Entries Tagged 'botanical perfume' ↓

A Summer Solstice Perfume

The great earth wheel has cycled around once again as the Sun reaches its zenith and marks Midsummer, the longest day of the year. To create a perfume, anointing oil or balm for Summer Solstice consider building it based on orange, calendula and rose.F…

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A Walk in the Woods

The perfumes I create are made with actual plant material, sometimes tinctured or infused, and essences obtained from nature in the guise of essential oils. The natural or botanical perfumer has a vast palette to work with in creating their artwork, le…

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Vera

I first experimented with an EDC, eau de Cologne, in November of 2005. I built the fragrance utilizing a tincture of bay leaves and a synergy combining bay laurel essential oil with spices and citrus. It was the first time I had ever added water to a c…

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herb + citrus = EDC

History on eau de Cologne is quite varied and difficult to pin down exactly where the word and formula came from. It appears the term eau de Cologne was coined by French soldiers stationed in the city of Köln, Germany. History tells us the first EDC w…

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Pumpkin

Who would have thought that pumpkin pancakes would work in perfect combination with lentils. This morning I made pumpkin pancakes for the family. (A few of them for Eve and I had chocolate chips.) Greg decided we needed more protein, thus the lentils c…

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Name that note

He arrived back from the farmers market with the usual suspects: greens for juicing, plenty of salad greens, plump berries of all kinds and a surprise! I thought, mmmm chocolate perhaps? He instructed me to close my eyes, which I did obediently. Then h…

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A Secret in the Forest

The main green notes in perfumes come from leaves and stems which give the impression of the scent of grass and crushed leaves. Heather Ettlinger of the blog “Memory and Desire” has just posted an entry about green perfumes which include our “Q??…

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Beltane Perfume

The warming weather, longer daylight hours, the blossoming earth all hearken the turn of the great earth wheel once again. Beltane, one of the high Celtic holy days, has arrived. Traditionally celebrated with wild romps in the woods and dancing around …

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Perfume at WCWP Expo

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™ will be at the upcoming Whole Child, Whole Plant Expo in Los Angeles. The super green event features notables in the green movement such as Ed Begley Jr, Amy Brenneman, Stephen Stills, Erin Gray, Sandra Tsing Loh, Cambria …

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Press Release: Natural Perfumers Guild and Cropwatch Oppose Limits on Citrus Oil Usage in Perfumery

Proposed Citrus Oil Limits in Perfumery opposed by The Natural Perfumers Guild and Cropwatch IFRA proposed citrus oil limits are cultural vandalism on the art of perfumery and are based on bad science, reports NPG and Cropwatch. For Immediate…

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Natives & Flower Perfumes

The box with little sampler bottles arrived yesterday as I was formulating a new perfume. It was a super busy day. I poured Vespertina samples in the morning, pondered packaging with Martha while eating delicious croquettas, crossed hills and valleys f…

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The Genius of Nature

“Nature is full of genius, full of divinity;so that not a snow flake escapes it’s fashioned hand.” ~ Henry David ThoreauTwo major events, dear to my heart,…

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The Natural Perfumers Guild Blog Debuts

Hello, my name is Giselle Cannon and I’m the assistant to Anya McCoy, President of the Natural Perfumers Guild. This blog is debuting April 11, 2008 so that the Guild members may share up-to-the minutes news about their businesses and products with eac…

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The Three Graces: The base meets wood

I have finished the initial base chord, it took me awhile to decide exactly which Patchouli and which Vetiver to integrate with the other members of this temporal ensemble. In the end I choose an Indonesian Patchouli with a lovely floral aspect to it. …

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The Three Graces: The base

“I choose notes with a cool quality for the “wet, dark” earth aspect from which the fragrance will be built upon, such as: Mitti Attar, Patchouli, and Vetiver. I see the base as a dark leather chord in juxtaposition to the bright floral heart. I add a …

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All things Spring

Today marks the mid point when the day is equal to the night, appropriately named Equinox, meaning “equal nights” in Latin. We are now in a period where the light begins to grow, peaking at the Summer Solstice on June 20th.”Look deep into nature, and t…

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Spring

Everything is blooming most recklessly;if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters of Rainer Maria RilkeSpring has most definitely sprung here in the Santa M…

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Oceanic

“I am you; you are ME. You are the waves;I am the ocean. Know this and be free, be divine.” - Sri Sathya Sai BabaA divine Goddess in m…

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Botanical Perfume & Alchemy: Sage

“You are an alchemist; make gold of that.” - William ShakespeareAlchemy in the Casitas PassMarch 29, 2008Alchemy is often associated with the art of botanical perfume due the transformation of physical matter through the process of distillation. …

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Sovereignty

Today was the final class in the California Native Plant Design series at the Theodore Payne Foundation. I now have a complete landscape design using native plants for the front portion of our lot. I chose plants from the Woodland and Chaparral communi…

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A Red, Red Rose

“O my Luve’s like a red, red rose, That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly pla’d in tune.-” ~ A snippet from “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert BurnsAs with just about every holiday the roots of Valentines day go very deep int…

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{{{ LOVE }}} Nirvana Day!

Happy Nirvana Day!”To cease blowing” is a close translation for this Sanskrit word Nirvana, used in the Buddhist and Jain philosophical/spiritual traditions. Nirvana, also referred to as Nibanna, is defined a bliss filled state of consciousness devoid …

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{{{ LOVE }}} Bliss

“When you follow your bliss… doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.” …

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Imbolc

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the budwas more painful than the risk it took to blossom. “~ Anais NinToday is Imbolc, also referred to as Candlemas or Oimealg, the Earth Festival associated with Brighid, patroness to…

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Alchemy in the Casitas Pass

“You are an alchemist; make gold of that.” - William ShakespeareAlchemy is often associated with the art of botanical perfume due the transformation of physical matter through the process of distillat…

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Layers

“We do not grow absolutely, chronologically. We grow sometimes in one dimension, and not in another; unevenly. We grow partially. We are relative. We are mature in one realm, childish in another. The past, present, and future mingle and pull us backw…

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