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New Perfume: Sunset Beach

Summer 2012

Sunset Beach is a little piece of heaven tucked away in the midst of boat-bustling False Creek and busy bridges that cross over it. Sunset Beach is that happy place where time stops and the only things that matter are the tides, the currents, and basking in the gentle evening sun. You can spend the day there or just bring a hectic workday to a serene close with a beachside walk or a leisurely picnic.

Fragrant Harlequin glorybower and Robinia embellish its borders, and in midsummer you'll find musky wild blackberries and hot-pink everlasting peas along the shoreline. And if you're particularly lucky - you'll find yourself swimming alongside a playful harbour seal!

Sunset Beach can be anywhere... Mine just happened to be in Vancouver. I invite you to uncork a bottle of this daydream and experience a truly creamy sandalwood perfume complemented by handcrafted tinctures of pandan leaf and milky oolong tea, coconut, massoia bark and dreamy champaca.

Sunset Beach is the second perfume in "Perfume for a Place" series, dedicated to Ayala's favourite places in Vancouver.


Top Notes: Pandan Leaf, Milky Oolong Tea Tincture, Cedarwood
Heart notes: Champaca, Coffee, Nutmeg, Ylang Ylang, Orris Butter
Base notes: Indian Sandalwood, Hawaii Sandalwood, Chocolate, Coconut, Massoia Bark

Fragrance Families: Woody, Floriental

Available in: Eau de Parfum only, in the following sizes: 1mL sample ($18), 4mL mini ($48), 5mL roll-on ($69) and 15mL splash/spray ($120).

Making Incense Cones

Sandalwood Incense Cones and Sweetgrass

This winter I've returned to my humble beginnings as an incense maker. Here are some photos from the meticulous production process of making Indian-style incense cones. I made them in two luxurious yet simple "flavours": Sandalwood and Agarwood.

I'm still experimenting with other ideas of more complex formulations, but for now I'm just wowed by what a simple incense (read: one note) smells like. With these two woods, that's really all you need...

Incense Dust
The most frustrating part of incense making is grinding. Bonus effect: if using an  effective heavy-duty electric grinder, the fine powder will go up your nostrils every time you check on the progress. Major sneezing fits may ensue. Or just an unregulated high from botanical substances. This one had tobacco leaves in it (grown for medicinal/ceremonial purposes). My nose did not agree with it and I had to put up with watery eyes and itchy nose that afternoon.

Incense Trail
Indented incense trail, with the trial mix sprinkled inside it.

Incense Trail
The true test - incense trail. If this burns through to the other end, we're off to a good start. If it also smells wonderful - we're good to go!
Incense Making
Now that the blend has been perfected, and confirmed to both burn through and smell good, it's time to add water. It will form a clay-like putty. It can't be too try, nor too moist. Gotta be just right...

Incense "clay"
To make the incense cones uniform in size, I've rolled them into a snake and cut into little gnocchi-shaped sections. Each is rolled by hand to form a cone, and left to dry.

Incense Selfie
Incense maker's selfie of sorts... The incense is now ready to pack away - and burn!

Sandal Ale for Oktoberfest

Visit EauMG's section to discover quirky and unusual scents for fall, handpicked by Victoria Jent, including Sandal Ale to celebrate Oktoberfest! 
"This such an unusual fragrance but it’s so nifty. It’s like an Indian Pale Ale with sandalwood. It’s really interesting."
Sandal Ale was previously reviewed on EauMG.  If you wish to purchase it, visit my new online boutique!

Sandal Ale Featured in

Visit EauMG's section to discover quirky and unusual scents for fall, handpicked by Victoria Jent, including Sandal Ale to celebrate Oktoberfest! 
"This such an unusual fragrance but it’s so nifty. It’s like an Indian Pale Ale with sandalwood. It’s really interesting."
Sandal Ale was previously reviewed on EauMG.  If you wish to purchase it, visit my new online boutique!

Creamy Sandalwood

Coconut Love

Driven in part by my disappointment from Santal Massoïa (too cold, linear and paper-like) I've decided to smell for myself what sandalwood and massoia bark smell like together. Intuition tells me it should be smelling creamy, rich, warm and seductive, and not like a glass of cold milk spiked with iso-E super.

Sandalwood is a tricky note for me: one that does not develop very nicely on my skin. That is to say, the sandalwoods that are available nowadays don't agree with my skin. Unless you're attracted to sawdust and soured sweat. So intuition told me that adding a creamy aspect to it, which is what most contemporary sandalwoods are lacking, is going to allow me to enjoy sandalwood even on my finicky skin.

Massoia bark oil and CO2 extract have a unique aroma in the world of natural essences: intense, fruity, fatty-buttery with pronounced oily, lactonic notes of toasted-coconuts that comes from massoia lactone (the IUPAC name is (R)-5,6-Dihydro-6-pentyl-2H-pyran-2-one). It also naturally occurs in osmanthus absolute, which is why in some combinations, and when used sparingly osmanthus gives off a coconutty aroma to a composition without even being noticed on its own. Case in point is my Charisma perfume, which took on this character only once I've added the osmanthus absolute. 

Other milky notes were also taken into consideration, including a milky oolong tincture which I haven't used in any of my ready-to-wear line yet, although it is absolutely stunning. The idea was to create a very rich, opulent sandalwood perfume that is both sophisticated and a little beachy and fun-loving.

I used a smidgeon from a sample of Royal Hawaiian sandalwood oil I recently received, as well as my personal stash of Mysore sandalwood oil and Vanuatu oil (the latter is my favourite). Add to that a healthy dose of massoia bark, milky oolong tincture and a handful of secret spices - and you get the broad picture.

The next step was to balance it with something floral, so it's not just an accord of woods. I was on the fence between champaca's incense, fruity undertones; and ylang ylang's creamy, banana-ish character. Then there is the question of warmth and spices: shall I add cloves, cinnamon, allspice, or nutmeg? I wanted their warmth, but not the culinary associations. So I opted for coffee instead - to give it a roasted, spice-like edge, but not mess up with the woody-coconutty context. This perfume is still in the works, so I will stop right here and will continue testing and tweaking until I'm perfectly happy with it. For now, I'm just enjoying dousing myself with it on those early days of summer. And it's especially appropriate to wear today, as it is Shavuot!

P.s. It's interesting to note regarding Massoia: Massoia lactone is produced synthetically, mostly, for both perfumery and flavouring purposes. Peeling the bark eventually kills the tree, so it's not exactly a "sustainable" ingredient, even though a little goes a very long way...
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