A Natural Perfumers Journal

These are handmade origami flowers. Each flowers sits atop a paper stem. There is a "wick" running through the center of the flower and it is infused with pure jasmine sambac concrete. Origami flowers are presented as garlands, you know, all strung together, called a kusadami . I had just made a flower and something made me lean over and cut a length of string from the spool that sat in the basket on my bench. Within 10 minutes and without leaving my seat (everything I needed just seemed to be within reach) I had made a scented origami flower on a stem. I immediately wrapped them in the cellophane to save the scent for the person who opens them.

I decided the other night that, even though I dislike technicalities intensely, I was going to get my head around perfume classifications. Knowing my perfume classifications means that when I smell a perfume I will be able to say, for example, if it's a floral/amber perfume or a floral bouquet. I see it as a bit like knowing the difference between classical and jazz in music. It's really important! Anyway, to help cement the whole thing in my head, I made up two sentences using the initial letter of each classification for the start of every word in my sentence. Have a look! ( The sentence runs up the side of the posters). The sentences I made up I can easily remember, they don't really make sense but that's not the point. The point is that now I know my perfume classifications and can list them off by heart: ) My nose does the job of recognizing where the various perfumes go, it's putting a name on them I was having trouble with. These posters I designed myself to

When I think of the country I think of hay, I think of sweet honey, I think of familiar places and I think of my Mother. Genet reminds me of the country. I picked Genet absolute out yesterday (I love a challenge) and I placed it with Hay absolute. I'm still not sure though if they are going to be OK together, it seems that a lot of the time my nose is picking out similarities in essences, for example the fact that Genet has hay like notes and I chose Hay absolute to go with it in an accord. I'm thinking maybe that's just too much hay? Here are some observations I made as I was looking for other essences to go in the blend. Geranium and Genet - not compatible at all- a big NO! Cardamom absolute with Genet - not compatible with Genet- another big fat NO! Geranium and Cardamom-sort of compatible (but that's another blend) Cannabis tincture and Genet -Another NO! Geranium and Cannabis Tincture- NO! NO! Clove and Genet - SO NO! Clove and Geranium-YES! (but no