Before we address some of the TECHNICAL DETAILS and the WHY: Here’s the factual list of spices in EAU D’ÉPICES:

Cardamom, coriander, clove  and cinnamon bark essential oil. Lemongrass, which is also on the ingredient’s list, is not what I would consider a spice. And it fulfills a different role, too.

As I am using synthetics and naturals: Some of the spices are pumped up…Coriander is pumped up with a bit of Linalool; this molecule is present in coriander essential oil anyhow at about 60-80% and by adding a bit of it directly you pronounce the coriander note.  It extends the woody line of coriander, softens it a bit and leads over to flowers, like giving a hand to the flowers and pointing in the direction of the woods with the other hand.

The cinnamon bark essential oil is naturally mostly cinnamaldehyde ( about 60%), with some eugenol (about 5-10%) and cinnamylalcohol. These are all IFRA and EU Cosmetic law regulated substances. The limiting factor is cinnamaldehyde which is a dermal sensitizer, thus a molecule to be careful with. IFRA limits of cinnamaldehyde are 0.05% in the final mix. We are in EAU D’ÉPICES at 0.045%, thus making use of it at almost max. concentration. Here we have an example for the effects of regulation: I do not produce fragrances with higher cinnamon bark concentrations. The cinnamon essential oil is pumped up with cinnamylalcohol and a molecule called linalylcinnamate, which acts like an eye shadow, making the cinnamon bigger and a bit brighter.

Why spices? Because the thing is called Eau d’épices. In this scent the spices are very dominant and present. The spices are together one of the main axis of this particular perfume. They are like an entire book volume of about 4 volumes being: Spices, Flowers, Incense, Woods.

On a more general base: I use a lot of spices in my scents because spices do the same thing like aldehydes. When used in small amounts they amplify other notes, set accents and bring in light. A hint of cinnamon bark lifts a rose bouquet, for instance, and makes the rose shine and last. In a sense, spices are magnifying glasses.

The picture shows you a mix of spices in a pan that I use when making my own curry from scratch.

And do not forget: if you want to win an Eau d’épices: comment over there (click here).

From Ape to Gentleman has a nice clipping and reviews on Tauer. Thus, I am doing it for the second time this week: Enjoy Chris’ writing on Tauer… by clicking here you get to the “Ape to Gentleman” page.

A great name for a website: Ape to Gentleman…

Now, a few lines on the EAU D’ÉPICES…today is the second day in a row with EAU D’ÉPICES (wearing it over night). This perfume  features as one (key) ingredient: Orange blossom, from Egypt. I am using the orange blossom absolute. Maybe you have never smelled this ingredient in its pure form: It is like sniffing the flower, but with the natural indole content pumped up, concentrated, with the woody and natural musk lines amplified. Actually, pure orange blossom absolute is somewhat disturbingly dirty and much less citrus than you’d expect. Neroli, which is the steam distilled orange flower concentrate, if you want, captures the nice and shiny aspect of orange flowers. The absolute, which is an organic solvent based concentrate, captures the animalic, love potion side.

Maybe, in a sense, orange blossom absolute is the “male jasmine”. I turns on mating instincts and transforms the gentleman back to ape in about 30 seconds.

OK, maybe a bit exaggerated. It takes 60 seconds.

Like most flower extracts it is a middle, heart, note and doesn’t last too long on skin. To fix it and to prevent it entering into foully territory is one of the challenges when working with this real stuff. And you need to hide the indole a bit. Please, do not ask me why you find jasmine absolute in the formula, too. I guess it is for the ladies…

Jo says: “…. the world is divided into those who love smoky scents, and those who really seriously don’t…..”

I guess I go for the smoky stuff. Can’t get enough actually.

Read Jo Fairley’s review of a smoky scent (No 3 Lonestar Memories) here and follow her thoughts on how to divide the universe of perfumes. Love it!  And for those who do not really go for smoke: Here’s a non smoky treat. A little cut-out of the Lonestar Memories cowboy picture. One day, one day… I need to make T-shirts with that guy printed on them.

And please: do not forget to comment yesterday’s post to join in the draw.

I answered a couple of questions for a newspaper article the other day,  in detail and with having some thinking done, on IFRA, and how IFRA affects perfumers and perfumery.

I remembered this article in press (not published yet, I think), when I read the comments yesterday. And I thought a lot about it while cycling, thus we end up with another hard to digest post, but someone needs to speak out: IFRA should not be blamed.

Please visit IFRA’s site and have a look at who is IFRA. You can do so on their home page and then you will see that it is regular members (companies) and regional bodies (and no, zero, nada, niente third level supporting members such as small producers). You will find out that IFRA does not make laws or anything that anybody is forced by law  to oblige. IFRA recommends and industry follows the recommendations and consumers buy.  This IS important, because you should not blame the group coming up with recommendations, but the guy following them.  And the guy having an interest in the recommendations.  And, if you want to speak to industry, the best way to do so is via money and via speaking to them  directly and about them,  but not IFRA.

Thus, do not blame IFRA. Do not bash IFRA, IFRA is just the bag shown to you, making sure you do not hit the donkey.

And then, if you live in the EU, please visit the EU commission’s website and you will see that this is where IFRA recommendations end up being formed into (proposals) for laws. EU regulations and laws do not fall from heaven. Again: Do not blame IFRA, it is the guys and girls you send to Brussels making the laws. And, if you want to speak to politicians, the best way to do so is by speaking out to them and about them and by explaining them why they destroy part of the cultural heritage of Europe. I wish so much my fellow bloggers would stop talking about the IFRA bag and start talking about the EU law makers and the donkeys.

Thank you for reading this post.

And, to celebrate a 100% EU law conform perfume that I will show officially in September  10, at Pitti Fragranze in Florence:  Here is a little draw. Leave a comment of any kind, and enter the draw for a full flacon of fragrance No. 12 EAU D’ÉPICES, or a little consolation price (a discovery set, containing 5 scents of your choice). I will not comment every comment, but sure read it.
========ADDED: AUGUST 23 2010=======
THIS DRAW IS OVER. The winners are:
Consolation prize

Elena (cm….@yahoo.com)
Full bottle of Eau d’épices:
Elisa (elisa.g….@gmail.com)

Thank you to all of you who commented. If you wish to add your thoughts on the topics of this post: You are very welcome.

DRAW CONDITIONS: The draw is international. Everybody can participate by sending in a comment. If you wish to comment without entering the draw: Please say so in your comment. The winners will be picked using random.org in the coming days. If the draw is over, we will announce it here on this blog post. Winners will be contacted by e-mail, thus leave a correct e-mail. By commenting you accept that we might contact you by e-mail in order to communicate about the result of this draw. We will not store your e-mail, use your e-mail  nor forward your e-mail and other data to any third party. For more details on your privacy: See our privacy information page.

Picture: Medieval staircase going upwards to the light.

After yesterday’s somewhat heavy post that I wrote in my head during hours of cycling, and after having thought about many more posts on issues and facts that we MUST write about such as the big distributing companies, even if folks don’t want to read it and if everybody pretends differently, here we have a lighter post today. Let us talk about interfaces, border areas, areas where things happen.

See the picture of today, taking in the Camarque, where you have a  [partly man-mad] transitions from  sea water to land to sweet water to land. Ecologically, these border areas are highly relevant because they provide a lot of niches for a lot of different animals and plants. Such as flamingos in Europe. Or salt loving, highly adapted plants. In biology, it is borders and interfaces where the most new species develop in evolution, where things happen, where species adapt to constantly changing, rough conditions and where you end up with new features, such as salt tolerance.

This interface phenomenon is a pet theory of mine. It is at the interfaces where things happen. Let’s watch out for these interfaces for a moment in perfumery. Like the interface where clients and companies actually meet, with the internet interface being relatively new. Or the interface where micro brands and larger brands suddenly stand in  the same shelf, such as in the Scentbar, or internet pages where all natural perfumes and perfumers and Dior suddenly touch.

Web pages existing since a few years only enable this new interface. I am curious to see what new and adapted perfume species will evolve ultimately from this new interface.

And now, before we all go into our well deserved weekend: I got the stickers that go onto the flacons for the new scents that I present in September at Piti Fragranze (10-12 September): Une rose vermeille and Eau d’épices. Thus, expect a few post next week with a draw.

In the mean time: Enjoy your weekend!

This is a serious post. Maybe a difficult post to digest for a few out there. OK. Let’s start. The picture is from Avignon. A great piece of art. Love it.

I am trying to create perfumes beyond the ordinary. Yet, they need to be packed and shipped using the ordinary way: Postal services. We decided definitely for a folded paper inlay, yesterday, in our meeting with the design guru. This guy spent days on coming up with a paper cut that can be folded in a way that fulfills all criteria: Easy to fold. Holding the flacon inside the metal box, being aesthetically pleasing.  AND being light. Actually, we need it it as light as possible. Here in Switzerland, we have the 500 grams kill-off barrier set by the Swiss Post. Everything heavier than 500 grams costs a fortune to ship. And they weigh everything.  Ending with one or two gram too much on the balance from time to time,  we needed to do something there.

Thus, once we got through the rest of the boxes of series 1 (with simple black paper, crumpled, inside), we will do the folded thing in series 2 of the boxes that is already ordered and will get here end November 2010.

Keeping stocks is one of the biggest issues these days and also a cost factor. And getting the natural to work with is getting more and more difficult. Hey: Who out there is using real Sandalwood? We are a bunch of a few passionistas left. Sad, but this is how it is.

I am trying to create perfumes, using about 50% naturals in my formula (weight/weight, and number of ingredients/number of ingredients). This per se is not a guarantee for a good perfume, but it is a statement on a style. I usually do not talk about others, thus: I was so happy to read Nathan’s blog entry. Finally, someone points to the facts: Zero naturals out there. All gone. An art form dying. A thing of the past but nobody realizes and all talk as if they lived in a different world.

I am trying to come up with new perfumes from time to time.  Yet, I haven’t visited a perfumery since months. I stopped reading blog stories on new kids on the block, too. My interest for new stuff is running dry. I have read March’s post over there on PerfumePosse and said to myself: You are so right, lady. I wish all were so honest. Yes, it feels like a lot are all running dry in the perfume department. Guess why this is.

Thus, I am trying to create perfumes from time to time, not dealing with the rules of a market (that is going nuts these days, spinning faster and faster), and at the same day I am packing perfumes that will sell.

It is a balancing act, I guess.  But March’s post still bothers me. Glad it does.

Whenever I think French movies, I think sunflower fields and women cycling…Thus, I could not resist making this little video somewhere along the Rhône, after Lyon.

Enjoy!

Here, back in Switzerland, I had my first encounter with rain since a while, and my meeting with the design gurus from Designers Club. We discuss the new inlay, that is going to replace the black paper that we use these days, wrapping it around the flacon. We aim at coming up with a nice paper inlay. No plastic, but a solid paper inlay, folded into place, holding the flacons properly. The aesthetics of the  inlay should communicate hand made and hand assembled, yet still be a bit more practical than the simple sheets of paper crumpled around the flacon.

So far, so good…

After 1000 km on the bike, with lots and lots of time to think, there we go again, trying to get accustomed to the normal life again. The main program of this two week trip was indeed the cycling: following the Rhône, all the way down from Geneva to the Mediterranean sea. The sea was much cooler than I had it in mind and hence, I ended up swimming just once, but probably on one of the nicest beaches there is in this part of France.
We skipped all church visits, and instead developed an eye for the changes in the air and the vegetation, with every day approaching the sea. Following the little roads, without heavy traffic, you discover a little bit the France d’autrefois, dying as modern life is asking its tribute. No shops in little villages anymore, the old houses left, new houses built around the larger cities nearby. A French guy told us ” you know: these little cities and villages all die from within”.
France got a great thing indeed: Space and “la partrimoine”.  A bit too much patrimoine to carry into modernity. Thus, you cycle past dying houses and churches, from the 11th century, that would be a major tourist attraction over there in the US.
In the larger villages and cities you have all the shops in centers, very à l’Americaine, convenient, but hard to get to without a car, or a bike, and it is all cooled down to something around 16°C. France has got another great thing: a lot of energy, as a tour de Rhône easily proves you. We passed by a lot of nuclear power plants and enjoyed the idea of a cool refrigerator with a cool beer in the evening.

Be it:
One day we need to explain historians and grand-grand children that we used nuclear and fossil fuel to cool down supermarkets, where in rural France you could get avocados from Peru.
Electricity brought us back to Zurich, too.  But again, the French have this thing. They do not just have trains that run fast. They have “Grandes lignes” , but….the thing with their TGV is mostly: Quite old coaches, somewhat dirty, and a dysfunctional organization, that is not client oriented. Having said that: the train brought us back. I am reaching a point one day in my life where I prefer the plane to the train for adventures like that. I guess I am approaching my fifties and with it an increasing quest for comfort. Or I have reached a point where I simply ask for service in exchange for my bucks.
Having said that: The train brought us back from a place where every breath ended up in an olfactory adventure. I am not talking inner cities here, but cycling through the country side with wild rosmarin, thyme, resin and fir bark, bringing all these memories back from camping in the pineta 30 years ago.

I can handle a few functional disabilities for this scent.

You know: we’ve got a great thing here!

After 1000 km on the bike, with lots and lots of time to think, there we go again, trying to get accustomed to the normal life again. The main program of this two week trip was indeed the cycling: following the Rhône, all the way down from Geneva to the Mediterranean sea. The sea was much cooler than I had it in mind and hence, I ended up swimming just once, but probably on one of the nicest beaches there is in this part of France.

We skipped all church visits, and instead developed an eye for the changes in the air and the vegetation, with every day approaching the sea. Following the little roads, without heavy traffic, you discover a little bit the France d’autrefois, dying as modern life is asking its tribute. No shops in little villages anymore, the old houses left, new houses built around the larger cities nearby. A French guy told us “

you know: these little cities and villages all die from within”.

France got a great thing indeed: Space and “la partrimoine”. A bit too much patrimoine to carry into modernity. Thus, you cycle past dying houses and churches, from the 11th century, that would be a major tourist attraction over there in the US.

In the larger villages and cities you have all the shops in centers, very à l’Americaine, convenient, but hard to get to without a car, or a bike, and it is all cooled down to something around 16°C. France has got another great thing: a lot of energy, as a tour de Rhône easily proves you. We passed by a lot of nuclear power plants and enjoyed the idea of a cool refrigerator with a cool beer in the evening. Be it:

One day we need to explain historians and grand-grand children that we used nuclear and fossil fuel to cool down supermarkets, where in rural France you could get avocados from Peru.

Electricity brought us back to Zurich, too. But again, the French have this thing. They do not just have trains that run fast. They have “Grandes lignes” , but….the thing with their TGV is mostly: Quite old coaches, somewhat dirty, and a dysfunctional organization, that is not client oriented. Having said that: the train brought us back. I am reaching a point one day in my life where I prefer the plane to the train for adventures like that. I guess I am approaching my fifties and with it an increasing quest for comfort. Or I have reached a point where I simply ask for service in exchange for my bucks.

Having said that: The train brought us back from a place where every breath ended up in an olfactory adventure. I am not talking inner cities here, but cycling through the country side with wild rosmarin, thyme, resin and fir bark, bringing all these memories back from camping in the pineta 30 years ago. I can handle a few functional disabilities for this scent.

Time flies and so do the kilometers…we managed to get close to Avignon, always in the dry and without major obstacles. The bike does not run by itself, though.  Thus, there is not much energy left in the evening for writing or thinking.

The good news: The Mediterranean is getting closer with any day and yesterday, we passed by the first lavender fields. Yep!

and off we go for our little biking trip. I hope that my labtop will find a WLAN from time to time, allowing me to post a bit.  See you soon again!