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. Still, 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 its 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 it's 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 me 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 in 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? OH yes! During my compilation of perfume terms, I had discovered Elemi- the gum from the 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 an ethnic name that was unrelated to the fragrant gum.  I know what you're thinking; because I think in perfume, I hear 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!

first drop to genius

I had decided earlier on to do a post on definition of perfumery terms in response to a friend's question on what is fleuressence but that will have to wait because this message is very important; I made my first perfume!

Yes I did!

I  was really nervous after  I had completed the"mix"  I  had wondered if the outcome would smell so bad I'd have to soak my lab in  air freshener to rid it of the stench I would have unleashed. 

I like dark, deep , mysterious  and sensual perfumes  so, that was what I went for.

No,  I didn't get a dark mysterious perfume but I did achieve the sensuous with what I now call musk arrogance .... Yes, I have named my first perfume.

I started with oak moss, added drops of wood, musk, rose fleuressence and completed with  vanilla but the musk in between  has drawn them all in to create this powdery, sweet but strong sensuous scent that has an eternal sillage. It's been on my skin for hours and I can still smell it.

Of course I had to put it on my skin!  For one second, I had this  irrational fear that it would be so corrosive, my skin would burn.

Fortunately, my bravery and curiosity compounded by a tinge of  vain arrogance or call it optimism in my creation quickly dispelled the fear.

Besides who else would be my guinea pig? Definitely not my husband who still can't enjoy the beauty in a musk scent.

The first thing  he said when I put my wrist to his nose was " isn't this that awful perfume your friend gave you?"  I would have bit his  nose off if he didn't quickly add, "it smells better now" just before I told  him I made it.

He has potential, that husband of mine. Musk arrogance does share that sweet powdery scent with Les Nereides'  fleur poudree de musc without the preceding faecal top note.

 Anyway if  I am to judge by the tingly sensation on wrist, I'd say I still have a lot of work to do, no one wants to wear a perfume that lasts forever but burns a hole on the wrist. I'll  let you know  if my wrist survives the day.

 I also have to figure out how to make the juice all bright and shiny like the commercial ones.

 For now,  I am basking   in the warm sensuous glow of musk arrogance. 

Enjoy your week!

Male musk deer secretes a substance called musk which attracts its female. The deer is endangered because humans love that musky scent. I believe animals have the right to life just like we do. Thus no animal was hurt in the production of musk arrogance.

Past and present scents

I was excited last month when my perfume kit arrived. It was the first time in my life I had ordered something online ALL by myself and got it delivered to Nigeria, not  sent  to some address abroad and then shipped here but really, from the supplier straight to Nigeria. Where in Nigeria and how the hassle I went through to get my goods home is another story for another day. 

My special perfume kit  had arrived, the world was at my finger tips! I was going to make fragrances that  no nose had ever smelled! It was going to be glorious, my name everywhere, people talking about my invention that has hit the world by storm... I hadn't decided on the name to call it yet but whatever name it was, it was going to be just as earth shattering as the perfume itself. It was going to smell like ... well nothing!

I opened the lesson notes that came with the kit and the first lesson was, everything smells like something. Every scent you could think of falls under one category or the other... that was a bummer because it meant making the perfume the world was yet to smell would be impossible unless it smells like a unique combination of different scents(notes) the world is familiar with. Ditto!

Little things seem nothing, but they give peace, like those meadow flowers which individually seem odorless but all together perfume the air. Georges Bernanos

The second lesson was the first step to making my own perfume; "smelling." 

 The kit consisted of twenty six bottles of  different fleuressence labelled  A to Z to help the perfumer's apprentice (not beginner, please) like me, easily remember the different categories of scents, form association with them and smell them with my brain not my nose.If that sounded confusing,then you're welcome because soon it shan't and it will be thanks to my exploits on this adventure you have decided to go with me.

The first bottle A contained the Ali-fat-ic category fleuressence, Aldehyde. I shall write my thought on that some day but the second which is the reason for the long story above was B- for Ice berg.

B- for IceBerg- cooling notes. The smell of my past in a bottle! menthol! methylated rub, trebor, dusting powder, tom-tom,  sprint gum, nico sweet(black sweet in transparent red wrapper) all that smell brought back memories of prickly heat and being covered in dusting powder, chewing an unhealthy amount of sprint gum after winning several packs during a  7UP promo, buttermint and nico were the candies we spent our Herbert McCauley coins on back then, we bought those things in packs for one Naira. I broke the Number one rule of smelling, for nostalgia, I inhaled deeply, again and again, holding the paper strip to my nose.

It occurred to me then;  why in the world would I want to make a perfume that smells like nothing! why wouldn't I want to make a perfume that makes me feel like running in the rain and coming home to my mum's warm arms, where she had rub for my chest and dry clothes ready so I didn't catch a cold. The scolding always came after the first cup of hot cocoa  never before and the smell of rub lasted until later into the  night when I fell asleep.  I'm not saying I intend to make a perfume that smells like Vicks inhaler, I mean a perfume that makes someone nostalgic. 

What smell would trigger that nostalgia for you. Please share, I'll be happy to read them.

Perfume we hate but love

Fleur Poudree de Musc Les Nereides for women

My very good friend visited last year and he brought with him a "beautiful new release from a niche perfume house" at least that was what the sales attendant told him.

 I was thrilled. Being a perfume lover for me means the few seconds before you open a bottle of a new perfume, especially one you haven't had the chance to read a review on,is the most sensational, it feels like you are about to be serenaded with an offering; like smoke sent up to the gods of ancient times. Aye, as I pulled off the gold cap on the square shoulder bottle, stretched out my arm so I could see my wrist, sprayed and poised my nose to inhale, exhale, relax and breathe ahhhhh(sigh) like one would after the first sip of cool water on a hot dry day.

 I couldn't believe my nose ! or was it my brain.  My body stiffened and my nose cringed as the scent  hit my olfactory palettes. Fleur poudree de musc opens with a smell I can only describe as faecal. I put it down instantly but declined my husband's offer to throw it in the bin. "that is the most disgusting thing I have ever smelt in my life!" he said as I put my wrist to his nose.

I decided to keep it. I was fascinated by the boldness of the perfumer and all the many people who would wear this proudly as their signature scent. I wanted to take it with me on my perfume journey so I kept it in the drawer. Once in a while I would spray it again, hoping my reaction was exaggerated the first time, it would be different.  It was the same. Recently, my perfume voyage got me looking into the world of skin scents, animalic and musky scents and  the light of knowledge illuminated the beauty that this strange perfume could offer.

 I sprayed it one more time and decided to wear it all day even if it meant not hugging anyone.  I wanted to get to the bottom (the dry down)of this perfume. My very supportive husband wished me a sarcastic good luck and shrunk when I tried to hug him. I put my nose to my wrist every ten minutes or so, waiting for the transformation.

Forty five minutes into sniffing myself like a dog, Fleur poudree de musc transforms into this soft powdery scent that is quite delicate yet strong with the muskiness that seems to hold it together. It doesn't transform into something magical that would gain a popular appeal especially with a very young person or someone who loves flowery and fruity perfumes but it does awaken some carnality within someone who gets it. I understood the spirit of the perfume then, it was human in our au naturelle state with no sweet flowery masks but it was still warm and pleasant, even sensual especially to a nose that gets it.

Stepping Out

I  am embarking on a personal journey, an adventure into the olfactory universe. I will be posting many of my discoveries, musings  and ramblings here, I invite you to join me. Who knows, you might develop a passion of your own or accidentally fall in love with a perfume or  a particular scent. You might even discover how the world smells you. You might be inspired to leave a fragrant trail for the next generation to find or remember you by. You might even get to teach me the way of the nose or point me in the direction of where the alchemist and the perfumers are born and made. Come with me as I take my first step into the beginning of the life I've always dreamed of.

Scentfully yours,

TL