La casa Gelato, originally uploaded by 芋姫のたび.

Aromatic landmark of the day is La Casa Gelato (1033 Venables Street, just off Glen Drive).
From the 508 flavours, I picked two scoops: chocolate-basil and lavender. The lavender was surprisingly green. Rather than being flavoured by the dry buds, it is flavoured by fresh green lavender leaves. So does the chocolate-basil, where one can spot green pesto-size specks of basil leaves.

The combination was everything but ordinary and oddly comforting. Which reminds me of how well basil and lavender might just do together. Maybe not with a violet - but perhaps with tarragon absolute, to bring out even more the licorice like nuances found in some varieties of basil.

Girl in violet dress, originally uploaded by Chrissie White.

Lavender and violet have a few things in common. They are both a colour. They are both powdery (depending on context, of course). And they both have a strong Victorian-moral and olfactroy association - violets associated with modesty and lavender with cleanliness and purity (the Latin name for lavender - lavandula - is from the root "lavare" which means "to wash). It's easy to fall into one of these cliches when working with those materials, and difficult to avoid it and create something new. But it's possible.

After re-blending previous reference formulas from my past lavender endeavors, I set to try out my new idea: lavender and violet. I have already used violet in the formula for Branka's perfume (which along with the rose makes it more floral). At the same time, I really wanted to maintain that suave, velvety quality in my fougere sketch from 2001. And so on August 6th, I've experimented with adding on to the accord of lavender-violet-vanilla a few more notes to accentuate the violet. I've used orris butter to extend the violet heart note and make it more soft and floral and less green-leaf-like. At the same time, cassie absolute was added to the base, adding a perfumey complexity that has both the violet-like nuances as well as its own odd characteristics of wet wood. Tonka bean and hay absolute at the base along with ho wood (very linalool rich) at the heart complete the fougere picture and the pine was replaced by rosemary verbenone to add clean, herbaceous freshness.

It's only three days into maturation and all the notes have already smoothed into each other (i.e.: the orris and cassie don't stand out as much as they did in day 1).
To summarize, here are the notes I've used in this violet-lavender experiment:

Top notes: Kashmir Lavender, Lavender Mailette, Lavender (High Elevation, France), Rosemary Verbenon, Ho wood

Heart notes: Violet Leaf Absolute, Orris butter 8% Irone, Seville Lavender Absolute, Lavender Absolute, Clary Sage

Base notes: Lavender Concrete, Oakmoss, Tonka Bean, Hay Absolute, Cassie Absolute, Vanilla Absolute

I like the result, but think it's still too tame and it does remind me of both Viola and Lovender - combined with a little more lavender oomph added in (from both the Seville Lavender absolute and the lavender concrete - both very unusual and bold notes). Perhaps amplifying the cassie would create more of the quirky effect I'm looking for - something more unusual and less familiar. Another thing I might consider is adding some rosemary absolute, but than I might be repeating some of my accords from Gaucho too much.

Herbaceous & Bold Lavender, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

My interest in lavender as a theme awoke while researching and comparing the different lavenders, and I felt tempted to construct a lavender-violet perfume, inspired in theory (yet not actual result) by the iconic Gray Flannel. As I've been resurrecting my notes about lavender (later to form a more comprehensive text), I've also dug up and re-blended a couple of old formulas surrounding this spectacular note.

The first one, a masculine fougere utilizing the complex, velvety lavender-confiture of the concrete form (concrete is one stage before the extraction of the absolute, still containing all the floral waxes) contrasted by rosy geranium, sweet vanilla and musky oakmoss - resulting as I recall in a very musky fragrance (even though any animalic notes are deliberately absent). This was designed in 2001 as a sketch for wedding perfumes. Besides being that velvety-smooth fougere with buttery-musky feel to it, it can also work as a fougere base when a touch of fougere complexity needs to be added to a composition.

13.8 Lavender Concrete

10.3 Green Oakmoss Absolute

10.3 Vanilla

10.3 Lavender Absolute

7.1 Clary Sage

13.8 Geranium Bourbon

13.8 Lavender Oil

10.3 Rosewood

10.3 Pine

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The second one, a custom scent to a dear lady named Branka (also in 2001), in an attempt to bring back the good memories of summer holidays before the dreadful civil war in former Yugoslavia, spent on an island in the Baltic sea - surrounded by cypress and pine trees, sage and lavender. Since this is a custom scent I will not reveal the exact proportions, just the fragrance notes:

Top notes: Pine, Cypress, Bulgarian Lavender

Heart notes: Violet Leaf, Bulgarian Rose Otto, Clary Sage

Base notes: Lavender Concrete, Oakmoss, Patchouli