Me and the perfume display.
Guests at the Blunda Perfume Lounge. Everything here is comfortable and smells good, naturally.
Persephenie's perfume organ can be seen on the wall, and on the counter below there is the whole spread of the afternoon tea treats we made. From left to right:
Getting ready for the presentation...
I'm sniffing the Hanami scent-strip fan (my demo included a breakdown of the notes for hanami, divided into accords - i.e. metallic wood accord, Sakura accord, etc. - and the perfume's structure - i.e. base, heart & top.
The Hanami banner is so big. Or maybe I'm just really tiny... It's all relative.
The exhibition at Blunda was great, meeting lots of passionate perfume people. The following posts are mostly photos as I'm too tired to write and need to do a lot tomorrow before flying back to Vancouver. I have a feeling this is not going to be my last time in California though - this place rocks! The people, the food, the sun, the perfumes - it really feels like the centre of it all. I hope the rest of the series will be very successful for Blunda and the other perfumers.
THE PRESENTATION
Blunda means to close one's eyes in Swedish. This family owned studio boutuqie is beautiful, intimate, comfortable, cozy and home-like and at the same time feels like a temple or a shrine. A place of refuge from the hectic pace of modern life where one can relax, enjoy fragrance in an unhurried, unrushed manner while getting to know the founder - perfumer and teacher Persephenie Snyder. Incense, natural perfumes, botanical essences and aromatic herbs, roots and resins from around the wolrd are encompassed in one small and sweet space on Edinburgh & 3rd Street in Los Angeles.
Below are more photos to give you a sense of what the space is like.
Closer look at the Ayala Moriel perfume collection offered at Blunda: Tamya, Espionage, Palas Atena and Finjan. This weeked we'll offer a few more: Bon Zai, Charisma, White Potion and Zohar. And of course - the star of the show: Hanami.
Laurie Stern's perfumes are luxurious and complex. Her concoctions include a line of candles and body care products. The whipped body butters in Tuberose & Gardenia and Kashmir Rose are to die for. I'll be leaving with these in my suitcase, for sure.
Persephenie chopping up the good stuff for chocolate truffles (Valrhona's 71% cocoa). These form the base for my deadly Guilt chocolate truffles to be served to the guests tomorrow.
The white chocolate is for White Potion truffles with a hint of magnolia added, to make them suit the scent profile of Hanami (which includes tuberose, magnolia and tonka bean to name a few notes).
We'll also serve Sakura Mochi - Japanese rice pastries filled with Azuki bean paste and wrapped in pickled cherry leaf - a seasonal specialty of the Hanami festival, and minted cucumber tea sandwiches to go with the Charisma afternoon tea!
At 2:30pm I will be speaking about the inspiration of Hanami and demonstrate how the perfume was constructed with the various woody and floral notes and the sakura accord.
April 14th, Los Angeles, CA & Vancouver, BC. In a unique exhibition of perfumery, poetry and photography, Ayala Moriel Parfums releases her newest perfume Hanami. Inspired by a poem by Ezra Pound, Hanami is a sophisticated interpretation of flower viewing in an urban landscape. 
“As I was reading the poem, I envisioned a perfume that is subtle and urbane: flowers and dusty dirt”, says Ayala. She drew on her olfactory experiences in the metro stations in New York and Montreal, and the cherry blossom boulevard in Burrard SkyTrain station, which is the heart of the Cherry Blossom Festival (Hanami) in Vancouver.
Ayala Sender, the Nose behind Ayala Moriel Parfums creates perfumes that are inspired by her deepest emotions and memories from her childhood landscapes of the Mediterranean. “My art stems from my love and longing for the Mediterranean natural and cultural landscape”, Ayala says, “It is strongly rooted in those ancient and colourful aromatic traditions”.
Blunda means “ to close one’s eyes“ in Swedish. Blunda Aromatics specializes in a wide range of Natural Botanical Perfumes, Essential Oil Pharmacopeia, Exotic Perfume Materials, Education, and Collectible Treasures. Blunda’s founder, Persephenie Synder, is a certified aromatherapist, perfumer and a visual artist. The studio offers classes and workshops in natural perfumery, aromatherapy, candle and incense making and more. The studio store offers select lines of renowned natural perfumers and rare essences from around the world.
