Re: Love affair with natural Perfumery reaching new levels

[Guest guest]

Ruth Ruane <ruth@...> wrote: I have to share.

When I started on this journey not even two years ago I never imagined

that it would bring me such joy.

If this is what my nose is like after only 18 months what will it be

like after 5? or 10?

Ruth

http://www.whitewitch.ie

Well hunny all I can say is after nine years of researching, reading, studying

and hands on....is that it just keeps on getting betta and betta...... I am so

deeply in love with what I do it is so superlunery.... It completely takes over

me..... and I hunger for more and more .... the more I know the more I need to

know.....

Janita

Janita's Attar meanderings of a Natural Perfumer

http://www.janitasattars.blogspot.com

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

On Jun 20, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Ruth Ruane wrote:

> I have to share.

> When I started on this journey not even two years ago I never imagined

> that it would bring me such joy.

> I was full of questions and would get palpitations at the thought of

> somebody asking me to tell the difference between Jasmine sambac and

> jasmine grandi, or the difference between the different lavenders or

> mints.

> Now I not only could tell the difference between the two jasmines

> blindfolded but I could say that they are so astoundingly different

> there would not even be a hesitation in telling them apart and saying

> what the differences are. (still need to work at my descriptions)

>

> If this is what my nose is like after only 18 months what will it be

> like after 5? or 10?

>

> I'm delirious! I've just been smelling jasmine sambac and jasmine

> grandi concrete on my wrist and I'm telling you all that Natural

> Perfumery is a high! A natural High <G>

> I know I am preaching to the converted but what the heck.

I know what you mean. At first I was concerned whether or not I'd

ever have an astute enough nose to pick apart a composition. After

only several months of sniffing, I find I've made great progress.

Differences, like you, between, say, rosa damascena and rosa

bourbonia are plain as day to me now. I pride myself on the fact that

I can tell what new essences are in a package when it arrives before

I unwrap the bottles.

I'm hoping there's no limit as to how astute one's olfactory organ

can become (one's ability to put smells into words may indeed always

be a little abstract, for me anyway). I reckon 5 or 10 years from now

we'll be proudly walking in the steps of history's greatest perfumers.

[Guest guest]

If this is what my nose is like after only 18 months what will it be

like after 5? or 10?

Ruth

http://www.whitewitch.ie

Well hunny all I can say is after nine years of researching, reading, studying

and hands on....is that it just keeps on getting betta and betta....Janita

Janita's Attar meanderings of a Natural Perfumer

http://www.janitasattars.blogspot.com

will keep this website till the changeover had it now a good 5 years or more

it is doing my head in LOL

Janita

http://www.hayspace.co.uk

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

janita morris <heartinmymouth@...> wrote:

If this is what my nose is like after only 18 months what will it be

like after 5? or 10?

noses..... palowses...... like cookery it gets better...... by experience....

xxxx janita

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[Guest guest]

janita morris <heartinmymouth@...> wrote:

janita morris wrote:

If this is what my nose is like after only 18 months what will it be

like after 5? or 10?

noses..... palowses...... like cookery it gets better...... by experience....

xxxx janita

insasmuch..... just like an athlete..... noses train...... hope that explains it

better....

Janita

http://www.hayspace.co.uk

Flowers of Myddfai http://www.flowrsofmyddfaiproject.com

Janita's Attar http://www.janitasattars.blogspot.com

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[Guest guest]

It really is astounding how the nose (and the portion

of the brain it speaks to) can be trained. I have

been a student of NP now for a little over a year and

I am delighted at how my nose 'learns'. I think I

wrote some time ago about how I suddenly learned just

how acute my nose had become when I found a long-lost

favorite incense, only to find that when I opened the

box and smelled it I instantly recognized that it was

full of synths. While the new acuity definitely

compromised my enjoyment of that particular incense

(which I ended up tossing into the circular file), I

was pleased as punch that I could discern. It's nice

to be able to have faith in the subtle increments of

diligent learning!

I'm also totally jazzed today because I cracked open a

flacon of a new perfume that's been sitting around

aging this past month. While the basic character and

structure of the scent had been identifiable as soon

as it had been mixed a month ago, the mysterious and

lovely knitting together of the components never fails

to wow me.

And this particular one held a most WONDERFUL

surprise: the drydown is incredibly tenacious, and

every bit as lovely as the 'opening strains' of the

perfume. While after a couple of days the drydown was

nice, this aging and marrying has done something

transcendental to it, and there's a discernable

clarity to it that my earlier perfumes didn't quite

attain.

And it has somehow come together as a cohesive whole.

It's as if I had had a conversation with the

ingredients of the formula in the beginning of the

process, but once they went to work with each other in

the crucible that is the perfume bottle, it's as if

they took on a life of their own. As if I had said

'okay, ingredients, here's my vision...' and put them

into the bottle. This morning I opened the bottle to

learn that somehow these living ingredients have taken

my vision, and transformed it into something that has

real poetry to it.

Alfred

smelling great in San Francisco

[Guest guest]

On 20/06/07, Alfred Eberle <uruziam@...> wrote:

<Snip of lovely stuff>

> And it has somehow come together as a cohesive whole.

> It's as if I had had a conversation with the

> ingredients of the formula in the beginning of the

> process, but once they went to work with each other in

> the crucible that is the perfume bottle, it's as if

> they took on a life of their own. As if I had said

> 'okay, ingredients, here's my vision...' and put them

> into the bottle. This morning I opened the bottle to

> learn that somehow these living ingredients have taken

> my vision, and transformed it into something that has

> real poetry to it.

>

> Alfred

>

> smelling great in San Francisco

Oh Alfred! (smelling great in SF) you enthuse and motivate me!

How I wish I lived next door to you and could pop in and smell your

creations....

Please give a hint which living ingredients magically transformed

themselves into olfactory poetry - then I can at least imagine how

they would dance together.

LLx

(who sadly only turns out fragrant crayons and fly repellent...)

[Guest guest]

>

>

>

> > And it has somehow come together as a cohesive whole.

> It's as if I had had a conversation with the

> ingredients of the formula in the beginning of the

> process, but once they went to work with each other in

> the crucible that is the perfume bottle, it's as if

> they took on a life of their own. As if I had said

> 'okay, ingredients, here's my vision...' and put them

> into the bottle. This morning I opened the bottle to

> learn that somehow these living ingredients have taken

> my vision, and transformed it into something that has

> real poetry to it.

>

>

> Alfred

>

> smelling great in San Francisco

>

....and the name will be??? " Post Lucem " ?

[Guest guest]

> <Snip of lovely stuff>

> > And it has somehow come together as a cohesive whole.

> > It's as if I had had a conversation with the

> > ingredients of the formula in the beginning of the

> > process, but once they went to work with each other in

> > the crucible that is the perfume bottle, it's as if

> > they took on a life of their own. As if I had said

> > 'okay, ingredients, here's my vision...' and put them

> > into the bottle. This morning I opened the bottle to

> > learn that somehow these living ingredients have taken

> > my vision, and transformed it into something that has

> > real poetry to it.

> >

> > Alfred

> >

> > smelling great in San Francisco

>

> Oh Alfred! (smelling great in SF) you enthuse and motivate me!

> How I wish I lived next door to you and could pop in and smell your

> creations....

> Please give a hint which living ingredients magically transformed

> themselves into olfactory poetry - then I can at least imagine how

> they would dance together.

> LLx

> (who sadly only turns out fragrant crayons and fly repellent...)

>

Would that we could all pop in on one another when one makes a lovely

creation. Kudos yet again Alfred! And to Ruth too! To everyone,

really -- sounds like we're all doing a bunch of great work. =: D

And Liz, fly repellent doesn't have to smell bad to us -- only to the

flies! And there may yet be something to perfumed crayons! Might

induce more adults to use them, rather than just kids.... ; )

I just got an incredible compliment yesterday on a perfume that I

made last month. This came from a professional acquaintance. I ran

into her in the ferry line on my way off-island for Father's Day. To

help alleviate her frustration with the boats (when it's the only way

to go, they can run whenever they feel like it. Or not.), I gave her

wrist a drop of my perfume, Romanza. Her eyes lit up. And she kept

doing what I keep doing -- smelling her wrist -- just keeping her

nose and wrist firmly connected to each other. Made her smile and go

all happy over the din of screeching kids in her back seat.

I came home yesterday to a message on my machine telling me how she

loved it. She was tickled by how it changed over the hours. And

many hours later, when she was home again and taking off her coat,

she smelled something wonderful. She said she couldn't figure it out

for a moment and then she remembered the perfume. She said it

smelled completely different from how it smelled earlier in the day,

and that she was melting into it.

How sweet is that? Now if I can get myself up to more than 12 or 13

ingredients..... And I wish I had the clarity of discernment that a

bunch of us are having. I know I'll get there. What a great thread

this one is!

Happily fragrant,

Andrine

On Sunny Vashon Island with the Philadelphus in full bloom (oh what a

hedge of it must be like!)

[Guest guest]

On Jun 20, 2007, at 3:57 PM, Liz wrote:

> On 20/06/07, Alfred Eberle <uruziam@...> wrote:

> > This morning I opened the bottle to

> > learn that somehow these living ingredients have taken

> > my vision, and transformed it into something that has

> > real poetry to it.

> >

> > Alfred

> >

> > smelling great in San Francisco

>

> Oh Alfred! (smelling great in SF) you enthuse and motivate me!

> How I wish I lived next door to you and could pop in and smell your

> creations....

> Please give a hint which living ingredients magically transformed

> themselves into olfactory poetry - then I can at least imagine how

> they would dance together.

> LLx

That'd be fun. " Hey Liz - can I borrow a cup of Moroccan Rose abs?

All I got is some of the Bulgarian, and the Bulgarian is way

too...Pre-Raphaelite for Old Kingdom. "

(tee hee. A cup of rose abs...)

So...the dancing ingredients are basil abs, neroli, tinctured lavender

from a friend's farm near Grasse, guaiacwood, homemade bee goo

tincture, ambergris tinct, labdanum, genet, and 'benjamin' (benzoin).

I actually used quadruple the amount of the ambergris tincture that I

customarily do, and this time it is not only a quiet exaltant working

on everything in its vicinity, but it's also actually a major note in

its own right, in the drydown, which I did not realize until I'd put

some on a scent strip this morning and just smelled it when I got home

thirteen hours later. The scent lasts longer on the test strip than on

my skin, (me! a base note in my own right. I'm a perfume ingredient!)

.. When I got home I could very much still smell the ambergris note on

the test strip. and it smelled like the *living* version of the

synthetic ambergris(es?) lurking in the base notes of the fragrances I

smell on my coworkers as they pass me in the corridors...it smelled,

interestingly, as concentrated as the synth ambergrii (?) do to my

humble nose, only there was a palpable chi present which I find

curiously (well, not *really* curiously in this case) absent in the

synthetics. I'm quite certain that my perception of that chi is no

more my imagination than my perception of the keyboard I'm typing on -

it's there; it's something that I can perceive. It's like there's

still life-force in the materials used for NP.

Plus, it smells good.

Alfred

Currently redolent of finest Australian sandalwood in San Francisco

[Guest guest]

I'm also totally jazzed today because I cracked open a

flacon of a new perfume that's been sitting around

aging this past month.

the mysterious and

lovely knitting together of the components never fails

to wow me.

this aging and marrying has done something

transcendental to it, and there's a discernable

clarity to it that my earlier perfumes didn't quite

attain.

And it has somehow come together as a cohesive whole.

somehow these living ingredients have taken

my vision, and transformed it into something that has

real poetry to it.

Alfred

smelling great in San Francisco

Sounds amazing Alfred..... oh well done.......what did you use? ...that

mysterious alchemy that works bringing essences together never fails to humble

me ......and what blows me away is how a subtle change by adding a touch of

something can send a promising perfume into something superlunery.......

Janita

thinking about another cuppa before starting her day

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

janita morris <heartinmymouth@...> wrote:

I'm also totally jazzed today because I cracked open a

flacon of a new perfume that's been sitting around

aging this past month.

I love how you have used the word 'cracked open.'...........just like a good

champagne or excellent wine......................cheers<clink> :-)

Janita

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[Guest guest]

On Jun 21, 2007, at 12:20 AM, janita morris wrote:

>

>

> janita morris <heartinmymouth@...> wrote:

>

> I'm also totally jazzed today because I cracked open a

> flacon of a new perfume that's been sitting around

> aging this past month.

>

> I love how you have used the word 'cracked open.'...........just like

> a good champagne or excellent wine......................cheers<clink>

> :-)

>

> Janita

Heh! I am not only a base note, but also a voluptuary...!

Alfred

sleepily in San Francisco

[Guest guest]

> Heh! I am not only a base note, but also a voluptuary...!

>

>

> Alfred

Hi Alfred, I have a question for you. If you are a base note which

base note are you most like?

Me? If you ask me I'd say I'm cassie, yes I'd be cassie.

Please nobody say they are Costus oil!

Ruth

http://www.whitewitch.ie