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The Natural Perfumers Guild is pleased to announce new and renewing members for June, 2011

It's been a very busy summer, between celebrating the fifth anniversary of the Natural Perfumers Guild on June 1st with a group blogging event, and now welcoming all the new members! We're also very happy at all of the renewing members, the professional perfumers, the associates, the suppliers and the friends. With a strong history of defending our business rights in the face of restrictive legislation, promoting the Guild members on various media, and moving forward as the only trade association devoted to real natural aromatics, the Guild is now a magnet for both established companies and non-commercial devotees of pure and natural fragrance products. In the true spirit of the Medieval Guilds, the enhancement of professional products by peer evaluation and the protection of our rights to have standards for our businesses and to defend them, the Natural Perfumers Guild is staying the true course of the Guild concept. In the past, we had an apprentice program, and we m

Perfumers, Bath and Body Makers - On July 4, 2011 - the USA government released the Safe Cosmetics Act, which will greatly hinder your small cosmetics business

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The Natural Perfumers Guild is in opposition to the Safe Cosmetics Act in the form released on July 4, 2011   image from Essential Wholesale blog Kayla Fioravanti of Essential Wholesale has been at the forefront of a group of small-business advocates, including Donna Marie Johnson of Indie Beauty and others who have visited Washington, lobbied for appropriate legislation for microbusinesses, and generally, looked out for the rights of owners of small businesses that create soaps, perfumes and body card products.  Early on, I was involved also, and had to drop out of the effort due to burn out, plain and simple.  Thank God for the women who carried on the good cause. Please read about the Opposition to the Small Cosmetics Act here on Kayla's blog and dig deeper, into her well-annotated comments on the bill.

The multi-faceted raspberry - a brief look at the flavor and fragrance revealed

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I was pleasantly surprised to find how enjoyable and educational Flavor Creation by John Wright was.  I didn't know what to expect when I received the book for review from Allured Books , members of the Natural Perfumers Guild .  This blog post isn't the review, because I really want to do the book justice - as a resource for natural perfumers!  It has amazing information that I find valuable, from organoleptic insights to the individual flavor isolate (also a scent isolate). This post is just a jump-off to send you to Elise Pearlstine's blog about raspberry jam.  As I ate (sometimes sipped right out of the jar) the jam I got from Elise, I was astonished by the various flavors/scents that I was picking up on.  I realized that most commercial raspberry jams I've tasted have been "doctored" with natural essences, such as boronia, but I really loved the pure, un-doctored raspberry jam.  I picked up cedar, greens, florals and much more.  It reminded me of when I

Anya's Garden Perfumes featured to kick-off the American Perfumery series on Cafleurebon

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I'm honored to be chosen as the perfumer featured in the kick-off of a series on American Perfumery on Cafleurebon (click on Cafleurebon to read).  Leave a comment before July 5th and you'll be in the running to receive a 3.5ml mini extrait of my RiverCali perfume.

Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, July 3, 2011 - until 10 PM EST

Happy Fourth of July to my USA readers!  Any perfumery questions on this lazy, fun weekend? Someone wrote me during the week they want to continue the labdanum discussion.  Short answer:  you can't call your perfume a botanical perfume if it has animal essence in it, including labdanum.  Natural perfume is a recognized, true representation of what you should call your perfume.

Natural Perfumers Guild Associates win Int'l Green Packaging Award at HBA Expo in NYC

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Natural Perfumers Guild Associates Francesca and Kate of Pacific Perfumes were rewarded for making the long trip from New Zealand to NYC because they just won the International Green Packaging award at the HBA Global Expo http://www.hbaexpo.com/ !  The award was for their new Artisan line, which is all natural perfume.  I know Guild member Michelyn Camen the EiC of Cafleurebon loves their perfumes and she's meeting with them on Thursday.  I can't wait for the interview/report! http://www.facebook.com/PacificPerfumes http://pacificperfumes.co.nz to get a look at the packaging.

Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, June 26, 2011 - until 10 PM EST

Hi Everyone!  I'm back from a semi-vacation, a staycation I think it's called, but I'm still refreshed and ready to answer your questions.  The growing season is in full bloom in most parts of the world, and if you have any fragrant plants sending out their beautiful scents now, or will soon, and want to extract their scent, ask away. Or, maybe you have another question about perfumery.  I'll be here, on and off, until 10 or so EST.

Ask the Perfumer - On Vacation June 12 and 19th, 2011

Hi Everyone: Taking a vacation for a few weeks, keep those perfume-related questions on hold, and I'll answer them when I get back.

Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, June 5, 2011 - until 10 PM EST

Shall we continue the discussion on isolates?  A few posts came in last week after the forum was closed, and I received some private emails, also.  Of course, feel free to ask anything you wish, I'm just inviting the other folks to post here.

Uncorked! Natural Perfumers Guild Members Blogging Event: Happy 5th Anniversary - and My Path To Natural Perfumery]

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Twenty Guild members are joining me in pulling out the stopper, uncorking the stories of our natural perfumery paths. Like effervescent top notes, our stories are released, ticking our memories and sharing them as they waft out over the Internet.  I hope you love reading all of the fragrant bios as much as I do.  Links to their blogs are at the bottom of this post.  Enjoy! I grew up thinking all fragrances were natural: flowers, gasoline, floor cleaner, deodorant, lightening bugs, hairspray, dirt, and particularly, perfumes. As a child I sniffed everything, and I dabbed myself with perfumes with wild abandon. I was lucky that I grew up two blocks away from the biggest public park in the world, Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.  It gave a bucolic respite from the row houses and tiny yards of the tightly-packed streets where I lived.  The street where I grew up in Philadelphia, two blocks from Fairmont Park. Memories of roses, boxwood, iris flowers flood me as I look at this photo. I