Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Made by blog


The lucky Katie from Scentzilla and Marina from the blog Perfume smellin things are chosen to describe their dream perfume and this will be made by two perfumers from IFF. You can follow the process and creation of these two perfumes on the blog Made by blog
The blog would more or less reflect the development and evolution of the perfumes in "real time." You will be able to smell these perfumes and give your opinion. It sounds real exciting!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Old ladies perfume

Today a college asked me what fragrance I was wearing, he said it smelled like an old ladies perfume. I was wearing Chanel no 5 and yes it could be described as an old ladies perfume, it's an old perfume launched in 1921 but still popular. Remarkable that a perfume could live that long and still be so popular. In those days it was a perfume that was real different than the rest, the perfumer Ernest Beaux used an unusual high percentage of aldehyde's. Aldehyde's was not something new but it was never used in that kind of percentage. There are many different stories about this perfume, one is that the assistant of Ernest Beaux who did the mixing of the formula given by Ernest misread the percentage of the aldehyde's and put in to much of it. The result was so exciting that they decided to keep it like that.

Ernest Beaux


I'm not that of a fan of Chanel no 5, I like it but it's not my fragrance, Chanel no 19 is my favorite. I wear it to observe the perfume or better to say I study the perfume to find out what's so special about it. My college said that it smelled like an old ladies perfume but that it smelled expensive as well. I think that's true, it smells expensive maybe because of the high amount of jasmine absolute they used.
I found an article about the trends for perfumes in 2006 you will find it here here you'll see that everyone has his own idea's about it. Personally I find Japanese influence in perfumes and oriental notes as well but not in the way it was used in the 80's, the orientals are lighter.

What do you find the hottest fragrance notes for 2006?

Sunday, May 28, 2006

A scented sunday

Today I visited my grandma, my grandma is 93 years old and still have a clear mind. She can't walk anymore because of a failed churgery of her bag and sitting in a wheelchair but she is always full of humor and still interested in everything that happens in the world. I think that's really important to keep your mind that bright, being interested in everything and training your brain by reading and not to forget the humor, what is live without humor.
The rest of the day was for my perfume making. I worked on my Fougere once again but am not satisfied with the result, I find it to soapy I have to find out what makes it smell like that. I tried to make a Viburnum Snowball base as well, I used an Elderflower scent as the basematerial together with Clove, Cashmeran and Benzyl iso Eugenol and a Narcissus and Honeysuckle scent. It smell real nice but I need to reduce some of the scents, but I have hope the result is close to the real scent of the Viburnum. I also testing some of the new chemicals I received from Quest. I have all kinds of scentstrips around me. I smell them individual and together with other notes. You will not believe the wonderful smell around me. What a wonderful hobby I have!

Friday, May 26, 2006

I'm just a curious creature that likes to create




When you're a child you wonder about all the things around you and want to discover everything. I remember me as a child that always danced, I loved music and so did my mother. I danced on music from Chopin, Mozart, Beethoven and especially Tchakowski. When I heard the music I saw a complete dance before my eyes, I dreamed of choreographing the balletdancers. It felt like some parts of the music had to be danced a certain way, the music was demanding it. Dancing always gave and still give me a lot of power I forgot the difficult time I had, it's like another dimension it's like you go out of your body and something else takes over, your real you.

I loved to play the piano as well and always tried to make my own music. My mother sewed much of my clothes and later on I learned to sew my own clothes, it's so fulfilling to make something of almost nothing and let your creativity lead you to make things special. I learned my self later on to design my clothes and make the patrons my self. This way I could make all the clothes I dreamed of.



In all parts of my live I liked to create things, later on I designed my garden and played with the colors and fragrances of the flowers, I liked to make a garden where all your senses could be stimulated. I dreamed of wonderful combinations of the colors of the flowers.

It's not that of a surprise that I started to create perfumes at one time. It's because I'm a curious creature that likes to create. By creating perfumes I can use all my creativity and curiosity. Every time that I'm experimenting with fragrances I'm so curious how some scents work together, sometimes I'm disappointed but there are also happy moments that I feel like I found something really wonderful. These moments give me hope to go on even if it's a long way. It can be a long way to make the perfume exactly like you had in mind but it is a wonderful journey! I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Michael Storer fragrances

Michael Storer was so kind to sent me samples of his three fragrances. And I love to tell you all how amazing they are. Michael is learning me and the members of my Yahoo group a lot about the wonderful craft of perfume making. He is so kind to share all he know and is willing to help us where he can. Now that I smelled his fragrances I understand that he really know what he's talking about. Here are my reviews of his three fragrances:


Monk



The description Michael Storer gives is: Monk evokes the profound enigma of masculinity. It exudes unbridled sexuatlity entwined with a quest for spirit.

To me it's a fragrance that 'warm up' your skin. It's like your skin breath out a warming scent. Monk is an all over sensual scent that possesses notes of musk, civet, tabac, frankincense, leather, ambergris, sandalwood, tonka, galbanum and bergamot.

The start is green warm and a bit herby immediately followed by a soft warm woody ambery and musky scent. The dry down has some sweet notes without being cloying I smell something that reminds me of coconut and vanilla.

It smells wonderful on the skin of my husband and he loves it, it's his favorite.



Il giardino



A fragrance for a lazy sunday morning like Michael Storer had in mind. It's perfect for a day when you like to unwind and just relax. I could imagine you would wear Il giardino when you want to go outside on a warm sunny day.


It possesses notes of grapefruit, bergamot, cassis, musk, violet leaves, vanilla bean. The topnote is wonderful it possesses fresh fruity notes that reminds me of the smell of a honey melon together with citrus and green notes. These notes are warmed up with warm notes of musk and vanilla. To me it's a perfect feel good fragrance.



Djin



This is my favorite! I love the way it's fresh but warm. It's difficult to explain this scent. The notes are: mountain fresh air, rare woods of the tropic, castoreum and musk. And it's true it starts with notes of mountain fresh air, but I can't say that it's just a fresh fragrance. It is light and at the same time warm and sensual.

Djin is very very subtle, it's like you've been conquerord by a lover without knowing it.

I know that Michael Storer is working on a fragrance for women and can't wait to smell this one!

http://www.michaelstorer.com/

Friday, May 19, 2006

My love for Galbanum

Almost every perfume I like contain the beautiful note of Galbanum. Like Chanel no 19, Must de Cartier, Vent Vert, Cabochard etc. I love the fragrance of it. It's a green soft warm note and used in perfumes to make it more natural and give them a leafy green note. The perfume Vent Vert by Balmain is famous because of the big amount of Galbanum. The perfumer Germaine Cellier used Galbanum on a different way as the other perfumers did. She didn't used it to compliment the other notes but used the Galbanum as a part of the whole fragrance. She used a big amount of the Galbanum like no one ever did before. Galbanum is lovely in combination with Hyacinth but also with Muquet kind of fragrances. It will give a natural green feeling to perfumes. Like in Must de Cartier it's perfect in oriental fragrances as well because of the warm green smell that contain some balsamic notes. But it's also used in Fougere and Chypre perfumes, it's a perfect note to combine with almost everything.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Sniffing


When I came home from work tonight on my bike I was surprised by the wonderful smell in the air. There is something special in the air at night. I smelled a sweet hay note and sometimes a sweet note with a kind of bergamot scent. It's nice to smell every time something different when I passed another flower. I sniffed the whole way back to home.


The flowers I enjoy the most right now are the Viburnum Snowball and Lilac. The Viburnum Snowball is so fragrant you can smell it from far away. It possesses a sweet indolic flowery note together with notes of Clove, Hay, Honeysuckle, Narcissus, Elderflower(mmm love that one also) and some green notes. I wish there was an absolute of this flower, but I never found it. I can't find information on her volatile compounds either. Please let me know if you found something.

The lovely fragrance of the Lilac is sweet but also intense. It is fresh but has a powdery background. It possesses notes of Indol(animal, fecal!!), Terpineol(fresh lilac), Phenylethyl alcohol(a rosy green note), Heliotropine(smells a bit like almond and vanilla) and notes reminding of Jasmine, Clove and Carnation. There is a difference in the purple and white variations, the white Lilacs smell more sultry and Indolic, the purple Lilacs have a more fresh and cool note.

I think the notes of Viburnum Snowball and Lilac on their own could be to overwhelming in a perfume, but it would be lovely notes to combine with others.

Saturday, May 13, 2006

Paradise of lovely fragances

Testing testing and testing that is how I spend the days right now. It's like paradise smelling al these lovely fragrances. I received some materials from IFF and have to get to know all these new materials. It's like you meet a new person, you don't know the person accept you first impression, but to really know a person you have to spent time with him and know how that person will react in different circumstances. The same thing with the perfume materials. You have to spent time with them, wearing it on your skin, smell it on a smelling blotter, dilute it and so on. But then you only know the material on his own, most important is how it will react with other materials. One of the materials I"ve got from IFF is Cashmeran it has peppery soft musky notes, I tried it with Clove oil and am surprised how it enhanced the spicy smell of the Clove. I tried it in my Magnolia perfume as well and it's lovely, it doesn't ad the stayingpower that I was looking for but it's real nice with this perfume, I think I will keep it in it. I'm also working on a Fougere base, Fougere is a type of perfume that has lavender, patchouli, oak moss and the fragrance of hay from coumarine or Tonka bean. In French Fougere means vern. In 1882 Houbigant launched Fougere Royal made by the perfumer Paul Parquet . The Fougeres are related to that perfume. Fougere based perfumes are mostly men perfumes. Here is a simple basic Fougere base:

Lavender 14
Bergamot 8
Coumarin 12
Rose 5
Jasmin 4
Patchouli 2
Vetiver 10
Geranium 2
Iso-Amyl Salicylate 3

If you don't have Coumarin you could use Tonka bean oil that contain a lot of Coumarin.
I tried it with Basil oil what makes the topnotes real fresh, Clary sage is used also a lot, but some how I don't like that scent. Maybe I need to learn how to use that oil. I tried Vertofix in it and that is real nice, Vertofix has a woody note like vetiver and a leathery scent. I think a fruity or green note will be nice in it too, a note of green apple perhaps.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Andy Tauer perfumes

Andy Tauer is a self-taught perfumer from Switzerland. I love to read his blog Tauerperfumes where he share his thoughts and dreams. Andy is an open friendly man and is willing to share some tips on the making of perfume with me. Recently he send me samples of the two perfumes he made both based on the scents of Morocco, after smelling these perfumes my respect for him is growing deeper and deeper.


Le Maroc pour elle



This perfume is full of the scent of Morocco, based on the Moroccan rose in dawn and the sensual note of Jasmine. Layered on a base of cedar and patchouli.

The first impression is a fresh citrus blend with a hint of lavender. The jasmine is announcing herself with a warm honeyed indolic scent. The rose to me is a full bodied red rose, warm sweet and a bit spicy. The fragrance has a sweet note that does remind me of rosewater that is used so often in the Arabian world.

This perfume is so complex and well balanced that the fragrance develops slowly on my skin and surprises me every time I smell it, it looks like this perfume is alive on my skin and is telling me a story of an Arabian night with the air full of sultry blossoms. Le Maroc pour elle is an oriental fragrance with a velvety sweet note that is perfect for a romantic evening.



L'Air du desert Moroccan



This is my favorite! I was pleasantly surprised by this fragrance. I sprayed it on my wrist and it hits my attention immediately. I couldn't stop to smell my wrist, it's wonderful! It has all the notes I love.

L'Air du desert Moroccan is an unisex fragrance that is inspired by the fragrant world of the Maghreb desert with his changing scents and lights. It possesses notes of petitgrain, coriander, cumin, jasmine, cedar, the ambery note of Ciste(rock rose), vetiver and vanilla.

I love the scent of cumin combined with cedar that is dominant in this perfume, it has a spice topnote with a powdery woody background. The spicy notes will bring you to the markets in Morocco full of spices. I adore the powdery woody ambery background, it's sensual and soft perfectly matching the spicy notes of the cumin. And like the Le Maroc pour elle, it lasts and lasts on your skin. It is really an unisex fragrance I love it but my husband is in love with it as well. So we both gone wear this fragrance like we do with other fragrances too; see this post.


You can find these fragrances at the shop of Andy Tauer http://www.tauerperfumes.com/ and at Lucky Scent www.luckyscent.com


There is a new fragrance coming out soon; "The Lonestar memories" a leather based perfume. I know that Andy is working on a orangeblossom fragrance as well and hope that it will come out soon because I love that fragrance and I want to smell his interpretation of it.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Fresh sea breeze and a melon cocktail Part 2


Enjoying the beautiful weather and sitting in my garden, I spent the last days on the creation of my perfume that I mentioned before in this post. It's perfect to smell and study my creations outdoors, so I'd taken all my smelling strips with me and sat in the garden to study them. I changed some notes of the perfume with the fresh sea breeze and melon cocktail fragrance. I added less Ylang and Rosemary and added some Helional; a fresh, ozonic, green, melonlike note and Phenyl acetaldehyde dimethyl acetal ; a powerful fresh bittergreen note. These notes are working very well on this fragrance but I'm still not satisfied. I still find the smell to sweet so I will reduce the honeysuckle and again the Ylang I also want to try Amyl salicylate to rounding of the notes of Lavender and like to try a fresh "white" musk to enhance the fresh feeling of the fragrance. O and I changed the mandarin red into a green mandarin what is a perfect note for this fragrance. I will keep you informed about the following experiments.

The paintings could be found on the site: http://www.garygeorge.com/serigraphs.htm

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

A short post from me

Right now I'm busy with my daily work (doing overtime) and with my group on Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perfumemaking/
where it's real fun. We learn a lot from each other. I'm ordering some samples of perfume materials that I never used before from companies like IFF and Firmenich. I will keep you informed about my new materials and tell about my experiments on that. I'm sorry that I can't post on regular basis, sometimes I will post everyday and sometimes two or three times a week.