Welcome to a perfumer's blog on perfumery

A happy and peaceful new year to you all.

May 2010 be fragrant and full of fascinating discoveries!

Enjoy!

I will be back in 2010, around January 3.

I can see the light of the new year already. And it is time to plan for 2010. The old year? Ah! Forget it, it is about time that we can start the new one. Yesterday, I booked my hotel for Kiev. I will visit early March to show my scents.

To finish the old year: Today is excel day and (ac)counting day. I am getting ready for the end year stock counting. How many bottles of this, packed or not packed, and how many liters of that, and how much packaging material and how many meters of ribbons. You get the idea. This is the preparation for my taxes, due later in 2010. And, actually, it is not a bad idea to see what happens during a year in your cellar.
I made an excel list for the counting and did a recalculation of all prices for raw materials and packaging materials. Amazing. Suddenly you realize “wow, this MATTERS!” because you buy an item regularly and more and more, while other stuff that is really expensive does not matter, because you buy it once and then you have it in stock for almost eternity. Ha! the perfect excuse to buy more Orange flower absolute.
Thus, happy counting today. And many surprises… yesterday I found 80 bottles rose chyprée that I forgot about. And thinking of 2010, plans and trips. Joshua Tree, I am coming!
Picture: The sun rising in Joshua Tree national park.

tata! Here we are again, probably 2 pounds heavier than a couple of days ago. I tried the non-blonde-blog jelly donut recipe for December 25 with my brother’s kids and it was pure heaven! So was the Tiramisu a day later. And…

Thus, the last few days of this year will see us praise asceticism. That’s the plan at least. I just hope I can handle my Vanilla C02 extract when trying to bring my caloric balance back to normal; the goal for today is to continue playing with this special extract (13% Vanillin, CO2 extracted Vanilla pods, Bourbon, truly yummie! stuff). Playing means: Discovering the scent in all details and bringing it into different contexts to understand its effects with other fragrant compounds.

But: Before we can dive into fragrant play-doh : Bringing the stock of bottles back to normal levels, filled with a variety of fragrances….

I wish you a good start into these last days of this year.

Picture of today: My new 10 Duran glass bottle, fitting with my Hirschman manual pump to fill bottles.

===The advent calendar draw is closed, now===

And the winner is: Adriana.

Congratulations to you!
===
This is day 24 of the advent calendar. I thank you all for your many comments and your participation. It was more joyous than ever. Today, you can win one perfume of your choice from my range of fragrances that I sell. Just leave a comment and I pick the happy winner with random.org in the next days. I will announce the winner here, on the advent calendar starting page.

I wish you peaceful and happy holidays.

Enjoy the warmth of the season.
(picture shows a little Sugus candy decorated gift, wrapped in gold and black.)

(for December 23:  visit the advent calendar.)
===And we have a double winner.===

The winner of December 22 is mim. congratulations to you (m. nussb….)!

And the solution is: B. of course. I have a contract with a dentist

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This is day 22 of the advent calendar, and we are soon coming to an end of this lovely time of anticipation and waiting. Make sure that you do not miss tomorrow’s edition…
Today, it is a bottle of air du désert that you might win. I will pick the winner from the comments, as always, using random.org. But today, you need to make an educated guess: I will start wrapping the presents for the kids today. I came up with one theme for wrapping all presents:

a) pink damask silk with light brown leather cords, ending in semi precious stones

b) black and gold shiny paper foil, decorated with glued on SUGUS candy, and shiny mauve ribbons

c) used news papers with hemp cords

I wish you a peaceful day.

Thank you for visiting the advent calendar.

===And the winner is===
Nicolibba! Congratulations to you, and thank you for letting me know your address.
And thank you to all for the hints on what kind of orchid it might be. I appreciate a lot!
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This is day 21 of the advent calendar.

And today is quite busy with pouring some bottles and labeling and putting them into boxes. I need to prepare for after Christmas. Ironically, in the past years, January was always very, very active. Probably because some perfume lovers did not get what they wished and then they buy their perfumes themselves.
I have not many wishes, but unfortunately, the older I get the more expensive my wishes tend to get, too.  I think, for next year I wish myself from myself a little bit of mimosa absolute. This is a green, honey like light flower that might work wonderful with a gentle eau de toilette for him. Or as starting point for a flowery, light aldehydic scent. Or a rich flower scent with lots and lots of salicylates (a group of synthetics that pump up every flower to a perfume quality super flower). I happen to have an aldehydic orchid at home that is nice enough to bloom more or less every year in winter time. Right now, it does it again: its scent is weak, though and is only present in the morning, somewhat stronger if freshly watered, but it is amazing how aldehydic it is. I’ll bet: It is 50% C12 aldehyd.

The picture of Ms aldehyde you find below.
Today, it is a sample set again that you might win. Just leave a comment, with your wishes from yourselves if you want, and I will pick the winner with random.org.
Thank you for visiting the advent calendar.

Photo: An orchid, I do not exactly know what type, might be a miltonia breed?

==Winner===
And the winner is: Bea Biro. Congratulations to you!
After your gingerbread baking day: You might love the eau d’épices….

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This is day 20 of the advent calendar. It is Sunday, minus 10 °C, and a perfect day to write the few remaining cards and prepare for Christmas. And play (anno 1404) and ambreine. It is a few days left only.

One word on sheep. I grew up in a small village on the country side. And one day, when playing with other kids on a cool wet day, a farmer came by, in midst of his sheep herd, with two lamps under his arms. He gave me one to carry and I help him bringing the lamp to somewhere (not the butcher). This baby lamb smelled wonderful.

Today, I give a sample set away with a little sample of the eau d’épices. Just leave a comment please, I will pick a winner and provided random.org picks you, it will be yours.
Thank you for visiting the advent calendar.

Picture: the inside of the main church of the Abbaye de Fontenaye, seen this summer in France.

===And we have a winner======

The winner is Mary, as in vinery@….
The correct answer was, by the way, C. ! And the lady was the shop owner’s sister, with somewhat untrained nose and totally unused to niche perfumery.

In order to answer one of the commenter’s question: I was not really amused back then. I had worked for months on the scent and the idea of starting again made me worry a little bit. Though, I personally do not mind the smell of sheep. wet or dry.
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This is day 19 of the advent calendar and I write these lines early in the morning, Saturday, after a calm night with a little bit of snow falling from a dark sky. We had guests and prepared a fondue the night before. There is nothing better than a self mixed fondue. I tried Etivaz, organic, from our little organic food shop around the corner. This is one of the best cheeses there is in Switzerland. And the other half was Vacherin.

Wow: 5 persons, 1100 grams of cheese. All gone. Now, the morning after, the rooms still smell of cheese and I need a potent anti-cheese spray. Actually “cheese-away” might be a funny brand name for room sprays. At least in Switzerland. I think I go for a bit of Incense extrême, which makes a great room spray, provided you are sitting on the source (I do). Otherwise, it may be a bit too expensive. Before indulging in the big cheese feast, like a preventive measure, , I had a neighbor coming by, trying my perfumes for a friend of his. Le Maroc pour elle was the one leaving the biggest impression. Something like “wow, I want her to smell like this”, he said.

I am not a good sales man and ended up saying “yes, you maybe, but in the end it is your girl friend who has to smell it all day long. You should give her a chance to say no”, I said, because I do not think one should give unsniffed presents. So he ended up with a free sample box for under the X-mas tree and the house smelled of rose and jasmine for a little while. Thus, today, in the advent calendar give away, you can win a bottle or Le Maroc pour elle, provided you leave a comment and random.org picks you.

Please, just answer the following question:
When I showed the finished composition of Le maroc pour elle to Pascal, the shop owner in Zurich, a lady was in the shop. She wanted to test it, too and as she is always very straight in commenting things, she gave it a sniff and said:

a) “smells like fish”, she said
b) “smells like sheep”, she said
c) “smells like fish, no wait! “, she said, “it smells like sheep!” on no wait, she said again, “it is wet sheep!”
Thank you for visiting the advent calendar.

=== And the winner is===
This day, it is Masha, and of course, the question’s answer is b. Although I like the idea of weaver ants nest essential oil…)
Congratulations!
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This is day 17 of the advent calendar and an announcement for tomorrow: Please make sure that you check the advent calendar tomorrow again. Yep: Not to be missed!

Here is one answer to yesterday’s many, many comments (thank you!): What’s galbanum smelling like? Actually, galbanum smells very, very intense. A little bit fills a room. It is green, and sharp, metallic, and aldehydic. Very terpene dominated (think camphor), with a woody vibrant underline. Colors that fit: silver-green-neon green. It is a rough scent that is tricky to use. It reminds me very much in my earliest days of playing with fragrances, as galbanum was my own private little discovery. A discovery of how intense naturals can be: absolutely comparable to aldehydes!

Today, I remain in somewhat green territory: I need to make another lot of Vetiver dance. Thus, today we mix earthy, woody roots,  white green flowers and spicy, peppery grapefruit. And, as I make more stock of this: If random.org picks you and if you left the right answer below: A bottle of the vetiver dance is yours.

Question of today:

a) Vetiver is actually a tropical tree, growing for instance in Java, and the essential oil is isolated after the heart wood of cut trees has been thoroughly infected by a fungus, similarly to the isolation of Oudh oil, but vetiver oil is less expensive as the trees grow fast and everywhere in the tropics
b) Vetiver is a plant, grass like, and the essential oil is from the roots. The grass is used wildly in erosion protection in the tropics
c) Vetiver oil is the earthy extract, isolated from cultivated tropical ants (precisely isolated from the comb like structures of weaver ants, Oecophylla, vetiveriana subspecies)

===And the winner is===
Today’s winner is Natacha. thank you for e-mailing me your address, and congratulations to you. And of course, the answer is A..

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This is day 16 of my advent calendar.

And today, I must make it ultra short. I need to get some orders ready, buy X-mas presents in town and meet a dear perfumery friend in the afternoon. Thus, just a few sentences… Yesterday, I mixed the Rêverie au jardin (and another lot of Orange Star). And contrary to what a few imagine: It can get too much. Especially when cleaning the funnels. Galbanum is sooooo intense. It fills a room immediately.

I think, the Rêverie au jardin is probably the most underrated perfume in my range. From a constructional point of view. And, interestingly, there where folks come less via internet or online reviews to my fragrances, such as in Italy, where my products are sitting on shelves in about 15 perfumeries, there folks are much more enthusiastically going for the Rêverie , in comparison. This makes me think since a while. There is something like a self supporting process it seems.

Hence, here a Rêverie related question: A serious one with one correct answer. And again: You can win a bottle of Rêverie au jardin, provided random.org picks you and you answered the question correctly.

a) Rêverie au jardin has a lot of lavender in it, incense, oakmoss,with supporting notes of ambergris, sandalwood, and a little fruity line with of peach and rose

b) Rêverie au jardin is built around fig notes

c) Rêverie au jardin is a flowery fragrance built around ylang.