This week I've finally created a batch of Coal Harbour, which I intend to close the Perfume4aPlace series dedicated to my favourite spots in Vancouver. However, the concept of Coal Harbour perfume predated all the other scents. In fact, it was in one of those morning walks about five years ago in Coal Harbour that I knew I would soon have to leave the city. Walking there and watching the aquaplanes take off and land on water I felt a pang of melancholy, knowing how much I love the marine aspect of the city. And so I promised myself to make a Coal Harbour perfume before I leave, as a goodbye present to the place I've called home for nearly 18 years.
This idea of course was the seed of the entire collection. And as the time to leave approached, I began rolling out the scents. I felt reluctant to launch Coal Harbour, because deep inside I knew that would mean the last farewell. So I did this gradually, with one perfume in each season... Komorebi in the fall of 2015, Sunset Beach in the winter of 2016, Lost Lagoon in the spring, and finally Coal Harbour for summer.
The scent is now maturing in the vat - a concoction that echoes the juxtaposition of natural aromas in their urban surrounding, contrasting marine notes, fresh cut grass and linden blossoms with the penetrating aroma of jet fuel.
The perfume is still in the maturing phase, but you can pre-order a sample (or, if you know you like marine-leathery-green scents, an entire bottle in your choice of eau de parfum application - mini splash bottle, roll-on and larger spray bottle.
For those of you who missed the party, here are some sights and imaginary smells, tastes and aromas from my last tea party, where I officially launched ORCAS - the first natural oceanic fragrance for men (well, women love it too!). It was originally scheduled to take place on Father's day, but I had to postpone it due to other clashes in my schedule (not to mention the rather wild partying that was going on in downtown Vancouver during the hockey games).
It all started with zesting some key limes the night before, to make the key lime pie. Lime is a key ingredient in Orcas, so it only made sense to feature its intense flavour in the menu!
I also found linden blossom branches on Denman street the day before, so I did all the flower arrangements (a very fancy name for my very simple bouquet of linden and freesia) the day before.
Setting the mood started early in the morning, with collecting pebbles at the beach, and painting rocks with blue hearts, inspired by the beach graffiti at Sunset Beach, and setting up little dioramas like this, which was the place where I was plotting Orcas all summer long in 2009 and 2010. And than, of course, I started playing all my favourite summery 70's funk music to keep my energy up until the guests arrive, without missing a beat!
I had very little help this tea party, so very little time to take pictures of the guests (not to mention of myself...). You'll just have to believe me that I was there, and that I had a presentation that told the tales of Orcas perfume, as well as explain the difference between a natural oceanic fragrance vs. the synthetic ones (in the likes of Dune, Cool Water and l'Eau d'Issey). The guests were unfortunate enough to smell calone molecules diluted to 1% and 10% (and also look at the pure crystals without snorting them). And they were privee to the process of how I picked essences for Orcas, demonstrated with some 20 or so natural essences, including ambergris, seaweed, cedarmoss, boronia, cassie, violet leaf and angelica. Being exposed to the raw aromatics and walk through the process of fragrance creation is not something that is often made available to consumers, and my guests are always very curious about it, and appreciate the educational as well as sensory aspect of the experience. This is something I only do at my private studio events, where all the materials are within hand reach and the setting is intimate and allows for questions, answers and first hand experience of the raw materials without outside distractions (well, except for the truffles, that is!).
And now - you are probably curious to see what the menu looked like after all - so feast your eyes, and please do come by again to my next party, which will in November 2011 to launch a new tea AND perfume for the winter holidays. Mark this date in your calendars: Sunday, 20.11.2011.
Serving watermelon with feta cheese is popular in the Balkan countries, and happily adopted in the Mediterranean countries. Nice contrast between sweet and salty, not to mention the difference in textures... These were little appies served to hold the guests over until all the sandwiches and treats were freshly made, garnished & decorated and set on the 5 tiered tea tray!
Another good appie/palate cleanser is the raw rhubarb (marinated with rosemary, Hendricks gin and chestnut honey) that I served in little China spoons.
Smoked Salmon + Capers open tea sandwiches, made with the BEST - wild smoked BC Sockeye salmon, on rosemary & lavender wholewheat bread by purebread.
In the background, on the tea tray, are Yuzu + Kabu tea sandwiches (kabu is a Japanese turnip with a very fine, sweet taste and tender, crisp texture; yuzu is a Japanese citron, and I used koshu condiment, which is a little spicy, mixed together with butter, to feature the flavour in an interesting way).
No tea party is complete without scones, clotted cream and preserves. Since the rest of the menu was so fragrant, I kept the scones simple yet fancy (sweet cream scones from The Empress Hotel's tea room recipe), served with tart raspberry-rhubarb preserves to balance out their sweetness.
My first time making a key lime pie - and I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make, and cut. I decorated them with a dollop of whipped cream, and a little slice of candied angelica stalks that Rachel Sawatzky of CocoaNymph has graciously made for me, from stalks that were harvested by Stacelynn Caughlan. Both angelica and lime are in Orcas, so it was very neat to be able to have that not-commonly-found confection as part of the menu!
Nothing at all like the ones made by Proust's grandmother, these have the added oomph of fresh rosemary leaves that I picked at Sunset Beach, and a touch of honey. And yes, they do taste good the next day as well, when dunked into tea...
These are no extraordinary truffles... I was most excited about creating these truffles, this one time only, for my Orcas perfume launch. I've scented them with nothing less than my precious ambergris tincture that was aged for 6 years now. The result was what can be described as "chocolate on steroids" - the ambergris is not so much a taste on its own, as much as it just tremendously enhances the flavour and aroma of the chocolate, which was already pretty amazing to begin with (the same 64% chocoa that CocoaNymph uses to concoct her much-coveted SeaNymph bars). And the ambergris also enhances the chocolate's aphrodisiac properties...!
And last but not least - you're probably curious to hear who won the lucky draw -
It's hard to believe another year has gone by! It seems just like yesterday when I was swimming at Sunset Beach and testing the final versions of Orcas on the lifeguards. Oh, wait - I did go for a swim yesterday! Finally, summer is back in the Pacific Nothwest, and that was my first real, long swim of the year, at the very same spot. Ahh, so refreshing...! Which is the same feeling I get now spritzing my Orcas EDP from the new spray bottles. Got some good news to share with you, just in time for Father's Day and the beginning of summer - so read on!
1. Orcas, the 1st Natural Oceanic Fragrance for Men
Orcas began its journey many years ago, with a scent that had an unusual combination of notes - seaweed, cloves, lime and rosemary. Strangely enough, it smelled like coke, and was loved by everyone who set nose on it. But I knew it wasn't quite right, so I set it aside and forgot all about it, until...
A couple of years ago, I went to Tofino and Uclulet for a little summer vacation, and fell in love with the magical, misty Pacific rim. Long Beach was breathtaking, with the constant mist in the air and the mythical rock that just sits there waiting for the surfers to take a wrong turn, and the whales passing by the Wild Pacific Trail enchanted me with their songs... The air there is so crips and clean that it makes a perfect habitat for moss and lichen, adorning the trees with velvety green topes and silvery lace. And just off the shore, whales spit a mist of water from their lungs which towers abaove the water and they weave in and out of its depths along the rocky shores. Orcas plays on this theme of the marine creatures and moss.
Two years later, and Orcas has become what I envisioned - an innovative all-natural marine woody scent, a unique alternative to the mainstream aquatic/ozone fragrances. Orcas is made of a unique combination of scents from sea and seashore, some mundane and familiar, and others are precious botanical gems from the ocean and the land.
It is available in EDP only, in two sizes - 4ml mini ($38) or 15ml spray/splash bottle ($120). It was offered for pre-ordering so the number of bottles that will be ready for the launch (June 12th) is rather limited at the moment (and I'm thrilled it was so well received!!!).
It was always intended as a masculine fragrance, but as it turns out - both men and women love to smell and wear it!!!
You can read more about the process of creating Orcas on SmellyBlog. Here are more notes on the materials used in the finished creation:
Top notes - Breath of Fresh Air:
Rosemary verbenon - sheer, non-medicinal and reminiscent of tea and crisp ocean breeze. Rosemary bushes grow at Sunset Beach, and the lifeguard there make it into tea.
Lime - with its sweet, slightly coconutty undertones, lime is a note that always reminds me of the beach.
Fresh Ginger - brisk and zingy
Cedarwood - an inevitable note as the beaches of the Pacific Northwest are often a rainforest, or gritty sand dotted with cedar logs.
Heart notes - Non-Floral Flowers: Egyptian Geranium - with a slightly salty, woody and musky aroma, it brings forward floral elements while keeping it clean and frill-free.
Boronia - a dash of oceanic saltiness from this Tasmanian treasure.
Clary Sage - tea-like and ambery nuances to connect between the ambergris and rosemary.
Violet Leaf - a freshwater mist that is cool and elegant.
Base notes - Salt, Whales and Forest at their best:
Seaweed - crisp ocean air with prominent saltiness
Ambergris - animalic whale secretion
Cedarmoss - reminiscent of the lichen hanging on the coniferous trees on the Wild Pacific Trail
Blue Spruce Absolute - scent of the Pacific Northwest forests
October's arrival hasn't diminished my desire to immerse my body in the cold Pacific ocean. On the contrary. Swimming in those salty glacier waters seems to be my connection to both the inner and outer world. The chill of the water is felt in every inch of my skin, each one of them sending a screeching signal to my brain that I’m alive and breathing. I admit, that under 15 degrees Celsius it becomes very painful, but not any less worth it. And the sensation of coming out of the ocean, after struggling for some 10-15 minutes to maintain a healthy body temperature, is like a lesson in the laws of relativity – the air always feels so much warmer… But still not warm enough to not warrant a very hot bath as soon as possible.
October 1st was so warm and dry (relatively speaking, of course) I nearly got a sunstroke… And of course, I had to go to the beach. I went swimming as usual, pretending I’m on the white sandy beaches of Tel Aviv, and that nothing could be more natural than going for a swim. It felt quite normal. Sunsent Beach café was open as usual, serving their usual array of British Columbian beach food. Some people on beach blankets and lawn chairs chatting and reading a magazine. Even the water was pretty normal summer temperature (16 Celsius, that is…).So in I go and breathe in the coldish air floating just above the water, smelling of salt, seaweed, fish, perhaps a little boat engine oil too. I’m almost convinced this Indian Summer is a real summer when it hits me: a smoldering, thick and sweet smoke of burning leaves. A little like Choya Loban, come to think of it. I’m swimming and marveling at this strange scent combination: ocean and burning leaves. Cold air and warm smoke. Wow.
Last night’s swim brought an interesting olfactory surprise. I swam in the water of Sunset Beach, all the way to the large float that marks the boat traffic territory. The setting sun nearly blinded my eyes and I was hardly able to make out the couple in the rowing boat ahead of me. I stopped for a while, blocked off from my goal (to reach that big red ball and than swim back…) by the couple and while waiting for them to move on I noticed an unusual scent in the air.
The middle of the water is the place I least expect to smell anything around. Unlike a walk in the neighbourhood with its abundant gardens, it’s not as if you’d stop to smell the seaweed when you go for a swim… But surprises are what you find in the least expected friend. Just a few days before, I knocked into a good old friend in that very same water. So really, I should know better than to expect less than the unexpected!
The water was very cold, which is pretty much it’s normal thing year around in Vancouver. A peculiar scent, yet not at all unpleasant, wafted above the water and gently blew in my face fragments of raw fish, seaweed and something quite floral and strange. I believe to be the scent of ozone, at least partially, wafting just above the water. It was not unlike calone, but with none of the harsh, sickening quality of rotting fish and piercing rusty metal that I got when I smelled a 10% dilution of the watermelon ketone. Apparently, it could very likely have something to do with a particular brown algae’s metabolism or pheromones.
I’ve never felt that calone was in the least floral, but I can now see where perfumes such as Cool Water and l’Eau d’Iseey found their inspiration. The perfumers must have been either swimming or sailing in a very cold ocean at sunset searching for brown algae…
Bewildered, I turned around and swam back to the beach. It weakened as I approached the shore. But when I went back to the red float (the sailing couple was gone), the scent was there and as strong as before, and it was haunting me ever since. I tried wearing l’Eau d’Issey (which bears some similarities, and to my surprise smells a lot more like sheer woodsy incense scent now, but this is the parfum extrait). I went to the beach again the next day, but the scent was gone.
With every dip or swim in the ocean, no mater how short or long, I come out feeling cleansed, purified. It feels as if I left something behind in the water... Something I probably did not need to keep carrying on my shoulders. I don't know what it is that has lessened my burden, but it sure feels good.
It’s evening. Rocking on my swing-bench in my balcony upstairs, I’m sensing my state of mind and typing it through my fingertips. The balcony is open to the skies that are now covered with summer clouds. Hinoki incense is burining, producing smokeless smoke, which feels more like vapours in a dry sauna.
Every muscle in my body is at once relaxed and exhausted. My brain, which nearly froze every time I put my head under the Pacific ocean’s grey and algae-specked water, is floating in a cheerfully wobbly place above all troubles.
I know there are many things I could worry about – a busy week ahead of me, with opening in (hopefully) 3 retails locations. I will need to work like mad in the next few days to get all the perfumes bottled and packaged neatly, and put together all the necessary display materials. And this is just one part of what needs to get done this week. But I’m feeling strangely unworried. Even though I can never be sure that everything will fall into place perfectly and with no challenge (when does that ever happen, anyway?!), I have a sense of peacefulness that nothing will disturb right now.
The ocean – a big mirror of unknown depth that takes away suffering and reflects our interior landscape of emotions, fears, fascinations and misery. Each wave takes away an obsession and turns it into an inspiration; transforms our suffering into grace and compassion. And while those healing powers exists for me year around as I frequent the sea in all its moods and season, the ability to immerse in it gives me a renewed sense of appreciation that goes beyond the sheer pleasure of being able to swim under the sun without the risk of hypothermia.
The sea bears many treasures – fish, pearls, ambergris... The the ocean’s greatest gift to us is the sea itself. I am grateful.
My visit to Tofino last summer left a lasting impression on me, and I was determined to turn it into perfume one day. The scents of the ocean never cease to amaze me, and fortunately, there are some raw materials in my palette that are authentic in both their origin and their manifestation. Take seaweed, for instance (which comes in oil, absolute and more recently - molecular distillation). It is so true to the scent of seashore and ocean breeze that it makes my heart skip a beat every single time, just like when the sea line approaches on the horizon on a Beach Day and you can see the lifeguard’s red flag saying swimming is not forbidden but a still a little dangerous…
Tofino, for those of you who aren’t familiar, is a little town on the west coast of Vancouver Island, which faces the great Pacific Ocean. Unlike the beaches within the Georgia Straight – the waves there are high and forceful. There is a high risk of tsunami there, because it is not too far from the “junction” of no less than three tectonic plates!
There are many magical spots in that area, which is almost continuously draped in mist regardless of season. The iconic big rock at Long Beach, which looks like a giant altar for sacrifice for the gods of the sea; The rainforest there are so clear, that moss grows on the trees in abundance, moss that I’ve never seen anywhere else. Every place you turn is like pure magic, even the hundreds of dead squids that were washed to shore and made some of the beaches reek of rotting marine carcasses. But certainly, the most memorable thing was the Wild Pacific Trail, where we spotted whales blowing and gasping for fresh misty air above sunken ships from centuries past.
In my very early days of perfumery, I created Orcas. It was a strange oceanic that smells a lot like Coca Cola – because besides the seaweed and the rosemary, which provided the core of the “ocean breeze” theme, I also put some lime, rose geranium, litsea cubeba, cinnamon and cloves. I liked Orcas, but it never really made it. I phased it out when I did the name switch (from Quinta Essentia to Ayala Moriel). I felt it’s time to update this perfume and give it a new spin, and that’s what I’ve been working on in the past month. I Love the name and wanted to keep it that way. I want the new Orcas to be more on the masculine side, very expansive and light, and distinctively oceanic.
Oceanic, Aquatic and Ozone notes have probably began with Dune by Maurice Roger (created in 1991 for Christian Dior). Although rather complex with its array of notes (Broom, Wallflower, Bergamot, Mandarin, Lily, Peony, Jasmine, Rose, Amber, Lichen, Musk, Sandalwood, Vanilla) - it was more about creating the impression of sand, seashore and ocean air rather than an evolution of notes. It is also the first in the genre of oceanic perfumes, later on expanded into the ozonic/oceanic and aquatic-floral fragrance family, with the introduction of the man-made molecule calone.
Creating a marine or oceanic natural scent poses a challenge because the palette of oceanic notes is limited and narrow – primarily the seaweed essences I’ve mentioned. What can be built on top of that relies heavily on the perfumer’s imagination, creativity and their own association with seashore and ocean.
For some reason, I find rosemary to fit in perfectly with that theme. And so I’m quite set on focusing my attention on the seaweed and rosemary accord, which is quite lovely. My first version (or my second, counting the original Orcas) is very simple and minimalist, with blue spruce absolute, seaweed, Haitian vetiver (which has a certain ‘saltiness’ to it), angelica, violet leaves, clary sage, rosemary and fresh ginger. These notes to fit in together quite nicely into a Pacific mist meets rainforest kind of accord, and the rosemary (usually a top note) gets a surprisingly long appearance. But it’s not a perfume quite yet. There is a lot missing – a heart, for example.
Hope you all enjoyed the first day of summer and longest one in the year. I spent most of it chasing the sun in the Sunshine Coast and waiting for the tides to clash at Skookumchuk Rapids. Memorable scents of the day: salty ocean air with wafts of wild roses and resinous conifers.
“Here at Laughing Pines Where the party never ends There’s a spicy new attraction On the Funway You can scan yourself For traces of old heartaches The details of desire Shimmering – shimmering”
(Donald Fagen, “Springtime” from his solo album “Kamakiriad”)
Besides the Japanese origin of both Issey Miyake's l’Eau d’Issey and the inspiration of “Kamakiriad” (a legendary futuristic Japanese car) there should seemingly be no connection at all between the two. But if l’Eau d’Issey could have a sound, it will definitely have the sparkling, chilly & magnetizing synthesized studio sound of Donald Fagen and Steely Dan. Particularly the sound that can be heard when playing the few lines that are quoted above.
Everything about this perfume suggests purity – from the bottle design – a simple cone with a transparent sphere suggesting a drop of water caught at a perfect moment in the air, the icy frosted glass and aluminum – to the colourless juice. But most importantly, it is the only water that can be enjoyed when drunk through the nostrils.
Designed to smell like water, l’Eau d’Issey provides artificial tranquility in a most magical way. One drop from this cone vessel encompasses within it all the vital promises of pure water – thirst clenching, cleanliness and rejuvenation. It only takes a tiny drop from the pure parfum to make one feel like swimming in a bubble of fresh water, or the unmatched pleasure of licking off condensation droplets from an icy glass of water.
L’Eau d’Issey strats off green, with notes dewy of fresh cut grass, quickly replaced by the subtle honeyed sweetness of blooming flowers – linden blossom and magnolia, with the freshness of neroli – but mainly lead by a transparent and slightly green rose note. These florals are complemented by a computer-generated note of cool fresh air, which gives the over all impression of a water lilies.
A few minutes through the scent (whether if you showered in the last 12 hours or not) – you ought to feel clean and refreshed! The droplet of perfume expands into a whole water experience which will float around you for the whole day, carrying the fresh breeze of outdoors in a brisk winter day, as well as the freshness of melted ice water.
Though light and fresh in character, l’Eau d’Issey possesses a highly impressive lasting power, and once the water finally evaporates (which will take about 6-8 hours), you will be left with a transparent, white-musk and woody accord, achieved by using double distilled and refined essences of cedar and sandalwood.
l’Eau d’Issey makes me feel like I had just swam in a chlorine-drenched pool, and the scent has not yet decided to leave the skin completely. I love to wear it in order to achieve a detached peace of mind, or as a releaf for mental thirst for water-derived tranquility. It can be also used as a substitute for shower if necessary.
Special thanks to Siobhan Flanagan, who reminded me of this exceptional scent.
Ayala Moriel, the Nose and the founder of Ayala Moriel Parfums, creates natural artisan and bespoke perfumes that are inspired by her deepest emotions and memories from her childhood landscapes of the Mediterranean.
