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Jasmine & Lavender

Bright Lavender

Last month was dedicated to jasmine, and in this coming month SmellyBlog will be paying extra attention to lavender as an ingredient in flavour, skincare and perfumes. I've been craving a perfume that combines both of these wonderful notes, and my lab experiments with this idea seem to be a befitting way to transition from one theme to the next.

I've approached this "brief" if you will, in a rather simple way: layer together jasmine perfumes and lavender perfumes and see if that works. I layered Brin de Reglisse over some rather dramatic white-florals to mellow down their headiness. And when I approached this in the lab - I began the day before by layering my two soliflores - Lovender and Yasmin.

I'm not a fan of layering, and I'll tell you why: what usually happens for me when layering one perfume over another on the skin is that the top one will dominate. It's a very rough way to blend two scents together, and on the way, the nuances of one are lost, and some things that are not necessarily desirable get amplified. In this case, the coumarin notes in Lovender were just too much to my liking and the mimosa in Yasmin just smelled sour and icky. That's why I hardly ever recommend layering scents... The results are so far from the original intent of the perfumer.

With those problems anticipated I set off to compose something that takes the best of both worlds (hopefully). I sort of amalgamated the two formulae, but decreased the amount of coumarin-rich components. My Jasmine & Lavender fixation was satisfied. And I got to play in the lab with some other ideas that kept me itching with curiousity. Such as another try at bringing out the tea qualities of jasmine, and rebatching limited edition Jasmine Pho - a refreshing, almost juicy-aldehydic, green-citrusy jasmine fragrance that is very enjoyable in summer.

Perfumer's Organ

Perfumer's Organ by Ayala Moriel
Perfumer's Organ, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

As I mentioned earlier in the week, this was one busy week! I had new students here doing a crash course in perfumery lab orientation - learning all the basic skills required for perfumery lab work, including using the scale, calculating ratios, learning how to work with sticky, solid, resinous materials and how to weight and measure them accurately.
As is always my teaching style, I cover both theory and practice, so while working on diluting different types of essences, and weighing a given formula, the students learned the proper practices of how to document and label everything properly. And last but not least - how to write a formula that could be understood industry-wide by other professionals.

We also covered theoretical aspects such as methods of extractions of essences (absolutes, essential oils, extracts, etc.) and tackled the very tricky question of what is the definition of "natural". There will be more about that in a different post. For now, let me just brag about my new perfumer's organ, which will be permanently displayed in the studio's "showroom" and be used by students in my workshops and courses from now on. There are still much more space to put more essences there, which is still a work in progress. But the students loved using it this week, and I've also used it in my Bridal Stagette Perfume Making Party today (will write more about that tomorrow!).

Early Winter Plights and Delights


Someone have suddenly lifted the security blanket of clouds and rainfall off the city of Vancouver so that it joins the rest of Canada with its below-zero winter temperatures. And this is before winter has even officially arrived. Even in the coldest winters, (-)9 would be rare, and would certainly not hit us before late December.

I went for a little stroll this morning (40 minutes was more than enough to convince me to stay indoors as much as possible and immerse myself with sedate activities such as storytelling - aka blogging, arts and crafts - aka perfumery).


The plants, as you can see from my stroll in Nelson Park's community gardens, have froze over all the vegetation. Everything looks so miserable - like lettuce that was left unprotected in an refrigerator for far too long. They may look dark green, but there is no life in them whatsoever. The photos above are of two victims - Swiss chard and lavender. But they are not the only ones! Nearly all the evergreen bushes (rhododendrons included) look shrinking, lifeless and frost-bitten. I'm quite relieved that in a sudden moment of sanity before crawling into bed last night I rescued my gardenia bush and let us join the family in the living room.



And I was a little shocked to find that large potted plants were even brought in for a warm cup of spiced apple cider and chai at the local coffee shop!


It is so unusually cold that I think most of us in Vancouver don't even have the proper clothes for the weather. The fireplace at my home is blazing, and I even turned on the electric heat in all the rooms in the house, yet it still does not feel quite as cozy... Even after leaving the fireplace on all night (which I never do), the place is not its usual cozy self, but I'm sure the heat will accumulate after a few more days and nights...

So, in such cold days, in addition to a good cashmere sweater we need something to keep us warm and happy besides recycled cashmere sweaters and and borrowed ugg boots (I usually stay away from this, well, rather ugly indeed footwear, but it's practical in this dry and cold weather) - a little bit of nuts, butter and sugar seems quite appropriate. Especially when it's in a well-made almond croissant (I usually judge bakeries by how well they make their almond croissant - and so far the only descent croissant in town actually happens to be sold at Blenz Coffee).


And a newer discovery of mine are these rosemary caramels from up and coming Nektar Confections & Artisanal Pastries. The sweetness of the burnt sugar and butter is beautifully blanaced by the rosemary that they actually feel rather wholesome... They are yet to have their own website or store front, but you can find them at the Baker's Market, or in special events. I met them at my friend's Mindan home art sale last weekend and fell in love instantly with her simple and elegant shortbreads and with these rosemary caramels.

And last but not least - I intend to spend the remaining of the day at my studio, refilling vats with new batches of perfume that ran out because of all the intense bottling I've been doing in preparations to all my shows. For some strange reason, whatever formulation is out of stock seems to be the one that people end up ordering.

I was up late in the lab last night, making new batches of Fête d'Hiver , Yasmin and Zohar. It was time to refill the little rose otto vial with more otto from the big vat from the supplier... Although my studio upstairs is not freezing cold, it was too cold for this pretty lady (I mean: the rose otto). As I was pouring - always carefully, slowly and gently - a large clear crystal of rose otto (this happens to this delicate essence below room temperature) - blocked the way and caused a minor spillage... Nothing too dramatic, but I am starting to run out of this essence, so every drop is precious. I was able to save some of the otto and collect it into the Fête d'Hiver vat. But for the remaining of the night my desk, hands, face and brain smelled like pure organic rose otto from Bulgaria... A pretty inspiring way to drift off to sleep.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Haro St,Vancouver,Canada

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