It seems to be moving in one month intervals with the development of this fragrance. And here comes the third entry for my amber and ginger fascination. Last time I was wishing for more of a dramatic dichotomy between the fuzzy amber and the zesty ginger. The 2nd mod was very close to what I wanted - turning up a little musky, surprisingly. I liked the dry out but wanted to amplify the zing of ginger.
The third mod tries to do just that, and with the addition of a third party, a new element: orange.
Wild orange, to be precise. It’s lively and zingy and mouthwatering. In addition, the candy-like sweetness of Tangerine Murcott and orange peel.
I have also decided to play up the musky qualities with the addition of ambrette seed CO2. And to increase the sweet drama of the amber with some naughtily animalic honey absolute. I have to say that so far I’m pretty happy with the direction, although it’s not finalized yet.
For the next mod, I would like to add some orange juice essence (which I run out of and need to order) and perhaps something floral as well to make it more perfumey and complex. I was thinking about gingerlily but quickly realized it’s the idea of using gingerlily (because of the name) and not the scent itself that is attracting me here. Gingerlily will be too complex and add a musty-earthy spiciness which is what I’m trying to get away from. I want the juiciness of ginger, not the rootiness of it.
While evolution often follows challenge and crisis, few will admit that a sign that you have truly evolved is when your life, all of a sudden, has everything you dreamed of, sans the drama. Strangely enough, I find myself today, the scheduled launch date of my grand gardenia soliflore GiGi to be quite lacking any deeply emotional stories tales related to this dramatic floral note.
Where to begin? Perhaps the name choice. It is in reference to the musical of that name, starring the youthful, innocently tomboyish Leslie Caron. Somehow, the sentence about “making love in a gardenia scented garden” is the only thing from the film that got stuck in my mind forever and that’s where the name came from... While I can’t say there is anything un-romantic about it, in that context it seems so overtly dramatic to the point of ridicule. Which is precisely the direction I was heading for - lighthearted even if a bit mysterious (you can’t avoid that with gardenia!); rather than the Bluesy, Billie-Holiday-esque gardenia ornaments, a gardenia that is open to your own interpretation, with a mood that is easy to manipulate.
The focus here is on creating a rich, creamy gardenia from complex natural essences only. A true challenge indeed, when you cannot use Benzyl acetate; not to mention (E)-ocimene, linalool, asmine lactone, or gamma-decalactone (used to create gardenia headspace).
Instead, I have created an odour profile reminiscent of gardenia using the following notes: Top notes:
Yellow Mandarin - chosen for it’s intense heady-floral aroma, reminiscent of creamy tuberose
Coriander essential oil and Cardamom CO2 - for their exotic spiciness, adding a hint of spice to the gardenia profile
Kewda Attar - for the sharpness, headiness, and hyacinth-like top notes that are somewhat resembling the head notes of gardenia
Rosewood - chosen for the abundance of linalol content, creating that smooth and soft, clean yet heady floral top notes. For the heart notes I created a rich, creamy white-floral-indolic accord, using precious absolutes of:
Jasmine Sambac - the closest I’ve ever found to the scent of fresh gardenia, persistent, and somewhat green and fruity all at once
Jonquille - richly indolic, powdery, animalic and sweet, somewhat green as well
Tuberose - creamy, soft, suave and very close to gardenia absolute (which is a rare find that turns out only very rarely).
As for the base - the trick was to not overdo it as to not overpower the delicate floral heart, while extending the life of these fragile notes. I’ve chosen notes that complement the other ones, but are also rich and soft and subtle:
Myrrh - adding a hint of bittersweetness, which is very important in a gardenia.
Sandalwood from India - from the very last batch I was able to obtain; sandalwood trees in India are becoming extinct, and hence GiGi will probably not be around for too long... At least not in its exact current form - as other sandalwoods do smell different and are less creamy and deeply rich.
Ambrette CO2 - adding depth and a soft muskiness, sweet but not cloying, and adding an effect that is reminiscent of Monoi de Tahiti on a sun-warmed skin.
Vetiver from Sri-Lanka - contributing to the sun-warmed skin and beach notes in the dry out phase.
GiGi is available for a limited time only (until my sandalwood runs out!!!), in the 1/4oz parfum extrait flacons, or parfum oil roll-on bottles, and of course the 1ml sample vials so you can try before you buy.
A month ago, I shared with you my craving for ginger and amber, together. Now experiencing the sequel of the same flu (been traveling around the city I hear, with two phases, thankfully the second is less aggressive than the first) - my ginger & amber craving has come a full circle.
In the last three or four days, I have been wearing my second mod for this amber and ginger perfume concept. This ons is so simple it’s almost ridiculous to even consider it a perfume yet. But it works as a skeletal stage for something bigger and better. I hope.
All it has is my amber base no.3, with organic ginger CO2 and an extra boost of styrax added. Since there is already styrax in the amber formula, don’t even consider it an additional element or note... The amber base includes plenty of styrax, plus benzoin, vanilla, tonka bean and two different labdanums. It’s a sheer sweet amber, simple and easy going.
It wears nicely on the skin, even if a little too soft. I would like to see more of a dichotomy between a zingy bite in the opening, and a deep, rich, caramel-like at the base.
When I was searching for images to illustrate this little entry I came across this rice pudding garnished with candied ginger. It instantly reminded me of the ginger gelato I had in Squamish two weekends ago. It was dotted with caramelized ginger galore. And if you found a teaspoonful that did not have ginger in it, it tasted mostly like mastic, the magical resin used to thicken and flavour ice cream in the Mediterranean region. It is the contrast between the cool ice cream and the hot, spicy ginger that I find most intriguing, and perhaps this is what I’m searching for in my amber & ginger perfume. The sharpness of ginger on the backdrop of buttery-smooth amber is what I envision for it.
Something to think about: adding notes of mastic resin tincture. And amplify the ginger so much so, that it would have an unmistakable initial bite, no matter on how much amber it’s lying.
To fill in the gap in of nearly 5 years that followed the unsuccessful first 2 mods of Gaucho (February 2002) and the renewed trials in the lab (January 2007), here is the next track from Steely Dan’s Gaucho album – ironically titled Glamour Profession… True, it’s pretty glamorous if you ask me, being able to sit on an idea for 5 years and not be bothered by anyone...
I personally prefer the recorded version, which I invite you to listen to as long as you ignore the photo montage (sorry for repeating myself but this is really important; just close your eyes and make your own story board in your head; or read the lyrics as you listen. Do whatever you possibly can to always avoid watching photo montage from Youtube...
I have left for the Pampas as soon as the spark was lit. I first went on a short expedition trip and explored the lands with whichever tools I had with me. I jumped right at the vision of bonfires, ponchos, Asado, gray wool blankets, horses and cows grazing on dry thorny grass, and pretty much everything that I personally associated with the South America cowboy and could somehow relate to scent or texture...
In the very beginning, besides my imagination and vision for the perfume, I had only limited essences that seemed appropriate for achieving what I wanted. All I had was the exotic South American woods to play with, along with some smoky notes. Some other materials I couldn’t even think of at the time as I haven’t smelled them yet. Guiacwood, rosewood, cabreuva, this is where I started. Rosewood seemed too lighthearted for what I was looking to achieve, so I stuck to the guiacwood and cabreuva and added Virginian cedarwood to the top notes, to accentuate the smoky elements I was trying to play up.To this I added tobacco and cade to create and even smokier, leathery impression which was what I mostly associated with the concept of a gaucho; and costus for an animalic presence. For no clear reason, I’ve included basil, a note that seems completely out of place now, many years later… Thinking back I’m not sure what was I thinking putting it in there. Perhaps it was to represent the grassy elements of the landscape. Whatever the reason was, it did not seem to do justice to the blend at the time. It created too much of a dissonance with the other elements. To sum it up, here’s the list of notes for my first Gaucho attempt:
Top notes: Cabreuva, Virginian Cedarwod, Basil, Juniper Heart notes: Guiacwood, Allspice Berry, Clary Sage, Rose Geranium Base notes: Cade, Costus, Peru Balsam, Blond Tabac, Vanilla Absolute
5 maturation years later (for both me and that jus…), I have to say that this first Gaucho attempt does not seem so bad at all. The basil does add a bit of grassy and fresh linalool element at the opening that I now find interesting and not as out of place and dissonant as it did back than. This first Gaucho mod is very similar (not surprisingly, if comparing the elements in both) to Espionage, but with the additional herbaceous green notes. Still yet, I think it is a bit too muddy and I’m happy that I have, after this initial failure, decided to wait several years until the right time and let the ideas evolve within me.
I even tried an identical version with added champaca, hoping this will smooth out the composision, but alas, it made it too sweet, albeit somewhat reminiscent of a different perfume I’ve created that same year – Rebellius.
And now comes the song to soundtrack this part of the journey - Hey Nineteen, about a love affair with a 19 year old that is practically doomed, just like jumping at a perfume theme without knowing what you're doing... I'm posting this link from Youtube because of the music not the visuals; although I'm very thankful for the photomontage artists out there who put a lot of good songs out on Youtube, I can't say this artform is my cup of tea. So do me a favour and hit play and move on to read the rest of the blog entry please...
