Cerise en Cocoa

Eisrose 2, a photo by multiflora on Flickr.

Cerise en Cocoa is the other Rebel & Mercury's other osmanthus-laden perfume Nikki sent me to try before our osmanthus conversation, this time in an oil-base parfum concentration.

It is not nearly as osmanthus-y as Osmanthus Red, but is noteworthy for its stellar pairing of a difficult trio: rose, osmanthus and chocolate.

Rose and osmanthus together are extremely difficult to work with. When they have been paired in the past, the result was a rich-heavy-nearly-muddy concoction. Masterfully blended it will result in melancholy darkness such as that present in 1000 de Patou. Not so well done it is just sheer cacophony - every perfumer's nightmare.

Somehow, in Cerise en Cocoa, Nikki Sherritt was able to pull the best of each component and work them together in a balancing act that brings to mind an acrobat dancer on a tightrope. And not just any acrobat - but the legendary Rosa Marzipan herself (a beloved Erich Kästner heroine). Pretty and flexible, with a delicate almond-paste complexion and while her head is nearly always in the air, her head is grounded in reason and wit.

Cerise en Cocoa (cherry and cocoa) begins with a burst of unusual fruitiness - the plum-like, robust juiciness of osmanthus absolute combined with an even juicier ruby-red grapefruit zest and both bring forth the the peach-plum damascones in red and white roses. The wine-like, liquor qualities of cocoa absolute also contribute to the sensual feeling of biting into a Pierre Herme violet-cassis macaron, with the thin brittle skin bursting open to reveal a lightly fragranced, creamy almond paste underneath and a cassis-flavoured silky ganache undnerneath.

Yet, all this apparent sweetness is well-balanced with an underlying dry air of woodsy vetiver roots. There is almost a dry feeling of pencil shavings, so there might be some Virginia cedar lurking beneath too.

Cerise en Cocoa is available directly from Rebel & Mercury's Etsy shop; or via Sweet Anthem in Seattle.

Top notes: Ruby Red Grapefruit, Virginia Cedarwood
Heart notes: Osmanthus, White and Red Rose accord
Base notes: Cocoa, Vetiver

Osmanthus Red

rothko_redblackmaroon, a photo by expository writing: arts & ideas on Flickr.

Osmanthus Red by Rebel & Mercury paints osmanthus in broad strokes of magenta, red and gold. While most mainstream osmanthus scents are painted in faint, washed-out watercolours, Nikki Sherritt prefers to paint hers in full-bodied oils that give a thick, almost syrupy texture to this rare absolute.

Osmanthus Red pairs the plum-like and "violet meets blackberry jam" quality of osmanthus, as the perfumer described she perceives it in our previous conversation - with juicy blood orange, and the golden hues of marigold (aka tagetes - pronounce tah-jet), a modest garden flower that keeps hungry caterpillars at bay, and gets little attention if at all from perfumers. Marigold on its own has a slightly citrus opening reminiscent of bitter orange zest; but it is most significant for its overripe Golden Delicious apple-like notes and almost-disturbing green bit of leafy overtones; yet ends with a soft, very natural, herbaceous-sweet grassy, hay-like finish. It's a little like tomato-leaf: you'll either love it or hate it. And who besided Nikki would have imagined that such a strong-minded note will get along so well with the elusive and distinctive osmanthus?

Snowy mooncakes - Sweet Potato and Banana, Sweet Osmanthus and Chestnut and Chocolate and Banana, a photo by Pondspider on Flickr.

Another prominent note in Osmanthus Red seem to give a nod to the Asian culture from which this plant originates: ginger CO2, which is full-bodied and as golden as could be, almost candy-like. Tuberose gives it an animalic edge, yet with a feminine softness, which leads us to the most alluring, voluptuous amber base, lingering for hours on end. It's honeyed, a tad powdery and very long lasting, as a good amber should be.

This is the Eau de Parfum I'm writing about. It is also made in an oil base. Other sizes are also available from the Rebel & Mercury online shop.

Osmanthus Conversation with Perfumer & Candlemaker Nikki Sherritt

Tea Party of Love, a photo by Ayala Moriel on Flickr.

In the second conversation in our Osmanthus Series, I invited Nikki Sherritt to join the conversation. Candlemaker for Gabriel's Aunt where she creates naturally perfumed soy wax candles; perfumer in her newly launched Rebel & Mercury natural perfumes line - and an all-around wonderful lady with whom I had the pleasure to work for many years. We collaborated on several candles for under my brand, hosted events together, and participated at the 1st Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco in July 2012. We initially met when Nikki drove up to Vancouver for a brief day for a private lesson and consultation way back when. We immediately "clicked" and I was so impressed with her candles that just had to commission her to handcraft a collection of them for me. Since the very beginning of our interaction and working together, we both felt that we have similar aesthetics and a similar passionate attitude about our work, being almost overly enthusiastic about it - and being quite proud about our self-taught knowledge in our areas of expertise.

In everything that Nikki does, there is a sense of free-spirit, innovation, and an unpretentious commitment to purity, independence and quality. This conversation will let you in to Nikki's experience of working with osmanthus in general, and her creative process behind her new perfume, Osmanthus Red and her other osmanthus prominent perfume, Cerise en Cocoa for her perfume line, Rebel & Mercury.

Ayala Moriel/SmellyBlog: How would you describe the scent of osmanthus?

Nikki Sherritt (Rebel & Mercury/Gabriel's Aunt): Mostly, for me it is like Violet meets Blackberry jam. I get this slightly powdery, sugary sweetness that is just too good to not use.

Ayala: Time and again I'm surprised at the varied responses to osmanthus. Although we seem to all find fruity notes there - they are all quite different. So far we had apricot, peach, cherry and plum - and now also blackberry!

Nikki: I am so surprised at how time and time again I get a powdery note from it. I love reading other perfumer's or perfumistas descriptions of notes or perfumes. We all get different nuances!

Ayala: Have you ever smelled the fresh flowers?

Nikki: Sadly, no, just the dried flowers. I have had my fair share of Osmanthus Tea too. I have always loved this delicate tea and how it just has hints of the absolute. Adding some raw honey to that tea is one of my favorite treats.

Ayala: You are fortunate! It took me eons to find osmanthus tea in Vancouver - let alone served in restaurants. Shaktea is the only tea lounge that serves it plain. And for years I was searching for it in traditional Chinese tea shops - but without the proper Chinese name for it, it was pretty futile… It wasn't until a friend of mine who speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin gave me a caddy of dried flowers that I was able to enjoy it in its pure form.

Nikki: Every time we go out for Vietnamese or Pho here in Seattle, it is the house tea served (very lucky). Although, they love to put lots of sugar in it. I thought that the absolute would be more like Rhododendron in scent from drinking the tea, but it was so much more! 

Ayala: Do you have any scent memories associated with osmanthus? Or memories that are triggered by this note? 

Nikki: For me, Osmanthus is a more recent discovery (the absolute anyway). I have had the tea many times since I moved to Seattle 7 years ago (it is prevalent in the Vietnamese restaurants here) and always had a bit of a fascination with it. When I finally got my hands on my first absolute, I knew that I had to create a perfume that would feature it.

Ayala: Same for me - it's a relatively new experience - a note I would have had no "relationship" with if it wasn't for my perfumery work and exposure to it. I was on a big hunt for florals early on in my learning stages to become a perfumer. Osmanthus was one of those elusive, exotic names that I had no idea what to expect before smelling it. The first time I smelled it was in a dilution in a tea shop, of all places (they had quite an impressive collection of floral absolutes in their "aromatherapy" collection - way back in the early 2000's when aromatherapy was very hip). It was very faint, as it was diluted in jojoba oil, and I was under impressed. Fortunately, however - my first purchase of it was from Eden Botanicals (years ago) and was a good quality one (though not nearly as good as the one they carry now). 

Nikki: It's funny how so many of us have just (fairly) recently stumbled across this or found out it's true potential. I, like you, knew I wanted this fruity floral note added to my library. Little did I know I would become a bit obsessed! I have also had the pleasure of using Eden's absolute of Osmanthus (the one I use in Osmanthus Red) and it is truly gorgeous. 

Ayala: What were the main challenges for you when incorporating this note into your perfumes?

Nikki: I knew that it was a very dominant note with a distinctive scent so I wanted to feature it without making it an "Osmanthus" perfume or soliflore type. I loved that mixes with things like Rose and other florals, it added such a gorgeous, deep berry/powdery aspect. My goal was to use it to create an idea: like the cherry cordial note of Cerise en Cocoa.

Ayala: Have you noticed anything unusual about the behaviour of osmanthus in a blend?

Nikki: For me, Osmanthus goes very, almost cough-syrupy, on me plus the drier side comes out towards the end. Of course, depending on what you blend it with, it can do one of the other more. 

Ayala: How do you evaluate a new raw material like this? Do you wear it on your skin in dilution first without any other notes mixed in? Or just use scent strips? Contrary to the classic way of studying raw materials, I find that I learn the most out of blending them intuitively with other materials. It's not very systematic (and not a good example for my students) but it's how I work the best and come up with the best ideas.

Nikki: Ayala, I don't know if I picked that technique up from you via osmosis, but that is how I have always done things. Only when I get a new aromatic do I put it on a scent strip or my skin. After that, I know the character of it and what it might bring to the table paired with something else. Again, I sort of visualize combinations so I don't stop to evaluate one note time and time again. 

Ayala: I am pretty sure you had that technique before you met me - I smelled it in the very first perfumes and candles you showed me when we first met. You have a knack for pairing together very strong-willed notes. In Osmanthus Red, there are both tagetes (marigold and osmanthus - none an easy note to work with on their own; and definitely not together. How did you come up with this combination? Can you lead us through your train of thoughts while you blend and design your scents? 

Nikki: I have noticed that sometimes I have a color palette in my head when I got to blend something new. With Osmanthus Red, I kept seeing rich, oranges, reds, ambery/golden types of colors in my head. I kept reaching for things that either reminded me of those colors because of the color of their flowers, or just made me feel that way. Marigold was a way to add some sweet, herbal richness to the blend. Something different and that added a honeyed sweetness without making it a sweet perfume.

Ayala: Do you ever wake up with the feeling of "I don't know what to wear" or "I don't have that in my perfume closet" and just make it? That's how I come up with most of my perfumes!

Nikki: With many of my blends, I wake up with the idea or just get inspired by a new essence and know what I want to do to feature that note. Some are stories I want to tell, some are just a way to show off my favorite essences.

Ayala: It's interesting that you saw red and golden colours with osmanthus. For me osmanthus was initially more green and tea like; and it wasn't till I was deep in the making of Kinmokusei, that the golds crept in - with the wild orange. It really made me think of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", and I would have called it that way if there was only enough room on the label…I find the colour association very powerful and helpful when composing. And it's not surprising - colours and emotions are very strongly linked together! 

Nikki: I love that you wanted to name a perfume that! I have found myself getting ready to go somewhere and thinking "I want to smell like like this". Then, these notes will pop in my head and I will immediately go to my perfume table and put things together. I am constantly thinking of the perfect perfume for me and that is also how so many of mine start (like you). I guess that is what makes them your own, but then they take on a whole new life!

Ayala: Your osmanthus perfume is themed around a colour. Where did you get the inspiration? Do you "see" notes in colours? How did you interpret the colour into the formula? How do you "paint" with scent?

Nikki: I touched on this above a little, but Osmanthus Red was an extension of how I use/get inspired by colors when reaching for essences. This blend had started out as a Ginger/Frankincense blend, but it was calling out for some jammy notes and then, with the addition of more and various types of Ginger and Cedarwood, it was clear it was going to be a slightly spicy robust osmanthus blend. I tried to figure out a name for a long time, then realized that sense of color is what I wanted to convey, so Osmanthus Red was it!

Ayala: Fascinating turn of events!

Nikki: This perfume took many turns! Yes, it amazes me how a perfume can start with one idea and move into something so different at the end. Love that!!

Ayala: Have you noticed a great deal of different between osmanthus essences from different sources? Do you have a favourite - and why? 

Nikki: I have noticed some slight variations. I have 2 that I use. The more powdery/violet/jammy one is the one I use in Cerise en Cocoa and I have another rich, jasmine-y/jammy one with slight licorice notes that I use for Osmanthus Red. They both are the same distillation, but from different suppliers. Just subtle differences. I don't prefer one over the other. They both are lovely. I had the chance to smell someone's tincture of osmanthus and it was gorgeous. That is my next goal, to get my hands on that. :)

Ayala: Osmanthus tincture would be a brilliant idea! I have a feeling it will lend itself beautifully for an alcohol infusion. I think the powdery one is perhaps more high on the ionones - and more subtle and difficult to work with, in my humble opinion. Did you find one easier to work with over the other?

Nikki: Ah! There are so many perfumers who create such beautiful tinctures; an area I am getting into more and more. I would love to have this as a tincture! The 2 I have were equally as easy with which to work. They just had subtle differences. I have finally reached a point where I want a many varieties of an essence as possible. I am sure every perfumer gets to that point, which is why it can be difficult for any of us to make money! :)

Ayala: Thank you so much for your time and your insightful answers! 

Nikki: Ayala, thank you for doing this!!! I love this idea of a virtual conversation!!!!!!

Tune in to SmellyBlog in a few days to read my reviews of Osmanthus Red and Cerise en Cocoa, which I sadly left behind on my trip to San Francisco's 2nd Annual Artisan Fragrance Salon. Fortunately, I have packed some dried osmanthus flowers and I'll be thinking of Nikki every time I brew this tea. 
 

Candle Day

Today, I had a very special guest at the studio - Nikki from Gabriel's Aunt, who drove up for a candle-pouring session.

We made 4 scents - 2 are for now (Orcas, Bon Zai) and 2 will be only revealed in the fall.
Orcas is a limited edition candle, and is available only in the 8oz ceramic vessels handcrafted by Grace Lee of eikcam. They are hand painted with a blue glazed heart and are absolutely adorable!

Bon Zai is also available in 8oz with its own ceramic design of shiso leaf imprint. We also poured it in the travel tin size.

Candle of the Day: Under the Tree

candy canes_heart_reworked, originally uploaded by 1_special_k.

Today I had a very special visitor at the studio: Nikki Sherritt of Gabriel's Aunt, who made a special delivery of my new travel-tin candles for the holidays!

And she came bearing gifts - not of frankincense and myrrh, but of lovely soywax candles that she recently created (which I will tell you about tomorrow), and her tried and true "Under the Tree" scent, which smells like candy cane-decorated Christmas tree. And like everything that Nikki does, it hardly smells cliche at all, and is loveable and diffuses the air nicely and gently with peppermint, pine, and woodsy warm notes of cinnamon and cedar. It's not nearly as tooth-achingly sweet or boring as it could have been. And I suspect it will chase out the pancake and latkes smells that have been really getting on my nerves recently, with my teenage daughter's relentless ventures into my kitchen ;-)

Candle of the Day: Bois d'Hiver

Bois d'hiver organique, originally uploaded by David Chantoiseau.

Today I was burning tealights of Bois d'Hiver at my table at Portobello West. It's been a while since I burnt it and doing so brought endless comments from passers by about how great the whole area around my table smelled (just from two tiny tealights).
Burning Bois d'Hiver for me is like visiting a place that is very familiar yet mysterious. Making that candle with Nikki of Gabriel's Aunt brought a dream of mine alive. And I just love it when it's that time of the year of cold, snow, storms and I can burn this candle and feel cozy at home while being reminded of forests, fireplaces, ancient temples and old-world pomanders.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to you and yours!
May the holiday be filled with light, warmth and lovely latkes.

The next coming 8 days I'm going to try to mention (can't promise daily full blog posts during market season) scented candles that I enjoy. Today my place smells like Gabriel's Aunt Bohem. And not because the candle is lit, but because it was placed too close to the heater, and when I noticed that, I opened the travel tin to see just at what stage of melting it was... Pretty advanced, I discovered as I spilled a good portion of it on my carpet! That was a very silly idea of a curious mind...
But my living room smells like a pack of fresh tobacco awaiting rolling and it's very lovely even if a little naughty and not particularly Hanukkah-appropriate.
It's a beautiful candle and if you are into quirky, leathery tobacco scents you must try this. It rocks!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Joyful Candle: Royal Couple

Tofino was stormy: rainy, misty, cloudy, wavy... One of the things that sweetened the nights when I stayed there was this beautiful travel candle, which is simply scented with only two notes: Indian jasmine and Bulgarian rose.

Rose is the queen and jasmine the king, and when they are together they really need nothing else! This candle was such a joy to burn, and even after extinguishing the flame, the cooled down wax scented the room with its sensual perfume. Rose and jasmine together are truly divine - and the name suits the candle to a tee. It's gentle as to not overwhelm the senses but tenacious enough to scent the entire room. Yet another winner from Gabriel's Aunt - and one of the newest scents in her Just for Fun collection. This scent is also offered in a bath-tea (the rose petals above, soaked in jasmine absolute), bath salts and a solid perfume.

Finding a candle of that quality, not to mention an all-natural scented floral candle, is a real treat: it's authentic and beautiful. The candle artists was generous with the amount of essences she uses, and picky about the quality, and it shows in every hour of burning this candle.

Lemon Bar

There is no mail delivery to my building for 3 weeks now, so you can imagine my delight when I went to the main post office yesterday to pick up the mail (usually there are only bills there) - and found out that two packages I was long expecting finally arrived and I was able to pick and unpack both on the same day.

One packages was from Gabriel's Aunt in Seattle, containing a new batch of White Potion candles as well as several of her candles that I was dying to try for quite some time*. Nikki is so talented with her candle ideas, it's only a matter of time for her to be discovered and considered the big name in natural home-fragrance. Her candles don't only smell great from their tin or jar, they smell great when they burn. Whoever told you that you can't make a naturally scented candle that has a throw or smell interesting simply don't know what they are doing.

Well, Nikki surely knows how to make a candle work without the aid of any aromachemicals or pre-blended candle fragrances that come from a cookie-cutter fragrance factroy. Her scent ideas are fun and original, and her candles burn clean and steady for hours and hours on end, releasing the unique aroma that was given to them before they were poured and moulded. It's so different to smell the real essences in a candle as opposed to an imitation of everyday olfactory pleasures. In Nikki's candles, when you smell chocolate, you know it came from a real cacao bean, and you can really feel that difference. There is a reason why I chose to work with her on my own candle collection, and the results are nothing short of stunning.

I alway check to see what's new at Garbriel's Aunt, as Nikki always manages to surprise with her Just For Fun candle collection. I was particularly eager to try her Lemon Bar scent. I love lemon pastries so much it's a mystery I don't ever wear lemony scents. I find these scents fun to smell as body care or home fragrance but become easily bored with them as a personal perfume. Just a couple of weeks I made a coconut-lime scent that although I liked very much, I thought would be better as a body oil than an acutal perfume (at least for me personally).

With essential oils of lemon, lime and butter CO2, I knew Lemon Bar candle will smell heavenly. And it does. It smells exactly like how my entire house smells like when I bake lemon-lime wafers, and the scorched butter and sugar take over the space and carry along the citrusy zest of lemon and lime. A particularly fun candle to burn in the summer, when baking is out of the question but you want to be in a cloud of lime zest. The butter, I find, adds an almost coconutty nuance, which could be just my own association, but nevertheless makes the candle feel a little tropical.

* I will tell you about the contents of the other package on Monday.

New: Roses et Chocolat Candle

Ayala Moriel is proud to introduce the 4th offering in our scented candle collection: Roses et Chocolat.

Capturing the essence of luxury and romance, Roses et Chocolat candle is everything Roses et Chocolat perfume was - for scenting your space with romance. To the soywax base we’ve added cocoa butter and scented it with cacao absolute, rose, nutmeg and more. The result - a gorgeous, voluptuous rose candle with undertones chocolate and spice. Like out other floral candle (White Potion), Roses et Chocolat is a soft and sweet candle that prefers small intimate spaces and will make any romantic evening complete from the dinner table to the boudoir...

Like all of our candles, Roses et Chocolat candle was created in joint collaboration with Nikki Sherritt of Garbriel’s Aunt, who lovingly hand-pours each candle to perfection. And of course it was her idea to add cocoa butter to the wax to create that creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate texture to the candle’s overall fragrance.

Far East Candle

Far East Candle, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

This week clearly has the mark of tea - beginning with the High-Tea on Sunday and continuing on to today, where I am lighting Gabriel's Aunt new Far East Candle, scented with white tea, green tea and honey.

Just like a cup of green tea, this candle is subtle and gentle and probably "hard to get" at first. But once you get it - you're hooked to the serenity of a more neutral home scent that is not overpowering.

Note the candle's minimal packaging - label, candle cover (with instructions, printed on recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds). You can further recycle the paper by burying it in soil and watching the wildflowers grow...

The glass container can be recycled as well - visit Gabriel's Aunt for ideas and tips as well as her recycling program.

ArbitRary Candle

ArbitRary Candle & A Bon Sai Tree, originally uploaded by Ayala Moriel.

Last night the first sample of my perfumed candle arrived. You can imagine my feeling opening the package and discovering in it something that I did not make and that smelled exactly like my perfume ArbitRary... I was ecstatic.

The candle was custom-made for me by the talented artisanal candle-maker Nikki Sherritt of Gabriel’s Aunt. Nikki and I have been working on adding all-natural perfumed candles to my line since the fall. The first candle we worked on was Bois d'Hiver for the winter. The candle is not quite ready and we both felt it was time to create a different candle. I have been fantasizing of an ArbitRary candle ever since I’ve smelled Nikki’s masterfully crafted perfumed candles (and her Summer Vacation in particular convinced me that ArbitRary would be gorgeous in a candle form). The results haven’t failed: the candle has a cold throw that is nearly identical to the perfume. It burns with its lovely, refreshing aroma, filling the room gently with its mélange of basil, lime, lemon verbena, oakmoss and hay.

Each 8oz candle burns for 50-60 hours and retails for $45. They are now available for ordering and will be in stock next week.

Candle Making Workshop & Other Upcoming Workshops

THE ART OF PERFUMED CANDLEMAKING

Join our guest instructor Nikki Sheritt, an artisan candle maker of Seattle-based Gabriel's Aunt, for an afternoon of candle-making. You will learn how to make beautifully fragrant soy candles using essential oils and natural vegetable waxes. You'll be guided step-by-step in the process of blending the essences, moulding and crafting a high-quality, clean-burning candle. By the end of the class, you will take with you a specially scented candle, beautifully packaged and gift wrapped - ready to go under the tree!
Date: Sunday, November 18th, 1:00-3:00pm
How much: $45 including materials

AROMATIC COOKING with FRESH HERBS, SPICES & FLOWER ESSENCES

"We cook and complain that it's a waste of time, when we should be pouring our love into making that food" (Paulo Coelho, "The Witch of Portobello")

We'll learn the principles of preparing your own unique spice-mixtures, and using fresh herbs and floral essences in cooking and baking. We'll be cooking (and eating!) the following exciting dishes:

1. Druze Root & Spice Brew
2. Winter Salad with Fennel & Tarragon
3. Couscous from scratch, with a hearty and fragrant Morrocan Vegetbale Stew
4. Moroccan Mint Tea
5. And for dessert - a very unusual crème brulee which you will only know about once you've signed up for the class and ate it yourself ;)

When: Thursday, November 15th, 6:00-9:00pm
How much: $55 per person, including materials