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Guilt, Revamped


Orange And Chocolate, originally uploaded by ♥babybee.

Today I blended a 2nd batch of my revamped Guilt perfume. It really needed more orange in it, to make it sparkle and less powdery. I hope the new version will be more warmly received, as it matches perfectly the new chocolate bar that was inspired by the truffles that were inspired by the perfume that was inspired by all guilty pleasures of chocolate and orange indulgence...

The idea of revamping came not only from the chocolate, but also from the sugar scrubs, which temporarily colour the skin with rich red-brown hues (very temporarily: it easily washes off :-). This yummilicious sugar scrub is packed with sweet orange zest and juice essences, which make you practically want to lick your arms during and after bathing with it. Pure indulgence.

To the original formula of Guilt, which has cacao absolute in abundance, gourmand amber with dark cassia and honey undertones, orange blossom, a hint of jasmine and rose - and now also very generous amounts of blood orange (there was only minuscule amounts before), orange juice essence, blood orange and bitter orange. It bursts with pleasure and happiness, just as the chocolate bar's citrus nuances burst in your mouth and leave a trail of lighthearted joy behind.

So welcome new Guilt, which will be exclusively offered at the CocoaNymph boutique beginning Tuesday, November 16th - after our official launch of our scented chocolate bar trio! You can come by this weekend to try them out as the testers are already on display and the stock will be arriving at the store very, very soon!

Winter


Dr. Zhivago trees, originally uploaded by Studiobaker.

Not here yet, but certainly getting there. The above title is actually the name of a perfume I discovered when digging through ancient stashed-away disasters of 2001 (the year when I began to compose fragrances).


I've been struggling with spicy orientals for as long as that. That genre is not easy to tackle, not only because I found no reliable reference formulas in any of my perfumery books; but also because these are such complex perfumes, and using only natural raw materials in a complex formula often leads to disasters.


The perfume in question here was intended as a Youth-Dew type of oriental. this perfume belongs to a type of spicy oriental that has very many facets, and is at once spicy, floral, ambery and deeply drenched in patchouli and animalic notes.

What I created back in 2001 smelled terrible at the time. It smelled muddy and earthy and dirty and just overall nothing was really appealing about it, except for the bottle I put it in. And that's where it was left, forgotten, for about 9 years.

And 9 years later, when I was researching spicy orientals for my students and was trying in vein to find a perfume that is the "classical" spicy-patchouli-oriental, I came across this and discovered that it is, after all, not all that bad.

Winter is made of patchouli, vetiver, oakmoss, rose, ylang ylang, chamomile and geranium and bergamot. Way back when, it smelled like a puddle of mud. Now it smells like a very old-fashioned perfume, like what you'd expect to find on your Grandma's vanity. It's a fermented rose scent and is strangely lovable.

With all the other research I've done about the "mellis" perfumes (that's how professionals call the spicy orientals of the likes of Tabu, Youth Dew and Opium), I think I've finally figured out the formula for how to make them smell good and true to the genre, hopefully without waiting another 9 years before they become wearable.

Way Too Orange


orange yemenite etrog, originally uploaded by sambo in netanya.

My last mod of my Etrog perfume turned out juicy and mouthwatering delicious. That's nice and dandy. But it smells nothing like Etrog at all!
It smells way too orange.
It smells more like Japanese citron (aka yuzu) than the Jewish citron.

I've still got a long way to go with this one and as much as I love wearing this sweet citrus jus, it's not what I meant for it to be. Etrog should be far more elegant and dry and subtle.

I need to make a stronger Etrog tincture.
And I need to find myself some good quality myrtle (an essence that don't normally have at my fingertips because it's quite medicinal). I could fake it with some eucalyptus, which is very similar, to get a fast-snapshot of what I'd like for it to be. However, this perfume is all about the actual ingredients and their symbolic significance so I'm going to just wait patiently until I find it!

I'm really liking the base though, which features cypress. It's a very Mediterranean scent and I really want this perfume to feel very true to its origins and the region - yet very refined, elegant and subtle. It also has frankincense and olive resin as fixative which I feel are very appropriate for this perfume.

The route is long and winding... And I'm enjoying it. Which is more important than where I'm going and when I'm getting there.

First Day of Autumn


New season, new beginnings!

Today is Sukkot eve AND the first day of Autumn. It's considered a magical yet risky and dark time of transition, which caught me a little off-guard this time, as I'm immersed fully in teaching my week-long course about the Oriental Fragrance Family.

This is the season that replaces growth and abundance with diminishing light. Like a waning moon is preparing itself for a new one. It's a time of uncertainty, reflection and preparation for colder, darker days when natural resources are more sparse and rare... That's the time when one needs to stock-up on all that's needed to survive for the upcoming season, on every level - Physically, this is the harvest season, where stocking up on food, fire-logs begins; and preparing warm clothes as well as getting the shelter protected and sealed against rain, snow and cold winds. From a young age I learnt that the meaning of the holiday of Sukkot is to make us more appreciative of having a permanent home or shelter, rather than a tent of a tabernacle that is open to all winds and rainfall can penetrate it easily from above. Experiencing the first rain in Israel usually happens when we sleep in our Sukkah... It's exciting, even if very uncomfortable. And it's a relief when at the end of the week, we can go into our warm beds and enjoy a sense of security...

Socially, this is the time for families, friends, neighbors and communities to get together, support each other, celebrate and thank for the abundance we're blessed with. And also making sure everyone else who's less fortunate will still not be left behind. In the following week, every Sukkah (and in my case - my home; because I do not have a yard to build one in; and also because I'm not exactly religious - I just like to keep the connection with my ancestors and with the traditions I grew up with - even if just by blogging about them and connecting them to my perfume and artwork). So I hope my humble home will be blessed with guests this coming week and in the future as well.

Spiritually, transitions are a great challenge as they push us forward against our will and against our constant illusion that we have the option of stepping up the ladder of growth, dwelling on the past or being stuck wherever we are. We grow whether if we like it or not, and whether if we accept it or not. And growth is painful, especially because unlike the snake, we don't have the ability to get rid of the old skin completely... So when we grow, we feel the stretching of our soul and it may feel as ugly as stretch marks for a while, but not for long. We will soon feel comfortable and fresh in our new skin and ready to embark onto the next big journey!

Emotionally, this is where perfume and the senses comes into place for me, as I find great comfort and refuge in anything that is fragrant and sensual - from the colours of the changing leaves (regardless of how cliche this is!) to the textures of fall attire (wool, suede, tweed, cardigans and tights all over again) find fall scents to be particularly soothing to my soul. The scent of burning leaves, mossy undergrowth in the forest, the chill of the cooling ocean in the evening, mushrooms, the aromas of spicy pastries and chai tea, roasted vegetables, dried fruit and burning resinous incense.

This holiday I'm going back to working on my Etrog perfume and I'm very curious to see how it unfolds. It's not a particularly autumnal scent, becuase I'm planning on it to be an exotic eau de cologne type of scent; but it is very strongly connected to this season and this holiday and there is no better time to do it!

Happy Sukkot to all of you who are celebrating; and if you live in the city, drop by for some chai :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:my back yard

Back to Citron


Etrog, originally uploaded by BecomingJewish.Org.

After a year of break from my Etrog project, I'm getting back to designing this perfume. It is probably going to be more of a cologne than a perfume though... And here lays the challenges - technical as well as creative:
1) Etrog (or citron - aka Citrus medica) essential oil is nowhere to be found to the best of my knowledge
2) Etrog fruit is just as rare. The Jews seem to be the only ones trading in it in North America, and the fruit starts at $40 each (you usually need to buy this with the whole set of "Arba'at ha Minim" - the 4 species of Sukkot.
3) Because of this rarity, it is neither easy to make tincture of the fruit, nor is it easy to remember how the scent smells like and stay true to the inspiration!
4) Last but not least - what I'm trying to create is more of an Eau de Cologne scent rather than a full blown perfume. This is the only way I have a chance of letting this delicate note truly shine, rather than being a mere top note!

I'm back to the lab and the drawing board this morning with my Etrog perfume. My 1st two mods of last year utilized a Yemenite Etrog tincture my mother made for me from organically grown fruit from the village. That year I also created my own Etrog tincture from the over-priced fruit here, possible only thanks to the courtesy of Rabbi Binyomin Bitton of Chabad Downtown, who donated to this project the 3 etrogim that he and his sons used throughout the holiday, and that received all the thorough blessings possible. I added to that my own personal etrog (less blessed, admittedly). And I tinctured this with my 1st year's students last fall, after Sukkot was over.

I created 2 mods last year, and kept them relatively simple. I used the abovementioned etrog tincture from the village, pomello tincture from an unusually fragrant and unwaxed pomelo that I completely luckily stumbled upon one day in a Chinese grocery store... A little bit of Japanese mint and rosemary verbenone, Japanese citron (yuzu), and a few fixatives: just benzoin in one, and benzoin and hinoki in the other.

I was much less than impressed with either of these, but had to let my frustration rest for a while before getting back to it. This morning seemed to be a good time to continue... Even though I feel I will need to double the concentration of the etrog tincture with more etrogim from this Sukkot in order to get the right result!

Etrog has a very fine aroma, not so much like citrus - more so like flowers and pineapple. It's hard to capture that, but funnily enough, my pomelo tincture seems more true to it than the actual etrog tincture... It has to have a fine balance between sweetness and dryness. It's a very, very elegant note and not at all like any other citrus (except for pomelo, perhaps).

So this morning, I've blended the same tinctures and yuzu, but also added some blood orange, green lemon and organic lemon, and the same herbs as before. I also fleshed this out with some florals - neroli and orange blossom absolute, petitgrain bigarade and lemon petitgrain. I fixed this with benzoin, frankincense, cypress, ambergris and olive resin tincture. I'm still feeling like a lot is missing and I'm quite sure I know what I want to add: green myrtle oil (which I thought I had but I don't!) and also citron petiitgrain, which I'm out of as well and love (it's a very rare oil to find, but not as rare as citron fruit peel, which I've never came across, ever!). And as I said, a stronger citron tincture, by adding more peels to last year's tincture. This is going to be at least a 3 years project, which can be on one hand really intimidating, but on the other hand - I think this is the beauty of the art of perfume: timing is everything, and the perfume has to ripen not only in the vat, but also in the perfumer's soul.

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