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SmellyBlog

Blind Tests at Barneys


Since I haven't had enough time the day before to smell much at Barneys by Union Square, I had to pay them a second visit before heading to wine country (poor me...). I took the bus down Geary street, which was an interesting people watching experience on its own right, and slowly but surely made my way to the corner of O'Farrel & Stockton. The cosmetics/fragrance department is downstairs, and some of the sales reps already recognized me from yesterday, so I couldn't go incognito, which is my favourite way of perfume shopping.

I wanted to take another look at Yosh's lovely display (which I'm showing you again here) and also explore a few lines that I wasn't familiar with, including the only organic line that seemed to have survived there - Horst Rechelbacher's new company of organic lifestyle brand Intelligent Nutrients, which is basically an organic version of Aveda (even seems to use the same font), released once his non-compete agreement with Estee Lauder expired. Nothing about it is significantly different - similar packaging, similar scents - line certfied organic multi-functional aromas of more complex, aromatherpeutic-smelling perfumes in the likes of the former Aveda Chakra scents (there are also 7 of them...), with names such as Awaken, Attune, Nurture, Restore, Focus... And the other perfumes are very simple single notes - Jasmine or Mint.

The other line I explored was Le Labo, for the first time really, as I've never been any near their retail store since my visit to Blunda in West Hollywood, and at that time I was too busy with the Hanami perfume exhibition to make it down there. I liked what they did with some of the scents Iris 39, Pathcouli 24, Oud 27, Labdanum 18 were the easily most memorable, which shouldn't be a surprise as I love these notes; and believe it or not - their Calone room spray also left a positive impression on me, though I doubt I'll ever buy or use it - it was certainly intriguing. But the highlight of the counter for me was the opportunity to blind test myself with some 45 or so raw aromatics (most of them natural). The bottles are lined up in a little silver case, and only numbered, not labeled. Thanks to Jonatha, the helpful rep at the Le Labo counter, he told me if I was right or wrong.


I get very little chance to test my nose like I do to my students (the only times when I truly was able to get "blind tested" was when I went to a week long course in Grasse, France), so it was a fun and internesting experiment (and also quite a relief that I got most of them right). The ones I didn't guess right among the naturals I'm familiar were a little "off" from sitting in the alcoholic solution in a bottle for too long, or were just such different specimens from what I work with that I had no clue. Even after getting the right answer they still didn't smell like I know them... the three I didn't guess right were their frankincense, which smelled very much like oregano (!) in the top; the oakmoss, which was nothing like the green oakmoss - or even the brown oakmoss I work with (it was kind of inky, vaguly animalic and woody, but without any of the distinct characteristis, which is why it smelled very "off" to me), and it only revealed its mossiness after sitting on a scent strip for a good 10 mintues or so, and the cedarwood smelled neither like Virginian nor Atlas or Himalayan cedar - but like guiacwood... In either case, it was a good lesson in using scent strips when blind testing, because even if you are smelling different specimens than what you're used to, some of the characteristics that are familir and universal to the particular raw material should reveal themselves at some point in the dryout phases.

I also re-smelled a few of The Different Company's scents, and a few of their new ones, got a sample of A Portrait of a Lady from Editions de Parfums which I'm looking forward to trying on my skin (smells very much like a big "saffron and rose" perfume), and left with one wrist adorned with Yosh's Ginger Ciao (which I remembered spicier and less floral that it is now); and the other with Kismet (quite narcissus-smelling on me, dark an exotic), and that's how I smelled for the remainder of the day in San Francisco!

Feng Shui for the Soul - Visiting Yosh + GIVEAWAY


There is a strange thing in the perfumers’ world: we don’t need any ice breakers. For those of us already familiar with each other’s work, it’s not uncommon for our first meeting to feel like reuniting with a long lost friend. Independent perfumers work in such isolated environment, that we seek each other’s companionship virtually and it is more often than never that before meeting one another, we have corresponded via email and exchanged samples of our work or raw materials in the mail.

Yosh's path and mine crossed when we discovered our mutual interest in spies. We both have perfumes that are inspired by this mysterious world – Yosh with her Ginger Ciao perfume (and fictional character…), and me with Espionage, both of which just so happen to be our best-sellers too! This was a few years ago, and I was thrilled when the opportunity finally struck to visit in San Francisco and that Yosh was not only available to meet me, but also graciously invited me to stay at her home AND throw a perfumers’ party especially for my spontaneous visit!

As soon as I arrived in San Francisco, I headed to Barneys to meet up with Yosh. I had very little time to spend with her, unfortunately, as the trip from SFO to downtown took longer than we anticipated, and also, I had a previous engagement with Mandy Aftel, of which I have just finished blogging about moments ago, so I was in a bit of a rush... We got briefly acquainted, and I got to see her lovely display at Barneys and meet the sweet people who work at the cosmetic and fragrance department there, not to return there until the next day to thoroughly explore what they have to offer in the word of scent.

I didn’t get to see Yosh again till a few hours later, at her home in a beautiful, old San Francisco building. Yosh must be a gifted feng-shui master (knowingly or not – I haven’t asked her), because the moment you enter her home, you feel welcome and comfortable. Just like the lady who inhabits it, it’s bubbling with life and so hospitable and at the same time very peaceful and serene.




When I arrived with Laurie Stern of Velvet & Sweetpea Purrfumery (who picked me up from Berkeley), Yosh’s home was full of perfumers and scent artists, gathered in her studio space around a table with many delicious treats that everybody brought and made, including beautiful salads that Yosh made, pretty red Velvet cupcakes, wine cheese, and Laurie brought an incredibly delicious plum & almond tart, and also gave me this beautiful honey she harvested from her own bees – I swear to you, it tastes a little rosy, they probably feed off geranium flowers!

Oh, and I almost forgot about the amazing homemade limoncello that Laurie brought - she made it from those HUGE variety of lemons that have very little pulp and very fragrant peel, and it tasted as if there was vanilla in it (but there was none - just lemon zest). Needless to say, it was the best limoncello I've ever had.

Among the guests were no other than Jeanne Rose - seasoned aromatherapist and herbalist, pioneer natural perfumer and world renown educator, and fellow Canadian independent perfumer Ineke Rühland and there was also a teacher from San Francisco . It was a fun surprise to meet in person Yuko Fukami from Parfum Phyto, who is who participated with me in the Midsummer’s Night Dream Scent Event, and I got to smell her creation Dreams – a delicate perfume with sweet osmanthus and an overall subtle powdery fruitiness. She also makes Neriko (Japanese kneaded incense, which is similar to kyphi), so our interests are not limited to perfume alone and I’m hoping to see her this week when she’s visiting in Vancouver! Another surprise was meeting artist Bruno Fazzolari
and finding out that he teaches a full term perfume course at the California College of Art.



Ineke brought out no less than four (!) new perfumes that she's working on to show us, and we all marveled at the beautiful packaging design and tried them on. They were all floral and pretty and inspired greatly by her beautiful garden, and quite different in concept than her abecedary collection. And I shared my last few scented chocolate bars and showed my little traveling perfume wardrobe of recent and upcoming creations such as Smiling Country, New Orleans and Oras, and a couple of other scents that won’t be released till 2012. It was a true perfume party, and there were even more perfumers in the room than there were in the party I was at in Grasse in 2009. San Francisco seems to be buzzing with creative independent perfumers that collect scents like bees do with pollen…

And despite the fact that we are all technically speaking “competitors” there was no sense of that word in the air, but the opposite – a sense of community, and one that is very supportive, inspiring and encouraging. We ran ideas about anything to do with raw materials, packaging, marketing and creative process and enjoyed every moment of it. The last of us partied till the wee hours of the night, which seemed almost effortless, despite the fact that I woke up before 3am that day to catch my early morning flight…

The next morning we woke up early enough to get some things done, but late enough to not feel exhausted; Yosh fixed up the most delicious breakfast of granola, yogurt and fresh ripe peach; and than showed me some of her perfumes.


I was instantly smitten with Yosh’s newest perfume (launched at the end of 2010), Sombre Negra – a dark, woody and spicy-warm dusky vetiver, accented with patchouli, tobacco, choya loban opoponax oakmoss, davana, pink pepper and mushroom. Experiencing this very “serious” perfume was of course contrasted with Yosh’s sense of humour as she sprayed it on a “moustache” – her funny invention of scent “strip” that makes you look as if you’ve just grown a Groucho Marx moustache every time you smell something…


Than I set off to Barneys by Union Square (the photograph you see is of her beautiful display there, of both her parfum oils in the flacons, and the new EDP spray bottles, which have invisible spray tubes – ever so elegant!), before I headed to my ultimate destination – Sonoma County.

Last but not least - what is your favourite Yosh perfume, or any perfume from the San Francisco perfumers mentioned in this article, and enter to win Ineke's Vol. 2 deluxe sample collection (of her first 5 perfumes).

* Photos courtesy and copyright of Yosh Han, unless stated otherwise.

P.s. All these events took place June 29-30, and recounted after I got safely back to my home in Vancouver :-)

Blunda Perfume Exhibition No. 5: YOSH Olfactory Scents

Yosh Han, from YOSH olfactory scents is the guest perfumer at Blunda today, in part 5 of Blunda's Natural Botanical Perfume Exhibitions.

Yosh will be creating two conceptual perfume art installations specifically for this event, as well as showcasing her lovely limited edition Winter Rose, a gentle rosy spicy perfume inspired by her travels through Turkey. Yosh will generously offer aura readings with the purchase of Winter Rose.

Come meet the perfumer, savor delicious treats, and smell the surprises that Yosh has for you.

When:
6:00-9:00pm

Where:
Blunda Aromatics 304 So. Edinburgh Ave, Los Angeles CA 90048

To RSVP: Call (323) 658-7507 or email

More Blunda Wonders


Through the Blunda Gate, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Blunda is just one little place but so many things:
1) Botanical Natural Perfume Destination:
At the Botanical Perfume Lounge in the forefront of this unique space, customers can relax and get to know these beautiful creations in an intimate, unhurried environment. The boutique owner and her assistant will really spend time with you to help you find a scent and also better understand
2) Aromatic Apothecary with many fantastic raw materials for sale - including incense making supplies, gums, resins, dried herbs and flowers, and, of course - essential oils of highest grades, including rare absolutes and Traditional Indian attars.
3) Interactive Studio - where you can take workshops for making just about anything that smells good: Persephenie teaches natural botanical perfumery, as well as guest teachers (Jeanne Rose is a regular guest). And other fun workshops, such as incense making, body products and skin care, candles, and more.
4) Perfume Studio where perfumer, artist and aromatherapist Persephenie Snyder creates her own perfumes and designs fragrances for candles and body products for other companies.


Persephenie will launch her scented skincare line and her new perfumes in her very own Natural Botanical Perfume Exhibition No. 3 @ Blunda next month, May 30th.

Natural perfume lines in the store include:

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, the renown independent perfumer from Colorado who has several ntarual perfumes in her line (including her Perfumed Court line). Currently at Bounda there are two of her all-natural perfumes: Eau de Cologne (Aqua Admirabillis) and Rose Vert which are both very nice and simple.
Dawn's exhibition at Blunda will be in October 24th.

JoAnne Bassett's new lines - the French Collection and the Royal Collection - are naturally very French (JoAnne is from French background and lives in California). The line is complex yet very accessible and the fact that these are Eaux de Toilette sprays makes them easy to wear. I was especially smitten with Napoléon (a wonderfully made and long lasting spicy incense perfume), Madame de Pompadour (which is very unusual and sensual fruity-floral with notes of champaca, gardenia vanilla, verbena and clementine and I am quite sure I also smell cassis and a hint of patchouli in the mix), and Camille (sophisticated floral with osmanthus and tuberose) and Chantelle (floral and fruity with jasmine, rose and tuberose). The lines offer quite a versatile range. Josephine, for example, is a classic green rose and iris scent. JoAnne will be at Blunda for her exhibit August 15.

Aftelier
Mostly the miniatures (except fo Pink Lotus the stunning Shiso), and including the new perfume Cassis, which I found to be too muddy and dominated by patchouli.


Velvet & Sweet Pea's Purrfumery - From the perfumes, my favourite which I tried was Narcissus Poeticus, which smells more like Osmanthus than narcissus.
And I was most smitten with the whipped frostings the Laurie creates, with whipped shea butter and soft florals. I took home with me a jar of both Kashmir Rose (smells like Rahat Loukoum) and Gardenia Tuberose (heavenly creamy tuberose with underlining coconut).

Yosh's Winter Rose - a spicy rose in an oil base with notes of cardamom and Turkish rose.
Yosh will appear at Blunda sometime in July (exact date TBA).

And of course, there is my very own line, which I am very fortunate to have in this wonderful location and setting - with 5 newly added perfumes - Bon Zai, Charisma, White Potion & Zohar (in both 5ml roll-on oil formulation and 9ml flacons of Parfum Extrait which is grain alcohol based). And the new perfume, Hanami. Also new to the selection at Blunda are my 4 scented soywax candles (8oz each, which last for 60 hours) - ArbitRary, Bois d'Hiver, Roses et Chocolat and White Potion. These new products are not on the Blunda website as of yet, but if you live in LA or the area you can find them at the boutique. I will let you know when they are up online.

Other treats at Blunda include candles, candle holders and diffusers (I really liked Persephenie's pretty and simple aromatherapy candles - particularly the Eucaliptus & Spearmint and the Lemongrass & Chamomile one - which was surprisingly very floral). And there are body and skincare products too - such as Velvet & Sweet Pea's bath salts and the abovementioned and incredibly beautiful whipped frostings; and Ayurvedic skincare, and of course - very soon Persephenie's very own line of scented skincare, of which I only smelled Vetiveria but will let you know once it comes out and I've tried every single one of them.

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