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New Perfume: Sunset Beach

Summer 2012

Sunset Beach is a little piece of heaven tucked away in the midst of boat-bustling False Creek and busy bridges that cross over it. Sunset Beach is that happy place where time stops and the only things that matter are the tides, the currents, and basking in the gentle evening sun. You can spend the day there or just bring a hectic workday to a serene close with a beachside walk or a leisurely picnic.

Fragrant Harlequin glorybower and Robinia embellish its borders, and in midsummer you'll find musky wild blackberries and hot-pink everlasting peas along the shoreline. And if you're particularly lucky - you'll find yourself swimming alongside a playful harbour seal!

Sunset Beach can be anywhere... Mine just happened to be in Vancouver. I invite you to uncork a bottle of this daydream and experience a truly creamy sandalwood perfume complemented by handcrafted tinctures of pandan leaf and milky oolong tea, coconut, massoia bark and dreamy champaca.

Sunset Beach is the second perfume in "Perfume for a Place" series, dedicated to Ayala's favourite places in Vancouver.


Top Notes: Pandan Leaf, Milky Oolong Tea Tincture, Cedarwood
Heart notes: Champaca, Coffee, Nutmeg, Ylang Ylang, Orris Butter
Base notes: Indian Sandalwood, Hawaii Sandalwood, Chocolate, Coconut, Massoia Bark

Fragrance Families: Woody, Floriental

Available in: Eau de Parfum only, in the following sizes: 1mL sample ($18), 4mL mini ($48), 5mL roll-on ($69) and 15mL splash/spray ($120).

Sandal Tree


Sandalwood Tree, originally uploaded by callenstewart.

One of the perfumes I unearthed from my very bottom drawer of abandoned creations is this number I titled "Sandal Tree" in Hebrew back in my very first perfumer's notebook of my very first year of 2001, when it all began.

This perfume was created after I ordered kewda attar for the first time, from Enfleurage in New York. It arrived in a half-full vial, and cost me dearly. I was equally repelled and intnrigued by kewda, and thought it would make a very pretty addition to a floral sandalwood perfume.

Discovering a formula written by a novice ten years later is fascinating. Especially when the novice have become a little less of the novice. There is the element of excitement reeking from the page of the formula: discovering a new art and medium for expression. Exploring fragrant raw materials that were never experienced before. This enthusiasm comes through the formula in the way that the essences were combined. When I'm looking at my own formula from the perspective of a perfumer with almost 10 years of experience, and who have taught perfume for the past 3 years, I feel as though it was a completely different person creating this perfume - someone who was a fearless dreamer and to whom I'm deeply thankful, as if it wasn't for that bold passion and determination, I wouldn't be a perfumer right now.

What surprises me in retrospect is, I suppose, that I chose ingredients that are what I would consider now as difficult to work with and harmonize. And I'm glad that I was not afraid of blending them even though they were rare and expensive. I think that's what taught me the most - that slight disregard to price when I initially started working with essences. Just trusting my instincts, rather than dwelling on whether it's going to work or not, and if the experiment is going to cost me dearly or not. I think I've become a lot more cautious since 2001 though...

Sandal Tree was created with the abovementnioned kewda attar - a heady, sharp flower from India that has a very East Indian personality. It does not smell like anything you would smell elsewhere. It is very volatile, so the sandalwood base of the attar actually helps to fix it as a raw material. It smells like hyacinths with an apple cider vinegar sharpness. There is a fair amount of kewda there (twice as much as I used later on in either Charisma or Gigi). There is mimosa absolute and cardamom oil at the top. Neither is a tame essence, but the magically decided to get along here. Than there is also heady ylang ylang and voluptuous jasmine, leading into the creamy, smooth sandalwood base with hints of vanilla and tonka bean (I was an avid Guerlain groopie when I started, and still am...). It wears very floral and light and exotic and has a diffusive sillage. In the new vat when I re-blended it last week, I used some of the stash of East Indian sandalwood oil I have left, and also sustainable sandalwood oils from Vanuatu and Australia (the Australian one is organically grown).

Sandal Tree was the title on the bottle and in the formula book (in Hebrew) and I finally decided it was best to keep the name that way, only in English. I am making only 4 bottles of this, which will be only available directly through me at the studio and at the One of a Kind Show, December 9-12.

Boutique Exclusives


Boronia, originally uploaded by Helen Boronia McHugh.

Recent increases in rare floral essences prices have forced me to do something I don't like doing, but have to: increase the price on selected perfumes from my collection. I don't like the snobbish attitude this may imply, but if I want to be able to continue buying the materials to make these perfumes, logic forces me to follow what the numbers request.

The perfumes subject to the increase are those containing precious essences such as boronia, broom (the latter has increased its price significantly this year, and is now about $500 per ounce) and jonquille. Also, the ones that I will probably not be able to get for a long time if at all - such as ambergris and East Indian sandalwood (I have enough in stock to make Gigi for a whilte).

The price for the following perfumes are exclusive to Ayala Moriel's boutique as they can only be produced on a small scale. Their price have been increased to $160 per 9ml flacon:
Gigi
Grin
Indigo
l'Écume des Jours
Razala
And of course, Sahleb and the upcoming (2009) perfume The Purple Dress will bear the same price, reflecting the high concentration of rare essences that goes into their disctinc scent (orris with 15% irone and ambrette seed in Sahleb and red & golden champaca in The Purple Dress).
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