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?
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
the ambery note of Ciste(rock rose), vetiver and vanilla.
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.
Right now I'm busy with my daily work (doing overtime) and with my group on Yahoo: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perfumemaking/
The strange thing about smell is that it bring back memories in a second. To proof how strong smell memories are try to think about the smell of the following things:
The most distressful and therefore recommended ambient for drivers remains the sea breeze. I think every one has sent memories but there is something that to me has the same effect: music. I can't cry by smelling a scent but to hear some part of music can make me cry and touch me in a strange way. I can cry without knowing exactly why, I recognize the feeling it gives but I can't tell why I'm so sad or happy. And also when I hear music from my youth I'm that little girl again dancing in the livingroom in the tutu my mother made for me. Could it be that hearing travels straight to the limbic system as well?
Today I thought it would be a nice idea to buy a perfume for my husband because he has so much pain the last weeks. Now he can walk a little but still has pain even though it's not as painful as the last weeks. I went to the perfume shop in my little village where I live and asked for Moods by Krizia but they didn't have that, so I asked for Photo by Lagerfeld...sorry we don't have that. Well I wanted to buy a perfume so I had to find another one, and I found a delicious perfume Lui by Rochas, it was perfect a nice spicy woody scent and I knew that my husband would love this one. So they wrapped it in a beautiful paper and gave some samples of other perfumes as well. They put it in a pink plastic bag and I was happy when I left the shop with my pink plastic bag on my wrist with the wonderful fragrance in it.
Chanel No 19 is one of my favorite perfumes, I like it so much because this fragrance gives me confidence and makes me feel good about myself. This was the favorite fragrance of Gabrielle Chanel, composed by Henri Robert and named after her birthday 19 august. At first it was a perfume just for her self but later she let it produce for the whole world. The fragrance of Chanel No 19 is not an easy one to describe. The different notes of this perfume are so perfectly balanced that it's difficult to define a single note, that's what makes this fragrance so intriguing. You could say that it's a green, transparent, dry powdery, thin, dry woody fragrance with sharp notes and some flowery notes.
savory bitter green note that possesses a note reminding of poppy seeds and a bit like the smell of metal. The top notes are dominated by the wonderful scent of galbanum together with bergamot, lemon and neroli. To temper the harsh notes of the galbanum there is probably added a little bit of amyl acetate. The middle notes are flowery but in a dry way. The iris root is here the dominant one, together with may rose, muquet, ylang ylang and a little bit of jasmine. Hedione is also present together with methyl ionone that makes a bridge between the flowery notes of the heart to the woody notes in the base. The woody notes possesses vertiver, cedar, sandalwood, guaiacwood and oak moss probably with the leathery mossy note of iso butyl quinoline.
When I have an idea for a perfume I go sit behind my perfume organ and start blending. But where do I start? First I choose the notes that will be suitable for the perfume. There are different ways to create a perfume:
A couple of weeks ago I made an traditional Eau de Cologne and experimented with the formula. The traditional Eau de Cologne had notes of:
