Composing with Eliza (Gentille Alouette Round 2)

Today I brought in the essences we hand-picked last time to re-sniff, review, sift through and select the ones that will actually be used to formulate the Gentille Alouette perfume.
Part of the process is selecting which essences to use is also to imagine how they will smell together. Another part is prioritizing – because if you got too many essences the perfume will easily loose character and become just a cacophony of pleasant odours that don’t have anything special to say to one another and just scream “me, me, me!” in an attempt to get attention.

And me being the perfumer and facilitator of such a process is like walking a tightrope: on one hand, I want to listen to the client’s innermost fragrant desires; on the other hand I must guide them so that it won’t be a waste of time, not to mentio precious material. The process must be meaningful and enjoyable, allowing the client to have a say in the decision making throughout the various stages of development. As to not interfere too much with the process, I begin without negating options just because I think that they “won’t work” or because it’s “straying from the original concept”. I will get there at some point, and offer my expertise in what would work and what wouldn’t, give suggestions, alternatives and invent narratives that will make every compromise (if such a thing is really necessary) feel like a choice and not like lessening of the dream.

The elimination process with Eliza was smooth sailing. Although she loves many different types of scents (we picked 30 raw materials to start with!) she also had a very clear vision for what she wanted. And when it came to the 2nd round, she was just as harsh as I was with letting go and cutting things out, understanding that it’s not about the attachment to a particular note – but about how it will work together as a whole with the vision she had for Gentille Alouette perfume.
To assist us in the process, we used touches (scent strips) that we dipped in the various essences and clipped together. Waving them in front of the nose in a spiraling motion gets the molecules mingled together in the air and gives off a scent that alludes to what would be if… this will be mixed with that. And unlike actual blending – it’s possible to not only add things in – but also take them out if you don’t like the result. While it does not give a good grasp on the proportion, a skilled nose can know if he’s heading in the right direction. Because the scents strips are just one part – the other part is the imagination, the vision, and once in the lab – knowing how to put them all together so the essences can dance, sing and bloom on the skin.

Our process was nearing its end, when we had a surprise visitor at the shop: a long time customer of mine and a fellow Portobello West vendor: Gerry-Gail (GG) Endean of Creampuffs by GG. Her signature scent is GiGi, with which she fell in love instantly upon her first visit to the market (by the second or third visit she has already become a vendor…). GG sells her “creampuffs” or girlie boxer shorts at Gentille Alouette and dropped by to restock the shop with more creampuffs AND show off the new fabaric swatches for the upcoming collection. We let her sniff the perfume and as you can tell by the sheer bliss expression on her face – she liked it just as much as we did… And than a bunch of other customers showed up too and we had a blast just looking at their faces as they smell this very particular, freshly made-up combination of notes.

Next post: what I’ve done with all those essences (and what essences?!) when I came back to my studio…

Boutique Exclusives

Boronia, originally uploaded by Helen Boronia McHugh.

Recent increases in rare floral essences prices have forced me to do something I don't like doing, but have to: increase the price on selected perfumes from my collection. I don't like the snobbish attitude this may imply, but if I want to be able to continue buying the materials to make these perfumes, logic forces me to follow what the numbers request.

The perfumes subject to the increase are those containing precious essences such as boronia, broom (the latter has increased its price significantly this year, and is now about $500 per ounce) and jonquille. Also, the ones that I will probably not be able to get for a long time if at all - such as ambergris and East Indian sandalwood (I have enough in stock to make Gigi for a whilte).

The price for the following perfumes are exclusive to Ayala Moriel's boutique as they can only be produced on a small scale. Their price have been increased to $160 per 9ml flacon:
Gigi
Grin
Indigo
l'Écume des Jours
Razala
And of course, Sahleb and the upcoming (2009) perfume The Purple Dress will bear the same price, reflecting the high concentration of rare essences that goes into their disctinc scent (orris with 15% irone and ambrette seed in Sahleb and red & golden champaca in The Purple Dress).

Gigi reviewed on Perfume Shrine

Visit Perfume Shrine to read Helg's review of my Gardenia soliflore Gigi, titled "Making Love In Gardenia Garden".

I'm thrilled that Helg has enjoyed Gigi's lighthearted, playful take on this dramatic floral and "got it" in the context of it's inspiration (the GiGi musical, from which the above quote is extracted).

Mental Notes: l'Écume des Jours, Gardenia, Lily

Gigi, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

My parfum de jour is l'Écume des Jours. Some spilled as I was filling up purse roll-ons with the perfume oil. Some spilled on the table and that was the best use I could think of, so it wasn't quite intentional so to speak. Which is sometimes the best way to introduce scent into one's day.
I'm surprised at how indolic it is in the oil concentration, on my skin. The pink lotus is really coming through beautifully underlined with those salty seaweed notes. The alcohol version shows more of the boronia in my opinion.

I also visited several flower shops today, mainly in search for a descent gardenia plant with some flowers for my Gigi photoshoot, and found only a couple that are sort of in bloom. The scent is beautiful. And so was the scent of lily of the valley that I decided to postpone buying till tomorrow so they stay fresh and lively for the weekend.

GiGi: Grand Gardenia Sans the Drama

Elegance, originally uploaded by _wintermute.

While evolution often follows challenge and crisis, few will admit that a sign that you have truly evolved is when your life, all of a sudden, has everything you dreamed of, sans the drama. Strangely enough, I find myself today, the scheduled launch date of my grand gardenia soliflore GiGi to be quite lacking any deeply emotional stories tales related to this dramatic floral note.

Where to begin? Perhaps the name choice. It is in reference to the musical of that name, starring the youthful, innocently tomboyish Leslie Caron. Somehow, the sentence about “making love in a gardenia scented garden” is the only thing from the film that got stuck in my mind forever and that’s where the name came from... While I can’t say there is anything un-romantic about it, in that context it seems so overtly dramatic to the point of ridicule. Which is precisely the direction I was heading for - lighthearted even if a bit mysterious (you can’t avoid that with gardenia!); rather than the Bluesy, Billie-Holiday-esque gardenia ornaments, a gardenia that is open to your own interpretation, with a mood that is easy to manipulate.



The focus here is on creating a rich, creamy gardenia from complex natural essences only. A true challenge indeed, when you cannot use Benzyl acetate; not to mention (E)-ocimene, linalool, asmine lactone, or gamma-decalactone (used to create gardenia headspace).

Instead, I have created an odour profile reminiscent of gardenia using the following notes:
Top notes:

Yellow Mandarin - chosen for it’s intense heady-floral aroma, reminiscent of creamy tuberose

Coriander essential oil and Cardamom CO2 - for their exotic spiciness, adding a hint of spice to the gardenia profile

Kewda Attar - for the sharpness, headiness, and hyacinth-like top notes that are somewhat resembling the head notes of gardenia

Rosewood - chosen for the abundance of linalol content, creating that smooth and soft, clean yet heady floral top notes.
For the heart notes I created a rich, creamy white-floral-indolic accord, using precious absolutes of:

Jasmine Sambac - the closest I’ve ever found to the scent of fresh gardenia, persistent, and somewhat green and fruity all at once

Jonquille - richly indolic, powdery, animalic and sweet, somewhat green as well

Tuberose - creamy, soft, suave and very close to gardenia absolute (which is a rare find that turns out only very rarely).

As for the base - the trick was to not overdo it as to not overpower the delicate floral heart, while extending the life of these fragile notes. I’ve chosen notes that complement the other ones, but are also rich and soft and subtle:

Myrrh - adding a hint of bittersweetness, which is very important in a gardenia.

Sandalwood from India - from the very last batch I was able to obtain; sandalwood trees in India are becoming extinct, and hence GiGi will probably not be around for too long... At least not in its exact current form - as other sandalwoods do smell different and are less creamy and deeply rich.

Ambrette CO2 - adding depth and a soft muskiness, sweet but not cloying, and adding an effect that is reminiscent of Monoi de Tahiti on a sun-warmed skin.

Vetiver from Sri-Lanka - contributing to the sun-warmed skin and beach notes in the dry out phase.

Vanilla CO2 and Absolute - for a round, soft sweetness.

GiGi is available for a limited time only (until my sandalwood runs out!!!), in the 1/4oz parfum extrait flacons, or parfum oil roll-on bottles, and of course the 1ml sample vials so you can try before you buy.

What's New for Spring 2008?

Spring 2008 will bring two new perfumes from Ayala Moriel: Gaucho and Gigi.
Gaucho will be accompanied by a matching tea, based on Yerba Mate.
Gigi is a limited-edition gardenia soliflore, the newest addition to The Language of Flowers - Ayala Moriel's Soliflore collection.
The following posts will be dedicated to Gaucho - the perfume and the tea. Gaucho was a particularly difficult to conceive perfume, for various reasons, and I would like to share with you some of my experience of this 6 year journey that took me to create it.
There will also be some guest appearance blog entries by Dawna Ehman, who created the Gaucho Perfumed Tea. So tune in for an exciting series surrounding mate, bitter herbs and the story behind the scenes of creating this perfume...