AromaX

Gris Clair: the shades of grey

2012-01-26T03:24:00.000-08:00

The color grey. Is it a perfect balance in the world of colors when none of them is dominating and all of them are the same? Or is it a result of eternal contest between the light and the darkness who reached their compromise in grey? Is it a color at all? Or just a shade? Or a shadow?

Gris Clair by Serge Lutens could be the answer to those questions. Smelling it reveals a beautiful picture in grey to my mind. I see seashore on a grey day with taupe coloured sand, steel blue water, dark arsenic tinted clouds on the horizon and slate rocks covered with xanadu coloured moss. I observe the glowing embers covered with ashes in a silver censer and sense the silent calmness of the world around me. I burn some incense consisted of dusty sweet exotic resins and greyish lavender blossoms and inhale the scent to complete the ritual...

Serge Lutens is always very laconic, but also precise describing his perfumes on his website. “Lavender dust” – it’s all what you read there. No fragrant pyramid. But if I could make one myself it would look like the following:

Top notes: The calming freshness of lavender blossoms. All shades of grey from smoked mauve to slate grey.

Heart notes: The sweetness of lavender absolute filled with the warmth of ambery notes and strengthened with bitter coumarinic sweetness of Tonka beans.

Base notes: The bitterness of lavender ash, the dust of crushed lavender herb, metallic coldness and the loneliness of moss on a grey rock.

I love to wear Gris Clair on a grey day to remind myself that grey doesn’t have to be sad. It’s interesting to see that lavender perfume can be simple, but elegant and sophisticated. I love the feeling of calmness I get wearing this scent. And I really love the compliments I get when people notices the trail of Gris Clair. Sometimes it’s funny to see them a little bit confused as they smell something very familiar, but something they can’t recognize in a glimpse…

The day of whispering to orange blossom

2011-11-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

When making a perfume, you can do it according to the laws of chemistry or choose an alchemical path. He made it both at the same time.

Image source: http://hersacredcauldron.com/

Today he was making a fleur d’oranger cologne. He kneaded the thick leathery skin of green bergamot and mixed it together with bright sunlight concentrated on the surface of sweet orange skin. He seasoned them both with green coldness of shadow from under the orange blossom tree. It was not enough, so he grabbed the rest of the citrus fruits, mixed them with one single ray of sunlight and squeezed them in a firm grip. He opened his hand and found a shiny drop of concentrated essence of summer which he carefully put into a cauldron. He distilled the essence of white flowers, bergamot and lavender, thickened it and filtered. He separated freshness from sweetness and collected them into flasks. He picked up some tender rose petals, lend a drop of sweetness and left the rest to dry out to collect the rustle of dry petals. Later he was catching warm sweet breeze playing between the orange blossoms. Doing that he picked one of them to ooze a small drop of warm dark honey that warmed a mixture and colored it deeply vermilion. What next? Jasmine of course… He took just a small handful of fragrant jasmine flowers and filled them up with sunflecks reflected from the dew drops on white petals and invisible aura from the depth of the flower. He needed a twist, do he took a carnation flower and put his fingers between the petals right to the core. He found a kernel and pulled it out in one elegant move. More twist. What can give some magic? He opened a dusty bottle of Hungarian Queen water. He smiled as he remember the night when he got it. At night he was secretly sneaked into the Queen’s room to dip some water out of her bath. He had to stand still behind the screen for a long time fighting the sleep. And he was almost caught in the garden when he stopped at the twinkling blossoms of Queen of the Night. He measured a sip from the bottle and gently stirred the brew. Later he smirked and added some cold green jasmine tea from his cup. Just a spontaneous silly move lead by the chance. Than he was sitting near his cauldron and whispering to his perfume till he started to notice bright orange sparkles in the darkness of depth…

Of course I can describe it much easier: Bergamot oil, Sweet orange Oil, Petitgrain Bigarade Oil, Neroli oil, Orange Flower Absolute, Litsea Cubeba oil, Linalool, Linalyl Acetate, Nerol, Neryl Acetate, Nerolidol, Methyl Anthranilate, Oranger Crystals, Hedione, Ylang Ylang Oil, Jasmine Absolute, C-12 Lauric aldehyde, Clove absolute, PEA, Rosemary tincture and Green Jasmine Tea tincture as a twist.

Either way, the result is an eau de cologne with fleur d’orange note, sparkling bright citrusy start and floral aura leading into dark depth. A kind of cologne with a dark twist.

In memoriam

2010-10-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

Wearing purple today to remember six young gay guys who has committed suicide because of being teased and abused.

RIP Tyler Clementi, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase and Billy Lucas.

Purple color of the rainbow flag means spirit... Wearing this purple flower on my blog now. And next to that a tender sweet perfume combining lily (the sign of mourning) and lilas (Un Lys by Serge Lutens).

More about action here or google with words "purple, 20 october, action".

What makes it art?

2010-06-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

There is a question that keep me think about it for quite a long time. And not only me I guess, but many perfume lovers. What is the difference between a nice smelling blend and perfume as a piece of art? How does the aesthetic of perfume work? Unfortunately this question is difficult to answer on a rational level. You need to learn to feel the difference. And sometimes you can sense that “piece of art” feeling…

Like the video I found recently on youtube (thanks to my perfumista-friends). This video is an artistic project and actually it’s a skillfully made illusion. But knowing that doesn’t diminish the effect it makes on you. As a skillfully created perfume is also an illusion – a fantasy of a perfumer that you voluntary makes your reality and admire.

Please, watch it in YouTube (right mouse click and than choose whatch on YouTube) in full screen mode to get the right imression.

Even knowing it’s not real I still would describe this video as beautiful (nice to watch), impressive and expressive (it communicates with me on emotional level) and it’s complete (it’s a whole story). And what is also important it’s inspiring – it motivates and encourages. Funny I guess I’ve just mentioned a couple of key moments that could describe a “piece of art”.

This video makes me also think of a masculine fragrance advertisement. But it has something I really miss in many of them. What could it be? Character? Courage? Uniqueness?

Fragrances you don't wear in the Zoo!

2010-06-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

There are several practical wisdoms in life that I always approached as funny jokes. One of them is a rule never to wear a musk fragrance in the zoo. Do you remember it from The Nanny TV-soap? But there seem to be more truth in it than you might imagine. You should really be careful choosing the perfume you are going to wear in the zoo. But first look at this funny commercial and think.

Here is a nice fragrant riddle. What fragrances might the father wearing in the following funny commercial?

You’ll probably find answer at the website of the Wildlife Conservation Society. They’ve discovered that several commercial perfumes are attractive for big cats. Pat Thomas, the general curator at the Bronx Zoo has studied the influence of 24 fragrances on tigers, snow leopards and cheetahs by spraying the perfumes on the rocks and trees at the places of exhibits of those animals. It was funny to discover, that the reaction of animals varied depending on the fragrance. Beautiful by Estee Lauder and Charlie by Revlon were found not to be interesting. But L’Air du Temps by Nina Ricci and Obsession for men by Calvin Klein turned out to be very attractive. Big cats spent on average 10,4 and 11,1 minutes respectively investigating each if them. Not only by sniffing, but also rubbing against it with their heads and paws.

This discovery is used to collect information about the wild life of cats. The conservationists from WCS have sprayed Obsession near the automatic cameras reacting on movements or temperature. The fragrance helped to attract the animals and hold their attention while the camera’s were making pictures of them.

More details on the experiment you can find on:

The website of WSC
http://www.wcs.org/new-and-noteworthy/calvein-klein-obsession-for-cats.aspx

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/11/jaguars-calvin-klein-obsession-scent

And here is a film from the WSC showing how cats react on the fragrance.
http://www.wcs.org/multimedia/videos/catnip-for-conservation.aspx

Well, I tried if it could work on my little cats too. But both of them have shown no interest to Obsession. May be they are not big enough to play the games for adults?

A tuberose dessert presented in a wooden box

2010-06-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cèdre by Serge Lutens

This fragrance is created in 2005 by Christopher Sheldrake for Serge Lutens. The notes are: Cedarwood, Tuberose, Musk, Amber en Cinnamon.

It was my First niche fragrance I bought. Walking through a local store I quickly noticed the bottles of the new brand I didn’t know yet. I stopped to take a closer look and to smell. And I was completely fallen in love with Cèdre.

You probably expect Cèdre to smell like Cedar or at least to have distinct woody notes. Not in this one. This one is all about the tuberose. Yes, there are some woody notes at the opening, but are they real? Or is it your imagination that tries to create what you expect find there? Wood in this fragrance is only a package, an ornamental wooden box presenting you an exotic tuberose dessert. The flowers here are made from a whipped cream sweetened with some tuberose flavored syrup and warmed with spices. A big gourmand tuberose presented in a wooden box with oriental ornament – this is what Cèdre is about in my opinion. This fragrance helped me to discover my passion for tuberose flower.

Luca Turin calls it a niche version of Amarige. And I can agree with him – it’s a very similar tuberose, but more elegant, more oriental (woody-spicy) and without mimosa dust. Poison might be another good example of a loud sultry tuberose (served with honing, blackberries and low fat cream rather than spices). But this one is more floral and less oriental, than Cédre.

The essence of the day

2010-05-12T02:35:00.000-07:00

When you have a lot of fragrances to choose, it can be difficult. What shall I wear today? Mostly I try to look at my emotional needs, my mood and the wear trying to understand - what do I need today? What fragrance can fulfill that? Very often your fragrance becomes your essence of the day.

So, today I was looking at the cold, gray and wet morning. It's almost end of the spring, but we haven't seen much warm sunny days this year. It looks like the automn is very early this year. Will the summer come? Dwelling on those sag thought I saw the parrots on the tree. Yes, there are parrots in Amsterdam. People tend to think that those are fugitives escaped from the local zoo. Other theories confirm it, but underline the fact that it's happened many years ago and those parrots are having a colony here. But some wise people say that parrots came here long time ago - before the zoo. It was so long that you can call parrots native to the fauna of Netherlands.

Anyway what a pittance was it to observe those wet unhappy tropical birds under the cold rain! And it was funny as well. So, it made me laugh. If I look to those parrots, especially to those mean expressions... well I tend to think that there is might be lack of abusive terms in a birds language, but definitely plenty of swear thoughts - you can just see it.

This image becomes my essence of the day - keep smiling even if it's cold and wet. And what do I need? Yes, something warm and consoling. Like... chocolate! Yes, let it be Borneo 1834 by Serge Lutens today. A nice bitter piece of chocolate made of Pathouli with some spicy, woody and smoky nuances. This is a ship that takes you to an exotic warm island where parrots are happy!

And here are some pictures. Look at those mean expressions!

And this is an essence of being lonely I guess...

Fragrant flowers of my balcony

2010-05-11T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last time I told you about Freesia I bought to investigate the smell and to use as a reference point in perfumery. Today we’ve got a couple hours of sun, so I decided to make a picture of my plants. Here are Freesias and Carnations. I hope the lilies and jasmine will be next to blossom.

Pink Freesia has a soft green smell with a fruity undertone. Reminds on a florist shop where you smell wet earth and all the shades of green coming from different plants.

White Freesia – the “florist shop” effect is present, but on the background. Dominating is a fresh smell with a peppery note.

Carnations have a surprisingly soft and quiet scent unlike their interpretations in perfumery. A spicy hart of clove with sweet vanilla note and a floral veil. White carnations are much more fragrant.

Freesia lessons: a big frustration on purity

2010-05-09T04:42:00.000-07:00

Well, perfumery can give you the greatest moments of pleasure when you smell a fragrance gently striking your emotions. But it also can be your greatest frustration when you can’t find a smell you are looking for. Learning perfumery gives you similar ambivalent feelings, but they seem to be stronger and occur more often.

Let’s take Freesia again. Well, I tried the smell of the sample formula from the PerfumersWorld. Nice, green, soapy clean, but it’s not a smell of a Freesia flower. Trying to improve it I made another version – less soapy and lees sharp in green notes, softer, but again… it’s not Freesia. And then a very simple solution – what if I just blend the materials found in the headspace of Freesia smell? About 15 drops of Linalool, 3 drops of beta-Ionone, 1 drop of alfa-Terpineoil and a drop of 10% Triplal as a green note (thanks to a perfumer from a perfumemaking Yahoo group for this wonderful idea). I was very surprised to smell a real Freesia flower very similar to the smell of a live flower, but… it lasted just for a couple of moments as later I smelled the harsh notes of linalool and alfa-Terpineol… So I faced a problem of quality of aromachemicals I used. The impurities making linalool harsh and alfa-Terpineol piney killed my Freesia accord. When you use those aromachemicals in a complex composition you can blur and mask the effect of impurities. But when you make a simple accord where those ingredients are crucial… you need the purest materials you can get.

The only problem here is the question – is it possible to find Linalool of such purity grade? Reading the description of Freesia from the PerfumersWorld I understand, that it looks like natural Linalool that occurs in Freesia is much more pure and radiant than a synthetic product available. Does it mean that there is no Linalool on the market that could concur the natural Freesia smell? It’s funny and frustrating. With the power of all the modern science and technology we can do many great things, we can precisely determine the components of the live flower smell, but we can’t reproduce it in the way the nature does using only earth, sunlight and water in less than a year…

Now I am sitting here and typing this message and by the random movements of the air I smell a real Freesia fragrance that is coming from a bunch of blotters with the residues of my experiments.

By the way, searching for information on Freesias I found an interesting discussion on Perfume of Life. Here is a quote: "In fact, there’s no freesia in any perfume in the world." -Chandler Burr. The full text you can read here: http://www.chandlerburr.com/articles/25tghost.html (you have to “download” the article to read it).

And for those who didn’t know yet – Nicole Kidman makes her own perfumes. Freesia was one she made. He doesn’t share the secrets of her craft, but you can watch two interviews where she mentions her hobby. In the first one it’s in the begin and in the last one at the end. Have fun!

Freesia quest II: technical details on smell

2010-05-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

See the first part about Freesia here

There is something very special in Freesia fragrance in perfumery – it doesn’t really has a “key” ingredient. Unlike eugenol for carnation or rose alcohols for rose or benzyle acetate and indole for jasmine. PerfumersWorld course mentions linalool to be that “key” for Freesia. But linalool is also a very common ingredient in many other raw materials – bergamot, rosewood, lavender to mention a few. It’s also often used in floral bases to give freshness. I guess it explains the problem of Freesia note in perfumery – consisting mostly of linalool it can easily become dominated by other components, loose its character and just turn into a fresh note.

To my nose the white Freesia I bought does smell like pure linalool with a peppery nuance. A perfumer in a perfumemaking group where Freesia accord was discussed also mentions that Freesia smells like linalool, but without a harsh part of it. A chemical analysis of the smell shows about 80% linalool to be the major constituent of live Freesia fragrance (it increases up to 90% in a picked flower).

Another important constituent of Freesia fragrance is beta ionone. It’s found at the amount of 3% in the fragrance of a live flower (together with 3.7% of dihydro beta ionone, 5,4% 4-oxo beta ionone and 2,2% 4-oxo beta ionol). Michael Storer also mentions that smell of beta ionone is very close to the smell of Freesia. I tried his suggestion and I can say it’s true – 1% beta ionone solution on the blotter start to smell very close to my colored Freesia flower in about 30 mins (but not right from the beginning).

Another important constituents of Freesia fragrance are Terpineol 4% and traces of green molecules (like cis-3-hexenyl butyrate and beta cyclocitral). So, it looks like the formula of Freesia is made of linalool with a little bit of beta ionone and traces of green nuances. A good point to start!

The sample formula from the PerfumersWorld produces very clean, fresh and green Freesia note. The presence of aldehydes and sharpness of green notes make it soapy. It would be a nice base to use in body care products. It can be also a good fresh room scent reminding on spring. But I guess I have to work on it a little bit and try to make it closer to the smell of the flowers I bought.

Freesia quest: smell and perfumes

2010-05-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

Picture: Yellow Freesia Bloom found at teleflora.com

It was very exciting to receive my new unit from the PerfumersWorld – it was all about flowers – about 18 sample formulae to make, investigate and to play with, so I can learn to understand the soul of each of floral note in perfumery. The funniest thing I discovered that there are flowers I don’t know at all… like freesia.

Well, of course I’ve heard about it and met in pyramids, but… I’ve found I don’t remember how it looks like or how does it smell. That’s a good time to learn about this fragrance. And you know, Fortune always helps to those who follows their heart and is eager to discover. May be that’s why the next day I found folder from the local garden shop telling me they had fragrant Freesias on sale, so I went there to meet my housework and came home with two freesias – a white one and pink with yellow.

The first surprise was to discover that they smell different. The white flower has a fresh fragrance with peppery notes and the colored one smells very green – just like at florist shop – a mixed fragrance of plants, leaves and stems. It’s fresh and rather soft green unlike the sharp smell of fresh grass or crushed leaves. It’s funny to find how many varieties of flowers in shapes and colors it produces… and the tough thing is that the smell varies as well. So, what would be the reference?

PerfumersWorld in their course puts Freesia among “Light Green Floras” together with Muguet and Cyclamen. I also found that in one classification it was listed under the Tuberose-Narcissus group. Well to my nose it’s green, but less sharp than hyacinth and less poisonous than narcissus. I guess “light green” or “fresh green” would be the nice place for Freesia.

It’s funny to find that there is very little information on Freesia in perfumery books or magazines. Well, I can understand that – there is no essential oil or absolute available. Some sources mention that Freesia have been a fantasy bouquet in earlier fragrances. They also mention that it was used for extracts or as modifier.

Searching for Freesia fragrances I found that most of the soliflores called Freesia are made by brands specializing on Bodycare fragrances (like Crabtree&Evelyn, The Body Shop, Bath&Body Works) – I guess the freshness of Freesia note makes it very suitable for such products. But I also found a couple of niche Freesia fragrances – “Orfésia” van Diptyque and “Musc et Freesia” by E.Coudray. Fragonard, Borsari and Demeter also have their Freesia versions. Unfortunately I haven’t smell any of them, so it promises a lot of sniffing, discovery and surprises.

Browsing through the Basenotes discussions I also found the following fragrances might be interesting to try: Miracle by Lancome, Red Door by Elizabeth Arden, Rush by Gucci, Cerruti 1881 pour femme, Eternity by Calvin Klein, Kenzo Parfum d’Ete, So de la Renta, Beige van Chanel, Paul Smith Woman, Sun Moon Stars van Lagerfeld, New York Fling by Bond No. 9, Antonia’s Flowers, Pleasures by Estee Lauder, Allure by Chanel, L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake, JPG Classique, Dolce & Gabbana Woman, Ralph by Ralph Lauren, Incanto Dreams by Salvatore Ferragamo, Balmy Days and Sundays by Inele. I haven’t checked those fragrances and it would be interesting to search for Freesia in them. But you are also welcome to share your experiences and suggestions.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find interesting facts or inspiring myths and legends related to Freesia. This flower seem to have a short history as it’s cultivated as a cut flower only since the begin of the XIX century. It was named in honor of Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese, a German physicial from Kiel. His friend, a plant collector Christian Friedrich Ecklon has proposed the name.

For Andy who likes to play

2010-05-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

This cute guy's name is Orange Star and I put him here for someone who likes to play a lot, but probably doesn't have enough time lately. So, the message is simple - keep your inner child alive, smile and play whenever you like :o)

To feed Orange Star just click within the window.
To make him work for you click in the middle of the wheel.

This guy is found at aBowman

Antihéros by Etat Libre d'Orange

2010-05-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

Antihéros

Etat Libre d’Orange

2006

Parfumer: Antoine Maisondieu

Concept (according to a website of Etat Libre d’Oragne): "Take me as I am," seems to say this fake Mr Everybody. An anti-hero never lies about who he is, hence the seeming simplicity of this hedonistic and sun-drenched creation, entirely centred on lavender flower. This hero of everyday life fights very ordinary battles at work, when driving, at home without every taking anything too seriously. His innate modesty is extremely appealing and he knows it. He cultivates his imperfections with wit and with natural unconventional elegance. With his tousled hair and look, this somewhat unexpected superman catches the eye and still cannot believe it – that’s why we adore him.

Notes: Lavender, musk, wood.

My impression: In the begin lavendel is accompanied with a cool breeze, later in the hart it’s aromatic and in the base it is mossy-woody. But all the way long it’s just about lavender from top to base. Rustic and nonchalant. Smells like a lavender soap, but gives rather a clean and groomed impression. It smells simple, but not cheap on my skin. To me it’s a perfect perfume for a lazy Sunday or on vacation somewhere in South France – it gives a relaxed feeling when nothing has to be done and all the time is free for whatever you’d like to do. Rustic, peaceful and nonchalant. On the other hand I also think it would be a good perfume to wear in the office – clean impression, soft and helps to keep your head cool. So, if you like lavender than it's a nice one to try, but if you don't - well - you might smell an old lady there.

Luca Turin says it smells like a cheap soap, but gives it 4 stars of 5 and calls it wonderful, poetic and affecting.

Classification: Osmoz classifies this perfume as “aromatic rustic”, but Michael Edwards places it into the floral classics. Well, it’s not really a fougère, but it has definitely aromatic aspects. I’d classify it as a floral, soliflore, lavender (B5 according to SPF classification) and would place it into aromatic subgroup (if such precise classification would exist).

Compare this with:

Lavender by Yardley – is another perfume around just a single lavender theme. This one is sweeter and less aromatic or woody. Antihéros is more powerful.

Pour un homme and Le 3eme homme by Caron – another classic masculine lavender, but opposite to Antihéros lavender is softened and sweetened with Vanilla here.

Rêverie au jardin by TauerPerfums – a very special variation of lavender theme, where she is married with sweet resins to create a complex fragrance that makes you dream of green fields and gardens.

Sliver Aoud by Montale – is another different view on lavender theme. Lavender and Oud are not easy to combine. A classic lavender theme with a twist.

A question...

2010-04-09T12:40:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we are planning a trip along the special perfumery places in Amsterdam. We - those are some ladies from different part of Amsterdam who will come for this special event and me. Of course, when you are among the perfumistas you tend to choose a special perfume to surprise everyone. Well, I've chosen the mine. And I wouldn't tell it. But here is the music and the movie I definitely associate with this perfume. It's build around a special component. Some people call her the temptress. Oh, and this temptress has definitely something to hide - she is playing on the edge of what is possible and allowed. Do you know the name?

Snowdrops and birds

2010-03-02T12:40:00.001-08:00

At Andy’s blog I promissed to hotlanta linda to place a picture of the snowdrops to ensure her that the spring has already begun. So, it’s snowdrops time! Those nice little guys are found around my temporary vacation house on the Dutch island Texel. Each year I come here for vacation in the end of winter and beginning of spring. A pretty crowd island is full of tourists in the summer, but now you can enjoy nature, rest and life in a slow motion.

Here they are – the snowdrops for hotlanta linda. Unfortunately those doesn’t smell. But I found that Calèche by Hermès could be really a matching smell for those flowers.

And here is a piece of quiet nature. It’s pretty unique as for every island combining country side, forest, dunes and seaside.

Every morning I wake up from the chirping of two small birds behind a kitchen window. They come to enjoy their everyday meal. Funny to see how their exacting glance behind the window. They are pretty tame and I could feed them from my hand. It’s always nice to experience such a trust.

On see I found another funny birds – very busy guys were running after a sea wave trying to catch small animals disappearing in the sand. A second later the birds were running from the coming wave. And so the whole time – to and fro. Really funny busy guys.

A cup of roses

2010-01-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

You probably know that baby wisdom. You should taste everything that attracts your attention. Especially if you think it’s beautiful. And when it comes to such a beautiful creation of nature as flowers, well… it’s difficult to resist temptation.

This childish instinct, a mixture or curiosity and inspiration, was tempting me while I was looking to the dried rose buds I bought for tincturing. Even dry they were still looking beautiful. So, I decided to make a tea from them. An Internet search delivered basic guidelines and I could start to experiment.

For a cup of a rose bud tea you need just two or three buds per cup (about 100 ml). You place them into a pre-warmed cup, pour over with boiled water (should be about 90 C) and draw for just two or three minutes (one or two minutes extra is not a problem at all). It’s better to cover a cup to keep the essential oils inside.
I decided not to take the rose buds away – they give a nice finishing touch to a very delicate fresh green colour of tea. They can give tea a bitter taste, but probably you finish your tea before the bitterness appears.

I was really surprised with a taste. It combines dry herbal note with rose and deep vibrant honey-like undertone (as you might know from the rose absolute). It’s not too rosy as I was afraid of and really delicate. To my taste I prefer it without sugar, but a little bit of honey might go pretty well with this tea.

Besides its delicate taste and amazing look this tea is very good to calm the nerves and even to relief headache. Rose has also been used as a remedy against hay fever and nasal catarrh.

Yesterday evening I tried a good synergy between rose and lavender. It was amazing to feel the effect of just a teaspoon of lavender blossoms and three rose buds. My head became calm, my eyes sleepy and I could easily fall asleep. Rose and lavender tea was a nice closing of the day. Now I understand a Dutch proverb “to sleep like a rose”…

The Rose is born...

2010-01-22T03:15:00.000-08:00

This beautiful video is found on YouTube. Thanks to the user rulivede who has shared it there.

Everyone who has ever touched, seen or smelled a rose understands the divine nature of this flower. According to the Ancient Greek and Roman Myths the Rose was created by Chloris (Roman name Flora), the Goddess of spring, new growth and flowers, the wife of Western Wind Zephyrus. Once she was walking through her garden and suddenly came upon a lifeless corps of a beautiful nymph. Deeply touched by her beauty she decided to preserve it by turning the nymph into a flower. Chloris implored Aphrodite (Roman name Venus), the Goddess of Love and Beauty, for assistance. The Three Graces gave her allure, brilliance and elation. Dyonissus (Roman name Bacchus) gave her a drop of nectar to endue her with a wonderful fragrance. Zephyrus, the Western Wind blew the clouds away so that Apollo, the God of Sun could shine upon her. A beautiful rose came to blossom under the golden light of Apollo and was crowned with a diadem by Chloris to distinguish this most beautiful blossom, the Queen of Flowers.

Persians also recognized the divine origin of the Rose and believed it was a gift from Allah himself. From the times of Ancient Egypt Lotus was the King of the flowers. But he slept a lot neglecting his royal duties. All the flowers were complaining to Allah about this habit and asked to name another blossom for this position. The White Virgin Rose became the new Queen of Flowers. And to protect her Allah gave her the thorns.

Turkish legends have a different view on the origin of the Rose and believe that White Rose was born from the sweat drops of Mohammed during his night ascend of the sky.

The emergence of the Red rose in legends and myths are connected to the stories of pain, suffer and love.

Ancient Greek myths tell us that it was the blood of Aphrodite who turned the Roses red.

Persian legend says that the White Rose created by Allah was so beautiful that the nightingale felt in love to her from the first sight. Charmed by its beauty the nightingale embraced the flower so tightly that the thorns stabbed his heart and colored the rose petals with his blood. A beautiful Fairytale “The Nightingale and The Rose” is written by Oscar Wilde.

Well, if those stories of Red Rose made you a little sad, there is another version you might like. It says that Rose was presented to Eros (Roman name Cupid), the winged God of Love, by his mother Aphrodite. Being a playful child he spilled some wine on it and turned the Rose petals red.

And at the end I would reveal one more secret of this beautiful flower. Eros presented the Rose to Harpocrates, the Greek and Roman God of Secrecy and Silence. It was a bribe for not telling to Aphrodite, his mother, about the pranks of little troublemaker Eros. So the Rose became a symbol for confidentiality. And Romans believed that everything said under the Rose should remain a secret. Red roses often ornamented the houses also reminding the guests that everything said “sub vino” (under the influence of wine) is also said “sub rosa” (under the roses that means should be kept secret).

Orris root: the origin

2010-01-06T01:55:00.000-08:00

In its encyclopaedia of raw materials Osmoz tells us that iris comes from Far East. But there is also a legend narrating that iris flowers were born from the rainbow shatters. That is why they are named “iris” that means “rainbow” in Greek. Could it be true? Well, one can easily figure this out by looking at the colorful petals of iris flower.

Next to the rainbow colored petals some of iris flowers are also delicately scented. But only a couple of about 250 species of Iris genus are highly valued in perfumery for their scented root (that is actually an underground rootlike stem properly called rhizome). This is so called Orris root – the name referred to the rhizome of either Iris pallida or Iris germanica. Some sources mention Iris florentina as well, but others insist that it’s a variety and not a specimen. Iris pallida is widely cultivated in Florence, Italy while Iris germanica is primarily grown in Marocco.

It takes three years till the rhizomes are ready to be harvested, but three years of waiting is not enough as fresh orris root is almost odourless. You can’t use it in perfumery yet. It takes another three years of aging in jute bags for the collected and peeled rhizomes until they become ripe and scented. So, it costs you six years of patience and intensive labor to get the precious root. And the cultivation of iris is really labor-intensive, because planting, weeding, harvesting and peeling – all those steps are done by hand. It’s not a surprise that good quality natural raw materials yielded from orris root are more expensive than gold.

The main constituent of orris root are irones, chemical compounds that are formed during the aging period from other compounds of Orris root. The content of irones is an index of quality exercising the influence on the price of Orris root. So called “1% irone index” determines the standard of quality. Unfortunately there is a lot of orris root on the market that doesn’t meet this standard. Anything what is labor-intensive and expensive is often a subject of cheating and adulteration. The proper aging procedures are often violated resulting in a poorer quality of Orris root. In its article “Orris: A star of inspiration” Pierre-Jean Hellivan mentions that it’s a common practice to offer Orris root with historically low levels of irone.

The major part of Orris root comes from Italy followed by Marocco, China and France. Italy, China and France are cultivating Iris pallida while Marocco grows Iris germanica. There are also new sources of this precious root from Bulgaria, Serbia and Polland.

It’s interesting to notice, that perfume industry is not the biggest consumer of Orris root. The major part of it goes to the flavoring industry where it is used in production of beverages rounding the natural berry flavours. Much lesser part of Orris root goes to perfumery. But to become a fragrance compound it need further processing. The simplest way is to make an Orris tincture. Next to ambergris, civet and castoreum tinctures it was a very frequent constituent of ancient perfumes formulae. Nowadays there are also other natural Orris raw materials available. Next time I hope to tell you about them.

Images:
Above: Iris pallida from http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/GardenBeardedIrises

Below: Iris germanica from http://users.ca.astound.net/kenww/my_garden/bearded.htm

Interesting reading:
“Orris: A star of Inspiration” by Pierre-Jean Hellivan (Charabot) – an article in Perfumer and Flavorist, July, 2009 (vol 34. nr. 7). You can buy the full article at http://www.perfumerflavorist.com/magazine/pastissues/2009/34214239.html

Encyclopedia of raw materials on the Osmoz website (http://www.osmoz.com/Encyclopedia/Raw-materials/Iris).

A little blog update

2009-11-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

Visiting Victoria's Own blog I found a nice gadget provided by blogger. Aquarium with fish. Pretty lovely creatures giving you illusion they are alive. Fish comes to your mouse pointer expecting something from you. And by clicking you can feed them. Nice little thing that made me smile.

So, I decided to get my own aquarium - you can find it here on the right. Please, enjoy and do feed my fish when I am away for too long... And I hope it makes you smile too.

Sharing my chypre experiment

2009-11-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

Last time I was experimenting with a Chypre formula. The one from “An introduction to the perfumery” by Curtis. The original formula:
Bergamot FCF – 15
Sandalwood – 8
Vetiver (Bourbon) – 6
Oakmoss absolute decolorized – 5
Rose base – 6
Jasmine base – 5
Gamma-methyl-ionone – 3
Patchouli – 5
Musk-ketone – 3
Clary sage – 2
Neroli oil reconstructed – 2

Well, first of all I made a basic reconstruction of this formula using synthetic Sandal base and took just a couple of essential synthetics molecules for each of the mentioned bases (like PEA+citronellol+geraniol+rosone for the rose base). I also used a little bit of natural jasmine and rose absolutes as well as rose and neroli oils to brighten up the formula. Here there are conclusions I made before I’ll start on the second version:
- It’s very important to work separately on floral heart and balance it well before mixing with the chypre base.
- It’s also important to use naturals in the floral heart to make it strong enough to be able to compete against the strong chypre base (made off almost naturals only).
- Labdanum resinoide is in my opinion essential in a chypre – it gives a very soft ambery note and softens the oakmoss.
- I would be more careful with Clary Sage next time and may be even omit it.

Another interesting experiment was to create a natural chypre fragrance based on this formula. Well – it’s easy to think that you can just substitute the bases with the corresponding amounts of rose, jasmine and neroli oils and absolutes. But there is a problem – those precious and powerful essences and require very delicate balance – using just 6 parts of rose absolute and 5 part of jasmine absolute instead of rose and jasmine bases would result in a an "overrosed" accord. So, it’s very important to work carefully on the floral heart and balance it before mixing with the chypre base.

Methyl ionone is not an easy one to substitute with naturals – it is used not only as an iris-violet note, but also as a bridge between the woody and floral accords. Next to iris absolute or concrete there is also a Guaiac oil. It doesn’t smell like ionone at all, but it possess the function of the bridge between woody and floral notes. I used Guaiac oil with some Iris CO2 absolute.

Musk ketone can be substituted by natural musk or ambrette seed absolute. I only had ambrette seed tincture, so I used this one.

It was also interesting to create a “low budget natural formula” – to see if it’s possible to make a basic chypre using just the smallest amounts of expensive rose, jasmine and neroli oils and absolutes. For this formula I took just a drop of palmarosa and geranium oils (as a “rose” part), ylang-ylang oil (as a "jasmine" part) and petitgrain (as "neroli" part). I added some lavender oil to accompany the clary sage and geranium as well as some lime oil to accompany bergamot. Labdanum resinoide is really important chypre compound, so I added it too. Of course I used jasmine absolute, rose oil and absolute, neroli and iris CO2 just enough to add a finishing touch. Guaiac oil (as well as a touch of iris CO2) was used instead of methyl-ionone.

Well, my “low budget” formula was surprisingly pleasant. Definitely masculine, somewhat ascetic, deep and not cheap at all. It has character.

And there is something else I discovered about perfume. The better it’s balanced and the more natural ingredients are used the more intense is the emotional influence of the perfume. Like the last chypre I described – the feel of silence and restfulness filled me in at the moment I inhaled it.

P.S. Please, be aware of fact that amounts of oak moss used in this formula is higher than IFRA restrictions.

Musk animals and plants

2009-10-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

The Latin (originally Greek) word moschus and its derivatives in the name of an animal mostly refer to the strong smell, and often are translated as musky.

The word Moschus on the first place of a Latin name refers to a musk deer and indicates the genus of the species.

On the second place of a Latin name of other species the derivatives of the word moschus (like moschatus, moschata, moschatellina) refer to other (than musk deer) species possessing a strong smell and often related to musk..

Next to the Musk deer there are also other species called moschata or musky. They are:
Among animals: Aromia moschata – musk beetle; Cairina moschata – muscovy duck; Hypsiprymnodon moschatus musky rat-cangaroo; Eledone moschata – musk octopus; Sternotherus moschatus – musk turtle; Desmana moschata – Russian desman; Ovibоs moschatus - muskox.
There is also Chrysolampus moschitus, but I can’t find any information on what animal it might be. Probably it’s a musk bird. Nosotragus moschatus – this beast I couldn’t find also.
Among musky plants there are: Abelmoschus moschatus – ambrette seed; Fragaria moschata – musk strawberry; Adóxa moschatellína - Moschatel; Achillea moschata – Musk milfoil; Malva moschata – musk-mallow, Mimulus moschatus – musk-flower.
There is also a musky fungus - Fusarium moschatum.

Not all “musk” animals or plants called “moschata” are used to obtain musk. For example, no musk is obtained from the muskox. From other side there are also animals, which Latin name doesn’t refer to a musk animal, like Paleosuchus palpebrosus or Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman. This musky caiman is used to obtain musk. Or the muskrat Ondatra zibethicus.

Tonkin (or Tonqine) musk from the Tonkin musk deer is still the superior in quality and is preferred to other musk sorts.

The reference for musk - natural musk

2009-10-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Image: Musk deer from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musk)

Russian version - click here

As Octavian writes on his blog there are four types of musk – a natural musk obtained from the musk deer, natural musks from other animals and plants, synthetic musk molecules and musk fragrances. Each group can represent a certain musk reference with wide variations of standards within the group.

Natural musk – was one of the most used ingredients in perfumery. Arctander says that it’s not only a good fixative, but it cal lift and give life to almost any well balanced perfume. The importance of natural musk in perfumery can be seen in Poucher’s “Perfumes, cosmetics and soaps” manual where he shares formulae for single floral accords like rose, lilac, violet, jasmine, etc. For each soliflore accord he suggests a perfume that can be made from the floral accord by adding of some natural essential oils and absolutes, often ambergris tincture and almost always a musk tincture. It’s as if the formula of rounded floral perfume was = floral accord (or a combination) + corresponding naturals + ambergris (or it can be another animal component or orris) + musk. The last one is almost obligatory for any perfume as it comes back almost in each perfume formula in this book.

Musk is obtained from the male musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) and sometimes from other Moschus species or other animals like muskrat. It’s a secretion of an internal pouch in the abdomen. Although it’s possible to collect the pouch without killing the deer, it has been a common practice to kill the animal. About 70 000 male musk deers were killed annually to produce about 500 – 1500 kg of Musk. According to another source you need to kill 30 – 50 animals to produce 1 kg of Musk. And the demand for this product was growing despite the price that was twice its weight in gold. So in 1979 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and national laws protected the musk deer. High price, laws and regulations significantly restricted the use of natural musk in perfumery – you can’t find it anymore in perfumes. And many modern perfumers even don’t know what does natural musk smells like.

After extraction from the deer the musk pod was dried (to let its content to form the so called musk grains) and sold. Musk grains were used to prepare either musk tincture or musk absolute (via musk resinoid). The best quality was the Tonkin musk (obtained from Moschus tonquinensis), a musk deer species from China, Tonkin (an area corresponding with modern northernmost part of Vietnam) and Tibet. The smell of musk grains is referred as sweet, very persistent, animal-like and amin-like.

It’s very difficult nowadays to smell the real natural musk and use it as a reference. It’s still can be found in many (of not almost any) vintage perfumes. I have a sample of Musk Rose perfume made by a fellow perfumer who used natural musk in it. Of course, it’s difficult to distract a single (and unknown) component from a well balanced perfume, but I guess I have an idea what natural musk smells like and what it does in perfume. I guess it’s a part making me think about Musk Rose as a vintage perfume (although it’s not). I guess it musk gives a kind of depth, intensity and brightness to the natural rose accord making it warm, sweet and dark. It’s really painful for me to understand that I either should give up an idea of using such a beautiful raw material in perfumery or to accept the high price, problems with regulations and laws as well as moral dilemma and conscience-stricken of killed animals. Well, I guess I’ll try to follow the idea of Maurice Roucel in his Musk Ravageur who tried to reconstruct the wildness of natural musk from synthetic components.

Musc Ravageur

2009-10-10T14:51:00.000-07:00

Image from - Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle

Musk is a very famous and broadly used ingredient in perfumery. Natural musk combines warm, sweet, animalic and ammoniacal aspects and does not only enriches the perfume composition, but also gives it more affinity with human skin and fixates the fragrance. It’s not used in perfumery anymore substituted by synthetic analogues. Unfortunately they don’t poses all the nuances of natural musk. Stripped off warm animalic and ammoniacal notes synthetic musk is too clean and its sweetness seems to be the only aspect left.

But Maurice Roucel succeeded to unleash the beast and to recreate the fragrance that shows the true character of the real natural musk without using any of it. Chandler Burr reveals the secret in his review. A transparent sweetness of synthetic musk base was fed with warm and animalic notes of synthetic castoreum and dirtied with some filthy animalic and ammoniacal aspects of synthetic civet. Et voila – a natural musk effect and no animal is hurt. But when you create a beast you should think about taming it. But what can balance the dark nasty devastating monster? Of course it should be something white, soft, sweet and kind like Mother Goose… or Vanilla (translated into perfumerian language). Musk and vanilla strengthened with spices like cinnamon and topped with the citrus notes of bergamot and tangerine – that’s the core of Musc Ravageur.

Luca Turin in his guide doesn’t show much enthusiasm about the wild musk creation of Maurice Roucel. He gives it 3 stars and calls it a “hippie musk”. Luca compares the fragrance with Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens. And the dry down of Musc Ravageur reminds Luca the dry down of Envy for man (Gucci). It’s funny to notice that original version of Envy (the one pour femme) is also created by Maurice Roucel in 1997. Well, to me Musc Ravageur indeed shares similar aspects with Ambre Sultan, but is more animalic.

Another interesting comparison is between Musc Ravageur and Shalimar by Guerlain. Well – both fragrances use noticeable doses of vanilla in combination with animal notes, amber and spices. They share similarities, but they are different. But if you like one of them you may like to try another as well. Unlike Shalimar Musc Ravageur doesn’t have any flowers in it – no floral heart at all (as said in the description of this scent). But is it entirely true? Maurice Roucel seems to use Magnolia as a signature scent for the most creations. I don’t recognize magnolia in Musc Ravageur, but I smell an interesting transparent note there. It seems to be an extension of the citrus note – fresh, slightly fruity and floral. It might be hedione and it is the only floral aspect I can find here – like frozen white flower petals.

There are also similarities between Musc Ravageur and Oud 27 (Le Labo). And if you like to try a clean version of transparent sweet musks washed and stripped of all filth and decorated with flowers you might like another creation of Maurice Roucel – Rochas for Man in a very suggestive bottle.

On my skin this fragrance begins with a funny cacophony of all notes playing at once dominated by animalic and ammoniac civet – it’s like the sounds of orchestra warming up just before the theatre performance. But as soon as alcohol evaporates the fragrance finds the balance on my skin. Warm, deep and sweet base of musk and vanilla is present from the beginning through the whole fragrance transforming into the amber. Citruses here are rather cold and frosty (but not crispy) than warm and sunny. The contrast between cold and fresh, but sweet and fruity citrus and warm sweet and deep base of amber, vanilla and musk is the main theme of this perfume. Sometimes I smell a note of almond that reminds me of Louve (Serge Lutens) and later I smell that soft transparent floral note coming from citrus. Spices are present, but they are rather supporters than the main actors. Silage of Musc Ravageur is moderate. I used two sprays on my body and one on my wrists and I couldn’t smell this fragrance all the time (unlike Ambre Sultan, for example). After 4-6 hours it was almost gone and I could only smell it only after putting my nose very close to the skin and warming it with my breath.

To me it’s a wonderful fragrance for the cold time of the year. The flowers are gone (and you can’t find them in the fragrance either), the air is cold and frosty like the citrus part of Musc Ravageur. But you are wearing warm jack, a scarf and gloves made of the warm ambery base. I guess I’ll put this scent together with my other Amber scents as the most animalic amber and use it when I need to use less sweet and a bit nasty amber that doesn’t give too much silage, but still warms my body and soul.

Don't let the lot to choose your fragrance...

2009-09-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

... as it has weird sense of humor sometimes.

I'd like to share my story about how I let the lot to choose my fragrance to wear for today. Actually I didn't wont to make any decision. You probably know those lazy days when even making a decision is already too much work. So, you probably stay in pyjamas the whole day and become just a witness of events running through a timeline.

I wanted to wear a fragrance, but didn't know which one. So, I did say loudly - "I don't want to make any decision today, so let it be. Let the lot choose it for me". Oh, be careful in what you say...

This morning I dropped a box full of miniatures. Fortunately it fell on the carpet and everything seemed to be unbroken. But I didn't see that a corner of one miniature was broken and there was a small whole in it. The miniature remained full as the air pressure worked against the gravity. So, I put the box back to where it belonged. Later I started to wondering - when and on what way the lot will decide the perfume for me. So, I decided to help by browsing through the miniatures. And... I took the broken one and opened to sniff (totally unconsciously). At the moment I took off the lid the pressure couldn't work anymore and the whole content came on me. The lot had spoken (and done) - all 3 ml of this perfume are on me now.

So, the perfume I am wearing today is Vent Vert by Balmain (an old formulation). I smell like one giant green narcotic and even poisonous narcissus. And I don't mind - it's a funny joke of the lot and I can laugh on it. I am just curious of its effect on people I'll meet today walking with my dog and shopping. There is another funny thing here. The Narcissus note was not easy for me to recognize in fragrances. But I do recognize it now very well.

And can you also remember the story when the lot has decided a fragrance for you and has shown its sense of humor?

Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens: the first impressions

2009-09-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Russian version - click here

Image credits: (c) AromaX

Last Saturday I decided to leave an idyll of a French country and to visit a local city Vichy to remember how does it feel to be among people again. Vichy is famous by its thermal baths and sources from the times of the Ancient Rome. But I was there just to walk on the streets o Vichy, to admire the glory of its architecture, to try some sweets and of course to visit some perfumery stores. Because in French perfumeries you can find fragrances that are not available yet in Netherlands. Well, I found there Idylle by Guerlain as well as Guerlain Homme Intense. I also found the whole line of Ego Facto. But Fille en Aiguilles by Serge Lutens was the most amazing one.

What could I say? It’s love from the first sigh. It’s definitely a creation in style of Serge Lutens – the master of sweet oriental exotic fragrances. I experienced the same impressions as I did when I tried Cédre – my first fragrance by Serge Lutens. My first impression is – it smells incense, smoke and burnt sugar. As if you could make a candy by smelting of sugar together with incense resin – a fragile, warm, transparent piece of candy that is not sticky at all. A little bit of honey might be added to soften the burnt sugar smell and give it warmth.

First I didn’t notice the fir needles – the most important component of this fragrance that even found in its name. But finally they came as well – a balsamic, sweet and fresh coniferous aroma that perfectly goes with the coldness of incense note. I’ve also discovered a new note that I also found in other niche fragrances. So far I call it industrial note as it reminds me a bit of burnt rubber. I smelled it in the rose oxide aromachemical, but also in Palisandrol by Firmenich. I found it in Afgano by Nasamoto. Probably it’s a kind of furanon or pyrazine molecule. In Fille en Aiguilles it gives depth to incense, supports the fir needles smell and emphasizes the burnt smoke note.

Amber is also mentioned in the pyramide on Osmoz. But I think it’s imitated by the sweet resins. And probably arises from the combination of resins and that industrial note. My nose enjoys the burnt sugar sweetness so much that it doesn’t want to look for the amber. The pyramid on Osmoz also shows the fruits. I haven’t found any – probably they are hidden in the sweet fruitiness of fir needles. Or may be molded from the burnt sugar syrup. There are also spices. I can’t define them as they just give some brightness and emphasizes the oriental character of this fragrance.

This fragrance recalls the images of rocks, softwood, a hermit monk, smoke of the open fire, meditation, tranquillity and quietness, being one with nature, mystery. It’s interesting to notice that my images are mauve and blue coloured although the fragrance itself is rather ambery yellowish with a little brown in it.

Well, to me it’s a perfect autumn scent. It makes you warm despite the fresh breeze of incense and fir needles. It’s a bit introvert. And I guess it’s a nice companion for a long walk somewhere in the forest or park.