No indolic undernotes, either, showing that the flowers had been harvested and quickly extracted before the musky, rank indoles could develop. I invited a student over for the formal organoleptic evaluation. We used the sheets I designed for my online perfumery course, and we sat down with high hopes. She wasn't very familiar with lilacs, coming from a part of the country where they don't grow, so I knew this would be interesting! First we smeared a little bit of the wax on the broad end of the s

Artisan Perfumery or Being Led by the Nose by Alec Lawless I'm on vacation, so this won't be a long review, but I just had to get the word out on Alec Lawless' new book, Artisan Perfumery or Being Led by the Nose . The title should give a hint of his humorous approach to the subject of artisan perfumery, and he is consistent throughout the book with his sly wink at the industry, of which he's been a part of for over twenty years. The co-owner of Aqua-Oleum , along with his ex-wife, famed aromatherapy author Julia Lawless, Alec knows where the greatest aromatics are to be found, either in essential oil, concrete or absolute form, and after years of playing with the essences, began blending. He has a wonderfully relevant background in wine appreciation, and some of his observations on scent and perception, working in his love of sensory and psychology topics, are eye - and nose - openers. Lest I forget, the book's cover, a small piece of an original artwork he also s

Omumbiri resin The Yahoo Natural Perfumery Group I host is a diverse, huge collection of lovers of natural aromatics from around the world. Recently, a member from South Africa wrote about a resin that is collected by the women of the Himba tribe of Namibia that shows promise in perfumery. The Himba collect the resin of Commiphora wildii - common name Omumbibi - to make body perfumes for themselves from this lovely fragrance material. It's related to myrrh, but has a lighter, fresher scent. The Himba mix the resin with fat, a process we can equate with an unguent, much like those known in ancient Egypt. Estee Lauder, Robertet and other large corporations have been investigating use of Omumbibi resin for a few years. Thankfully, Sophia, our NP Yahoo group member, was able to connect with the organization that is set up to protect the Himba and their aromatic resin and obtain some for experimentation by natural perfumers. This is the same organization that the corporations have b

Octavian of 1000 Fragrances blog received a warning from the attorneys of LVMH, the corporate giant that now owns Guerlain fragrances, that he must remove recent posts he wrote critical of their product. To quote from his blog: Without any personal message Guerlain legal service attacked me on blogger.com about what I have posted on Guerlain Idylle - Coty and it seems that I have to remove all, otherwise my acount will be deleted. This tactic should be a warning to other bloggers. My stance is to support Octavian and to call for other bloggers to spread the word on this matter, so that perhaps we can communicate amongst ourselves on how to handle any threats like this in the future. I have no idea if blogger.com will indeed censure Octavian. I encourage you to subscribe to his blog to keep apprised of developments.

About a year and a half ago, Kevin of the Now Smell This blog reviewed my Kaffir perfume and stated he wished it was available in cologne strength for summer. Cost also figured in, and a hope for a bigger bottle. Well, I didn't make it last summer, but I have small 15ml spray cologne offerings of the zesty and leathery/woody Kaffir ready for this summer. (Yes, a perfume can open zesty and get all leathery and sexy and woody!) I wrote Robin, the head honcho of NST and offered her the exclusive release of Kaffir and a bottle to be awarded to a US or Canadian winner of a random draw . There were so many quick responses, and so many disappointed late entrants, I promptly offered two more bottles. As soon as I get the winner's addresses, the bottles will be in the mail, resplendent in their unique recycled boxes - that will grow wildflowers if planted! Its just a way to give back to the community, to thank Kevin for planting the idea of a cologne, and for Robin for being such a pion

30% discount off any book published by Allured Books through June 30th ! Natural Perfumers Guild member Allured Books - 30% off books Once again Allured Books, a division of Allured Business Media, has come through with a great discount offer on books! Allured is one of the top publishing house s in the world for fragrance and cosmetics books . If one of their gems is on your wish list, now is the time to take advantage of this offer and save! Just enter Anya30 as the coupon code when checking out to receive the 30% off the price of the book(s). If you have any questions on their books or ordering online, you can contact them at Books@allured.com , subject line- Anya30 . Web site - www.allured.com/bookstore

Bay Leaf hydrosol flowing into the beaker I recently had to cut down - with much sorrow - a huge bay leaf tree/bush that I planted about 10 years ago. Many meals have benefited from the organic leaves of the Laurus nobilis I harvested from that tree. Planted at the SE corner of my patio, it had to be removed for patio expansion. I saved the roots, trunk, limbs and leaves, and they are all going to be used, nothing wasted. The roots, trunk and twigs will be used when I barbeque, as their aromatic beauty will flavor everything on the grill with a complex, floral, yet earthy and woody fragrance and taste. Now, I reasoned, was a great time to start distilling. Then with amazing clarity, the Universe confirmed my feeling. Within one week, a distiller I had known for years on the internet but not corresponded with in a year or two contacted me about joining the Guild with his newly-founded business, a Yahoo Natural Perfumery (YNP) group member joined the Guild and informed me he's making

Once again Allured has come through with a great discount offer on books! Allured is one of the top publishing house in the world for fragrance and cosmetics books , and if one of their gems is on your wish list, you may wish to take advantage of this offer. Just enter Anya30 as the voucher code when checking out to receive the 30% off the price of the book(s).

The Natural Perfumers Guild Will Celebrate Beginning Its Fourth Year on June 1st with a Chance to Win the Steffen Arctander CD worth $900 - New Members Only From the Slow Scent Newsletter May 1, 2009 sent to Subscribers The Natural Perfumers Guild will celebrate its Fourth anniversary on June 1, 2009 and Guild President Anya McCoy in asssociation with Allured Publishing Media announces that a CD of the three-volume set that includes Aroma Chemicals Vol. 1, Aroma Chemicals Vol. 2 and Natural Origins is being awarded in a random drawing for new members who join the Guild this month. This valuable CD retails for $900, and it might be yours if you join the NPG between May 1 and June 1, 2009. If your completed application and membership fee is received between those dates, your name will be entered into the giveaway for the CD. This is a great opportunity to be in the running to obtain one of the most coveted research tools in perfumery. The legacy of Steffan Arctander is that he produced

Aztec Gold Plumeria aka Fragipani Natural perfumers have an innate love of nature, flowers and the beauty of this planet. I say that after years of observing the posts by them on a Yahoo group devoted to natural perfumery . Most like to get their hands "in the soil" and grow herbs and flowers so that they can enjoy the harvest as tasty food or as an ingredient in a perfume they create. I'm one of them. I've been a gardener for many, many years. I wrote a paper on organic gardening for a class back in 1972, and later wrote for Organic Gardening magazine. Passionate about herbs, fragrant plants, veggies and tree crops, I've grown plants in Pennsylvania, California, Oregon, New York, New Jersey and Florida - talk about spanning growing zones! The photo of the white and gold plumeria above, the variety known as "Aztec Gold" was taken in 2003 in my garden. I've been tincturing the flowers for years, obtaining a beautifully golden fragrant extract th

I'm overwhelmed with the sultry, woody, spicy, balsamic, heavy, transcendent scent of the bottles of Santalum album, aka White Sandalwood essential oil that I've been pouring for the members of the Natural Perfumers Guild. Tonight there's a Full Moon in Libra, the sign of beauty, and sandalwood is in the Pantheon of glorious, gorgeous, sought-after rare and elusive beautiful raw aromatics for fine natural perfumery. My sign is Libra, so I feel the utterly exalting power of this historic, deep, balsamic oil. Being a rather sloppy "pourer" of raw materials, I managed to get about 2mls of this oil on either my hands or in the pouring tray, where it was easy to recover. So I just got to schmering it, to use a little Yiddish, in honor of Pesach, and I'm in heaven! I also rubbed some on my shoulder, which was yanked out a bit today playing with the huge puppy I'm fostering, and the pain just melted away. Or maybe I'm just melting. I'm as tranquil as that

To obtain your 10% off any scented purchase at Anya's Garden Perfumes, just use the code kaffirlime at checkout.

I'm very touched that Kaffir Perfume, a Lime Leaf and Leather perfume from Anya's Garden, was reviewed on I Smell Therefore I Am on March 27, 2009 and received a rave. Abigail is a perfumista with a skeptical nose about natural perfume, and the diffusivity and longevity of Kaffir has won her over - horray! As she notes, so many think that when you say "lime" that it'll be like the citrus fruit, but no, kaffir lime leaf is an aldehyde of a different sniffa - a chemical tweak on the typical (-) citronellal, being a (+) citronellal. I pushed the envelope with the opening blast of this unusual and fascinating citrus oil, and it's a great springtime scent because it embodies all the green sprigliness of the awakening of earth. Abigail then really "got" the leathery woody drydown, because after all that green hormonal surge and floral heart of sexiness, you need some good, unctuous long-lasting grounding ;-) When Kevin of Now Smell This reviewed Kaffir l

Anya's Garden of Perfumes is Named a " Golden Oak " yard for environmentally-sound practices I'm honored to announce that the perfume-centric garden that surrounds my home in Miami Shores received the highest award that the University of Florida's Friendly Yards and Neighborhoods program. I was the 17th person to go through the evaluation process back in 2003, the first in my village at that time. They recently revamped the program to reflect three levels of environmentally compliant gardens, and the Golden Oak award is the highest. A yard has to achieve at least 50 points, and I had 65 ticked off my checklist. Barbara, the State of Florida rep who came to evaluate my hard walked around asking questions about my irrigation practices, fertilizer use, grouping of plants according to water usage and function, and many other subjects. The program is meant to encourage water conservation, discourage the use of invasive plants, protect the waters of Florida from

UPI reports that a centuries-old dispute between two Italian families as to who could claim their ancestor invented Cologne has supposedly been settled by the discovery of a note found on a bottle of Cologne by a researcher. You just have to love the intrigue that goes on in the perfume industry!

Natural Perfumers Guild member Katlyn Breene of Mermade Magickal Arts is the Supplier of this wonderful gadget that allows me to enjoy incense once again. I'm very allergic to smoke. I used to smoke two packs a day and quit many years ago. I guess it was just overexposure to smoke that brought the allergy on. The first bad episode I remember was in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. They burned tons of debris for weeks on end, and started coughing, having respiratory problems and headaches. No - wait. I remember an earlier incident. In 1987 I was visiting my family up north and we went to a restaurant and there was smoking and I was "stuffed up" for a week. But the Andrew aftermath really got me good, and by that I mean bad. During the mid-90's, I did some freelance PR work for music artists here in Miami, but by 98 or so I had to stop because they still allowed smoking in clubs and I just couldn't attend events I had planned and was hosting. I still used st

The March 1, 2009 issue of Sniffapalooza Magazine features Anya's Garden Temple Perfume in the article Comforting Scents for Uncomfortable Times by Michelyn Camen, Senior Contributing Editor. Temple was created with the purpose of comforting and focusing people - particularly, but not limited to women - who had undergone a traumatic incident. I gave away 100 samples for those who asked for a sample because I felt it was just a good way to pay forward the comfort and security I had found from natural aromatics, friends and family. The outpouring of intimate and touching stories that accompanied the request for samples humbled and also encouraged me I was on the right path with my concept. So, Temple, my first aromatherapy perfume was introduced to the world. Aromatherapy perfumes are created with a purpose, and the purpose is healing on some level, always. Myself, I find Temple a bit overpowering to wear. The deep, narcotic Oud used in it overwhelms my nose, and instead I use it on

You can't move forward in fear. You must be motivated and feel you have some power, some ability to change things, or effect a different outcome. The following blog is meant to erase fear and replace it with a sense of being awake and aware at the forces that shape our artful industry. What is all means to me: I don't want any more government regulations that can limit my ability to conduct a safe, environmentally-friendly small business. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If you have a small USA-based business that manufactures perfume, aromatherapy or body care products such as lotions, body butters, soaps (soaps with a claim of moisturizing or some other attribute beyond cleaning) and related products, the Federal Drug Administration's Global Harmonization Act of 2009 (FDAGA2009), currently in committee, but fast moving towards a vote into law, can pose problematic to you continuing your business. The requirements for testing, paperwork and personnel ar

Many of us perfumers and perfume lovers have read about the opening of the refurbished International Perfume Museum in Grasse, France in October, 2008. There is a short, illustrated piece from Metropolis magazine that captures the theory and application behind the design, and for me, a former landscape architect who loves design as much as I love perfume, it transports me there, immediately. I am able to understand how and why the architect Fréd­éric Jung arrived at the final design. Here is a link to the article.