perfume Nostalgia

Givenchy Hot couture No. 1 is an absolutely gorgeous perfume with notes of magnolia, bergamot, orange, rasberry, blackpepper and musk. I miss it terribly. It used to be one of my go to perfumes for a night out. 

For me,it  was sweet,rich, heavy, sensual woody, warm tenacious. It  was one of those perfumes I could still smell on myself many many hours after spraying it.

I wanted it so badly two years ago and I couldn't find it. 

All I found were flankers, one smells almost like it but the bottle was different. For me, the appeal of this gorgeous perfume was not just the scent but the bottle also. It had a black background, the silvery figure of a woman and a little stand at the base of the bottle.

Choosing the scent for you

Someone asked me recently how I know what scent suits me and how I picked my signature scent I didn't have a simple answer mostly because I don't think I have a signature scent as I consider myself scent adventurous, if there is any such thing, and I usually do the same ting anyone would do in deciding whether a scent suits me or not; I smell it on my skin, see if I like it then I wear it  for a few days in a row to test its longevity and then I consider the number of complements I get from Family, friends and strangers.

I can imagine there are people out there who really want to have that double entrance effect. When they enter a room, you notice them and then their perfumes. For people like that, I believe they would enjoy perfumes with louder scent while someone who likes everything tones down would probably prefer skin scents. What I'm saying is sometimes your personality influences your choice f scents. Unless you're on of those people who are contrary. Like a quite girl with an electric bag, loud make-up and face punching scent.

My advise for choosing a perfume however would be;

1. Think about the kind of scents you like. Is it flowery, woody, earthy, spicy, green, fruity, balsamic, aromatic, boozy, etc. All that depends on you and how you envision to smell.

2. When shopping for perfumes, ask for perfumes in the category determined above. for instance if you like flowery perfume and not just any flower you love the smell of jasmine or my personal favorite,  lily of the valley, ask for perfume with jasmine heart notes.

3. collect as many sample of perfumes in the category 1 and then 2 above and try each on on for at least 3 days each

4. I am guessing by the end of the second week, you would have decided which one of the many samples made you smile the most, lasted longer, got you more compliments and suits your image (loud or toned down)  and any other character you would like your signature scent to have

6. For some people, following fashion trends also  works.

This is my one penny advise for choosing  perfumes that suit you or your signature scent.

The scent for change

  Every time I've had to make a a big decision, I go beside myself, second guessing and worrying about little details. It can be nerve wrecking but in the end that's what life is all about. Funny thing is, in the midst of my panic I always manage to think about the smells around me. The good and the bad. I consider them part of the memory I am creating. Come when I decide to recall the big decision day, I will remember the the sights, the words, the people, the environment and also the smells.

Today is no different. Big decision day for me and here is the list of smells that will remain part of this day;

1. Fresh soapy smell of deodorant; my colleague came unusually close to me today, giving me an involuntary whiff of his deodorant. I guess today is emotional, I have just given notice of my resignation.
2. Rotten smell of a dead mammal; most likely a mouse. The office was fumigated recently and one of the  victims was probably a mouse.The poor thing must have drawn its last breath in a well hidden corner because despite fishing out three bloated bodies of its family members the sense infuriating stench remains, indicating there is still a now well decomposed mouse somewhere in that particular office; the makeshift HR office, in which I was  "debriefed" after my resignation.

3. Oakmoss and Bergamot!!! lovely. The new hand cream bestowed upon me by another colleague. I'll probably make a very long list if I mention them all, it's best to stop here

Unique, individual, niche, Indie

Everyone wants that something different these days, mainstream is not cool enough,  and "designer" is so yesterday, with the globe going green and the people going natural. It's all a mixture of good, bad, lies, truths and everything else in between.  A particularly good and sometimes not so good part of all that in the world of scents is the opportunity  for adventurous scent lovers  to travel the  underworld of   niche perfumes.  You know, any excuse to toot your nose  and feel like you're better that everyone else... not in a bad way of course (if you can pull that off)

Niche perfumes are handcrafted, with  real essential oils and other living stuff( by that i mean not synthetic). They provide that feeling of  wearing a custom made dress or driving a custom made car, they are currently taking on the notion "designer" used to have back then, when only a few people could brag about wearing  a particular designer's craft.

I love them, I make them albeit not always with absolutely living stuff.

I am thinking about inviting a few perfume enthusiasts to my little studio where we can sit, make perfumes and review one another stroke of genius or maybe the next Pandora's box in a tiny bottle. We could name our little beauties and declare ourselves a niche perfume house or studio. We'll have those little taste bud teasers they serve at these kind of things, It'll be great! I'll let you know when it is and how it goes.

Until then, I will still be loving my mainstream and enjoying my special creations. I don't see why I can't have both, do you?

Perfume Roam Ance

Perfumes can be so dreamy and heady sometimes, they make me think happy thoughts... well I have this one bottle of perfume that makes me think naughty thoughts. That might not happen for everyone but I think if you're a perfume lover and you sit to think about it, perfume can give you a fantasy, and conjure such colorful images in your mind you would never have imagined. I'm pretty sure my perfume doppelganger is a helpless romantic, who goes around sniffing flowers and writing poems. The real me on the other hand must be a dramatic perfume lover which was why when I made a list of my favorite romantic perfumes, the name of each perfume on the list was accompanied by dramatic images which my mind associates with the scent of each perfume. After you read the list of  my favorite romantic perfumes below, I would be very happy if you would  share your list with me and the fantasy or drama they conjure.

Here goes...

Green Tea by Elizabeth Arden:  the sugary fresh and citrus scent calls to mind a young sheltered girl whose idea of love and relationship is a fantasy from all the fairy tales she's heard. She is standing with her first boyfriend, giggling nervously in anticipation of her first kiss as he holds her hand and pulls her closer to him, closing the gap between them. Her stomach is flooded with butterflies, her eyes closing involuntarily as she tilts her head and he holds it to kiss her. Her knees buckle under the beautiful current of puppy love.

Romance by Ralph Lauren: A rush of  floral, musk and high tempo citrus sirs up the image of  a Lady. She is much older now, tougher from previous heart breaks, suspicious of overly chivalrous men. She likes him, she knows this. She wants him to kiss her but  it's their third date, she hasn't decided if she'd let him kiss her. The next few minutes would decide. She has tested him in a battle of wits and sarcasm, he didn't do poorly, she has tested him in religious debates and politics, he seems to hold up nicely. He excites her, she's happy with him still she is testing his ego, arrogance and vanity, how he fends will determine if she'd let him kiss her.

Nina by Nina Ricci: the burst of citrus, candied apple and soft warm flowers brings her to mind once again. She's in a  purple silk dress. She is elegant and graceful in her simple hairdo with diamond studs on her ears. Manicured fingers, pink lip stain, silver purse and the sweet smell of candied apple floating around her as she steps out of her chauffeur driven car and enters the restaurant. she is classy but she knows how to feel young and have fun. She lets her heart lead her like a girl  and let her head guide her like a woman. She is confident and she knows she loves the man standing at the table. He pulls a chair for her to sit, and holds on to her hand as he bends on one knee in front of her. She knew he would ask her soon, she didn't know it was today but she knew he would and she knew her answer would be yes. He heart  led her here, her head guided her here, this moment, this scent.

Sensuous by Estée Lauder: warm, woody, balsamic scent, very secretive, you could barely tell its there but its clings to her skin as floats gently in her snow white  gown, carried on doves' wings, pure yet sensual. Her heart is racing, the butterflies are back, her joy is overflowing as she walks  down the aisle towards him, her prince charming. They've been through thick and thin, she'd met a few huntsmen but she'd waited for him and he for her. Now they are here before everyone to start forever together in the embrace of amber, balsam, wood and lily.

 No. 5 by Chanel: It's New Year's Eve, and almost past midnight,  she is standing with the love of her life, his arms around her, his beautiful eyes gazing into hers, waiting for the first second after midnight so he can kiss her and wish her a happy new year.  There's a river below them, a slightly jealous wind surrounds them with chills. She moves closer to him, letting his body warm her as the cool  air  carries  her woody, musky,powdery scent to him wrapping them both in glistening love.

Ange ou demon by Givenchy: She knows him so well as he knows every birth mark in the secret places of her body, every scar every imperfection.  The sweet smell of vanilla , the warmth of aromatic, spicy and woody oils is the scent of making love to the man of your dreams. It's not the first time, it's the passionate love that comes with  knowing each other's body, knowing where to touch, how to touch, when to move in a rhythm, when to stay still, when to dance slowly,  when to stumble when to fall, when to sing and when to moan,  when to speak and when to whisper, when to nibble and when to take a mouth full, when to kiss gently when to eat ravenously.

  

Scent smelling and profiling

I was watching one of those crime investigation shows recently where the police called in a psychologist or psychiatrist to do a psycho analysis or profiling of a serial killer so they would know how his mind worked, what drove him to kill and how to predict his next move or set him up to make a mistake so they could catch him. It was interesting mostly because  I was doing some profiling of my own. I of course was not profiling the strange and disturbing mind of a serial killer, I was profiling the deep and complex characteristics of  different oils and their scents.

The first lesson in my perfumery course is "How to smell" Sounds funny since the sense of  smell like other senses is supposed to be automatic; you take a whiff of  something , lets say cooking gas,  you say hey, I can smell gas!  Ironic as it is that  natural gas, bottled (in cylinders) as Liquefied petroleum gas(LPG) itself has no smell but what you smell is the hydrogen sulphide mixed with the natural gas by the manufacturer, to give that pungent smell  which helps you detect a gas leak.

I am not an expert in organic chemistry or everyday chemistry  for that matter but I do know so many molecules make up any particular scent and each scent is associated with so many other things in life and even sometimes trigger  emotions, memories, fantasies in different people. Hence the art of smelling is not only an essential first step in the art of perfumery, but a continuous one. " Noses aren't made in a day"

Here is How I profile Scents:


What you need 
1. Smelling strip/ blotter/  unscented tissue or paper towel may work
2. Essential oil or fragrance oil
3. A nice, clean airy space
4. A relaxed mind, shoulders and head
4. Your nose of course
5. A pen and paper or your tablet
6. some adjectives, nouns or other such relevant words in your vocabulary

How to do it/ The Smelling

Breathe in and out, relax enjoy a comfortable position in your nice, clean airy space. Don't fall asleep though or you miss all the fun. 

Get you smelling strip out and put a few drops of your essential oil, fragrance oil or perfume on it. Write the name of the particular oil you're smelling on the smelling strip. 

Bend the smelling strip such that you fingers don't come in contact with the droplet on it and the smelling strip itself doesn't touch your nose, keep it 3 to 4 inches away (safety is key) Don't get it on your skin to avoid irritation.  Don't smell more than five different oils in one sitting so you don't get a sensory overload or olfactory fatigue (Yes, that's a thing) or become ill ( yes, that happens)

Don't inhale deeply, instead, take a short light whiff and move the smelling strip away from your nose. Allow your mind to do all the work processing the information. You can take another whiff  to verify the information your mind is providing and write them down as they come. Don't second guess your mind, just let it all flow.

If necessary,  puff some warm air from your nostril onto the strip to warm up and release other scents you might not have noticed, you can inhale slightly deeper than the first two or three times and make your notes again, The air puffing might be necessary for blends of different essential or fragrance oils.

Take a break, smell again and write again. You can do this even after twenty four hours to help your mind soak in all the information about any particular oil and give you all that information next time you smell that oil. Some oils last much longer than twenty four hours so you can smell them after that until they are faint or no longer there, This will also help you know the tenacity of the different oils.

Questions To Ask Yourself When Smelling/ The profiling

1. What am I smelling

2. what colour is it

3. How strong is it

4.  How does it make me feel or how does it come off to me; happy, sad, crazy, quiet, warm, angry, romantic, glamorous, energetic, childish, ethereal, sumptuous, voluptuous and other adjectives or words in your vocabulary that are applicable

5. What, where and who does it remind me of

6. what does it smell like; fruity, herbal, woody, flowery, aromatic, spicy, earthy,

I have done this a couple of times and it is so much fun just getting to know the different scents. It also helps me decide which oil to combine  with the other to make a romantic perfume and also determine how long i would want the perfume to last.

I get my husband to smell with me sometimes, he can be very helpful when his vocabulary is not limited to soapy, lemony  and yucky.  He sometimes helps me put a word to what I'm trying to say about a scent. A limitation in adjectives and other relative words might get in the way at first but as we go along, these will come more fluently. A nose becomes a master perfumer because he smells and smells and smells and his mind expands and creates connections that most people can't.

One last thing, you don't have to wait until you have all the essential oils in the world before going on a smelling spree! I smell the spices in my kitchen and profile them, I smell fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market, freshly cut grass at someone's lawn(because i don't have a lawn), a bottle of perfume given to me as a gift or the one the stranger beside me is wearing. I smell my husband's skin and his dark curly hair  and my friend's newly born baby.  It's not creepy, I promise! LOL!

Fragrances terms and descriptions Two

I started defining perfumery terms two post ago and its been fun reading about the different elements that go into perfumery, the perfumista slangs and such.  I may not be able to write much today because the other job I have keeps pulling but I didn't want today to go by without touching this base.

Where did I stop the last time? O yes, Aldehydes!  Next up  Abelmosk

Abelmosk is an aromatic plant with yellow flowers and crimson centre also called ambrette or  musk mallow usually cultivated for its flowers and  seeds which yields a sweet, floral, woody,  musky  oil often used in perfumery and aromatherapy. Some people believe it is helpful in reducing anxiety and acts as an aphrodisiac.

Absinthe: Liquor  distilled from herbs like wormwood, anise,fennel, angelica and hyssop.

Acacia: different shrubs and trees  belonging to the mimosoideae  of the fabaceae plant family.  Elena Vosnaki  has a beautiful article on Acacia on her blog; http://perfumeshrine.blogspot.com/2012/05/perfumery-material-cassie-mimosa.html

I will share more later, hopefully, soon. Have a lovely week!

Scented name and ghost

Elemi

I met someone recently (sort of met), he had one of those interesting names that make you ask questions like what does your name mean? I wanted to ask him so badly what it  meant but I didn't want him to read my curiosity as interest as he had already made a few statements I found very shallow and sexist so I kept my mouth shut and tuned myself into the universe of sweet, glorious scents.

 I was thinking about a perfume my uncle had given me many years ago, I can't remember the name but for days now, the scent seems to hunt me. I could still smell it after a long shower. I figured it was in my head, maybe I miss my uncle, maybe there's a perfume phantom out there and its come for me. I figured it was no use telling anyone about it, their reaction wouldn't be pleasant and someone might succeed in finally convincing me that I have an obsession for perfumes; a love is never as creepy as an obsession. I've always believed the relationship between perfume and I is pure love.

 The guy with the interesting name said something and touched my arm. "Next customer" Apparently the attendant had called the next customer"me" twice.  I walked to the attendant, leaving the s guy in the "next customer" spot.  I remembered I hadn't told him my name because he had done all the talking the whole six or so minutes he was behind me on the queue and I had only uttered two words; Elemi? which was my only response to: It's so hot outside, I would say it's as hot as you but you would wonder how I can tell you are hot seeing that I can only see your back but I am sure your face is just as hot as your back or maybe even hotter. My name is Elemi.

Elemi? My mind went to work, where had I heard or seen that before? O yes! during my compilation of perfume terms, I had discovered Elemi- the gum from canarium tree. I wanted to ask if he was named after the fragrant gum but like I said , he was  offensive and I didn't want to encourage him. Besides, it could have been a native name that had nothing to do with the fragrant gum.  I know what you're thinking; because I think in perfume, I hear in perfume and see in perfume. You could be right, you could be wrong. 

The only other thing I said was "Thanks" after he woke me from my trance to respond to the attendant.  I probably wouldn't have remembered him after that but for his name and the phantom smell that is yet to leave me.

I wonder, has anyone had that? A smell that just won't go away?

fragrance terms and descriptions.

Have you ever passed by someone or something and caught a whiff of their  fragrance and then you go to a perfume store or you try describing the scent to someone and you kept drawing blanks?  It’s happened to me a couple of times. It so frustrating!  I still can’t seem to find the words to best describe what I smell.  

I  know a lot more than I did last week but I figured since we are on this journey together, my little knowledge is worth sharing. Besides, I promised I would do a post on perfumery terms. 

WARNING!

This might get very long and sometimes confusing but if you stick with me just a few more  minutes after you have rolled your eyes into your forehead or involuntarily scratched your head more than once, you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel…no, you’re not dead, you just became enLIGHTened! Here goes…

Absolute:  Absolute is derived from a solvent extraction process. During this extraction process, plant materials are immersed in solvents like hexane to form a thick substance called concrete. The concrete is then mixed with alcohol to release the oil. The alcohol solvent is then removed by subjecting it to very low temperature distillation, after which remains the Absolute. Solvent extraction is used for plants that are too fragile for distillation or would not yield their essence easily. Delicate flowers like jasmine, narcissus, tuberose, rose and orange blossom are often rendered in absolute form. Absolute is the purest form of an essential oil and is a little closer to the scent you would get from smelling the flower.  

Accord: Accord is a combination of different essences (scents) to create a totally new and unique essence or fragrance, like mixing red and blue to make purple. Each essence loses its unique identity lending it to all others to form the accord which becomes an entity on its own, a base from which many fragrances can be created. For instance a chypre accord which may be used as a base for rich floral perfumes, could be built around bergamot, oakmoss and labdanum.

Aldehyde:  Although there are many aldehydes used in perfumery and they don’t all smell the same, often I hear people describe it as fatty, soapy, fizzy, fruity and sparkly. I'm not quite sure how it all fits since I haven’t had the opportunity to smell all the different types of aldehyde. However, based on my studies, aldehyde is a type of organic chemical, often used in perfumery. The chemical that gives cinnamon its unique smell and vanillin which is a major component in vanilla are both aldehydes. Of course those two smell nothing alike and cannot be describe as soapy or fruity. However, the aliphatic aldehydes would fit those descriptions perfectly. They have this citrusy or floral scent and sometimes, woody or pine scent. Although aldehydes were made popular by the ample amount featured in chanel No. 5, there is hardly any fragrance in existence without some amount of aldehyde in it.

I shall stop here today, one day, we shall get to Z!  Until then, let me know if there is any fragrance term you would like  to add even perfumista slangs!