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Monday, May 05, 2008

Ginger

Recently I have been researching natural perfume-making and have been collecting essential oils to work with. Like any topic, there are blogs devoted exclusively to the subject, so I feel a little hesitant on adding to the mix since this is not something I have a lifelong experience with. My comments and thoughts on the matter may sound uneducated and naive since I am just beginning. But at least I admit that. I have no desire to become part of the online perfumerati, or part of an online anything anymore. Those days, the 90s and early 00s of web communities and cliques are so old and tired now. I just want my own little journal here where I write about my life, be it my animals, movies, music, art, plants, whatever.

And lately I really want to write about scents. I've already made some concoctions that I feel smell as good as anything commercially available. There are so many essential oils I'm unfamiliar with, so I add a small bit to some carrier oil and wear them as a single note perfume so I can take them in and "learn" them. Then there are some EOs I had been hesitant to get because I have a prejudice about them from my past.

I started obtaining my own perfumes when I was in Junior High. It began with some cheap mini bottles from Woolworths, plus some Avon solid sticks...they were sort of like lip balm, but scents. They came in little decorated tubes, Lilac, Hyacinth, Lily of the Valley and Hawaiian White Ginger. I didn't care for the Hawaiian White Ginger, but I wore it anyway. Then my 8th or 9th grade art teacher, a curmudgeonly old white-haired woman near retirement, wore the same scent. I really had a hard time wearing it after that.

So after that, up until this day, I have not been able to wear any Ginger. Nonetheless, last week I ordered a 1/6 oz size of Ginger Root from an online EO company. I thought I'd give it a second chance. I tried it in carrier oil. It smells nothing like my grumpy art teacher, or the cheap Avon scent. It smells like...crystalized Ginger. It's wonderful, and would make a good scent on its own.

The unfortunate part about natural perfumery is that the scents don't last as long as with synthetics, which is most everything on the commercial mainstream market today. But at least this gives me a way to sample more of my essential oils during a day, than having to wait until I shower next to try something else.

And here's one final thought for the day: I absolutely abhor all the silly Divacelebs with their fragrances. These chickies had absolutely nothing to do with the perfume other than lending their name to it. They probably know nothing about notes and fragrance families let alone tried their own hand at blending. And if anything, it would make me want to try it *less* than something with an abstract/non-celeb name (that is if I were still buying commercial perfume, which I'm not). The thought of a Br*tn*y Sp**rs perfume makes me wretch as I think of horrible smelly things I don't want to mention. Yes, some EOs have quite the...odd, if not downright unsniffable, waft to them. Valerian Root, even diluted, takes my breath away not in a good way. Black Currant bud, which is supposed to be so prized in perfumery smells like cat piss to me. I had such hopes for Galbanum, but I tried it diluted the other night and it left nothing but the smell of paint brushes that had been sitting in mineral spirits for a week. I need to try it again--that just can't be right! But I'd wear those any day before I'd put on any P*r*s H*lt*n. Yuck.

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3 Comments:

Blogger Stan said...

I think the smell of paint brushes sitting in paint thinner would be a great smell for men - perhaps. All want to be artists who are too busy going to parties could wear the scent to make everyone think... they've been working hard in the studio.

You have a really discerning nose and can smell much more differences in these oil than most people - and me for that matter. You have a good sense of chemistry and I think you should keep experimenting. Also... you really enjoy working with the oils.

Very Exciting.

7:14 PM  
Blogger Lavender said...

i started buying essential oils for their healing properties- lots of them are anti septics/antibcterial or anti viral and are good in a bath or inhalation while we are sick. others I got for rituals. there is folklore attached to them- hat certain scents put ppl in certain moods. i think you will be good at blending scents. it takes patience,and from what i have seen of your jewelry and other projects, its someting you appear to have a lot of.

i am too lazy and cheap to try blending my own, although i would love to have my own signature scent or to make special scents for friends. Some of those EOs are EXPENSIVE!

2:08 PM  
Blogger Ann said...

Expensive--tell me about it!

http://www.whitelotusaromatics.com/prices/attars.html

Ouch.

Fortunately I'm finding that some very wonderful scents can be made with fairly inexpensive (I guess inexpensive is a relative term) EOs that can be found either online or at health stores like Whole Foods. Half an ounce of citrus scents can be bought for about $5. Lavender (the scent ;-)), Patchouli and Vetiver are all affordable. Aura Cacia carries 10% dilutions of their more expensive oils like Sandalwood, Rose, Jasmine and Neroli for $10.

I'm running out of vials though with all my experimenting!

2:49 PM  

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