A Natural Perfumers Journal

The day before yesterday I got a package all the way from America. In it was 8oz of rose wax and 8oz jasmine wax. I could smell them through the box. What a joy to open the packets, the rose is fragrant and true to rosa damascena, it is the consistancy of beeswax or even harder. It's quite brittle. Yes, I think this rose wax will make an nice addition to my solid rose perfume. When I opened the bag of jasmine wax I was bowled over. WOW! Now I am talking head stuck in the bag all day long type smell. Mouth watering, sweet, jammy jasmine. At first I couldn't place the special note of this jasmine wax and then it came to me, after a few more very deep smells. Warm ripe nectarines or ripe fuzzy peaches. It brought me back to the hot summer I spent in London when I was 12 and I would buy a ripe warm juicy peach from the fruit stand every morning. They don't seem to grow peaches like that anymore.

Happy Valentines Day! I took a break last night from my serious and complex work in progress 'Match Made in Heaven'. It gets rather emotional in my studio at 'Match Made in Heaven' peak blending times. Let me tell you, Rose was not happy a happy woman, and as for the new couple, Frangipani and Blond Tobacco, I think they have a few creases to iron out in their new relationship. Still, my heart broke for Rose and on Valentines day I just couldn't face the tears. So, I composed two new blends yesterday evening. You see I have two teenaged sons, always asking me if I can make something that smells like Armani or CK. I always tell them I am not really interested in trying to copy a purely synthetic perfume. But last night I decided to make them something for them to take to school on Valentines day. I had a look on Base Notes website, *the* place to look if you want to find out about any perfume ever created both natural and synthetic. The first blend I made was base...

I have been in shock for the last few days. It has transpired over the last few days that the EU are bringing in new legislation, based on IFRA standards, that in short could put the natural perfumer out of business. First of all it took me a while to read and understand the official type documents (I hate them) and then it took me another while to understand the implications. At first I felt shock, then disbelief, then confusion (well confusion was present most of the time) then understanding and finally motivation to action. You see the IFRA standards are standards set in place to protect the consumer, that's fine with me. But the thing is that while it is easy to regulate and monitor synthetic fragrance materials, because they are always the same molecular structure, it is not so easy when it comes to the complexity of natural materials. Not only that, but isolating a chemical compound in an essential oil for example and saying that it is dangerous, doesn't always apply bec...

Diversing from my story of romance for the moment...yesterday I made a batch of foot lotion bars, using natural aromatherapy essential oils of peppermint, tea tree and lavender. Aromatherapy is very different from the art of perfumery, I just put equal amounts of each essential oil, and I was generous, the oils will do what they are supposed to do and they smell fresh and clean like they are meant to. I then started on a batch of Sensual massage bars, now these are perfumed with my first simple perfume. It has top notes of orange and mandarin, cinnamon and ginger, a heart of ylang ylang, two lavenders and clove absolute, the base is, mysore sandalwood, peru balsam and dark patchouli. I have to go back and get out my notes and follow the recipe, I count out a hundred drops of lavender absolute, 33 drops of clove, 33 drops of cinnamon 33 drops of ginger. The sandalwood I add a full 20mls, too many drops to count! The patchouli is carefully measured, 30 drops only and so on...the base for...

This morning my ethanol arrived, I am going to spend the day creating accords. My pipettes need cleaning, it was so frustrating for me just not being able to blend. You see I can't use water to clean the pipettes, it just doesn't work. And I can't blend with dirty pipettes, that would make my perfumes muddy. I have been using surgical spirits to clean my tools but I didn't like the smell it left behind. It's not that easy to obtain pure undenatured ethanol but I did it. Now where do I start? My heart is beginning to beat faster at the thought of all the possibilites open to me. While I was waiting for the ethanol to arrive I was doing loads of test strip smelling, here are some accords I would like to try, corriander, rosewood and something else; another one is, immortelle, tarragon and coco absolute; another accord I would like to try is boronia absolute, neroli, and tuberose; oh and I want to blend the three brothers (remember them?) with three sisters, how would ...

I have been having a few days when I am not blending, I'm waiting for my ethanol to come from Limerick. I am using the time I have to get intimate with some essences I don't really know very well. One of these is araucaria, which I don't really know anything about at all. I have the absolute. When I first opened it, it reminded me of clean bandages, clean, sterile, very light and ethereal. I am going to do a little internet search and see if I can find out more about it's origins, back soon.Well I found an image, and I also discovered the common name for araucaria is the monkey puzzle tree. I also found a description of the perfume note on Aftelier.com . Here is what Mandy Aftel says about it: "This rose-woody, spicy middle note from Spain has a crystalized consistency. Araucaria has good fixative properties and will not overwhelm perfumes with light floral middle notes."

I wonder if there is such thing as beginners luck when it comes to perfumery? I let my 15 year old son Jay (see the photo on left) have a go with my essences about 3 or 4 weeks ago. I said he could try 3 times. So he made a Jay 1 a Jay 2 and a Jay 3. I made him write it down and made him stick to twenty drops per try. We bottled his blends and left them to mature. I tried his Jay 1 yesterday. It's lovely! It reminds me of something I can't quite place. I will try to describe it, the top notes have an unusual twist, also hard to place, ok maybe the top needs a little tweaking but it's a nice blend of rosewood and corriander which really go well together and to my nose share similar nuances. The heart is floral but not at all cloying, unisex I would say, creamy notes of jasmine, ylang ylang and orange blossom, nothing unusual there, but there is a fresh green hint too, I swear it's as if I am smelling an actual blossom, it's a bit like carnations. The chocolate note s...

I was exploring some of my more unusual essences yesterday evening. The technique I learned from Mandy's workbook works very well. I place a single drop of an essence on a labeled scent strip and write down the time of application in my notebook. Then I decribe the scent. I wait 10-15 minutes and I label strip number two and then place a drop of the same essence on that strip. Then I compare the two strips. I was looking for a place to leave the first strip while it was drying out and I decided to put it in under the little drawer on my "organ". See the photo above. It hung there very nicely. I carried on with my explorations. I did the base notes first then the middle...then I had a realization. They were all hanging there and reminded me of the keys on our piano. I leaned in a little and started from the base notes end, I smelled up, and then I smelled back down. The effect was quite extraordinary. I could tell which notes did not belong and I could tell which notes ...

I am preparing to make some more rose beads. I was stoked to see that Mandy Aftel mentions them in her book Essence and Alchemy. Here is what she says about them on pages 196-197 "On feast days, early Christian priests wore garlands of rosebuds or beads made from rose petals, ground and blended with fixatives into an aromatic paste, then rolled into balls and pierced with a needle. The circular form of the rosary suggested eternity and eternal devotion. And perhaps because the rose is associated with the blood of Christ and the purity of the Virgin Mary, the custom caught on. Or maybe it was simply that, warmed in the hands during prayer, the beads released a mesmerizing scent. As Baudelaire recognised, "The rosary is a medium, a vehicle; it is prayer put at everybody's disposal." I make mine entirely from rose petals, orris root and rose hydrosol. I won't give *my* secret for making them away. Mine turn out dark maroon and are very hard. I have only 2 doz...

Top Notes Lavender eo (essential oil), juniper berry eo, fir needle eo, corriander eo, mandarin eo, elemi eo, galbanum eo, sweet orange eo, black pepper eo, bergamot eo, lime eo, lemon eo, lavandin abrialis, basil eo, blood orange eo, grapefruit eo, rosewood eo, pink grapefruit eo, ginger eo, cinnamon eo, tangerine eo, carrot seed eo, wild orange eo, bitter orange eo, anise seed eo, spikenard eo, tarragon eo, cedarwood eo. pandanus green cognac eo tagate oil Egypt Middle notes Chamomile blue eo, lavender absolute, melissa eo, neroli eo, turkish rose absolute, clarysage eo, myrtle eo, lemon myrtle, pink lotus absolute, rose otto, cardamom absolute, immortelle eo, orange blossom absolute, violet leaf absolute, cardamom absolute, amyris eo, bay rum eo, jasmine grandaflorum, yarrow eo, jasmine sambac absolute, sweet marjoram eo, geranium eo, ylang ylang complete, hyssop eo, listea may chang eo, clove absolute, jasmine concrete, ylang ylang concrete, boronia absolute. Nutmeg ab...

I am having a rest day today, getting ready for blending the White Witch Mystery juice. One of my favourite materials being used in this blend, is that of orris root butter. Orris root is the root of the sweet flag, grown mainly in southern Europe: Iris germanica, Iris florentina, and Iris pallida. Once important in western herbal medicine, it is now used mainly as a fixative and base note in perfumery. Orris root must generally be hung and aged for 5 years before it can be used for perfumery. Oil of Orris is known commercially as Orris Butter and is obtained by distilling powdered Orris root with steam, has an intense and extremely delicate odour of the fresh Violet and commands a high price. Orris has the power of strengthening the odour of other fragrant bodies and is used as a fixative in perfumery. The odorous constituent of oil of Orris is a liquid ketone named Irone, to which the violet-like odour is due. It is the presence of this principle in the rhizome that has long led ...

Tonight I about to embark on a blend I have already formulated, one of the ingredients in the blend is ambergris tincture. Now ambergris for those of you who have never heard of it, is expelled from the stomach of the sperm whale. At first it has a strong fecal smell and would not be suitable for perfumery. However after years of floating on the sea, and being exposed to the elements it begins to harden and develop an odour which is sweet and animalistic. To my nose ambergris has a haunting smell which is strangely provocative. Ambergris is highly sought after and is very expensive. Now wish me luck as I head in to my studio, my heart is pounding yet again...

Who would have thought that sourcing clove absolute would prove so difficult. It's easy to find clove essential oil, or clove CO2 but the absolute seems to be a different matter. I need it to proceed with my next perfume. With the plastic spoon episode I had to throw away a whole batch of juice. Clove is usually only used in very small amounts, but it's absence would be like...well leaving garlic out of the pasta sauce. The juice I threw away had 1.5mls of clove in it...such a small amount is a lot when it comes to clove absolute. What does clove absolute smell like, it's warm, sweet and spicy, the absolute is softer than the essential oil, to my nose anyway. I did hear back from two people yesterday, both in the US. So will I get it in time? We shall see. Ruth

OK, I was all set to go, I have my area so nice and tidy, and I have everybody told to stop humming or talking to me, in case I loose count. How many drops of this and that... my heart is beating in my chest. I take down the essential oils, absolutes and concretes on my list. I line them up. I re-check my calculations. Every thing is ready... I measure in the first material, carefully counting the drops, as I can't find my measuring spoon, or the graduated syrynge. I have to count 80 drops...the first one is easy it's an essential oil, drops quickly and evenly from the pippette. Then I pick up one of my favourites...vanilla absolute...thick, sweet, black... that's when trouble starts... I start to count the drops from the pippette...that one looks like it's two drops, that one looks like it's one drop, then in desperation I count each drop as two. I realise that I am playing a guessing game...not good. Breath Deeply...

This is the first day of my New Journal. Later today I plan to put together 40mls of each of my new perfumes, to use in a my solid perfume sticks. I have a lot of other stuff to do first and I want to be calm and really centre myself before I start so I will wait till this evening and all the kids are in bed. I have been getting ready for this for the last three days. I am always nervous before I start blending. It's a kind of excited nervousness, like butterflies in my tummy. Maybe as I get more familiar with my work the nervousness won't happen so bad. It's the very idea that I am pouring 20mls of pink lotus into a beaker to mix with some cocoa absolute and some ambergris, and I am thinking, "OH my! What if I mess up!" I double and treble check my calculations to make sure, I know I can't take it back once it is mixed in. And as yet I don't know if it's possible to "fix" a mistake! Anyway, got to go now, and make a meal for the famil...