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Purusa Petalum

　　 by gracias!
　　, a photo by gracias! on Flickr.
The golden violet character of osmanthus is highlighted by sunny notes of mimosa and elemi and robust fruity-herbaceous davana (Artemisia pallens). Reminiscent of strawberry-jam, cured hay and grapes, davana adds a dark and fruity nuance to the apricot-leather quality of osmanthus, and shifts the balance from leather into fruit. Elemi's (Canarium luzonicum) lemon-pepper resinous note adds brilliance and clarity to this dense theme. It gives it a bit of a green and dry-woody tone as well.

Purusa Petalum by Sebastian Signs

Petalum is part of Purusa - Sebatian Sign's natural perfume gels line. They are infused into a smooth, easily-absorbing gel that's made from argan oil. Aside from the smooth consistency and unusual texture, they are also quite unusual perufmes, that style-wise fall somewhere between the therapeutic purity of aromatherapy synergies; and abstract perfume compositions of unusual notes.

Notes: Osmanthus absolute, jasmine absolute, davana oil, elemi oil, mimosa absolute. 

Cerise en Cocoa

Eisrose 2 by multiflora
Eisrose 2, a photo by multiflora on Flickr.
Cerise en Cocoa is the other Rebel & Mercury's other osmanthus-laden perfume Nikki sent me to try before our osmanthus conversation, this time in an oil-base parfum concentration.

It is not nearly as osmanthus-y as Osmanthus Red, but is noteworthy for its stellar pairing of a difficult trio: rose, osmanthus and chocolate.

Rose and osmanthus together are extremely difficult to work with. When they have been paired in the past, the result was a rich-heavy-nearly-muddy concoction. Masterfully blended it will result in melancholy darkness such as that present in 1000 de Patou. Not so well done it is just sheer cacophony - every perfumer's nightmare.

Somehow, in Cerise en Cocoa, Nikki Sherritt was able to pull the best of each component and work them together in a balancing act that brings to mind an acrobat dancer on a tightrope. And not just any acrobat - but the legendary Rosa Marzipan herself (a beloved Erich Kästner heroine). Pretty and flexible, with a delicate almond-paste complexion and while her head is nearly always in the air, her head is grounded in reason and wit.

Cerise en Cocoa (cherry and cocoa) begins with a burst of unusual fruitiness - the plum-like, robust juiciness of osmanthus absolute combined with an even juicier ruby-red grapefruit zest and both bring forth the the peach-plum damascones in red and white roses. The wine-like, liquor qualities of cocoa absolute also contribute to the sensual feeling of biting into a Pierre Herme violet-cassis macaron, with the thin brittle skin bursting open to reveal a lightly fragranced, creamy almond paste underneath and a cassis-flavoured silky ganache undnerneath.

Yet, all this apparent sweetness is well-balanced with an underlying dry air of woodsy vetiver roots. There is almost a dry feeling of pencil shavings, so there might be some Virginia cedar lurking beneath too.

Cerise en Cocoa is available directly from Rebel & Mercury's Etsy shop; or via Sweet Anthem in Seattle.

Top notes: Ruby Red Grapefruit, Virginia Cedarwood
Heart notes: Osmanthus, White and Red Rose accord
Base notes: Cocoa, Vetiver

Osmanthus Conversations

Osmanthus from Eden Botanicals

I'm pleased and excited to begin a new series on SmellyBlog, dedicated to one of my favourite notes: osmanthus. And for the first time - I will be hosting other perfumers who will share their thoughts, impressions and creative process working with this very special raw material.

The idea came to me after visiting Eden Botanicals last summer with my fried perfumer Lisa Fong. We both felt that this osmanthus was so exceptional it called for some special attention. Perhaps a little perfumers conversation on SmellyBlog?

We exchanged some osmanthus goodies - the dry buds, teas mixed with the dry buds, osmanthus oolong and such, and before I  even knew it - September came around, and we met again at the LA Artisan Fragrance Salon and Lisa has already created a new perfume surrounding osmanthus. I was clearly behind on my osmanthus series project - in hindsight perhaps a good thing. Because meanwhile I virtually met another talented and gracious natural perfumer, Charna Ethier, and fell in love with her Osmanthus Oolong. About a month later - Nikki Sherritt launched her Osmanthus Red at her Blackbird event (part of the Northwest Perfumers Circuit). It was clearly time for some action on the osmanthus front!

How can I describe osmanthus to you? 

Osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans), sweet olive or tea olive (as it is known in the Southern United States) is a flowering evergreen shrub or small tree from the olive and lilac family, native to warm temperate Asia. It is cultivated as a decorative plant in gardens. In China, the dried flowers are used to infuse both green tea and black tea to create a fine tea called guì huāchá. It is also used in Chinese cuisine to flavour other specialty foods such as jam, cakes, dumplings, soups and a specialty liquor.

It is widely cultivated in Japan, where is it called kinmokusei, and where its incredibly humble, tiny clusters of golden-orange flowers permeate the air at the end of October, releasing a scent in the air that truly cannot be replicated. Marlen Harrison, who lived in Japan for a while, was the first to tell me of this elusive scent in real life, and how he spent hours searching for its source - so perfumey that at first he thought it was a laundry dryer sheet scent until he looked up and saw the osmanthus trees and their tiny, inconspicuous flowers.

And indeed, fresh osmanthus has been largely imitated by popular shampoo brand Herbal Essence and its smell-alikes; and even some laundry detergents and dryer sheets; and only later on in Serge Lutens' Nuit de Cellophane (by which point the scent sadly lost some of its prestige). Somehow, the ethreal quality of fresh osmanthus flowers got poorly interpreted and its lush, rich beauty watered-down in the many inspid aquatic florals that took over the 90's, alongside other "Asian" themes such as water lily and bamboo.

The flowers are solvent-extracted to produce a green, viscous liquid with an unusual floral note with a rich and dense aroma: fruity, leathery and green all at once and  reminiscent of leather, apricots, green tea and coumarin. It is sweet, mysterious and exotic. It's fruity intensity is more pronounced in higher quality grades, while poorer quality might present a hint of rancid-oil facet.

Osmanthus is a heart note that is used as the main theme or as an accessory note to add an exotic and unusual dimension to a perfume. It works very well in both rich florals and green florals, orientals, fresh fruity florals, leather and chypre compositions and can make a great floral note in a masculine scent, although it is sadly underused in this regard.

Its beauty is particularly revealed when accompanied with ionone-dominated and tea-like notes (i.e.: green tea, violet leaf, linden blossom, cassie) and fruity floral notes such as jasmine, magnolia, rose and orange blossom.  It's main challenge, however, is that this delicate and complex note is often cluttered with too many other dominant notes that tend to conceal it; and the other big technical challenge is that it is a little shy and tends to disappear the more you add of it. This could be in part due to the fickle character of the ionones in it.

Osmanthus flowers are minuscule, and the yield is low - a classic recipe for prohibitive costs. Therefore it is not surprising that it is not a common note to find - especially not in its natural form. You'll find very few perfumes that are a true ode to osmanthus, and even they are often watered down versions of the glorious original. More often, osmanthus will come up in perfumes that are minimalist, as if to attract the potential markets in Asia (Osmanthe Yunnan and Ormonde Jayne's Osmanthus for example, where it is light, ethereal and evoking green tea and cologne); while in others it is incredibly powdery, fruity-sweet and girly (Keiko Mecheri's and The Different Company's rendition). Only rarely will a perfumer explore its darker, leathery sides, as Ineke did in Evenings Edged in Gold, where the ionone and apricot of osmanthus is paired with leathery saffron. And in even rarer cases there is an original take on osmanthus: the bitter, herbaceous rose of 1000 de Patou; and the insanely too-good-to-be-true dessert of Un Crime Exotique. And then, of course, there are the creations of the perfumers that will be part of this little osmanthus series. It will be really interesting to read their own descriptions and insights into this less-known perfume note.

The Essential Oil Mansion (July 9th)

Eden Botanicals team

The last stop before heading back to Oakland (and continuing a vigorous packing of the 40 essential oils I left behind on my last trip... Oy vey) was one of my most favourite suppliers ever, whom I always dreamed of visiting: Eden Botanicals. I don't usually disclose my suppliers, but I am making a huge exception here because I've been working with them for so long that I feel like I'm part of their team in some ways too (you'll understand why in a moment).

Eden Botanicals recently moved from their rural Northern California location up in Hymapom, closer to civilization to the town of Petalum in Sonoma County (just under an hour drive from San Francisco).

They were located in a quiet street in a several story-high house that looked like an essential oil mansion, or a castle to me. And for a warehouse that stores tens of essential oils in substantial quantities, the scent was not in the least overwhelming, but pleasant and aromatic and wonderful. Just like walking into a larger version of my tiny studio space when I just open all the boxes where I store my vast of oils stashed away from heat and light.

It was wonderful to connect in person with the people who import top-quality essential oils and absolutes from around the world (as well as other accessories for aromatherapists and perfumers - anything from carrier oils to scent-strips, which, by the way, I was out of and they managed to ship speedily over to Lisa's house so that I can have them for the weekend's many scent events!). I've been working with Eden Botanicals for years, both as my supplier, but also helping them out in writing the ad copy to some of the essential oils they bring from around the world. It's a mammoth project, which is very unlikely to ever end, as they always bring new things and we always tried to keep the descriptions accurate for slight variations between batches.

Eden Botanicals has grown throughout the years but is still a very small, personable company, which includes the new owner, Josh, Kyanne, Mollie and their aromatherpist Julia (the last two are shown in the picture above). They are still planning to move to a different location within Petaluma, and Josh has many exciting plans for this new locations which I can hardly wait to tell you - but will just have to wait till I see and smell them myself.

Avraham Sand's Aromatic Menorah

When showing them my new "Oy de Cologne" Julia told me she was Jewish too and pulled out this interesting essential oil display shaped like a Menorah from AvAroma (Avraham Sand's company in Israel), carrying the "Ketoret" (incense) oils: Costus, saffron, myrrh, frankincense, balsam, galbanum, spikenard, cassia, cloves and more.

Osmanthus from Eden Botanicals

I came with a very specific shopping list in mind (great way to "get rid of" foreign cash, by the way!) and only strayed from it with one ingredients - the new arrival: Osmanthus absolute. It was great that I did, because I completely ran out and the only other sources I have were both extremely expensive and not all the great of a quality. This osmanthus, like most of the essences they scout, is exceptional. This flower, redolent of apricot and leather is still dark and mysterious, but it feels as if there is a ray of light coming through it. There is a quality that I find hard time to truly describe and pinpoint, but is there in all good quality oils: they are vibrant, and feel alive and full of action, as if they are still a living thing. And that's exactly what I'm looking for, and is always worth all the extra costs and effort to find.

I smelled and received a few samples of other exciting new arrivals, including coffee bean essential oil, organic peppermint oil, Somalian frankincense (Boswellia frereana), organic fresh ginger root oil and organic Ylang Ylang. If these do not sound all that exotic, know that when a plant is grown, harvested and distilled/extracted with care, the result is exceptional and inspiring. As is the case with all of these oils.

Last but not least: Eden Botanicals now accept international orders! That's also great news for Canadians, who could now order directly from the website, rather than call in with their order. Yay!

Happy Mardi Gras!


Happy Mardi Gras!, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!
I'm so excited to launch my New Orleans perfume tonight, with a gala cocktail party to benefit two New Orleans charities -

1) America's Wetland non-profit organization that works towards saving coastal Louisiana, who is losing land at a rate of 25 square miles per year (!).

2) The Tipitina's Foundation which is dedicated to helping artists recover from Hurricane Katrina and preserving the cultural traditions of New Orleans. Can you imagine a Mardi Gras parade without a marching band?!

New Orleans perfume took a few years in the making - since I watched the film When The Levees Broke (about the aftermath of hurricane Katrina), which really moved me and made me realize that even though the hurricane was over 2 years ago, there was lots more to be done to help the people of New Orleans. That's when the concept was conceived to make a perfume that will help New Orleans. I took longer than expected to complete the perfume (which is why I used l'Ecume des Jours as a temporary fundraising perfume for NOLA), because I've never been to New Orleans in person, and I had to rely on my perfume friends from there to fill my olfactory gap. The rest was left to imagination...

Now that the bottling is done, and there is even a new batch maturing (which I have just blended this morning), AND it's Mardi Gras, after all, which is when I planned to launch the perfume, I think it's the right time to reveal to you what this perfume turned out to be, at long last.

The perfume was carefully orchestrated based on Paula Stratton's description of the scent. It took a long time, and several trials until I achieved the desired results. The challenge was combining the herbaceous notes (basil, rosemary) with the sweet florals (sweet olive, tea rose, orange blossom), bright citrus (Meyer lemon) and last but not least - the scent of decay, decomposition, moss, seaweed and oak trees and cypress that is what makes the scent of New Orleans. The various trials were similar in concept, but quite different in scent. Even though they all had an accord of sweet olive (aka osmanthus), orange blossom, magnolia and rose at the heart, they all had a different mood and personality.

I'd like to share with you a bit of the evolution, as well as Paula and her husband Mark's feedback:

Mod 1 (dated August 21-22, 2007) included brown oakmoss (for a more deeply woody aroma than the green variety), blue cypress, spikenard, seaweed and vanilla. The top included basil, rosemary and lemon.

Paula's reaction: "Number 1 is the most genteel. It's the most feminine, and I catch the jasmine and osmanthus. It's my favourite".

I felt it was a little too muddy and that the basil clashed with sweetness of the floral bouquet and the vanilla. Therefore - mod 2 (created just a week after the 1st mod) was to follow, where there was neither moss, nor herbal notes. I added more violety notes, such as cassie and orris root. Paula observed - "Number 2 would probably be the most popular with the most people. It's lively and reminds me of the drink called a Sazerac".

I felt there was still too much heaviness and not enough harmony there, and waited a few more years before I was really able to create something worth sharing with Paula, in 2010. Perfume creation is a time-consuming process. Not only do the scents really need to mature and marry, but also the ideas need to hibernate, interact with one another, and waiting and patience is the essence of the process... Sometimes waiting for the scent to mature; other times - waiting for the right idea, or the right aroma to materialize. In this case, I had to wait for both. It finally dawned on me in 2010, that what I need to create was not something gloomy and heavy, somewhat aldehydic/old-fashioned chypre with seaweed and other unusual notes; but rather - something bright and hopeful. Which I didn't realize till February 8th, 2010.

I moved on and created a 3rd version, a cheerful, brighter and more citrusy. It still had the original concept mossy and salty, woody vetiver base, sweet Southern Belle floral bouquet at the heart, and citrus and herbal top notes. But it was so much more sheer and harmonious, yet not any less intriguing than the first two versions. The key to this lightness was using cedarmoss instead of the potent oakmoss. I also used an abundant proportion of ambergris, which did not appear in any of the previous formulas. The roses of Turkey, Bulgaria and France were replaced by the luscious and voluptuously sweet tea rose from China, and I also added hints of amber for a hint of sweetness (but no vanilla!), and amyris, for accentuated woodsiness that is a little tropical (Amyris grows in the West Indies, which is the heritage of the Cajun in New Oreleans, so I thought it particularly appropriate). Both Paula and her husband loved this version - especially her husband: "...He liked # 3 the most, repeatedly. And after multiple sniffs, I understand why. It's lively and a man can wear it. I'm picturing Errol Flynn in period dress. ;)"

I was already partial to the 3rd mod. And hearing that it was so warmly received by a man only made more sense of this direction - I felt this scent had to be equally loved by both men and women.

Paula's notes about all three versions I've sent her: "Numbers 1 , 2 and 3 are serious winners. I smell them on paper strips and skin and wonder what did you do which captured thefeeling of walking in NOLA, Charleston or Savannah in September. Bumby cobblestone walks, oaks dripping moss, the maturity of the homes. And a touch of silk...as women and men in waistcoats pass one in the morning".

I kept on going though, to create the fourth and last version on October 12th, 2010. That was when I finally had the missing ingredient which I felt was important not only for the perfume's composition, but also for the authenticity of its ingredients: Meyer Lemon. I just felt that lemon wasn't enough. Besides, Meyer lemon has such a cheerful, bright citrus aroma that it just belonged in this perfume. New Orleans lives on, and it is happy even though there may be some blue notes in its history. It's all part of life and embracing tragedy (not an easy feat, but possible if your love for life is greater than fear of suffering), rising above them like a phoenix - this is what this perfume is all about. The structure of the perfume and its notes portray this, and although you will be smelling the top notes first, I'm going to present them structurally as I was building it upwards:

Base notes - natural forces of the sea and the land:
Seaweed and ambergris representing the force of the ocean
Amber
Cedarwmoss representing decay
Vetiver from Haiti and Sri Lanka for healing and preservation (vetiver roots help to prevent erosion and flooding, and is grown in the area for that purpose)
Cypress and Amyris for strength and dignity.

Heart notes - Southern Belle accord with a little bit of "blue notes":
Magnolia - beautiful and sweet in every way
Sweet Olive (Osmanthus) - sweet and pretty, but with a little bit of melancholy blue notes
Tea Rose,which is very sweet but also has ionone, which is violety and a little moody)
Orange Blossom for pure happiness

Top notes - Cheerful and Ascending:
Hand tinctured Meyer Lemon
Rosemary verbenon - which is sheer, non medicinal and full of life
Mandarin Murcott - an unusually sweet and full bodied citrus notes
White Grapefruit from Israel, which is the best I've ever smelled in my life and is floral and vivacious

And this final version is what you will get to smell tonight at my party, or might need to wait a few days till it ships from Vancouver.

Proceeds (10%) from this scent and all sales at the event tonight will be donated to these two charities, to continue to help New Orleans be the wonderful city that it is. And if all goes well, I am going to visit there this year for Jazz Festival!

And last but not least - you can listen to Mardi Gras music all day today (and to authentic New Orleans jazz year around, from anywhere in the world) via WWOZ 90.7FM!

Related posts:

The Aroma of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans Today
New Orleans Cuisine
Louisiana in September
l'Ecume des Jours & Rebuilding New Orleans
Re-Building New Orleans
When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Scent for a Drowned City Re-Emerging
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