Fragrance Families : AMBER

FRAGRANCE FAMILIES : AMBER



Most of these Amber ingredients have strong historical and Biblical connections - which means spiritual connotations. Next to the woods and leathers - I simply love these smells - they really do touch my spirit.

BENZOIN

Alias Styrax tonkinensis - benzoin is a gum/resin which is produced from solvent extraction and occurs naturally in Laos, Indonesia, China.

Its history is pretty confusing and scrambled and all I could really make sense of was that the resin when burned is fairly toxic and that it was used during the harvest of frankincense to drive the venomous snakes away .

It has a sweet, spicy, warm , balsamic, woody note. It has many similarities to Vanilla which also gives it a caramel, milky odour and that means it can also be found in the Gourmand Fragrance family.

Benzoin oil  is pretty powerful and can overwhelm a perfume if not used with discretion and caution.It can be used as a heart or base note and is decribed as balsamic, spicy and incense like.

FRANKINCENSE

Boswellia cartii is also known as Olibanum or Frankincense. It is an olearesin and the gum is obtained by slashing the bark of the tree with a panga and allowing it to bleed and harden. these hardened drops of gum are also called "tears " . 

One of the three precious gifts given to the baby Jesus by the wise men , frankinsence has been traded for over 5000 years  and has powerful Biblical references . In Malachi 1:11 it implies that the odour of frankincense is the pure odour of the Divine God.

The BBC video series on sourcing Frankincense was extremely evocative and made me want to jump on a camel and head into the mountains of Somalia  and Oman to find my own.

 It comes from the resin or tears which form on the Boswellia tree which is highly endangered and grows at high inaccessible altitudes and extremely unforgiving conditions .

The resin/tears are steam distilled to capture the fragrance oil. Or the resin is burned directly over hot coals to free the beautiful mystical fragrance.

It is a raw material which evokes mysticism, ritual, and spiritulism.the citrussy confir undertones are unmistakable when comparing to the other resins in the Amber family. It can be a top note, but also a base note.The fir/pine notes seem to emerge more and more into the second hour.

LABDANUM

Spain ,  Portugal , North Africa , and Egypt are home to this lovely rock rose /cistus plant which produces through steam distillation and boiling of its leaves and branches, to release the resin and produce a glorious warm, rich, complex , woody amber fragrance. you would not expect it from such a plant with thin papery flowers !

In ancient times, labdanum was collected by combing the beards of the goats and sheep with a small wooden rake that had leather thongs for teeth. The animals would graze among the rock rose plants and the resin would accumulate on their fur.

It is also a Biblical fragrance mentioned twice in the Book of Genesis where it refers to labdanum being carried from Egypt to Palestine.Scholars believe that the mysterious ingredient in the Holiest of Incense which is mentioned in Exodus 30:34-36 as onycha - is actually labdanum.

Its fragrance has been referred to as dry musk, animalic, sweet, woody , leathery and ambergris. It is said that labdanum closely resembles ambergris ( whale vomit )  which makes it tenacious in a fragrance.

It is tricky to use as it is a thick black viscous goo which becomes brittle with age.

I really like a fellow colleague ( Maxine 's )  description : " Drying down reveals tendrils of smoke wafting into the air that are still distinctly resinous, ritualistic, conjuring impressions of an orthodox church, comforting in its permanence, captivating, earth-bound, recalling sounds of Gregorian chants; medieval." 

MYRRH

Myrrh comes from a specific species of Commiphora tree found in Yemen, Somalia, Ethiopia , Kenya, East Africa- Commiphora Myrrha.It comes from the tree actually bleeding from a wound - which makes it a little sad to use. 

The gum is waxy and coagulates quickly turning hard and glossy with time. It is yellowish in colour and may even be clear or opaque. It darkens deeply with age.

Myrrh is  an oleo resin ( natural gum ) which is burnt on hot coals or steam distilled.

 Like Frankincense, it was one of the very precious gifts given to the baby Christ by the three wise men, and in the Bible is referred to as the Balm of Gilead.It was used during the ancient Egyptian embalming of the dead rituals

It is also an ingredient in the holy annointing oil of the Tabernacle high priests in the Bible.Used also for Kings and Queens as a purifcation ritual as we read in the Book of Esther 2:12 where it was used to purify King Ahasuerus.

It was romantically traded out of the Nabatean kingdom of Petra in Jordan.

It definitely has a mushroom like quality which seems to emerge more into hour two.

The myrrh that I have is really not great quality and has very little fragrance sadly. It has got woody balsamic resiny sweet notes , but also that musty mushroom fungus damp quality.

VANILLA

Vanilla sits in the Amber Family but seems to belong more distinctly in the Gourmand group. Just recently I received three huge bundles of vanilla pods from Mauritius and have spent hours deseeding them for the tinctures and infusions. I am all vanilla'd out at this stage. 

It is a sweet warm powdery note which can sit in the heart or the base.

Aromatic profiles : VETIVER

AROMATIC PROFILES : Vetiver

VETIVER

The smell of Bali Indonesia

If you spend any time in on the island of Bali in Indonesia, you will quickly come to associate it with the smell of vetiver roots.

These roots are used to make handbags, tie backs for curtains, placemats, bracelets , shopping baskets etc etc.

The smell of the dried vetiver roots is subtle and altogether delightful - more endearing than the oil which smells like grassy wet earth. it has a strong musty smell like a damp abandoned cellar under a jungle house. It is a wood family oil and classified as a heart but also a base note and definitely has masculine leanings 

My friend found some plants in the gardens of a shopping mall near nelspruit - which we dug up with a blunt stick and now I have small vetiver plants starting to show green on my patio. The start of a mini vetiver farm ! 

Aromatic profiles : OAKMOSS

AROMATIC PROFILES : OAKMOSS

This very precious and special ingredient has to be one of my very favourite oils - made from the lichen which grows on oak trees in Morocco and Yougaslavia.

It is solvent extracted and forms part of the Woody group of notes.

Now banned in the EU ( and causing huge heartache amoung purist perfumers ) due to the high number of people who are allergic to it. How pitifully short sighted .

My argument is that masses of people are allergic to peanuts but peanuts don't get banned outright. Packages have to carry warnings ....... so why not with Oakmoss ? seems crazy to throw the baby out with bathwater as the saying goes.
Well, I am jolly glad that I live in Africa and can use whatever I like to make my perfumes . Believe me - oakmoss and I have a great future ahead

It has a deep rich mossy earthy woody smell. You can really appreciate the mossy aspect - it reeks of the forest floor with compost and cool wet earth. I know it has incredible carrying capacity and extends the life of a perfume hugely.

I am in love .............

Making Tinctures and Infusions : Fresh Vanilla Pod Extract

MAKING TINCTURES AND INFUSIONS


Yesterday I had a visit from my customers Zabeen and Pana who have a store in Mauritius

and just imagine my delight when they presented me with a precious wonderful gift .....
three huge bundles of fresh vanilla pods from madagascar

Ooooh sheer DELIGHT

I immediately set about airing them in the warm sun to prevent mould from forming as they are still fresh and soft and moist

I had Desteney and Julia sitting for a couple of  days removing the vanilla caviar pod by pod and then mixing them with Vodka for a vanilla tincture and a spearate concoction of Jojoba oil for an oil based version

 This is going to be sooooooo yummy in a few months' time - just can't wait

Aromatic Profiles : Cedarwood

AROMATIC PROFILES : Cedarwood

I do love the woody notes in perfumery 

they have something grounding and solid and timeless

my body resonates with them and they seem ageless and robust - not frilly and pretty like a party dress

Cedarwood is gummy and resiny for me and a little mysterious. Perhaps that is because it comes from Morocco - from the Atlas Mountains and it carries the DNA of nomads and itinerants roaming in exotic places.

Although the picture shows needles and one would expect pine smell - I don't really get a pine smell.

Initially it smells a little like cough mixture . It is a base note  with powdery notes . I am unable to smell the powder at this stage

Aromatic profiles : Clary Sage

AROMATIC PROFILES : CLARY SAGE

Part of the sage family botanically speaking , Clary Sage is an aromatic in perfumery terms.

the entire plant is steam distilled in its native Russia and Hungary.

It smells quite green and grassy moss to me - with a bit of fennel/dill liquorice fern like greens in there. There is definitely a twigginess which leans towards nuttiness. A little bit of mouldiness comes thorugh on the strip and it makes me think of an old watermill smell without it becoming like musty socks !

I like the grassiness it delivers and have yet to really discover the versalitility of its modifier note status.

I found it to be medium in volatility becoming more pastel over time.

I think I can smell the gerianol but am not completely sure.

This is when I wish I had fellow students to bounce ideas off while sitting together - sniffing !

Studying remotley certainly has it challenges 

Aromatic profiles : Lavender

AROMATIC PROFILES : LAVENDER

The much loved lavender never disappoints. Unfailingly it manages to transport me to the lavender fields of Provence France, and to the little markets on the village squares where all manner of lavender produce is sold.

We have lavender fields in the Franschoek region of South Africa too, and they make for a glorious photo op when driving by before the harvest removes the flowers and leaves the grey rows of bushes.

Steam distillation is the extraction method used to coax the fragrance from the flower into the bottle.

Not all lavender smells the same. It has a chemical constituent of camphor in it and depending on the soil type and the weather conditions, and the harvest techniques etc, this camphor can be subdued to a barely there kind of smell, or it can totally overwhelm the lavender aromatic, and believe me , the camphory version is not nice at all.

Of course there are many species of lavender , and each one will resonate with  a different chord.

Angustifolia is what I am smelling today. It gives a light woody herbaceous smell , with ash and crsip clean sundried laundry. it has a gentle edge - soft like a baby.
it is a heart note on the perfume pyramid and is grouped in the aromatic family and not with the florals. While the smell of flowers is vaguely there - it is not a typical floral, but a herby woody sandy floral.

Aromatic Profiles : Coriander

AROMATIC PROFILES : CORIANDER

Well what a complete surprise !

Coriander for me, is synonymous with South African biltong and Boerewors - so it carries meaty foody connotations

not on your nellie

it is glorious and sunny - it is like walking through a citrus orchard on a summers day, with hidden geranium floral notes which jump out and delight you. It does not smell gourmand at all - not even vaguely.

The Indian and Moroccan cuisine makes extensive use of coriander and in food, somehow, it definitely has a spice smell.

but in the lexicon of perfumers , the seed oil , which is steam distilled, sits in the aromatic fragrance family next door to Lavender and Clary Sage.

it's orgin is Hungary ( which seems to go with its foodie spice status - hungry ..... sorry - could not resist ).

There is a flexibility and an adaptability in this oil - it is also a modifier note and can swing an accord in a new direction as I recently found out when playing with a new concoction.it warmed my accord and made it baser- in contrast to Clary Sage which made it greener and cooler.
On the skin, the oil reveals a little of its spice nature - slightly clovey with a dash of pepper.
i am unable to smell the camphor note which is somewhere in there with the ketones.

I am in love with this oil and see a great future for the two of us

Aspirations of a natural perfumer

I have always thought that my nose was pretty sharp - it isnt very pretty in profile ... but then that isnt the kind of sharp I was referring to. I have a pet hatred for the smell of cigarette smoke and have been able ot smell it a mile away , even from the car driving in front of me when my car windows are closed.

The nature of my work as the product developer for my small body and bath product company called RAIN, has neccesitated that I jolly well jack up my act in the field of perfumery so that I can formulate original fragrances for the company - and specifically natural formulations , and even more specifically - African Natural Fragrances.

To this end, I have enrolled at the Perfumery Art School in the UK for a two year correspondence course in perfume creation.

Super exciting , but also pretty challenging studying such an abstract art all alone and far from colleagues to bounce ideas off.

Of course, I am lacking confidence, and concerned that my abilities wont be good enough. I am pretty sure I dont have natural talent for blending like the so called "noses" do, but I am hungry to learn, keen to try and passionate about the raw materials which the countryside around me offers in abundance.

I plan to write this blog more for myself than anything else. As a discipline to record what I am doing and observing and also to cement the findings and exercises into my mind. At my age ( 52 ) learning is more challenging and things have to be repeated a few times before I remember them.

So, join me if you wish, on my journey of olfactory discovery.