Lavender

[Guest guest]

>I've been trying to make

> one for 

> lavender and I'm ready to give up. I just don't think

> 'lavender' and 

> 'perfume' go together. 'Lavender' and 'soap' maybe. This

> view is in 

> stark contrast to the view that I started with: that

> lavender is a 

> delightful and robust floral, perfect for perfume. I've

> made a number 

> of attempts (making intense heady eau de parfum) and each

> time I ended 

> up with something redolent of lavender that was also

> somehow sort of 

> funky as in stinky. With each iteration I cut out the

> ingredient I 

> _thought_ was responsible. With the last one a light bulb

> went off: 

> it's the lavender itself! I realized. I think it doesn't

> like to marry 

> with other ingredients, at least not easily.

>

> Agreement? Disagreement?

>

I agree - I don't think of lavender when I think of perfumes. I did at one time

work on a 'Three Lavenders' blend that had the EO, the concrete and the

absolute. I think I was going to play up the green of the scents with clary

sage absolute and maybe violet leaf. I need to go looking to see if I still

have the little bottle.

Elise

[Guest guest]

? Disagreement?

>

> Adam, I used to be in agreement. As Lavender get used in my house for its

healing properties, I just could not associate it with perfume, it just smelled

like medicine to me, untill ... Oneday I was drying Lavander, and rose petals

for bath satchets. When I walked into the room where it was drying, I amazed at

the scent that greeted me. The Lavender just lifted the rose without being

distinctly Lavender. I tried small amounts of the sweetest Lavender oil

(Stellenbosch Lavender) in several blends where I wanted give the Floral notes a

lift and extend the sillage. It worked beautifully. It changed my whole

perception about Lavender.

>

> Sophia

Sophia and all,

Just for fun I went online and plugged in " use of lavender in perfumery " and a

site called Hood River Lavender came up

(lavenderfarms.net/hoodriverlavender/LavenderPerfume). They make numerous

perfumes with lavender in them and one of them is a combo of lavender with rose

EO. They write that it is their most popular perfume.

All of their perfumes are made with EOs and they use many different ones in

combination with lavender in their blends (for ex., patchouli, clary sage, etc.)

They own a large farm in Oregon where they grow and distill lavender, sell

lavender EOs, and many products made with it (bath and body, kitchen cleaners,

aromatherapy items, stuffed bears smelling of lavender, etc.) This year they

received an lavender augustifolia from France and offered Maillette, which they

said was " wonderfully complex, sweet, gentle aroma that is prized for its

profile in perfumes and aromatherapy. It's a gorgeous essential oil full of life

and balance " and free of camphor aromas.

In any case, I wonder what the experts here think of what they are blending

together with lavender.

[Guest guest]

Adam Gottschalk wrote:

> With the last one a light bulb went off:

> it's the lavender itself! I realized. I think it doesn't like to marry

> with other ingredients, at least not easily.

>

> Agreement? Disagreement?

>

>

Ha, Adam! I wonder if this thread was kicked off by the fact I shared

with you that a NP'er I know doesn't like lavender ;-)

I use lavender seville in one of my perfumes, but of course, it's not

your typical lavender.

There are truly floral, low-camphorous lavenders, like the high-alp I

include in my kits, that are gorgeous.

That said, perhaps you can think of creating a truly light, splash-type

cologne with lavender, something that is rosy and lavender and spice - I

bet you'd love it! Lavender is particularly suited for men's colognes, a

departure from the intense, sensual perfumes you focus on, so it would

mean you stepping outside your comfort zone. >Which I always recommend

for everyone!<

--

Anya

http://AnyasGarden.com

http://NaturalPerfumers.com

http://twitter.com/anyasgarden

[Guest guest]

Lav EO = High

Lav Absolute = Mid

Lav Concrete = Base

I've been thinking about doing something along that line with them...but

even though I've been " living with them " (that's how I start)...Nothing

has suggested itself to me as a direction to take....

--

W. Bourbonais

L'Hermite Aromatique

A.J.P. (GIA)

http://www.facebook <http://www.facebook.com/Le.Hermite> .com/Le.Hermite

,

I must say - since you turned me on to Lavender absolute; I see Lavender in

a different way. Now THIS I might add to a perfume blend! But not the steam

distilled.

Sonsa

[Guest guest]

I blend with Lavender all the time, mostly for therapeutic purposes, but I

agree that the more floral scented ones produce the most perfume-like

blends. I have blended lavender into my 'Cleopatra Secret' rejuvenation oil

with the result of a face oil that also serves as my perfume, as people

always comment on my pleasing essence when we meet.

We have a floral lavender oil that we produce here at Rivendell Aromatics.

L. angustifolia 'Estate Blend' resembles the sweet lavender oils I

experienced in the Haute Provence which they call 'Population', distilled from

the

lavender plants which are not cloned cuttings. When you look across the

field, these plants have flowers of every lavender color, from white and

pale pink to the lavenders and dark blues. My 'Estate Blend' refers to the

fact that we distill plants of many different varieties of angustifolia, from

the white 'Alba' through the pink '', pale lavender 'Wykoff',

'Sachet', 'Munstead' to the dark blue 'Hidcote' and 'Royal Velvet',

delphinensis, more than 15 different angustifolias in our collection all in the

still at the same time. The 'Estate Blend' has been described by a sensitive

as high sweet notes with a bit of honey in the dry out, emotional,

stimulating the crown shakra.

Warm Fragrant Regards,

Sandy Messori

Rivendell Aromatics

805 649-2476

_www.rivendellaromatics.com_ (http://www.rivendellaromatics.com/)

[Guest guest]

>

> I have several perfumes that I consider odes to a particular aromatic,

> jasmine or osmanthus or tonka etc. I've been trying to make one for

> lavender and I'm ready to give up. I just don't think 'lavender' and

> 'perfume' go together. 'Lavender' and 'soap' maybe. This view is in

> stark contrast to the view that I started with: that lavender is a

> delightful and robust floral, perfect for perfume. I've made a number

> of attempts (making intense heady eau de parfum) and each time I ended

> up with something redolent of lavender that was also somehow sort of

> funky as in stinky. With each iteration I cut out the ingredient I

> _thought_ was responsible. With the last one a light bulb went off:

> it's the lavender itself! I realized. I think it doesn't like to marry

> with other ingredients, at least not easily.

>

> Agreement? Disagreement?

>

Hi Adam,

According to the French website ozmoz, Lavender officinalis is not a floral but

an aromatic balsamic oil and mostly used in Cologne.

http://www.osmoz.fr/Encyclopedia/Matieres-premieres/Aromatique/Lavande-Lavandula\

-Officinalis#

But there are many types of lavender, some smelling very medicinal and others

sweet so the use of it in a perfume really depends on which lavender you have.

I find it great in oil perfumes. My Pacific kiss oil perfume has sweet English

lavender blended in high percentage with jasmine, peppermint, lemon, litsea

cubeba, rosemary, carott seed, sandalwood, rosemary, kaffir lime. The end result

is a citrus floral pulse point perfume very appreciated by more mature women who

prefer a delicate smell. It is really fresh and uplifting and has a few hours

lasting power. Is the lavender overpowering? No. We would not even know there is

lavender in this blend. I find it has played a balancing and modifying role in

this particular blend.

So in answer to your question, agreement AND disagreement!! Lavender is very

difficult to work with...

Isabelle

[Guest guest]

Sandy,

I loved looking through you site...especially the lavender meditation walk -

what an experience that must be!

I noticed your recommendation of your Lavandin for respiratory problems. My

younger son gets virally related asthma and gets very sick with it. He needs to

be seen by a doc asap and is always put on an inhaler, prednisone, and an

antibiotic or he goes into pneumonia. Do you think the Lavandin would be good

for him when he gets sick, or just before if we can catch it? He's at college

now in his first year and got sick the very first week. I was very anxious

because it took a long time for him to learn he had to make an appointment to be

seen at the wellness center (he was told by upperclassmen he could just walk in)

and he still hasn't filled his prednisone script because of problems getting to

the pharmacy, although he says his breathing is fine now. Anyway, it would be

great if he had something on hand that would help right away before waiting for

appointments, pharmacies, etc.

Thanks.

[Guest guest]

Greetings,

My name is Debbie and I'm new to the group. I have a lavender farm

and an alpaca herd - two businesses, one called Willakenzie Lavender,

the other called Velveteen Alpacas. Just began reading posts on

natural perfumery, 1natural, and perfumemaking because I am suddenly

jazzed about the new (to me) idea of making perfume. I make bath and

body products using our organically grown lavender that we steam

distill, but hadn't thought of making perfume until customers kept

wanting the lavender scent to last on their skin. How can I do this,

I wondered. I would need to make perfume, and I don't know how to

make perfume.

So imagine my delight when I read the posts about lavender and whether

people like to use it as an ingredient in perfume! Some do, and some

don't. I bet the thing to do is to use gorgeous lavender EO instead

of camphorous lavindin EO. Needless to say, I plan to try it. I will

report what happens. At the moment I don't know how to make perfume

but I've purchased pipettes, artisan alcohol and tiny vials so I will

begin experimenting soon.

I have the most elegant, wonderful, true lavender essential oils I

can't wait to get going and see what happens. I have 'Maillette,'

'Royal Velvet' and 'Violet Intrigue' - all Lavandula angustifolia.

AND, I have a gorgeous lavender display bed with close to 3 dozen

angustifolias and just for fun asked my husband to distill all of the

true lavenders in our display bed in a single batch so that I'd have a

most unusual blend of lavender EO to play with. Who knows? It may be

dreadful. Or it might be totally cool. We couldn't distill them

individually because there are only 3 plants of each cultivar in the

display bed.

I sure look forward to sharing information with you and learning from

so many experienced, interesting people.

Debbie

Yamhill, Oregon

[Guest guest]

Hi,

Does anyone have any idea how I can make a nice strong lavender ambience scent

just like the ones with sticks? I have tried to infuse the flowers in water and

alcohol...not very good! Should I stick to alcohol and change the flowers every

day?

Thanks

Angi