Local Kyphi

In preparation for the Kyphi class I'm teaching February 21st, I've decided to experiment with making Kyphi with as many local ingredients as possible. I tried to use mostly plants and materials that I either grow or wild-harvest, or can be found locally theoretically speaking.
Some were included because they were traditionally part of the materials traded Incense Route and therefore have penetrated the local cuisine and pharmacopeia and are almost inseparable from the culture (such as Frankincense and Myrrh), and also I've included them because although the specimens I have are not grown locally - there is now a farm near the Dead Sea that grows them. The same is true for mastic (which although is from Greece, I can harvest my own - just wasn't patient enough to wait till next summer when I can collect enough resin!). And so on, for most of the resins. So this is not a strictly local product, but it carries the spirit of the landscape I now live in, and reflects its plant aromatic profile.


I began by soaking organic uncultured grapes in wine from the local vintner, and then set off to pound all the herbs I picked in the mortar and pestle. If you can recognize any of them in the pictures, and post a comment - you will be entered to win a little jar of my local Kyphi once it is made! It ended up very green and balsamic smelling, and with energy that is very vibrant and sweet, not unlike the Venus incense pastilles I made last year.

Here it is drying in a basket layered with a gauze fabric (okay, more like an antiquated baby diaper, remember those days? If you do then you're either very old or getting there!).

Crocus & Berry: Autumn Hike to Mt Meron

On a beautiful Saturday morning, Miss Tea and I set on a little hiking adventure up Mt Merton. It's became one of our most favourite parks, providing not only a great relaxing hike up a beautiful mountain, but also many beautiful lookouts, and year-around greenery that provides shade and the temperatures in this mountain (over 1000m elevation) are always cooler. But the best part is, there are almost always rare wildflowers to find there, different ones in each season. This time I was after the big yellow Sternbergia, or how we call it in Hebrew "Egg-Yolk Flower," a crocus-like flower that is only growing in very specific habitats in Israel, and is one of the protected species that attracts pilgrimage of Flower Viewers. That's the Israeli equivalent of the Japanese Hanami, except there are many seasons like this spread all over the country: crocus, iris, forest peonies, and more.

We started the trail with a bouffet of red hawthorne berries - kind powdery-textured and not as fragrant as the yellow ones, but certainly more photogenic.




We walked up the picturesque trail among oaks and arbutus trees, some of them twisted to form living sculptures:


And the arbutus trees bearing the ripest, tastiest, jammy berries imaginable. They are very tannin when unripe; but if you are patient to wait for them o be really soft to the touch (they will feel like a gooey pouch of slightly leathery skin), you're in for a treat. Their inside is almost jelly-like, orange coloured, and I suspect contain a ton of both A and C vitamins. I wish I picked more to make a jam from. But they were so good we ate them as they are.


Cercis silliquastrum is more noticeable in the spring, where its beautiful pink blossoms dot the green mountain with their delicate decoration. Now they provides a touch of citrine and lime fall colours to the mediterranean forest there.


I was really hoping to find those yellow flowers everywhere, but we had no such luck. Instead, many early autumn crocuses, which were there for almost a couple of months now, so lost their novelty by now but looked special with the changing atmosphere and more greens and berries on the ground.


And then came the shocking surprise: a real, living, wild saffron crocus!
I only spotted two or three of them, but the holy triad and aroma of their stamens was unmistakable.

In the end, I found only a single Sternbergia off the beaten track, because once we got to the peak of the mountain we were both too tired to walk an extra hour in the trail to where other hikers told us there would be a big colony of them. But I was content with this one, and decided that in a week or two I will go straight to the peak trail (an easy, circular trail that circumvents the peak and is rather flat in comparison to what we walked that day; and only takes an hour).


So we climbed back, picked a bunch of yellow hawthorne berries (they taste like very fragrant and juicy "Golden Delicious" apples, but more tart and delicious!). And of course, like all of our hikes, we ended up with an outdoors tea party, at the foothill of Mt Meron.


There are two more perfume related plants in this photo below. Can you identify or guess what they are? Leave a comment and enter to win a sampler trio of my Autumn crocus inspired and saffron-infused perfumes, Song of Songs, Razala and Tamya.

My Little Herb Garden

The last two weeks I've delved right into exploring the medicinal wild plants that grow around here. For a short time I had a herbalist to show and share with me some of this wealth of plant wisdom. Now that this guide is gone, I'm lead only by the pleasantly infectious inspiration. There is an overwhelming abundance that is going to provide me with a lifetime of learning (according to Floral Palestina, this land is blessed with close to 2,700 species of wild plants!). I've been hiking in the surrounding areas and conservatively collecting branches for slips and re-planting in my little herbal garden. This of course will is part of the Perfumer's Botanical Garden I'm establishing around the studio.

I'm showing you the early beginning, although they look quite unimpressive on camera. In person they have the charm of new beginnings as well as virgin strip of land and stony terrain and distant view of the Mediterranean; I am also delighted by the gentle healing energy that emanates from the plants for those who connect to these types of being. And for those who find it more difficult to connect to plants that way - the scents that each provide speak for themselves. Even a little stroke on each plant will give off the scent and you can mix and match to create your own "finger perfume".



From the wild, I've adopted some amazing plants - both old and new to me, that grow on the mountain behind my house. So all in all, my botanical collection is rapidly growing - even beyond the original wishlist I've created. And I'm rather happy with it.

From my slip foraging, I managed to keep alive a couple of types of germanders - Cretan germander (Teucrium creticum), which looks a lot like rosemary but smells completely different - more like olive leaf, actually, and likewise has an intensely bitter taste; and cat-thyme germander (Teucrium capitatum), which has a sweet, almost resinous fragrant silvery foliage. The latter is highly medicinal and rivals only the local wild sage (Salvia fruticosa), more of the Savory of Crete (Satureja thymbra) and a similar plant, with an almost identical flavour and fragrance that has flowers with a structure similar to Lavandula dentata, which is called Spiked Savoury (Thymbra spicata). It would be difficult to find information online in English on many of these plants because they are unique to Israel.  I've also adopted some cistus plants, although they are not the Cistus ladaniferus I am seeking but two other local species that are not as resinous, yet somewhat fragrant depending on the season. And I am crossing my fingers that two seedlings of bay laurel (Laurus nobilis) that my herbalist guide carefully uprooted from the wadi (dry creek) floor, will also survive and make it to the miniature forest I want to create behind the perfume studio. And most immortally - I am hoping that the two little twigs of Israeli Thyme (Coridothymus capitatus) that we found on the rocky North beach will grow up some roots and flourish. They are quite rare site here inland, and in fact a protected species. They have a striking look when they get mature and an intense yet slightly floral aroma that I love. It truly deserves a post of its own, with photos and all. Along with Origanum syriacum (also grown in my garden), the other varieties of thyme and savoury I mentioned before, some sumac and sesame seeds it forms the spice mixture called "Za'atar" that some of you may be familiar with from Lebanese grocery stores and Middle Eastern restaurants.



Naturally growing wild in my garden is also white horehound (Marrubium vulgare), a highly medicinal plant that grows in astounding abundance, several mastic bushes and probably more plants that I did not know were medicinal but will find out later. There are also still two plants that I found on the mountain to make slips that I haven't identified yet, so the search is not over. Lastly, I scattered seeds of blood helicrysum, a local wild plant (Helichrysum sanguinum) which I also hope will come out next winter. By that time I hope I will forget about it altogether so it will just be a pleasant surprise...



Lastly, to be fair and square, I promised to tell you which plants I put in from the nursery (the ones my brother brought me), so that you know if you guessed it right. They were several types of lavender (mountain Savory of Crete (Satureja thymbra), several types of lavender (Lavandula pinnate, L. dentate, L. angustifolia), one artemisia and - to my utmost excitement - two immortelles (Helicrysum italicum), often called "curry plant".



Also you should know, that among those who participated in this context, we got two worthy winners who will receive a sample kit of all my herbaceous fragrances,  are Ruby Clover and Melissa Menard. The kit includes ArbitRary for the basil, Ayalitta for the sage, Immortelle l'Amour for the immortelle of course, l'Herbe Rouge for the lemongrass, hay and lavender and Lovender - which is quite obvious. I've also included a sniff-peak of Inbar, my new, wild-oregano infused amber concoction which is not even for sale quite yet :-)

Putting together the kits made me also realize how little attention I've been giving the herbaceous notes.

Herbaceous Contest

This is my dear brother's contribution to my botanical garden. Can you guess which perfume and medicinal herbs are just about to be planted?
Hint: I am very excited about them!
Post your guess here and enter to win a sampler kit of perfumes I made that contain herbs I have planted so far in my garden!

Those who answered most correctly will be entered into the draw, and the winners will be announced on Monday.

Arbor Vitae: Trees of Life + Contest

The first days of school are saturated with mundane yet memorable scent of lumbar by-products, namely pencil shavings and sharp new textbooks bound with resinous glue. Cedar's significance goes far beyond paper and pencil shavings. While visiting the Carving on the Edge festival in Tofino - the so-called cedar (Thuja plicata - which is really a kind of a cypress, not from the Cedrus species that you'll find around the mountains of the Mediterranean and the Himalaya) that grows here in such abundance holds special significance to the First Nations of the West Coast. So much so, that some called themselves "Redcedar People".

Redcedars are ginormous (65-70m high and a diameter of 3-4m are not uncommon), and live a long, rich life of hundreds and even a thousand years! They tower over the rest of the forest, and provide a home for insects, birds, squirrels and other creatures. In the lush rainforest, you'll observe other foliage gracing their branches like hanging gardens. And when a strong wind finally tips them over, they become a nursing log for new life forms and eventually - other gigantic redcedars. 

The tree itself in Coast Salish language was called "Tree of Life". It wasn't until visiting Tofino this past week that I really understood why - after all, it bears no fruit or edible parts (this must be my Mediterranean brain at work). For one thing, the tree plays a huge role in the ecosystem: it strives off the nitrogen-rich fish diet from the salmon that jumps upstream, and also dyes them red with its tannins, and also has the ability to filter out toxins. 

From a utilitarian human perspective, it is particularly valuable because of its soft heartwood, which makes it easy to carve. Additionally, it has a high content of essential oils that not only make it smell amazing, but also act as preservatives and insect repellent, making the wood last for hundred years if not more! Their durability and rot-resistance are why redcedar is the wood of choice for outer constructions such as homes, roofs, shingles, etc. 

First Nations built and crafted almost anything imaginable from this phenomenal tree, taking full advantage of its lightweight and durable qualities: they would weave water-proof hats and clothing from strips of the bark, as well as ropes and baskets from the younger branches; and long houses and homes from planks that they've harvested from the living trees; and entire old-growth trees (either wind-stricken or actively felled in a special ceremony) were used for totem poles or to build dug-out canoes - including ones large enough to hunt whales. And of course - smaller artifacts such as masks, bentwood boxes, and other tools. Last but not least: the wood would keep you warm in the stormy and damp Pacific Northwest weather (although logs of cedar are notorious for sending out sparks - so watch your fire closely); and the leaves are bundled with sage to make incense wands that are burnt to clear off negativity from the space before the start of a ritual. 

In perfumery, we use all kinds of cedar - true and false. The Cedar of Lebanon (which King Solomon used to build the first temple in Jerusalem) are too sparse to use in perfumery, but are impressive, beautifully shaped trees that grace Mount Meron where they grow wild, and some other hills of Northern Israel, where they've been planted near Saafed. 

Cedars from the Atlas mountains in Morocco and the Himalayas smell very similar - with a warm, honeyed and slightly animals aroma. The remind me of polished-wood because they're so smooth and precious smelling. The most famous perfume you can smell Atlas cedar wood is Feminite du Bois by Shiseido (now available directly from the fragrance's creative director leading niche brand, Serge Lutens). Among my creations, it is particularly noticeable in Epice Sauvage and Tamya.

Himalayan cedar, which is similar but a little more cool and clean-smelling is what you'll smell at the base of Indigo (which, incidentally, was listed among Basenotes' 500 Greatest Modern Perfumes). You an also experience it at the base of Jasmine Pho and Fetish (which also has another coniferous favourite: Fir absolute). 

Japan has its own unique conifers, and its own version of cedar - called Hiba (AKA Japanese cedar, false arborvitae or Hiba arborvitae). Bon Zai perfume portrays a miniature forest of windswept cedar and pine, in the best Japanese tradition. Minimalist yet haunting, the familiar notes of Virginia cedarwood, juniper and Scotch pine are joined by more exotic Japanese oils of mandarin, oud and shiso leaf. In a new version I've been working on this afternoon, indigenous Japanese woods will enhance the authenticity of this fragrance - namely Hiba (Thuja dolabrata) and Hinoki, AKA Japanese cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa).

The so-called Virginia and Texas Cedarwoods are really juniper trees (Juniperus virginiana, AKA Easter Redcedar). Their aroma is similar, but much milder than the Western redcedar. The Virginia kind has a particularly soft and rich, warm, smooth dry down that makes it second only to sandalwood. I've used it as a key note in Eau de Cedre, an eau-de-cologne type fragrance with a woody anchor and distinctive dry, spicy tones. But you'll find it in many others of my creations, such as Rainforest, in which the Virginia cedar is subtle, and makes a subtle backdrop for coniferous tree and dewy foliage - recreating the experience of a walk in the woods. Espionage, on the other hand, is cedarwood chests, cedar-flavoured cigarettes, but most of all: logs of campfire, out in the woods, or even better - on a stormy beach to warm you up after surfing the chilly Pacific. 

Essential oils from the Western redcedar have only joined the perfumer's palette some 3-4 years ago, and I've used it in Blackbeard Oil, and more recently - in a new perfume that captures the magical scent of the Pacific rainforest floor on a warm, sunny autumn day: a most peculiar scent that anyone who loves the forest and lives around here is fond of and most familiar with. It smells a bit like how you'd think Chypre should smell; but is also with resinous-sweet ambery undertone to it. I'm pleased to say that I've been able to capture it perfectly; but I do need your help naming it. Non of the names I've thought about seem right: it's not "Pacific Amber" and it's not "Emerald Amber". The name "Arbor Vitae" sounds too arcane and serious (and I'm worried no one would understand it at all). And then names of places where you can experience it - such as Stanley Park (where I first experienced it) or Gold Creek (which alludes to its warm, golden aroma) - just don't sound authentic enough. Neither truly brings across the wild nature of this fragrance, and its strong connection to core of Pacific Northwest natural life, where Hishuk Ish Tsawalk was the law of the land and . Besides - you can smell it on a sunny day almost anywhere where redcedar, Douglas fir and Western hemlock live, and that covers a rather vast chunk of land... So let there be a naming contest, and the winner who emails me (or leaves a comment on this post) with the best name suggestion by September 30th will receive a 15mL bottle of this yet-to-be-named forest elixir! 

Redcedar links for further reading:

British Columbia's Tree Book 

UBC's Indigenous Foundations 

VanDusen Garden 

Winner of January Giveaway

Thank you for everyone who contributed with insights and comments throughout the month of January!

The winner of the lucky draw is SmellyBlog reader Darcy Rouhani. She will receive a coffret of 5 vintage minis from the 80's, including Bal A Versailles, Animale, Sunwater, Hollywood, 360 Perry Ellis and 273 Fred Hayman.

Please continue leaving comments in February :-) I will announce the prize for this month shortly. 

Happy Mother's Day!

My mom was always an au-naturelle kinda gal who loved real flowers but not perfume. So she never wore scent, but preferred floral prints instead, and would always pick beautiful flowers to cheer me up and weave a beautiful crown of spring flowers for my birthday. She even put edible blossoms in my salad (nasturtium and wild garlic flowers), and would cut the radishes into flower-shapes to encourage me to eat them. 

Although she never worn perfume - she always loved aniseed tea and caraway-studded breads. So it comes as no surprise that to this day, I associate her with anise and and the enigmatic notes of violets and iris, which I find as soft and mysterious as herself and the midnight-blue crushed velvet she liked to wear. Kinda like what I imagined l'Heure Bleue when I read about it and before I smelled it.

It was only years later that she told me that indeed violets, anise, chocolate and vanilla were her favourite smells (before she lost her sense of smell almost permanently due to chronic colds...). And she also loved the lilacs she picked for me in her first visit to Vancouver (which sadly ends tomorrow...) Years ago, I created Indigo perfume in her honour, and I've put anise, caraway, boronia, violet, carnation, orange blossom, frankincense and amber in it... Now I'm thinking that although I was probably on the right track - I should make her another perfume, and hopefully she could smell it occasionally - with cacao and vanilla absolutes, violets and anise.  

What perfume did your mom wear as you were growing up? Or what scents do you associate her with?

Leave a comment and enter a draw for a mini of Viola, my violet soliflore, a decant of Patricia Nicolai's Sacrebleu and a few other goodies... And - a quick reminder, that today is the last day of my Mother's Day free shipping online event.

Tragic Love Stories, Bottled

Different pages; same story., a photo by DaedaLusT on Flickr.

I've decided to dedicate my 4th annual Valentine's Day tea party to broken hearts - those of us who are suffering from unrequited love, or are simply lonely on this day that's supposed to be celebrated in a twosome.

There is no real of art more obsessed with love, passion and desire than perfume. Nearly all perfumes are a promise of a love potion; an elixir so irresistible that it will capture your heart's desires, and lure in new ones... And some were inspired by the most tragic love stories. Others, even more so inspiring, by the perfumer's real life stories, agony and muses.

Let's begin with the house of Guerlain. More than any other perfume house I know, their perfumes bottle love stories and are usually inspired by women and created first and foremost to be worn on a woman's skin.

Jicky (1889) In 1864, Aimé Guerlain had to interrupt his studies in England and return to the family's business due to the illness of his father, Pierre-François. Him and his brother, Gabriel, now had to take charge of all aspects of the company - and his role was as perfumers, while his brother's was to take care of the business and marketing side of things. Years later he created this masterpiece, and although another story says this was his nickname for his nephew, Jaqcues - another story says this was the name of the lover he left behind in England.

Mitsouko (1919) is inspired by the heroine of Le Bataille (The Battle) - a novel about a Japanese girl who was abandoned by an American naval officer who married her, got her pregnant and never returned to her. She tried to perform harakiri but was found by one of her maids, who saved her life. The perfume is redolent of Asian woods, spices and delicate aldehydic peach note.

Nuit de Noël (1922) was created by Ernest Daltroff with his muse, lover and business partner
Félicie Vanpouille. She was a dressmaker by profession, and became Caron's legendary package and bottle designer. Her creations really completed the perfume and together the couple created masterpieces in both visual and olfactory aspects. She always turned down Daltroff's proposals, so they never married. But, she did become an equal partner and shareholder in the business, and when Daltroff fled Nazi-occupied France to Canada (he was Jewish) - he gave her the entire Caron company. He died two years later from cancer - or was it a broken heart? 

Shalimar (1925) was inspired by the tragic tale of Shah Jahan (an Indian king) to his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal. She died in child birth and left him broken hearted. The perfume is named after the gardens of shalimar, where the royal lovers spent their happy times together before her untimely death. Next to them Shah Jahan build the Taj Mahal - a tomb and monument for Mumtaz Mahal. His resting place is adjacent to it, so he can watch her monumental beauty for many years. The perfume contains all the abundance of the imaginary oriental garden and is presented in a bottle that resembles a water fountain - or a fruit bowl. Take your pick.

Femme (1944) was released by Marcel Rochas as a coming-of-age tribute to his wife, Hélène. It was, however, created earlier by Edmond Roudnitska, with whatever raw materials he had from a raw material supplier he worked with. The materials were inevitably aged during the war and he quality of the perfume has a certain darkness to it that truly reflects its time. Despite the gravity of the events outside, Roudnitska maintained his creative spirit and his commitment to his art. And that, to me, is the true love story behind this perfume.

Chamade (1969) is the name of a particular military drum beat, and also doubles as the heartbeat of surrender - to love, of course. Jean-Paul Guerlain said he created it for a certain woman in mind - but won't reveal who she was. With notes of black currents, ylang ylang and green galbanum over a base of vanilla and oakmoss it was one of the perfumes that predicted the sharp-angled greens of the 1970's.


 

Please leave a comment with perfumes that were inspired by a love story - tragic or otherwise. Among the commentators, there will be a lucky draw on Friday, February 22nd, to win a package with a mini of Immortelle l'Amour - my own contribution to the world of broken-heart-inspired perfumes.

Monkey Monday: Guess What!

IMG_9041, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

Guess what's in this photo, and you'll be entered to win a bunch of goodies that I found in my winter travels to Israel: chai rose tea, rose incense and maybe even some perfume if I'm lucky - I still have a few more days here to scout some fragrant surprises.

Merry Christmas!

Coming To My Senses - Double Giveaway

"The thick wine scent of honey, viscous at the back of the throat, lit from within by the flowers it came from and the golden sunlight of late summer" (p.13).

Alyssa Harad's book Coming to My Senses is a wonderful journey of self-discovery through the world of scent, and perfume in particular. Alyssa has a poetic, genuine way with words and that is how she describes perfume - striking a chord yet without ever exhausting the readers like most of us bloggers tend to do. And to my delight - the book is dotted with evocative perfume descriptions that rarely disclose the names of the perfumes she's referring to. This serves two purposes -  not being too commercial (i.e.: promoting any particular brands), and also keeping some mystery going, which makes the book ever more accessible. Non-perfumistas will be able to relate to the descriptions from real life and their own experiences rather than get drowned in technical and commercial details. While perfumistas reading this will be having a blast trying to guess which perfumes are being discussed. 

So let's do just that: I will post 10 descriptions from Alyssa's book, and you can try to guess as many as you can - a task that is quite possible if you're a perfume buff. Naturally, some of them will be easier to guess if you've already read the book (in which case I've added a hint). Lastrly, you can search Alyssa Harad's blog for additional hints (not to mention it's an excellent read!) as she's revealing some of them for the benefit of us who can't stand the suspense any longer.

The person who guessed the most correctly, will win one of 2 books that Alyssa Harad has kindly gave SmellyBlog!

1) "The high, singing scent of lemons fading to the spring green of honeysuckle growing along a creek, and a bit of the muddy banks, too". (p.12)

2) "The scent of night-blooming jasmine, heady and heavy with fruit and a touch of ashtray - the lovers were smoking before they disappeared into the brush". (p.12)

3) "The smell of the air just after a summer thunderstorm - an astonishing scent of trampled grass, broken branches, bruised flowers, and electricity". (p.119)

4) "It was, precisely, the scent of lilacs in passing, a rain-freshened breeze carrying the scent from somewhere down the block, a scent of mercurial spring, made all the more lovey by the cold gray day". (p. 125).

5) "And finally, a grapefruit softened with vanilla and patchouli that left clean and bright behind for something dirtier and more interesting". (p. 142)

6) "...a fantasy in black leather, asphalt, rubber, and smoky vanilla".  (p. 142)

7) "The scent rose up all around me in a soft cloud. The sweetness expanded, lush and narcotic. I stood quietly in the middle of it, breathing. Then it roughened with a dusky bitterness that brought me back to myself just enough to open my eyes and begin walking". (p. 164); "Maybe I would leave the flowers in my hair. And I would still have my perfume - that beautiful dream of white flowers, that touch of honey". (p. 204). Hint: It's from Annick Goutal.

8) "This one takes you on a walk by the sea through a cypress forest, and then suddenly you stumble on a grove of lemon trees and just one fig tree, covered in rip figs. It's the perfect thing in hot, humid weather. Just one spritz and you can feel that salty breeze coming in off the ocean".(p.195)

9) "This one smells exactly like a creamsicle when you first put it on, but if you wait two minutes it turns into a rich, sophisticated amber. It's like you  put on a bright orange corduroy jumper and then it suddenly morphs into a little black velvet dress with pearls". (p. 195)

10) "I revisited a smoky incense-and-lilies that I have always wanted to like more than I really do". (p. 222). Hint: it's from l'Artisan Parfumeur.  

So - let's make some guesses! The winner will also receive extra samples/decants of perfumes relevant to the book (which I am not at liberty to disclose until the answers are revealed this Friday).

Monkey Monday: Stinky Humans

What is your natural body odour and is it really all that bad? Good questions, which is tough to answer in our scrubbed-clean world. What part of our perception of body odour is due to cultural restrictions and norms? And what part of it is true biological/scientific fact? That would be hard to tell.

Unfortunately, most of the instances when we encounter unwashed people, they are not necessarily healthy. Unfortunately, the limited access to hygene and showers is more often than never a side effect of drug/alcohol abuse, and comes with side effects of bad nutrition and other ailments.

For the sake of science - perhaps you might consider this exercise: try to not bathe for a week, and see if you like what you smell... Or you may bathe, but use water only, just as animals would in nature. No soap, detergents, or any man-made accessories that might temper with one's true natural odour. See how you really smell...

According to Avery Gilbert's The Nose Knows, humans are stinky by default. We are better at stinking than skunks, because unlike their enemy-activated stink release mechanism, we stink 24/7. We don't make that great of a meal, and animals would have to be very hungry to consider us as prey... The Jungle Book also alludes to that matter, as the animals mostly have great respect to human's flesh, and it's considered a tabu to eat it (except for the ruthless tiger in the story).

In fact, we stink so badly that through years of evolution humans have developed complex strategies for reducing their natural scent to a more toned-down, palatable state: we invented soaps and scents to remove our body odours and mask it with that of other, better-equipped animal scents such as whale vomit, sexual secretions of deer and civet cats, and even the aromatic feces of hyrax!
And, of course there are also the more romantic sounding sources such as plant genitalia (aka flowers), and their other organs - roots, bark, fruit and leaves.

In our many years of  distancing ourselves from our real (disgusting) scent, we have romanticized body odour to the point that some of us crave it - though unknowingly, only in its muted states. We tend to think of body odour as this sexy, uncontrollable aspect of our beings, full of irresistible pheromones. There is some of that, true. But mostly - we stink. Honestly, if it wasn't for the healthy amounts of soap to wash the sweat daily, it will build up to a rather ungodly size of oily, rancid sillage (or shall I say silage? The scent would be about as bad...!).

People tend to talk about perfume as an article of pure luxury, an unnecessary addiction, an auxiliary supplement that is frivolous and excessive. I beg to differ. Perfume is necessary to overcome the human stench. Little doses of it are ok, if they are scrubbed off on a regular basis within a human bathing establishment - rituals of which take place for thousands of years in most civilized places. Other animals might enjoy cleaning each other with their tongues. Humans usually recoil at the idea unless the person is smeared with chocolate, or was freshly bathed.  

In less civilized places (i.e.: Europe), perfuming with lavish amounts of Aqua Mirabillis (aka eaux de cologne) would replace the act of bathing, and thank goodness at least they did that in the days of open sewage. These alcoholic-based tinctures of bacteria-combating compounds found in citrus, herbs and spices had a triple-purpose of  masking, deodorizing, as well as disinfecting.

Now, thanks to the rise of both hygiene and perfume technology, humans have gone to the other extreme - where we sport very little scent of our own if at all. It's always tempered by our surrounding, which is highly scented whether if we like it or not. As an aside note - I'd like to mention that unlike the increasingly popular belief that fine fragrances are the enemy of your environment's purity; I believe it is more so the functional fragrance practices of scenting anything from plastics, paints and toys to house cleaning products and laundry detergents that is bombarding our systems with toxic chemicals - not to mention the pollution from cars, factories and industrial farming; multiple-chemical-sensitive people are picking on the wrong target, in my humble opinion).

I hope by now you're not all completely grossed out by our smell... We certainly have some good spots. Our babies smell amazing, for one thing. And body odour is not just one gigantic mass of stench. It can be broken down and analyzed to different body parts and sources of human odours - some of which are pleasant and beautiful. Like a baby's crown and mother's milk; and when getting to know your lover I'm sure you will notice a lot of wondrous scents in secret places. But that should probably belong to another post...

Now, to this week's contest: leave a comment with your thoguhts on the subject - are humans just plain stinky? Or are we too used to smelling "clean"?
Winner will receive a beautiful deluxe package of Persephenie's scented body products in a silk pouch.

Monkey Monday: Best of Summer 2012

Please comment on the post from Sunday if you wish to enter our weekly giveaway!
Winner will receive a copy of my Foundation of Natural Perfumery course handbook.

Monkey Monday: Player - or Scent-Slut?

Long Island Soccer Player makes amazing play, a photo by soccerlimagazine on Flickr.

As promised last week, I was going to tell you the story of my friend (who brought me a sample of Angel). So, we met at the beach and she was telling me about this guy she went on 2 dates with. On the 2ndn one things got a little steamier, and she couldn't help but notice that on top of the colgone on his neck (Armani Code - kinda fruity woody-oriental that she could recognize from the 1st date), and on his wrists (A*Men - delicious coffee, patchouli and cocoa), there was a very familiar scent all over his chest too...
It took her a few moments to figure out what cause an olfactory cognitive dissonance - and an ever so slightly sense of mistrust:
The perfume of questions, which she first thought might be Jean-Paul Gautier's Classique (the one in the feminine torso), was non other than the rosy-violet sweetness of Bvlgari pour Femme.
In other words: The man could have very possibly just been in the arms of another woman (which can be hardly considered infidelity in this context; but still...). Or: he was a scent-slut and was trying on all kinds of smelly things on...

When she humourously confronted him about it (after all, no girl wants to come across as "jealous" on the 2nd date. We're in year 2012, after all!), he went on about how he just met this lady friend who works at The Bay (and who, fair enough, let him try A*Men and was generous enough to give him a bunch of more Angel samples to give to all the other ladies he's trying to get involved with). Supposedly, according to his robust theory, his friend is a big woman and gave him a big hug, which doused his shirt with Bvlgari Pour Femme; and later when he stopped to drink from a water fountain, the scent further penetrated his shirt to cover his chest...
End of story.

And now I'm passing the ball to you: Do you think his story is true? Is he a player? Or just likes to douse himself with very strong perfumes (and/or strongly scented women)?
I will tell you what my friend decided later...

Among the commenters, there will be a lucky draw on Friday (promise!) to win a bottle of Pink Praline by Soivohle'.

Monkey Monday Winner (Smelly Commute)

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Monkey Monday Smelly Commute contest of the week. You all did a great job guessing (Exotic Green Tea - how many cups of green tea did Elizabeth Arden have to brew before realized the tea bag run out of flavour?!), CK Summer (one among many CK flankers, that I cannot possibly keep track of), Hugo Woman and JOOP!

But the correct answer, which was Lindaloo's (also the first commenter - are you a mind reader?!), is Allure Sensuelle (2006) - the flanker to Allure (1996), a rather flat, linear and colourless floriental that they tried to make more raspy and throaty by marrying it with their accidental best-selling flanker Coco Mademoiselle (to Coco).

But two flankers do not a masterpiece make (or even a bestseller). Allure Sensuelle, I regret to say, was rather disappointing to me even though it had a lot of promise at the time. The patchouli and vanilla base sure were refreshing when fruity gourmand florals were still at their height (if they are ever going to not be, we'll all be better off). It had that rancid aquatic fruity top note (supposedly melon or lychee or both) that really works bad with patchouli and vetiver, but seems to be the mark of sophistication for perfume users who don't know any better (yet).

And now I will stop my rare anti-perfume rant and ask Lindaloo to send me your snail mail addy so I can send you a package of samples from the SF Sniff and 1st Artisan Fragrance Salon. I hope you will find something to your liking among these artisan perfumers' creations!

Monkey Monday: The Joys of Smelly Commutes

Last week (and all summer thereof), I had to use the car co-op to drive my daughter to and from summer camp. I'm certainly learning to appreciate the no commuting required the rest of the year, and mourn the 2 hours lost to traffic each day. Certainly does not make for a very productive work day (in contrary to what I remember commuting to be...).
Anyway, as I was using the same car every day for the entire week, and as I was trying different perfume samples from those given to me at the Artisan Fragrance Salon, I was alarmed to sense a scent of a certain unlikeable perfume around me, and kept wondering where it came from: is it from my wristwatch? My ring? My hair?

It took me a couple of days to locate the source of the undesireable perfume emanate from the seat belt. Some car-sharing gal went all perfume-spray-happy for her car co-op errands (which I'm rather thrilled about - Vancouverites wearing scent are a thing of rarity), and completely contaminated it with her scent. If it wasn't that particular one, I wouldn't be complaining about it (and booking a different car for the following week).

But, my loss is your gain: If you guess correctly which scent it is, you will win your very own free sample of it (just kidding! just kidding!). No, no, you will win a bunch of samples from the SF Sniff, plus a couple more that I've added by perfumers who presented at the salon last weekend, including Sonoma Scent Studio's new and beautiful Forest Walk.

Here are your hints:
1) Released in the 2000's
2) Not a celebrity perfume
3) Was never reviewed on SmellyBlog
4) It's a flanker for a rather popular scent from the 90's. It was released exactly 10 years before the "original".
5) Last but not least: It's not a niche, hard to find fragrance. You should be able to find it in most if not all department stores and run of the mill parfumeries and drug stores.

As usual, the contest will close by Friday at noon, by which I will do a lucky draw via random.org.

Zangvil Perfume Debuts 20.11.2011

Zangvil perfume will debut exactly a week from today!
This perfume evolved out of a sensory journey that began in 2008. I was feeling under the weather, and a cup of steaming ginger tea simply didn't cut it; so I put together a simple ginger & amber perfume to warm me up from the inside. So it made perfect sense that 3 years later, Zangvil also has a perfume twin to match - a delicate silver needle white tea perfumed with jasmine sambac and further fragranced with aromatic ambrette seed and vanilla bean and crystallized ginger.

The above image is the postcard for the Zangvil perfume, and it's the first time I'm using a human image for illustrating a perfume concept. I usually try to stay away from human figures because I feel it takes away from the personal experience of the perfume itself, and if anything, will make it look like a cheap perfume ad. With Zangvil perfume, however, it seemed there was no other way around (unless I was going with the sexy ginger below!).



However, using ingredients or botanical landscape for illustrating just did not seem to be right for Zangvil. This perfume is all about the tactile world - the cozy and warming touch of cashmere wool and its soft caress on the skin. I wanted the image to radiate softness and a subtle sensuality, just as the perfume does. I really wanted to show the contrast of skin against wool or fur. Yet I didn't really want it to be too sexual in the cheesy way that mainstream perfume commercials tend to be (though, admittedly, if you put a bottle image in front of any semi-nude image it will look like a perfume ad).

Also, because Zangvil is a unisex fragrance, I wanted both men and women to relate to it (not necessarily feel attraction to the figure, but rather identify with the sensation of the wool against the soft skin); and I wanted the gender of the model to be somewhat ambiguous, focusing on the rippling of the back muscles and the soft diffusion of light on the surface of the skin and the tiny hairs and goosebumps... The original concept for the photograph was just an area of skin and fur or wool next to each other. But through the photography process, we had to include larger areas of skin, because without a suggestion of a breathing body, skin actually looks rather gruesome and lifeless.


And speaking of skin - the back of the postcard, which tells the story behind Zangvil and details about the notes is printed in multi-coloured fonts in the various shades of the skin photographed for the front; which when isolated from the context (aka light and shadows on skin) looks like a palette of various skin colours.

So, exactly a week from today, I will be hosting an event that celebrates the tactile softness of ginger and amber in teh Zangvil perfume - with a tea party menu that is derived from the perfume, and focuses on white and muted coloured food with exquisite texture (see more details about the tea party in the previous post).

Zangvil Triple Launch Tea Party 20.11.2011 - One Week Away!

On 20.11.2011 (Which turns to be quite an auspicious number that adds up to 8 = infinity!) Ayala Moriel will be celebrating 3 magical creations:

Zangvil perfume, Zangvil tea and a new white chocolate bar (the flavour is still a secret!) that we've created in collaboration with CocoaNymph!

Come celebrate with us in this festive, winter-white afternoon tea party. To add to the magic, we will be serving the tea and the treats in beautiful earthenware hand crafted by artist Grace Lee of eikcam.

Launching Ayala Moriel's new perfume, Zangvil and matching perfumed tea that Ayala created and is based on a rare beauty: jasmine scented white tea, along with other delicious botanicals, to create a perfume in a cup!
Rachel Sawatzky & I will also finally share with you our 4th collaboration: a white chocolate bar! The flavour will be a surprise - any guesses? ;-)

3:00-3:45pm - Zangvil: Tactile Fragrance & The Wonders of Synesthesia

Presenting Zangvil perfume & tea and discussing the intriguing phenomenon of synesthesia, and how this perfume aims to bring together all the senses.

4pm - Private Sale

All perfumes, candles, jewelry, bath & body products, teas and chocolates will be offered for sale, and also you could buy the eikcam's earthenware that you've been served with.

When:

Sunday, November 20th, 1-5pm

What:

1pm - Arrival
3pm - Presentation of Zangvil - Tactile Fragrance & The Wonders of Synesthesia + Tea Tasting
4pm - Private sale

Where:

#314-1230 Haro Street, Buzz #295

How to get here:

No. 5 Robson bus
SkyTrain (both Burrard Stn. and Vancouver City Centre) are walking distance from here.
If you arrive by car, there is an underground parking lot at the Blue Horizon Hotel on Robson.

Menu:

Winter-white fragrant hand made tea treats will be served on eikcam's beautiful hand made earthenware and fine porcelain.

1st Tier: Sandwiches & Savouries

Ginger + Carrot Tea Sandwiches
Kabu + Yuzu Tea Sandwiches
Asian Pear + White Cheddar Tea Sandwiches
Fennel + Orange Tea Sandwiches

2nd Tier: Scones etc.

Pumpkin & Fresh Ginger Scones served with Devonshire Cream & Orange Marmalade

3rd Tier: Desserts

Snowball Cookies
Ginger + Tangerine Icebox Cookies w/Ginger Glaze
Poached Pear in White Wine & Fresh Ginger
White Chocolate "Brownies" + Sour Cream Icing
Chocolate Cups with Ambrette Seed Ganache
Halva with Pistachios
New Surprise White Chocolate Bar!!!

Teas & Libations:

Zangvil (perfumed white tea)
Chai Tea
CocoaNymph's Hot Chocolate + Marshmallows
Riesling

RSVP by phone (778) 863-0806 or email ayala@ayalamoriel.com

Tickets are $12 online to guarantee your spot (we only have room for 30 guests) - or $20 at the door

And for those of you far away - the chocolate will be up for sale on the website next week, and for now, you're invited to guess which perfume inspired this bar! The only hint is that it is a white chocolate bar :-)

Zangvil Tea Mystery Ingredient Revealed!

Zangvil's mystery ingredient is...
Ambrette seed!
The seeds of Abelmoschus moschatus (an evergreen shrub from the hibiscus family, with yellow flowers with purplish-pink centre) are known for being the most similar plant aroma to that of the deer musk!
Because of its beautiful, musky odour, floral, wine-like, nutty, reminiscent of overripe fruit or even lychee. It is very rich in ambrettolide, which smells like what we learned to call "white musk" (yup, the one by The Body Shop!). Ambrette seed is considered an aphrodisiac. It is also used as spice in the East, and is used by Arabs to flavour coffee (much like they do with cardamom seeds). The tincture is used to flavour tobacco as well as liquors. Ambrette also has medicinal benefits (mostly used to ease indigestion, cramps and nervous dyspepsia.



Zangvil tea can be re-steeped as many as 6-7 times, with the woodsy, musky vanillic notes of the hand-sliced vanilla beans and aromatic ambrette seeds and hints of spicy sweetness from the organic candied ginger lingering on and on even beyond the tea leaves themselves (which still emit their subtle, peachy-jasminey aroma till the 4th steeping).

Congratulations to ahsu for guessing correctly (the 2nd time around...).
You will be receiving a 50gr tin of Zangvil tea (value of $30), which will be sent to you when Zangvil perfume & tea are launching - 20.11.2011.
Until than, you can pre-order it online!

Zangvil Tea Scale Up + Contest

Yesterday I've decided on the final formula for my Zangvil perfumed tea blend, and did the first trial scale-up. And of course, now comes the less fun aspect of the process - which is pricing the tea and doing all the necessary calculations, not to mention label design. Each tin, as it turnes out, contains 2 full-length vanilla beans, and the white tea itself is on the pricier side - so the tea is not going to be cheap to produce, that's for sure... However, the good news is, that this tea can be resteeped up to 6 times with a very beautiful, fragrant results all the way till the 6th steeping. Very unusual for such a delicate tea, but it has a lot to do with the other ingredients there too.

The new line of teas (as some of you may have already gathered from the pages of this blog, I'm re-doing all of my tea collection, and they will all re-launch in larger, 50gr tins, as they become ready). New labels are necessary as well, because not only will the list of ingredients will change, but also the size and shape of the tins. And while I'm at it - I'm thinking that little splashes of colours would be nice, similarly to what my amazing graphic designers have done for the scented chocolate bars.


I'm thoroughly enjoying the process of creating the new perfumed teas, so it will take a while before the other teas (Roses et Chocolat, Immortelle l'Amour) will be ready. Charisma formula is ready (it all began as a house blend I made for studio guests), so it's just a matter of sourcing the materials myself.

It is such an interesting medium to create in, and testing it is very different from testing perfumes - it requires brewing many pots of tea in the right temperature, analyzing the aroma and flavour, and seeing how many steepings can be achieved with each blend. So it's giving me many excuses for throwing little spontaneous tea parties for family and friends and get their opinions and observe their response to the tea, which is lots of fun on its own.

Also, each material having a different colour, shape and texture that is visible even more than with the essences I work with for my perfumes. The visual and tactile aspect is a lot more obvious than with liquid essences. The fuzziness of the silver hairs on the white tea leaves and buds. Yellow jasmine flowers. Crystallized ginger looking like chunky gemstones. Long and plump vanilla beans, which I slice by hand, a process that inevitably squeezes out the black seeds from within, leaving their fragrant specs on my fingers and having a rich woody aroma. And the surprise ingredient - are you ready yet? Hmm... I think I will leave this as a secret and will run a contest instead for the person who guesses it! It adds a very luxurious and special effect in the perfume and is totally unexpected - a little nutty and very sweet and soft... Look at the picture and let's see who might be able to guess! The person who does, will receive the 1st tin of Zangvil Tea when it launches November 20th.

Jasmine Pho Reviewed on Cafleurbon

Ida Meister (aka Chaya Ruchama) has reviewed Jasmine Pho ltd. edition perfume on Cafleurbon. Leave a comment here or there to enter to win one of two samples of this perfume, as well as recipe for Ida's own Salsa Verde!