Re: Impressions of strange oils

[Guest guest]

At 11:10 AM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

>So I just acquired some unusual oils and thought I'd share my

>impressions of them:

>

>artimisia alba (armoise, mugwort) - a nasty aromatic smell.. my first

>thought was camphor and furniture polish! There is a slight herbal

>sweetness present, though. This one seems to get its share of use in

>male scents as a top or middle note, though I'm not sure why; surely

>there are nicer aromatics?

It transforms in a blend, Xplo. Thankfully. Very potent. Related to the

dreaded Davana. I'm sending little bits of both to a perfumista who has a

blog and wanted to learn more about them. Perfumery uses it all! Artemisias

are tricky -- davana smells like highly-alcoholic vomit to me, yet A.

leudovicia (sp?) the white sage of out West is glorious, dry, warm, clean,

bracing in its herbal purity.

>capsicum annum (chile) - The good: it has the warm, sweet smell of red

>chile powder. The bad: yes, the capsaicin is in there, and it's STRONG!

>Forget those piddling issues of irritation and sensitization; a perfume

>made with this would probably burn.

It is probably produced for herbal salves, not perfume. I believe the way

to get beautiful chili scent is to buy powdered non-hot chilis like

poblano/ancho and tincture, which I am going to do this weekend. Usually

use the stuff for enchilada sauce, but there's been so much talk about it,

I'll put some of my huge stash (buy it by the pound ;-) of it to use in a

perfumery experiment.

>melaluca quinquenervia (nerolina, paperbark tea tree) - woody-floral,

>with hints of lavender, anise, and something sickly sweet that I can't

>quite put a finger on.

Oy. The dreaded melaleuca, the worst weed tree/pest tree of South Florida.

Choking the everglades. I'd like to know where you got this, as I'd like to

get some. Is it distilled from the wood? The flowers smell like mashed

potatoes or fried potatoes when in bloom!

>sassurea costus (costus root) - Ah, the dreaded costus. I don't know

>what goats smell like, so I can't say how this compares, but the scent

>reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times stronger..

>or of certain kinds of plastic.

Many say wet dog. Believe me, it doesn't have 1/100th the funk of goat hair.

>cympopogan martini (ginger grass) - A clean, sharp, stimulating scent;

>mild lemongrass with the sharp edge of ginger and maybe a hint of sugarcane.

I love this oil, and use it often. Lovely.

Anya

http://.com

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/

Join to study natural perfumery

[Guest guest]

> reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times

stronger..

> or of certain kinds of plastic.

>

Who the heck have you been sleeping with? I have heard that the blow-

up variety of partner may have the smell of plastic (LOL!)

You make me laugh!

[Guest guest]

Anya wrote:

> At 11:10 AM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

>

>>So I just acquired some unusual oils and thought I'd share my

>>impressions of them:

>>

>>artimisia alba (armoise, mugwort) - a nasty aromatic smell.. my first

>>thought was camphor and furniture polish! There is a slight herbal

>>sweetness present, though. This one seems to get its share of use in

>>male scents as a top or middle note, though I'm not sure why; surely

>>there are nicer aromatics?

>

> It transforms in a blend, Xplo. Thankfully. Very potent. Related to the

> dreaded Davana.

And also to wormwood, I think, and who knows what else.

I can't imagine it transforming enough to smell nice in a blend. What

would it turn into?

>>melaluca quinquenervia (nerolina, paperbark tea tree) - woody-floral,

>>with hints of lavender, anise, and something sickly sweet that I can't

>>quite put a finger on.

>

> Oy. The dreaded melaleuca, the worst weed tree/pest tree of South Florida.

> Choking the everglades. I'd like to know where you got this, as I'd like to

> get some. Is it distilled from the wood?

I got it from New Directions, and it's supposedly distilled from leaves

and twigs.

>>sassurea costus (costus root) - Ah, the dreaded costus. I don't know

>>what goats smell like, so I can't say how this compares, but the scent

>>reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times stronger..

>>or of certain kinds of plastic.

>

> Many say wet dog. Believe me, it doesn't have 1/100th the funk of goat hair.

And you would know! Still, I don't really get " wet dog " from it either.

>>cympopogan martini (ginger grass) - A clean, sharp, stimulating scent;

>>mild lemongrass with the sharp edge of ginger and maybe a hint of sugarcane.

>

> I love this oil, and use it often. Lovely.

I don't really have a use for it yet, but I *intend* to.

Actually, even as a single note this would be great in the bath.. or a

morning shower before work, perhaps? Something to prop open the eyelids?

-Xplo

[Guest guest]

> Anya wrote:

>

>> > At 11:10 AM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

>> >

>>> >>So I just acquired some unusual oils and thought I'd share my

>>> >>impressions of them:

>>> >>

>>> >>artimisia alba (armoise, mugwort) - a nasty aromatic smell.. my first

>>> >>thought was camphor and furniture polish! There is a slight herbal

>>> >>sweetness present, though. This one seems to get its share of use in

>>> >>male scents as a top or middle note, though I'm not sure why; surely

>>> >>there are nicer aromatics?

>> >

>> > It transforms in a blend, Xplo. Thankfully. Very potent. Related to the

>> > dreaded Davana.

>

> And also to wormwood, I think, and who knows what else.

>

> I can't imagine it transforming enough to smell nice in a blend. What

> would it turn into?

>

>>> >>melaluca quinquenervia (nerolina, paperbark tea tree) - woody-floral,

>>> >>with hints of lavender, anise, and something sickly sweet that I can't

>>> >>quite put a finger on.

>> >

>> > Oy. The dreaded melaleuca, the worst weed tree/pest tree of South Florida.

>> > Choking the everglades. I'd like to know where you got this, as I'd like to

>> > get some. Is it distilled from the wood?

>

> I got it from New Directions, and it's supposedly distilled from leaves

> and twigs.

>

>>> >>sassurea costus (costus root) - Ah, the dreaded costus. I don't know

>>> >>what goats smell like, so I can't say how this compares, but the scent

>>> >>reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times stronger..

>>> >>or of certain kinds of plastic.

>> >

>> > Many say wet dog. Believe me, it doesn't have 1/100th the funk of goat

>> hair.

>

> And you would know! Still, I don't really get " wet dog " from it either.

>

>>> >>cympopogan martini (ginger grass) - A clean, sharp, stimulating scent;

>>> >>mild lemongrass with the sharp edge of ginger and maybe a hint of

>>> sugarcane.

>> >

>> > I love this oil, and use it often. Lovely.

>

> I don't really have a use for it yet, but I *intend* to.

>

> Actually, even as a single note this would be great in the bath.. or a

> morning shower before work, perhaps? Something to prop open the eyelids?

>

> -Xplo

>

> Hi Xplo,

>

> May I inquire where you came across the Cymbopogon martinii Stapf Var sofia

> (Gingergrass)??? I find the Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) easy to find but

> have not come across the Gingergrass. It sounds lovely.

>

> Aromatic Wishes,

> Barbara

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

At 12:07 PM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

> >

> > May I inquire where you came across the Cymbopogon martinii Stapf Var sofia

> > (Gingergrass)??? I find the Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) easy to

> find but

> > have not come across the Gingergrass. It sounds lovely.

Hi Barbara

I got my gingergrass from both http://www.wholespectrum.biz/ and

http://whitelotusaromatics.com

Anya

http://.com

The premier site on the Web to discover the beauty of Natural Perfume

/

Join to study natural perfumery

[Guest guest]

aradisis wrote:

>>reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times stronger..

>>or of certain kinds of plastic.

>

> Who the heck have you been sleeping with?

Nobody

Barbara Fallenbaum wrote:

>>May I inquire where you came across the Cymbopogon martinii Stapf Var

sofia

>>(Gingergrass)??? I find the Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) easy to

find but

>>have not come across the Gingergrass. It sounds lovely.

I didn't want to be specific since I still don't quite grasp Anya's

policy on naming suppliers, but since that's two of you now (one of

which IS Anya), the whole lot came from New Directions.

-Xplo

[Guest guest]

> aradisis wrote:

>

>>> >>reminds me of the scent of a person's scalp, only many times stronger..

>>> >>or of certain kinds of plastic.

>> >

>> > Who the heck have you been sleeping with?

>

> Nobody

>

> Barbara Fallenbaum wrote:

>>> >>May I inquire where you came across the Cymbopogon martinii Stapf Var

> sofia

>>> >>(Gingergrass)??? I find the Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) easy to

> find but

>>> >>have not come across the Gingergrass. It sounds lovely.

>

> I didn't want to be specific since I still don't quite grasp Anya's

> policy on naming suppliers, but since that's two of you now (one of

> which IS Anya), the whole lot came from New Directions.

>

> -Xplo

>

>

> Thank you Xplo.

>

> Anya, am I doing it properly now????

>

> Barbara

>

>

[Guest guest]

At 12:40 PM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

>I didn't want to be specific since I still don't quite grasp Anya's

>policy on naming suppliers, but since that's two of you now (one of

>which IS Anya), the whole lot came from New Directions.

>

>-Xplo

Hi Xplo:

For a while, we had a " don't mention suppliers " policy because there were

some members who seemd to make an issue of this. They're not on the group

anymore, and since so many other members asked, we now name suppliers. We

can mention the good and the bad. Sometimes a great supplier gets a bad

batch of something. That doesn't make them a bad supplier. What we do not

want is personal bashing, or unfounded " I heard this about... " type

posts. There are a few suppliers I know to be unscrupulous, or highly

overpriced, or that sell bunky oils, and I do remove them from the Links

section if somebody puts their website in the Suppliers section there.

Otherwise, share freely. As you can see, I shared two sources of

gingergrass, and I've been happy with both of them.

Anya

http://.com

The premier site on the Web to discover the beauty of Natural Perfume

/

Join to study natural perfumery

[Guest guest]

> At 12:07 PM 1/13/2006, you wrote:

>>> > >

>>> > > May I inquire where you came across the Cymbopogon martinii Stapf Var

>>> sofia

>>> > > (Gingergrass)??? I find the Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) easy to

>> > find but

>>> > > have not come across the Gingergrass. It sounds lovely.

>

> Hi Barbara

> I got my gingergrass from both http://www.wholespectrum.biz/ and

> http://whitelotusaromatics.com

>

>

>

> Anya

> http://.com

> The premier site on the Web to discover the beauty of Natural Perfume

> /

> Join to study natural perfumery

>

>

> Thank you Anya, I have worked with White Lotus but have not tried Whole

> Spectrum, yet.

>

> Barbara

>

>

[Guest guest]

-----Original Message-----

cedrelopsis grevei (katrafay) - vegetal and floral; reminds me of a

blend of galbanum and tuberose (although real tuberose is much nicer).

The seller suggests that it makes an excellent fixative, but I haven't

tested this at all.

I love Katafray. The katafray I received from Liberty Naturals has a

wonderful floral woodsiness that is so good in wood and incense blends. Also

the fixative quality is really superb. I use this diluted to 10%, not full

strength. I find that most essential oils smell much better when diluted.

~Pixilated Pixie