Kyphi, Femme & resins

[Guest guest]

>It's so funny they need a committee of scientists to recreate the

ancient Kyphi

Personally, I think the committee was just fishing for a reason for

a 'business trip' to Egypt. They could have just done a web search

and found the recipes for Kyphi recorded by Dioscorides, Galen, et

al who went on that 'business trip' about 1000 years ago. They were

looking at the same texts and walls....

>formula for the original 1944 " Femme " by E.Rouditska.

There is a really interesting perfumery website named Basenotes

(http://www.basenotes.net) that allows you to search commercial

perfumes (by name, creator & even bottle designer). The list is

pretty extensive & includes formulary changes.

I can't get the site to 'come up' right now, though. Many sites

aren't monitored over the weekend, so if something goes wrong it can

take a while to come back up.

When you find one you're interested in, like Femme, the large info

block to the right includes the primary notes broken by top, heart &

base. It isn't a recipe, but a great starting place.

The date of the formula change (1989) seems to indicate that an

ingredient became unavailable due to regulation. There was a big

addendum to CITES (the Convention on International Trade of

Endangered Species) in 1989. That doesn't mean it's an animal scent

which was removed - but probably so.

>Benzoin, gums & resins

I hope to soon add what I know about playing with these beauties.

Don't give up on the tinctures - much of the scent you desire is

soluable in alcohol, then you can filter the insoluble resin. The

element of scent you're looking for may not be soluble, but you can

experiment with small quantities.