On the Nose

Another great finding was On The Nose, from San Francisco: PerfumerKenneth Cory radiates the energy that underlies his works. They were shown  almost coyly, in small bottles,but at the moment I smelled them I appreciated their great beauty (especially Rusalka and Fougère Orange Blossom). I later learned that he is a disciple of Mandy Aftel. It is no coincidence.

Rosa Ardiente is now in the shop. A gourmand rose dressed with candied ginger, spices, golden amber, saffron, on a smooth soft base of vanilla and sustainably harvested sandalwood.

I first started working on this perfume during the cold San Francisco Summer last year (our summers are always cold). I was so starved for heat that I turned to making rich warm amber compounds. Smokey ambers, sweet, bright, musky, floral, animalic ambers. I couldn't get enough amber. While I was playing with a particularly honey-like amber, golden and sweet, I thought how perfectly it would pair with rose. Like a plate of fresh rose buds drizzled with spiced honey. I admit I thought about the scene from the movie Like Water for Chocolate where Tita made Quail with rose petal sauce which ignited the passions of all who tasted it.

I just read the news that lime prices are at all all-time high, selling for 25 times their usual cost due to a couple factors: Heavy rains late last year in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero and Veracruz hurt the crop. And in Colima, a big lime-producing state, a bacterium is infecting trees.

What does this have to do with fragrance? Oil from lime peel is used in natural perfumes as a top note. Citrus oils have a high register, bringing a bright freshness to compositions, with lime being the most piquant. I'm finalizing one formula now which is based on the Dark & Stormy -- a dark rum and ginger beer cocktail finished with fresh lime juice. Without that bright lime top note I can't complete this formula.

Admittedly this is a very specific, and literal, application of lime. But I'm certainly not alone. Many a perfumer uses the essential oil from limes as a component of the top chord of their fragrance.

Now, we are not at the point of experiencing a lime crisis. According to the NPR story, limes should return to regular prices as we move into spring when yield goes up. However, in sharing this story my intention is to illustrate how tied to the natural world we are, how connected something like natural perfume is to environmental issues. Fragrances that rely on synthetic components in place of natural ones will continue their production unaffected, but problems like drastic weather will have an impact on the natural perfumer. My hope is that perfume can then be a conduit that connects people with a world they may be quite removed from. That of the farmer as well as the wild. Being a city-dweller, that is a state I am very familiar with.

This connection to the earth can also been seen in another aspect of perfume-making. Right now I have 4 varieties of Vetiver oils: two types from Haiti, one from Sri Lanka, one from El Salvador. All of these oils are derived from the same species of plant, Vetiveria zizanioides, but each has a unique aromatic profile due to the variations in soil and climate in which they are grown. The same is true of other botanical extracts. Sometimes the aroma of this years crop will vary a bit from the crop harvested last year in the same area. The differences may be slight, but they are there, which means every batch of a natural perfume is unique (unless you're hoarding).

I don't see this as a problem, necessarily. I love the thrill of smelling a new oil and figuring it out, teasing out the nuances and differences. I find the variations inspiring, and lovers of natural perfumes ought to embrace this aspect of the craft, just as wine aficionados have made an art of the appreciation of wine vintages.

I'm super excited to have finally released Smoked Amber. I've been working on this since last summer and it's taken many versions to get the balance right where I want it. Not to say it's been a grueling process; amber compounds are one of my favorite things to play with. Although amber can be a confusing topic. When we talk about amber in perfume we are not talking about the petrified stone amber (which you can extract an aromatic oil from, but it's very smokey and leathery and usually not used to make amber accords*) or ambergris (which comes from whales). Amber in perfumery is an accord composed of various aromatics in order to create a scent that is warm, resinous, and usually somewhat sweet. In natural perfumery some of the common essences in an amber compound are benzoin resin, labdanum, vanilla, and cistus. Mandy Aftel, in her book Essence and Alchemy, provides a basic formulation that includes only labdanum, benzoin, and vanilla absolute.

For this particular perfume I created a bright sunny amber that would support the floral heart without weighing it down. I kept the opening notes light as well, just a hint of spice, Himalayan cedar, and saffron to keep it warm from start to finish. The smoke here is very subtle and is revealed in the drydown once the amber starts to get soft and powdery.

Is it enough smoke? I do want to try an even smokier, more incense-like, amber. That will have to wait for now since I am working super hard to get ready for the Seattle Artisan Fragrance Salon which takes place on May 4. I will be releasing one new fragrance every week up until the Salon! So much to do.

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have amber questions :)

Fougère fragrances are conceptual, a fantasy of the forest. The word Fougère is French for fern, but ferns don’t produce much of an aroma on their own. A combination of specific core aromatics -- rich and sweet coumarin (found naturally in tonka beans), woody oakmoss, and dry floral lavender – come together to form a fragrant portrait of life under a canopy of leaves. Many perfumes have been created based on this classic accord, though typically Fougère scents have been marketed as masculine. For this Fougère, I wanted to honor the classic aromatic profile with pure naturals and simply fill out the heart with bright and fresh orange blossom. I also used a special lavender essence which is softer than one usually finds and will support the fragrance through to the drydown. Other featured notes include mandarin, cardamom, a particularly wonderful essence of ylang ylang, fine geranium from the island of Réunion, sage, and sustainably harvested sandalwood.

I still consider myself a student when it comes to the craft of natural perfume and I take every opportunity to learn the deeper mysteries of the art. But I also have some very strong opinions and I want to take this moment to discuss something that bothers me when I see it: so-called fixative balms.

When working in a professional environment it’s important to remember that your fragrance choices can have a greater impact than simply making a personal statement. Your perfume might might make your coworkers sick.

Recently the HR Director at my office sent a memo to staff cautioning against wearing strong perfume and scented lotions, or spraying while in the office. This was a reminder that in modern office spaces we all have to share the air. Our windows often don’t open and we have little recourse to emergency ventilation. In fact, my workplace already has a prohibition against microwave popcorn since the smell can travel clear to the other side of the floor. Delicious as the aroma of fresh popcorn is, that isn’t a smell you normally welcome into business pitches.

Besides considering what effect aroma might have on clients (or potential clients) there are others you will probably have to spend much more time with – your work neighbors. You never know who might be sensitive to scent, or who might simply have a bad reaction to your particular favorite. Keep in mind that we’re not just talking about a matter of personal preference; we’re talking about physical (and sometimes medical) consequences.

I’ve been contacted a few times by customers concerned that I use ambergris in some of my fragrances and I just want to take a moment to answer some questions and dispel the misinformation out in internetland. I know of several beginning perfumers that have been saying publicly that ambergris use promotes the killing of whales, and that is not factual. The way that ambergris is created is much like the creation of honey — a natural process that we can benefit from by living in harmony with the beings that produce it.

What is Ambergris?

This is what perfume is made of. This is violet leaf concrete, one of the main ingredients I used in Rusalaka, the perfume I created as the olfactory companion to Michelle Tea’s forthcoming YA novel Mermaid in Chelsea Creek. A concrete is the whole mess that’s left after the aromatic parts of the plant, resin, or wood are dissolved with solvents, usually hexane. Hexane is super volatile and evaporates faster than water, much like alcohol. Once the solvent evaporates you’re left with a waxy paste and typically the concrete is washed with alcohol to remove all the wax and “impurities” leaving only an absolute. Absolutes are the most concentrated botanical ingredients. Sometimes too concentrated.