Ginger & Amber

Ginger Root, originally uploaded by cfwhitney.

Craving of recent weeks: ginger and amber perfume. Maybe it was the cold that stroke me, I was craving a ginger perfume, with the gorgeous authenticity that I've found only in one essence: organic ginger CO2... Instead, I was reaching out for Burnt Amber, and imagining the ginger part. This must have helped to chase away that cold...

Today at the lab I was playing around with the idea, and as I feared, this is not going to be an easy task. I always find it challenging to blend orienal ambery notes (mainly labdanum) with both citrus and spices without creating a mess. And by mess I mean a muddy, cluttered sensation, no definite statement and of course the downside of materials gone to waste... Very easy to get there, and this is what happened as soon as I got tempted to add some fresh ginger essential oil to the mix.

The next day will require a careful mixing of one of my amber bases along with ginger CO2 only. More to come...