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SmellyBlog

Ozone

Last night’s swim brought an interesting olfactory surprise. I swam in the water of Sunset Beach, all the way to the large float that marks the boat traffic territory. The setting sun nearly blinded my eyes and I was hardly able to make out the couple in the rowing boat ahead of me. I stopped for a while, blocked off from my goal (to reach that big red ball and than swim back…) by the couple and while waiting for them to move on I noticed an unusual scent in the air.


The middle of the water is the place I least expect to smell anything around. Unlike a walk in the neighbourhood with its abundant gardens, it’s not as if you’d stop to smell the seaweed when you go for a swim… But surprises are what you find in the least expected friend. Just a few days before, I knocked into a good old friend in that very same water. So really, I should know better than to expect less than the unexpected!

The water was very cold, which is pretty much it’s normal thing year around in Vancouver. A peculiar scent, yet not at all unpleasant, wafted above the water and gently blew in my face fragments of raw fish, seaweed and something quite floral and strange. I believe to be the scent of ozone, at least partially, wafting just above the water. It was not unlike calone, but with none of the harsh, sickening quality of rotting fish and piercing rusty metal that I got when I smelled a 10% dilution of the watermelon ketone. Apparently, it could very likely have something to do with a particular brown algae’s metabolism or pheromones.

I’ve never felt that calone was in the least floral, but I can now see where perfumes such as Cool Water and l’Eau d’Iseey found their inspiration. The perfumers must have been either swimming or sailing in a very cold ocean at sunset searching for brown algae…

Bewildered, I turned around and swam back to the beach. It weakened as I approached the shore. But when I went back to the red float (the sailing couple was gone), the scent was there and as strong as before, and it was haunting me ever since. I tried wearing l’Eau d’Issey (which bears some similarities, and to my surprise smells a lot more like sheer woodsy incense scent now, but this is the parfum extrait). I went to the beach again the next day, but the scent was gone.

Ocean


Girl and Dog, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

With every dip or swim in the ocean, no mater how short or long, I come out feeling cleansed, purified. It feels as if I left something behind in the water... Something I probably did not need to keep carrying on my shoulders. I don't know what it is that has lessened my burden, but it sure feels good.

It’s evening. Rocking on my swing-bench in my balcony upstairs, I’m sensing my state of mind and typing it through my fingertips. The balcony is open to the skies that are now covered with summer clouds. Hinoki incense is burining, producing smokeless smoke, which feels more like vapours in a dry sauna.

Every muscle in my body is at once relaxed and exhausted. My brain, which nearly froze every time I put my head under the Pacific ocean’s grey and algae-specked water, is floating in a cheerfully wobbly place above all troubles.

I know there are many things I could worry about – a busy week ahead of me, with opening in (hopefully) 3 retails locations. I will need to work like mad in the next few days to get all the perfumes bottled and packaged neatly, and put together all the necessary display materials. And this is just one part of what needs to get done this week. But I’m feeling strangely unworried. Even though I can never be sure that everything will fall into place perfectly and with no challenge (when does that ever happen, anyway?!), I have a sense of peacefulness that nothing will disturb right now.

The ocean – a big mirror of unknown depth that takes away suffering and reflects our interior landscape of emotions, fears, fascinations and misery. Each wave takes away an obsession and turns it into an inspiration; transforms our suffering into grace and compassion. And while those healing powers exists for me year around as I frequent the sea in all its moods and season, the ability to immerse in it gives me a renewed sense of appreciation that goes beyond the sheer pleasure of being able to swim under the sun without the risk of hypothermia.

The sea bears many treasures – fish, pearls, ambergris... The the ocean’s greatest gift to us is the sea itself. I am grateful.

Olfactory Souvenir from Long Beach


Butterfly, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

My visit to Tofino last summer left a lasting impression on me, and I was determined to turn it into perfume one day. The scents of the ocean never cease to amaze me, and fortunately, there are some raw materials in my palette that are authentic in both their origin and their manifestation. Take seaweed, for instance (which comes in oil, absolute and more recently - molecular distillation). It is so true to the scent of seashore and ocean breeze that it makes my heart skip a beat every single time, just like when the sea line approaches on the horizon on a Beach Day and you can see the lifeguard’s red flag saying swimming is not forbidden but a still a little dangerous…

Tofino, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a little town on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which faces the great Pacific Ocean. Unlike the beaches within the Georgia Straight – the waves there are high and forceful. There is a high risk of tsunami there, because it is not too far from the “junction” of no less than three tectonic plates!

There are many magical spots in that area, which is almost continuously draped in mist regardless of season. The iconic big rock at Long Beach, which looks like a giant altar for sacrifice for the gods of the sea; The rainforest there are so clear, that moss grows on the trees in abundance, moss that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Every place you turn is like pure magic, even the hundreds of dead squids that were washed to shore and made some of the beaches reek of rotting marine carcasses. But certainly, the most memorable thing was the Wild Pacific Trail, where we spotted whales blowing and gasping for fresh misty air above sunken ships from centuries past.

In my very early days of perfumery, I created Orcas. It was a strange oceanic that smells a lot like Coca Cola – because besides the seaweed and the rosemary, which provided the core of the “ocean breeze” theme, I also put some lime, rose geranium, litsea cubeba, cinnamon and cloves. I liked Orcas, but it never really made it. I phased it out when I did the name switch (from Quinta Essentia to Ayala Moriel). I felt it’s time to update this perfume and give it a new spin, and that’s what I’ve been working on in the past month. I Love the name and wanted to keep it that way. I want the new Orcas to be more on the masculine side, very expansive and light, and distinctively oceanic.

Oceanic, Aquatic and Ozone notes have probably began with Dune by Maurice Roger (created in 1991 for Christian Dior). Although rather complex with its array of notes (Broom, Wallflower, Bergamot, Mandarin, Lily, Peony, Jasmine, Rose, Amber, Lichen, Musk, Sandalwood, Vanilla) - it was more about creating the impression of sand, seashore and ocean air rather than an evolution of notes. It is also the first in the genre of oceanic perfumes, later on expanded into the ozonic/oceanic and aquatic-floral fragrance family, with the introduction of the man-made molecule calone.

Creating a marine or oceanic natural scent poses a challenge because the palette of oceanic notes is limited and narrow – primarily the seaweed essences I’ve mentioned. What can be built on top of that relies heavily on the perfumer’s imagination, creativity and their own association with seashore and ocean.

For some reason, I find rosemary to fit in perfectly with that theme. And so I’m quite set on focusing my attention on the seaweed and rosemary accord, which is quite lovely. My first version (or my second, counting the original Orcas) is very simple and minimalist, with blue spruce absolute, seaweed, Haitian vetiver (which has a certain ‘saltiness’ to it), angelica, violet leaves, clary sage, rosemary and fresh ginger. These notes to fit in together quite nicely into a Pacific mist meets rainforest kind of accord, and the rosemary (usually a top note) gets a surprisingly long appearance. But it’s not a perfume quite yet. There is a lot missing – a heart, for example.

To be continued…

Happy Summer Solstice


Summer Solstice, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Hope you all enjoyed the first day of summer and longest one in the year. I spent most of it chasing the sun in the Sunshine Coast and waiting for the tides to clash at Skookumchuk Rapids.
Memorable scents of the day: salty ocean air with wafts of wild roses and resinous conifers.

Kamakiriad


condensation, originally uploaded by Zip Eye.

“Here at Laughing Pines
Where the party never ends
There’s a spicy new attraction
On the Funway
You can scan yourself
For traces of old heartaches

The details of desire
Shimmering – shimmering”

(Donald Fagen, “Springtime” from his solo album “Kamakiriad”)

Besides the Japanese origin of both Issey Miyake's l’Eau d’Issey and the inspiration of “Kamakiriad” (a legendary futuristic Japanese car) there should seemingly be no connection at all between the two. But if l’Eau d’Issey could have a sound, it will definitely have the sparkling, chilly & magnetizing synthesized studio sound of Donald Fagen and Steely Dan. Particularly the sound that can be heard when playing the few lines that are quoted above.

Everything about this perfume suggests purity – from the bottle design – a simple cone with a transparent sphere suggesting a drop of water caught at a perfect moment in the air, the icy frosted glass and aluminum – to the colourless juice. But most importantly, it is the only water that can be enjoyed when drunk through the nostrils.

Designed to smell like water, l’Eau d’Issey provides artificial tranquility in a most magical way. One drop from this cone vessel encompasses within it all the vital promises of pure water – thirst clenching, cleanliness and rejuvenation. It only takes a tiny drop from the pure parfum to make one feel like swimming in a bubble of fresh water, or the unmatched pleasure of licking off condensation droplets from an icy glass of water.

L’Eau d’Issey strats off green, with notes dewy of fresh cut grass, quickly replaced by the subtle honeyed sweetness of blooming flowers – linden blossom and magnolia, with the freshness of neroli – but mainly lead by a transparent and slightly green rose note. These florals are complemented by a computer-generated note of cool fresh air, which gives the over all impression of a water lilies.

A few minutes through the scent (whether if you showered in the last 12 hours or not) – you ought to feel clean and refreshed! The droplet of perfume expands into a whole water experience which will float around you for the whole day, carrying the fresh breeze of outdoors in a brisk winter day, as well as the freshness of melted ice water.

Though light and fresh in character, l’Eau d’Issey possesses a highly impressive lasting power, and once the water finally evaporates (which will take about 6-8 hours), you will be left with a transparent, white-musk and woody accord, achieved by using double distilled and refined essences of cedar and sandalwood.

l’Eau d’Issey makes me feel like I had just swam in a chlorine-drenched pool, and the scent has not yet decided to leave the skin completely. I love to wear it in order to achieve a detached peace of mind, or as a releaf for mental thirst for water-derived tranquility. It can be also used as a substitute for shower if necessary.

Special thanks to Siobhan Flanagan, who reminded me of this exceptional scent.

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