Anya's Garden Perfumes + The Natural Perfumery Institute

                                                    When the senior-year literary magazines for my high school were distributed, I was surprised that a botanical pen-and-ink drawing of mine was chosen for the table of contents artwork, and was on mirror pages.  I didn't realize it at the time, but I had an intuitive grasp of plants growing up from the soil.  No wonder I became a botanist and landscape architect, and given that my subject was the rose in this drawing, a natural perfumer. If you have any questions for my weekly forum, please post them before 10 PM ET, USA.

I snapped this wooden perfume case up, even though it looked a little rough, and one bottle was missing.  Sadly, another bottle broke during transit, and only four of the original six remain.  The bottles stoppers are fused into the bottle very strongly, and I'll think about trying to get them open.  Only a tiny scent, very oxidized, remains where the stoppers meet the bottles, nothing I can identify. Do you love antique perfumery items?  I sure do, and I like sharing them with you.  It's been a long, lazy summer, and now I am going to revive my Vintage Vault series.  I have LOTS to share with you! Spare, elegant gilt work on the top of the box The silver mirror is tarnished.  I wonder what faces gazed into it as the lady (ladies) who owned it dabbed on the perfumes? Lovely that the key survived all these years, along with four of the original bottles.

Good morning everyone, as we move into Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, Spring in the Southern.  Here in Miami, I can both plant and harvest at this time of year, so maybe we're in the Middle Hemisphere? The Ask the Perfumer forum is open, so please ask any questions you have about perfumery, the emphasis on the natural aspect of our art. Here's a photo of some of the unmolded fragrant wax melts from my new line of ambient scents, Room Candy. I'll be blogging about them later this week.  If you're a blogger and would like a sample to review, write me via my website http://anyasgarden.com

A message from Anya McCoy, Head Instructor and Director of the Natural Perfumery Institute:   In 2007, after five years of hosting the largest and oldest Yahoo  group for natural perfumers , and at the request of many members, I created a formal curriculum for online perfumery study. Since then, students from around the world have enjoyed a professional education in perfumery without having to leave the comforts of their home.   To celebrate the Fifth year of the perfumery education method and materials I developed, new home study students of the Natural Perfumery Institute who purchase the textbook will be able to deduct 10% off the cost of the book until Sept. 23, 2012 at midnight. For students outside the USA, this $50 savings off the $500 price, equals getting the Express mail shipping for free.   Online interactive students will receive $130 refunded, a 5% savings on their $2600 tuition (not applicable to payment plan students). There are no coupons because of the var

Not the prettiest picture I've ever posted, but working with oakmoss isn't pretty! On the left you can see the slurry oozing out of the bottle neck a bit - and on the right, the primordial reception pool.  Plop, plop. Lisa asked a question in my weekly "Ask the Perfumer" forum yesterday, and it is timely.  She asked about the safety of oakmoss, a known sensitizer. I need some more for my Outlaw fragrance wax melts in my Room Candy line.  They contain oakmoss, bergamot and lime - yummy chypre!  I am also getting my assistant ready to pour a lot of kits for my students and customers, and bottle of 3% oakmoss dilution is included. Anyway, I'm sensitized to it, but I know people who could bathe in the stuff and not have a problem. Besides the sensitization, my problem with oakmoss and other thick aromatics, even those that don't cause a problem for me, and that is that suppliers still bottle them in narrow-necked bottles that require a lot of warming to sem

If you have any natural perfume-related questions, I'll be here until 10PM tonight to answer them for you.  Tincturing? Sourcing? Packaging - oh, the dreaded packaging problems!  What's on your mind?

I'll be here until 10 PM ET to answer your questions about perfumery, and in the meantime read my update, below, including a giveaway of my latest launch, Patchouli Silk ! This has been my laziest summer ever!  Now it's time to get seriously back into the perfumery world.  I'll have Prima Rosa , a perfume, to release in October.  I may only release one perfume a year, because that pace, to me, seems "right".  I will be releasing Room Candy , my line of 100% organic and natural room fragrance wax tarts, later this month, as soon as the packaging is finalized.  The response from my newsletter readers who received samples of Room Candy has been very positive, with kudos for "long lasting", "the scent fills my big house" and "love the fragrance". Now, for a surprise - luxury bar soap!  The first soap launched will be Patchouli Silk .  100% natural, exceptionally creamy and yes, it feels silky and will leave your skin silky - and perf

You can ask your perfumery questions until 10PM EST today, and I'll be happy to help you.  In the meantime, I want to share my renewed interest in natural botanical architecture.  I first saw photos in the magazine Co-Evolution Quarterly in the 70s.  As I recall, the photos showed specially-manipulated trees growing in pools of sun, rising up from an underground cave type setting.  The photos I'm showing here are from a website that documents the botanical architecture of   Axel Erlandson on this website .  Erlandson was a visionary who created what became known as the 'tree circus'. Very inspiring, quirky and now, sadly the trees no longer exist.  If you search botanical architecture on google, and scan the images section, you'll see some modern examples.  If you ever come across the original images from Co-Evolution Quarterly, please let me know.  I'd love to view them again. UPDATE:  I did a google search, and the results indicate that Mark Primack, the a

August in Miami is a pleasure to a perfumer's nose. Some of the blooming treasures in my front garden this morning are jasmine grandiflorums climbing by my front door, Vietnamese gardenias, ylang ylangs, jasmine sambac longipetalum, angel's trumpets and four o'clocks. Everything but the angel's trumpets and four o'clocks are fragrant now. The angel's trumpets will start pumping out their sweet, spicy perfume around dusk, and the four o'clocks will start smelling of grape soda around, well, four o'clock in the afternoon. Such inspiration! Do you have any perfumery questions, or scented plant questions? I'll be here to answer them unti 10 PM EST. Grape-soda scented four o'clock.  I know the natural chemical constituent that makes it smell like the commercial grape soda, but I prefer the common, less technical common name for the flower. Angel trumpets touching the sky, heralding down their fragrance from above. A solo jasmine gra

I love, love, love my soon-to-be-launched Room Candy ambient fragrance line for some many reasons!  First, it's 100% natural, with just beeswax and essential oils or absolutes for fragrance. Second, it's the ultimate recyclable product. I put together this quick little photo montage to illustrate that 1. You melt the little flower wax tarts, getting the fragrance into your home  2. After it's given upmost of its scent, you can put it into a cloth or pouch and use it to scent your drawers or closets, or, 3., Use it to recondition wood chopping boards, furniture or even to bind together the ends of frayed rope (an ancient use for it). Can you think of any other uses?  Please share.   PS the packaging is recyclable, too!

I'll be around all day to answer your perfumery questions, just popping in and out as I have a meeting or two. Here's some photos of the vintage candy molds I'm using for my Room Candy wax melts. The wax melts smell soooo good!  Read my previous posts to find out more about them.

The paper captures the deep teal of the tropical waters that surround Miami and the lush botanicals that go into the Anya's Garden perfumes The new custom tissue paper for Anya's Garden Perfume has arrived.  It will look gorgeous with my boxes and satin bags. 

Organic Room Candy - First 100 Percent Natural Fragrance Wax Melts Released by Anya Garden Perfumes  For Immediate Release MIAMI SHORES, Fla./EWORLDWIRE/Aug. 1, 2012 --- Miami-based natural perfumer Anya McCoy once again leads the trends in natural perfumery by launching 100 percent ambient room fragrances in wax melt form. Room Candy takes the latest hottest product on the market and adapts it using 100 percent natural ingredients. Organic beeswax is the wax of choice for this entry into the ambient fragrance line for this is a world-renowned perfumer who is the president of the Natural Perfumers Guild and Director of the Natural Perfumery Institute. Pure essential oils and absolute oils provide the scent for this groundbreaking line of wax melts, also known as wax tarts and wickless candles. McCoy hand-pours the fragrant blend into vintage candy molds she has collected. Testing the wax melts, she discovered that they diffused scent over a 300-square-foot room

I can't burn fragrant candles because I have cats and overhead fans that are always on here in Miami.  So I was limited in fragrancing my home.  I use room sprays and potpourri. Below, read the latest news in my newsletter today - and an incentive to sign up for my newsletter in case you haven't done so - a giveaway.  If you miss this one, there will be future giveaways, great discounts and new products announced in the upcoming months.   Anya Presents Room Candy - the first 100% natural wax melts Fragrances : Outlaw Perfume - the first oakmoss, lime and bergamot chypre room fragrance ever! Lemon Vetiver - sweet candied lemon myrtle with an herbal twist and earthy vetiver Cafe Chocolata - yummy gourmand scent, mouth-watering combo of chocolate and coffee Bay Rum and Honey - dark bay rum and soft honey beeswax smell like a scented topical night Anya once again leads the trends in natural perfumery by launching 100% ambient room fragrances in wax melt form. Room Can

I'm resisting the urge to tincture or enfleurage my ylang ylang or jasmine grandiflorum flowers.  It's a way of 'turning off' the work and just enjoying them for their beauty.  Do you have any questions for me today?  I'll be here all day, since I'm working on my new launch and new edition of the Natural Perfumery Institute's textbook with the wonderful assistance of Andrine Olson.  Also wish to thank Bruce Bolmes for his contributions to the textbook.     Beautiful ylang ylang flower in my garden last week.  Photo by Elise Pearlstine

White champaca - Michelia alba Last week I showed you the beautiful golden champaca, this week I'm sharing a photo of the beautiful white champaca growing in my garden.  What a gorgeous, highly-scented tincture this makes!  It's so strong, I have to dilute it for standardization. Do you have any perfumery questions this week?  I'll be here until 10 PM ET to aid you in your perfumery work.

Good morning, dear friends!  I started drinking high-octane coffee again this week, and I'm wired and have already been very productive this not-very-hot-or-humid morning in Miami.  My front garden is a floral wonderland today, and I'm sharing my photos with you.  I hope they inspire you to grow your own fragrant botanicals, whether you harvest them to scent extraction or not.   I'll be here today, working on my hush-hush new fragrant product, so I'll be answering your natural perfumery questions. Gold Champaca Greeting me at my front door - a vigorous Jasmine grandiflorum plant Not scented in the morning - night-blooming jasmine A closeup of the pretty little nightblooming jasmine flowers Tahitian gardenia - yes, the one Monoi is made from My ylang ylang tree is loaded with blooms A harvest basket before 9 a.m. Wonderful work if you can get it!