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Los Angeles Artisan Fragrance Salon

The 1st LA Artisan Fragrance Salon is just a couple of days away - and Ayala Moriel Parfums is thrilled to take part in it! Visit me at booth no. 16 to experience our newest creations: Etrog Oy de Cologne (just in times for Sukkot!), our new Vetiver Racinettes soap bar, and a pre-sniff of Treazon - aka my killer tuberose!

Participating perfumers: Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery, SmellBent , COGNOSCENTI, Roxana Illuminated Perfume, Artemisia Natural Perfume , Parfums Lalun, 40notes Perfume, Sarah Horowitz Parfums, Sebastian Signs Fragrances, Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes, House of Matriarch, Luckyscent, Opus Oils, A Perfume Organic, PK Perfumes, JoAnne Bassett, Ayala Moriel Parfums, Sanae Intoxicants, Imaginary Authors.

Where:
Civic Center Auditorium
1855 Main Street
Santa Monica
California 90401

When:
Sunday, September 23rd, 11am-5pm

Get your tickets here

18ain Street, Santa Monica California 90401

Sight, Smells & Tastes from Orcas Fragrance Launch + Tea Party

ORCAS Diorama by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

For those of you who missed the party, here are some sights and imaginary smells, tastes and aromas from my last tea party, where I officially launched ORCAS - the first natural oceanic fragrance for men (well, women love it too!). It was originally scheduled to take place on Father's day, but I had to postpone it due to other clashes in my schedule (not to mention the rather wild partying that was going on in downtown Vancouver during the hockey games).

It all started with zesting some key limes the night before, to make the key lime pie. Lime is a key ingredient in Orcas, so it only made sense to feature its intense flavour in the menu!

I also found linden blossom branches on Denman street the day before, so I did all the flower arrangements (a very fancy name for my very simple bouquet of linden and freesia) the day before.

Linden Blossom Bouquet by Ayala Moriel
Linden Blossom Bouquet, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Setting the mood started early in the morning, with collecting pebbles at the beach, and painting rocks with blue hearts, inspired by the beach graffiti at Sunset Beach, and setting up little dioramas like this, which was the place where I was plotting Orcas all summer long in 2009 and 2010. And than, of course, I started playing all my favourite summery 70's funk music to keep my energy up until the guests arrive, without missing a beat!

Sunset Beach Diorama by Ayala Moriel
Sunset Beach Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Wish I had more blue tea cups... But sometimes being too literal is kinda tacky anyway...

I had very little help this tea party, so very little time to take pictures of the guests (not to mention of myself...). You'll just have to believe me that I was there, and that I had a presentation that told the tales of Orcas perfume, as well as explain the difference between a natural oceanic fragrance vs. the synthetic ones (in the likes of Dune, Cool Water and l'Eau d'Issey). The guests were unfortunate enough to smell calone molecules diluted to 1% and 10% (and also look at the pure crystals without snorting them). And they were privee to the process of how I picked essences for Orcas, demonstrated with some 20 or so natural essences, including ambergris, seaweed, cedarmoss, boronia, cassie, violet leaf and angelica. Being exposed to the raw aromatics and walk through the process of fragrance creation is not something that is often made available to consumers, and my guests are always very curious about it, and appreciate the educational as well as sensory aspect of the experience. This is something I only do at my private studio events, where all the materials are within hand reach and the setting is intimate and allows for questions, answers and first hand experience of the raw materials without outside distractions (well, except for the truffles, that is!).

ORCAS Tea Party Guests by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Tea Party Guests, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

And now - you are probably curious to see what the menu looked like after all - so feast your eyes, and please do come by again to my next party, which will in November 2011 to launch a new tea AND perfume for the winter holidays. Mark this date in your calendars: Sunday, 20.11.2011.

Serving watermelon with feta cheese is popular in the Balkan countries, and happily adopted in the Mediterranean countries. Nice contrast between sweet and salty, not to mention the difference in textures... These were little appies served to hold the guests over until all the sandwiches and treats were freshly made, garnished & decorated and set on the 5 tiered tea tray!

Another good appie/palate cleanser is the raw rhubarb (marinated with rosemary, Hendricks gin and chestnut honey) that I served in little China spoons.

Raw Rhubarb Salad by Ayala Moriel
Raw Rhubarb Salad, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Raw Rhubarb Salad by Ayala Moriel
Raw Rhubarb Salad, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

ORCAS Tea Sandwiches by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Tea Sandwiches, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Smoked Salmon + Capers open tea sandwiches, made with the BEST - wild smoked BC Sockeye salmon, on rosemary & lavender wholewheat bread by purebread.

In the background, on the tea tray, are Yuzu + Kabu tea sandwiches (kabu is a Japanese turnip with a very fine, sweet taste and tender, crisp texture; yuzu is a Japanese citron, and I used koshu condiment, which is a little spicy, mixed together with butter, to feature the flavour in an interesting way).

No tea party is complete without scones, clotted cream and preserves. Since the rest of the menu was so fragrant, I kept the scones simple yet fancy (sweet cream scones from The Empress Hotel's tea room recipe), served with tart raspberry-rhubarb preserves to balance out their sweetness.

Key Lime Pie by Ayala Moriel
Key Lime Pie, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

My first time making a key lime pie - and I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make, and cut. I decorated them with a dollop of whipped cream, and a little slice of candied angelica stalks that Rachel Sawatzky of CocoaNymph has graciously made for me, from stalks that were harvested by Stacelynn Caughlan. Both angelica and lime are in Orcas, so it was very neat to be able to have that not-commonly-found confection as part of the menu!

Rosemary Vanilla Madeleines by Ayala Moriel
Rosemary Vanilla Madeleines, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Nothing at all like the ones made by Proust's grandmother, these have the added oomph of fresh rosemary leaves that I picked at Sunset Beach, and a touch of honey. And yes, they do taste good the next day as well, when dunked into tea...

Orcas Truffles by Ayala Moriel
Orcas Truffles, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

These are no extraordinary truffles... I was most excited about creating these truffles, this one time only, for my Orcas perfume launch. I've scented them with nothing less than my precious ambergris tincture that was aged for 6 years now. The result was what can be described as "chocolate on steroids" - the ambergris is not so much a taste on its own, as much as it just tremendously enhances the flavour and aroma of the chocolate, which was already pretty amazing to begin with (the same 64% chocoa that CocoaNymph uses to concoct her much-coveted SeaNymph bars). And the ambergris also enhances the chocolate's aphrodisiac properties...!

And last but not least - you're probably curious to hear who won the lucky draw -

Winning ticket! by Ayala Moriel
Winning ticket!, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Orcas Diorama by Ayala Moriel
Orcas Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

And last but not least - here's an interesting clip I found when searching online for other chocolate & ambergris combinations:



Sight, Smells & Tastes from Orcas Fragrance Launch + Tea Party

ORCAS Diorama by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

For those of you who missed the party, here are some sights and imaginary smells, tastes and aromas from my last tea party, where I officially launched ORCAS - the first natural oceanic fragrance for men (well, women love it too!). It was originally scheduled to take place on Father's day, but I had to postpone it due to other clashes in my schedule (not to mention the rather wild partying that was going on in downtown Vancouver during the hockey games).

It all started with zesting some key limes the night before, to make the key lime pie. Lime is a key ingredient in Orcas, so it only made sense to feature its intense flavour in the menu!

I also found linden blossom branches on Denman street the day before, so I did all the flower arrangements (a very fancy name for my very simple bouquet of linden and freesia) the day before.

Linden Blossom Bouquet by Ayala Moriel
Linden Blossom Bouquet, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Setting the mood started early in the morning, with collecting pebbles at the beach, and painting rocks with blue hearts, inspired by the beach graffiti at Sunset Beach, and setting up little dioramas like this, which was the place where I was plotting Orcas all summer long in 2009 and 2010. And than, of course, I started playing all my favourite summery 70's funk music to keep my energy up until the guests arrive, without missing a beat!

Sunset Beach Diorama by Ayala Moriel
Sunset Beach Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Wish I had more blue tea cups... But sometimes being too literal is kinda tacky anyway...

I had very little help this tea party, so very little time to take pictures of the guests (not to mention of myself...). You'll just have to believe me that I was there, and that I had a presentation that told the tales of Orcas perfume, as well as explain the difference between a natural oceanic fragrance vs. the synthetic ones (in the likes of Dune, Cool Water and l'Eau d'Issey). The guests were unfortunate enough to smell calone molecules diluted to 1% and 10% (and also look at the pure crystals without snorting them). And they were privee to the process of how I picked essences for Orcas, demonstrated with some 20 or so natural essences, including ambergris, seaweed, cedarmoss, boronia, cassie, violet leaf and angelica. Being exposed to the raw aromatics and walk through the process of fragrance creation is not something that is often made available to consumers, and my guests are always very curious about it, and appreciate the educational as well as sensory aspect of the experience. This is something I only do at my private studio events, where all the materials are within hand reach and the setting is intimate and allows for questions, answers and first hand experience of the raw materials without outside distractions (well, except for the truffles, that is!).

ORCAS Tea Party Guests by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Tea Party Guests, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

And now - you are probably curious to see what the menu looked like after all - so feast your eyes, and please do come by again to my next party, which will in November 2011 to launch a new tea AND perfume for the winter holidays. Mark this date in your calendars: Sunday, 20.11.2011.

Serving watermelon with feta cheese is popular in the Balkan countries, and happily adopted in the Mediterranean countries. Nice contrast between sweet and salty, not to mention the difference in textures... These were little appies served to hold the guests over until all the sandwiches and treats were freshly made, garnished & decorated and set on the 5 tiered tea tray!

Another good appie/palate cleanser is the raw rhubarb (marinated with rosemary, Hendricks gin and chestnut honey) that I served in little China spoons.

Raw Rhubarb Salad by Ayala Moriel
Raw Rhubarb Salad, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
Raw Rhubarb Salad by Ayala Moriel
Raw Rhubarb Salad, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

ORCAS Tea Sandwiches by Ayala Moriel
ORCAS Tea Sandwiches, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Smoked Salmon + Capers open tea sandwiches, made with the BEST - wild smoked BC Sockeye salmon, on rosemary & lavender wholewheat bread by purebread.

In the background, on the tea tray, are Yuzu + Kabu tea sandwiches (kabu is a Japanese turnip with a very fine, sweet taste and tender, crisp texture; yuzu is a Japanese citron, and I used koshu condiment, which is a little spicy, mixed together with butter, to feature the flavour in an interesting way).

No tea party is complete without scones, clotted cream and preserves. Since the rest of the menu was so fragrant, I kept the scones simple yet fancy (sweet cream scones from The Empress Hotel's tea room recipe), served with tart raspberry-rhubarb preserves to balance out their sweetness.

Key Lime Pie by Ayala Moriel
Key Lime Pie, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

My first time making a key lime pie - and I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make, and cut. I decorated them with a dollop of whipped cream, and a little slice of candied angelica stalks that Rachel Sawatzky of CocoaNymph has graciously made for me, from stalks that were harvested by Stacelynn Caughlan. Both angelica and lime are in Orcas, so it was very neat to be able to have that not-commonly-found confection as part of the menu!

Nothing at all like the ones made by Proust's grandmother, these have the added oomph of fresh rosemary leaves that I picked at Sunset Beach, and a touch of honey. And yes, they do taste good the next day as well, when dunked into tea...

Orcas Truffles by Ayala Moriel
Orcas Truffles, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

These are no extraordinary truffles... I was most excited about creating these truffles, this one time only, for my Orcas perfume launch. I've scented them with nothing less than my precious ambergris tincture that was aged for 6 years now. The result was what can be described as "chocolate on steroids" - the ambergris is not so much a taste on its own, as much as it just tremendously enhances the flavour and aroma of the chocolate, which was already pretty amazing to begin with (the same 64% chocoa that CocoaNymph uses to concoct her much-coveted SeaNymph bars). And the ambergris also enhances the chocolate's aphrodisiac properties...!

And last but not least - you're probably curious to hear who won the lucky draw -

Winning ticket! by Ayala Moriel
Winning ticket!, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Orcas Diorama by Ayala Moriel
Orcas Diorama, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

And last but not least - here's an interesting clip I found when searching online for other chocolate & ambergris combinations:



Orcas Perfume Launch + Tea Party Sunday July 17th 1-5pm

Mossy Tea Cup by Ayala Moriel
Mossy Tea Cup, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.
I'm super excited for the launch party of ORCAS - the first all-natural oceanic fragrance!
The menu for this party is very special, as it's inspired by the notes of the perfume, including key-lime pie, hand-candied angelica by CocoaNymph and another thing which I'm sure you've never tasted in your life (and not likely to ever taste again...):
ORCAS chocolate truffles, scented with pure beach harvested ambergris, which is nearly as precious as gold but smells so much better! It really is fit for royals... But I'm making it especially for you, my guests, because I think you deserve it!

Also, I'm excited to share with you the elaborate creative process that lead to this perfume, and let you experience the unusual raw materials that make it so unique. You will also learn about the difference between a natural oceanic fragrance and a synthetic one, which is usually based on a particular molecule (you'll get to smell that too, if you dare!).

Last headcount is today, so get your ticket now to make sure that there are enough truffles for you!
Besides, there are super-fantastic door prizes for the first 10 guests to purchase their tickets in advance. Hurry - there are only a couple of those left!!!

And either way - get your ticket today for a chance to win an Orcas perfume bottle!!!

When:
Sunday, July 17th, 1-6pm

Where:
#314-1230 Haro Street, Buzz #295
ORCAS launch & demo at 3pm

What:
Revealing Orcas - the new fragrance by Ayala Moriel Parfums
at 3pm there will be a demonstration by the perfumer showcasing the different notes that make up Orcas, and discover how they were orchestrated to smell like the beaches in Tofino!
You will get to smell unusual raw materials from around the world and learn how this natural oceanic fragrance is different from the mainstream "marine-ozone" fragrances.

There also will be super special door prizes for the first 10 people to RSVP :-)

Menu: The menu has the traditional afternoon tea structure, with top quality loose leaf teas, innovative fragrant savouries and pastries that echo the notes of the new Orcas fragrance, including:

1st Tier: Sandwiches & Savouries
Cucumber + Mint Tea Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon + Capers Tea Sandwiches

Yuzu + Kabu Tea Sandwiches

Watermelon + Macedonian Feta appies

2nd Tier: Sweet Scones

served with Devonshire Cream + Local Wild Berry Jelly

Fresh Rhubarb Salad

3rd Tier: Desserts

Ambergris Truffles, hand-rolled and scented by Ayala

Key Lime Pie, topped with
Candied Angelica (candy courtesy of CocoNymph)
Rosemary-Vanilla Madelienes

Teas & Beverages:

Geranium-Lychee Iced Tea

King Jade (Floral High-Mountain Oolong) Tea

Orcas Cocktails (Carmelite Water & Cointreau served with Key Lime, Rosemary & Mint)

RSVP by phone (778) 863-0806 or email ayala@ayalamoriel.com

Tickets are $12 online to guarantee your spot (we only have room for 30 guests) - or $20 at the door (the $8 that the website automatically charges for shipping in checkout will be immediately refunded after you got your tickets online).

Orcas is Ready!

Orcas, my newest creation, is ready to debut today!!!

The larger batch I created for the occasion has beautifully aged and rounded off by ambergris, echoing the whale theme of the perfume. It's fresh, salty and mysterious, inspired by the ocean and the coast of the Pacific Northwest. I've been wearing it tirelessly all last summer, and intend to do the same this year too :-)

Orcas is bottled and packaged and those of you who're still unsure of what to get your dad for Father's Day next Sunday - this is a unique, yet easily lovable scent, and will make any dad who appreciate scent happy.
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