what's up?

Diamond gloss

Why I bought diamond gloss.

I am pretty much convinced that the quality of your raw materials can make a difference when creating a perfume. On two levels.  I feel that this is true for naturals. But also for synthetics. For instance, I discussed a couple of years ago with one of my suppliers how it got more tricky to get good phenyl ethanol. This synthetic material is cheap. It is one of the main ingredients of natural rose absolute. It is always difficult to explain the bookkeeper that half of the bottle of rose absolute, our dearly bought Bulgarian or Moroccan treasure, is actually this phenyl ethanol that sits in drums at Sigma Aldrich Fluka where a kilo costs little bit more than your dinner in town, with red wine.

Basically, this translates into: What really matters in rose absolute is twice the price you think. And what matters there? A complexity, hundreds on components, that surprise by an unmatched brilliance and intensity.

So there you go: When using phenylethanol, although cheap, you still need to make sure that the quality is right. There is cheap and there is very cheap. And then there is beyond belief cheap. There in super cheap territory, however, somebody is paying a price, somewhere. Most of us would never work there where the cheapest of the cheap stuff is made. But that’s another topic: How to save our souls for judgement day.

So there ‘s phenyl ethanol. And then, there is rose absolute. And if you are using this material, you get a complexity and a perfume talking to you in a language that you cannot get when using phenyl ethanol to replace it. The difference will speak to you. Please keep in mind here: I did not say “better”, I said different. The more  of the absolute the smiling perfumer puts in there, the more different. That’s how I see it.

In which perfume do you find this magical rose absolute, in an amount where it actually makes a difference? Well, … good luck! The challenge is: The price tag won’t tell you. These days, you might end up paying 500 Euro for a flacon from a brand, and there is no indication that the content is worth it. The price tag won’t help you. You might consider using your nose. But that’s not an easy task these days. Who can help you? Nobody, really. Your friendly sales rep will tell you that this particular bottle costs 500 Euro because of the ingredients and the flacons and whatever. Your friendly perfumer talking about his and her creation will never give you the formula, allowing you to judge for yourself. Your glossy media won’t tell you either. Most of the stuff in there is paid for, and what isn’t is not really helpful. Your friendly blogger won’t tell you either. Mostly.

So there you go: A big confusion.

And with that we come to the highlight of today’s post: Me shopping hair conditioner. See the picture of today. Being a man, being brave and going bald, and having stopped worrying about my hair days in my twenties, I was told by my watercolor painting teacher guru that the best for my brushes is  a nice nursing hair conditioner. Many of my brushes are made with and from dead animal’s hair. Marten is one of them, some species of squirrel, … yep: It’s like that. You can get nice synthetic sports wear, shirts from poly-don’t know-what. But the best: Merino wool. Anyhow.

So there you go: I learned that my brushes need tender loving care. There, in the shop: The big confusion. How to decide? In the end, for me, it was “the brand”, I went for a brand that I know and trust, and that has not gone to court with micro perfumers ; at least to my knowing, contrary to some French big brands, spending their innovation bucks in courtrooms to kill small competitors. Especially French micro competitors. Enough said. I picked a brand, and then the most ludicrous sales pitch.

I went for Diamond Gloss, for medium to thick hair. With real diamond particles! You know: You just can’t beat diamonds!