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Free5!a

Free5!a

Free5!a is an ode to one of the most ephemeral flowers, that elludes distillation. It's green and peppery, yet soft and delicate perfume can be created with a lot of imagination and a pinch of stubbornness, and the purest ingredients chosen to create  an all-natural Freesia soliflore, sheer and bright as a raindrop on a flower stem, clear and free of pretence. 

Free5!a soliflore perfume launches today, 23.03.2023

The Perfumer's Purple

Lavender Soliflores

LAVENDER'S PERFUMERY USES & APPLICATIONS
Lavender on the perfumer's palette provides for a range of purplish-blue hues, metaphorically speaking, of course. The oil itself is clear; and the absolute literally is a turquoise colour.

Lavender Toilette Waters
The earliest application of lavender in perfume is in the classic Lavender Waters - which the English perfected. Many historic recipes can be found for these type of eaux. Another sub-category of which is the lavender-amber waters, which include, in addition to lavender, either amber or ambergris.

Eaux de Cologne
Another important historic use of lavender oils is in the Eaux de Cologne type of fragrances. Here both lavender and lavandin are used extensively. Lavender imparts a softer, more floral nuance, where as lavandin gives a more herbaceous edge, often in synergy with rosemary or mint. Lavender can be found in countless classic eau de clone formulations, such as 4711, Guerlain's Eau de Cologne Impériale (1853) and Eau du Coq (1894) etc. Florida Waters are a New World interpretation of the Eau de Cologne in which lavender takes a more prominent role, and also includes lime, cloves and cassia bark. 


Lavender Soliflores & Gems
Lavender soliflores are a richer, more developed and rounded version of the lavender waters; or simply a more concentrated form. Classic examples are: Yardley's English Lavender (1873), Lavande Velours (Guerlain), Floris' Lavender, etc. Then there are some more sophisticated, layered and exciting renditions such as Jicky (Guerlain), the liquorice-velvety Brin de Réglisse (Hermes), my own Lovender (part of The Language of Flowers soliflore collection) and let's not forget the underrated, wonderfully vanillic Caron's Pour Une Homme.

Fougère
The first use of synthetic aroma chemicals was marked by the creation of Fougère Royal, a concoction that used for the first time a laboratory-made coumarin. But coumarin is only one of four key components that are crucial for creating fragrances of this genre, the other three being oakmoss, linalool and lavender. One could argue that the bare bones of Fougère place lavender in an even more important place, if you strip it down to an even more simple accord of oakmoss-and-lavender, since the other two components (coumarin and linalool) naturally occur in lavender.
Other famous members of this family are Azzaro, Grey Flannel, Brut, Canoe, Amber & Lavender Cologne (Jo Malone's), Jazz (YSL), Xeryus Rouge (Givenchy), etc.

Narkiss, Sixth Round



Here I waned to come back to the 6th mod (in round 4), in which the narcissus and coffee flower absolutes create a mysterious, dusky character. I wanted it to also be a very close replica of my first round (mods 1 & 2), in which I used essences I can't source again, or ones that have some issues (i.e.: the oakwood absolute contains a plasticizer). I looked for other woody substitutes and wanted to still create that unique, very retro warmth that is reminiscent of the great aldehydic florals of the turn of the century, yet with my own personal twist.

I ended up making full circle, as this round (AKA mod. 08) is truly a reflection of mod. 01, which I've created back in 2007). 

Base notes: Vegetal Musk Compound No. 3, Liatrix Absolute, Ambreine, Costus, Africa Stone, Pinewood

Heart notes: Narcissus Absolute, Coffee Flower Absolute, Orange Blossom Absolute, Orris CO2, Styrax

Top notes: Bergamot, Szechuan Pepper

Eau de Tinkerbelle

100 Jasmine Concrete
100 Muguet de Bois (Blanc)
50 Ivy
10 Citron
200 Snow Orchid (Silver)
30 Cloud Essence (Citrine-Vert)
1000 Liquid Air (Pink)
1000 Midnight Dew from Snow Orchid
Distill in a crystal ball for 24 hours, while shaking your bells vigorously.
No additional filtration is necessary

Eau de Tinkerbelle, a boronia soliflore I created in 2004, is back by customer request. I'll be blending one small batch for Princess Ellie, and than there will be 2 extra bottles for the boronia lovers among you to snatch and savour. The ingredients are really, really rare, which is why I will only be making a tiny amount of this.

Eau de Tinkerbelle is a green and playful attribute to the little envious fairy from Peter Pan. A single floral of the exotic and rare Tasmanian Boronia - a beautiful absolute reminiscent of freesias and violet, with a hay-like, sea-breeze undertone.

Top notes: Mimosa, Cassis
Heart notes: Boronia, Jasmine, Hyacinth
Base notes: Green Tea, Ambrette, Sandalwood

Urban Lily


Day 374: Lily of the Valley, originally uploaded by amanky.

Many great perfumers have attempted to re-create the scent of Lily of the Valley, a modest looking white flower that in fact does not belong to the lily family at all. Unlike the showy flowers of the true lily, Lily of the Valley bows to her own green leaves with its little bells of white, as if to conceal itself from sight even further.

For those looking for a Lily of the Valley perfume, I will share that my search came to end an before it even began – one of the first perfumes I’ve ever worn is Diorissimo by Edmond Roudnitska. I did not know what lily of the valley is or how it smells, but this perfume captured my heart on first sniff. In my mind, there is yet a lily of the valley perfume that comes even close to it’s precise and haunting beauty. Like the gowns from the couturier it was created for, its strict structure creates an illusion of freedom and eternity.

But just because I have already found a Lily of the Valley to my heart’s desire does not stop me from curiously trying other attempts, the latest one being Urban Lily by Strange Invisible perfumes. The perfumer here had the added challenge of not being able to use any of the essential molecules for replicating this unique scent for replicating this unique scent. Instead, perfumer Alexandra Balahoutis uses the sharp greenness of galbanum and the raw-earthy carrot-seed & iris notes to create that crystal-clear charm of the lily bells, and underlines it with sultry notes of narcissus, jasmine and vegetal musk. I think I'm also noticing a touch of lotus... It is neither as accurate nor as clean as most lily of the valley fragrances tend to be, but I find it intriguing, nevertheless. And I like it's abstract and less than straightforward botanical feel.

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