Welcome to a perfumer's blog on perfumery

last Friday, when sitting together again with my branding gurus, we looked at the concept behind the brand. Or at least, that was one of the first questions I got: “And what is the concept?”

“Well, ….”, I go, “you know, things kind of grew organically.” Which is a nice way of saying that I let things happen.

And this is perfectly ok. For some time. But at one point, you want and need to define, how you place (for instance) individual perfumes within a brand. We realized , looking at my perfumes, (being each quite unique), that this is a challenge, but important. Of course, I am not talking about the perfumistas, the fans who know more about my perfumes and beyond then I do. But the guy and girl in an Italian perfumery should realize immediately that he is looking at a tauer. And the associations/images going with the visual impression must fit the product(s).

I make perfumes that are unique, also by the way they are built, with about 50% naturals (concentrations!), perfumes that use ingredients that you do not find in most of the other perfumes in a perfumery, like rose oil, perfumes that are expensive to produce, where the price of the juice is the most important factor, and not the price for the marketing campaigns. Most of my clients, I’ll bet, have not realized that the product they hold in their hands, is a true luxury product, based on what’s inside. And also because it is available in small quantities in a few places only. This I want folks to realize.
Ways to achieve this: Bottles, packaging, building an identiy for a brand. The chance that I am given right now is quite unique. We can (and do) look at  bottles and boxes and concepts, and come up with better solutions. From scratch.

This is what I did yesterday: Rose chypree, putting a new batch into bottles, and sticking labels on the bottom (made by , and lot number) and on the side, and then put the caps on top. 470 times. They should last a while. And today, the same thing again for Lonestar Memories. We will see how far we get. Actually, I also wanted to get more samples done and a few more boxes for stock.
At 10 I will meet my branding gurus again. And in the afternoon I set aside a play hour, for me and my trials. I want dig into dirty area. Zoo is calling. I hope I can tell you more on both.

And now: continuing my morning coffee. Ah….

rose chypree: Putting labels on.

My Polish is about as non existent as my Chinese, but I will change this. Need to. At least I should learn to say hello and thank you, because my perfumes are now sold in Poland, at Galilu Olfactory, in Warsaw. And looking at who is company, sitting with my babies on the shelfs in this wonderful shop, I  have no doubt that they will do just wonderful.
Actually, we wanted to start much earlier, Agnieszka and me, but there was this parcel issue. My first parcel filled with lots of perfumes, was traveling from here to nowhere and came back. We needed to ship again by truck. But, as with all things in live: Wait and see and things turn out nicely. Well, mostly they do.
So they did in Poland. And guess what: Part of my perfumes in Warsaw are already sold out….

Picture: Galilu Olfactory Shop from the inside, copyright: Galilu Olfactory.

The flip point, turning point, end of summer, however you want to call it: It is here. It still warm and nice, the next two days look like perfect days, but… the summer light has changed. The air has changed. And inside the warning label has appeared: “get ready for autumn”. Autumn may be nice, but it brings rain. Lots of it. And it is the entry point to winter. And winter means running noses, no light, more rain and grey fog on top of it all.

Maybe it’s this, maybe it is just the fact that I am somewhat tired of filling samples, although I should….I am squeezing in some experimental time in the evenings, before going to bed, with woods and vanilla and orris and ambergris and all the good stuff that warms you and keeps you warm and happy. There is no reason to hurry, as I have far too many compositions in the pipeline anyhow, but it feels good to play.
Actually, I am somewhat haunted because I love the effect ambrein and ethylcinnamate have in a particular arrangement, but at the same time they bring in a rough note, that I am trying to get rid of. Or cover. Without loosing what makes it interesting. It is like turning on the light, but at the same time, trying to avoid any shadow showing up somewhere. Ambrein is a cistus ladaniferus natural extract (actually: a solvent extracted absolute) and the ethylcinnamate is cinnamon, berries, tobacco, and red. Yes. Red. Like coal that is gleaming, not very hot. But still red.

Once I am over this ambrein and ethylcinnamat hurdle I want to bring in a cozy fury zoo line, id est. Mus, Musk, castoreum, earth.
Finally, talking light, autumn and scents: I invite you to read Angela’s post on the rose chyprée on NowSmellThis. A true delight. Enjoy!

I would like to give hundred stars to Richammond. This was my freelancer service provider the last few days. Over the weekend. And until midnight. Unfortunately, GetAFreelancer.com only allows me to give 10.

Finally, my shop is online again. In a new dress so to say, but I need to upload new pictures and work on the texts, add some links, the usual stuff, to make it all shiny. My main reason for the upgrade was: Security. And a new payment module that I installed but did not activated yet. It will allow direct credit card payments via a postfinance interface, that is wonderful safe and much more professional than paypal.

A nice side effect: The upgraded shop will allow me to build some cool features. But at the moment, I think we should not touch it right now, but rather use it and consolidate first.

You may wonder what the trouble maker was? It looks like a bit of corrupted data in tables that where user and authorization related. In a sense this is frightening.

ok. Almost there. As a complete backup of my site was not possible: We decided to go for a lean shop -only update and upgraded all shop and user relevant things: From Joomla 1.0 something to 1.5 something and from the shopping software virtuemart 1.0 something to 1.1.3.

An easy plan and mine and my freelancer’s entry ticket to a weekend job. The issue: New clients cannot register and login. Now, that’s not really what you want, right?
So far so bad. The solution is still unclear. I think we will need to work on some tables, as it might a be a synchronization issue between Joomla and virtuemart tables. So you see: We deep in ti. Very deep.

While worrying about tables, I managed to build some stock for September, answer a few mails and did a few work-arounds on a woody juice that is reluctant, too. And off we go, digging deeper.

Today, in logical consequence of yesterday’s activities (pouring): I put more perfume bottles into boxes. A few busy days ahead, hence:
I wish you already now a lovely weekend. Enjoy!

Picture: Bottles seen in the apothecary in the “Hotel de Dieu”, Beaune  , 2009

In a few minutes, I will chat on the phone with a journalist, about woods in perfumes and about pinus cembra , aka Swiss pine. I think we will also focus on the specif smell of this pine, which brings up memories of sky holidays and warm living rooms after a long day in the snow. The interview is less about me, but rather a little building block on a larger story about the Swiss pine and it’s use.

There exists an essential oil on the market, but I have never smelled it. But I know the wood’s smell: Rich, clean, aromatic, not sweet, woody, but dry wood, very dry indeed. and somewhat campherous. Actually, it is ironical: I know Texan cedarwood oil forth and back, but the Swiss pine oil is a white spot in my nose. I feel I need to change this one day. But first things first: Packing more perfumes into boxes.

I send you fragrant greetings and hope that soon, soon, I can present the results of my freelancer’s collaborative work. Uff.

Picture:
Home of Swiss Pine, Engadin, September 2008, looking down the valley early in the morning

It is still wonderful and warm, here in the midst of Europe.

Actually, it is not the weather to make you dream of Cali deserts. Thus, it must be something else, maybe pancakes and highways? Or friends? I got my frequent flyer miles thing from my friendly air carrier and learned that I need to spend miles. Immediately. Book now, otherwise 40000 miles are gone. With the other 20000 miles I’ve got: LA , I am coming.

Spring 2010.

Guess what… it must be the steaks.

I am a quitter and announced so on twitter and it feels better.
Now, it is public information and I feel good. Yesterday, the news was announced in the office. I will leave as soon as I have finished the CRM project of ours. Id est : 3 months. Yep: Eternities.
The last year (s) I was on a 7/7 scheme, and some days on a 18/24.

To celebrate this particular moment in time, I listen to “Get down, radio edition”, by 12th floor, Inside Scandinavia. Again. And again. And look into a morning that is all suny with the light announcing autumn and its colors.