Sources for Essences

Liberty Natural, White Lotus Aromatics, and Profumo, are special suppliers of high quality essences, for those of us who like to gain exposure to and use the basic and exotic materials of fragrances and beauty ingredients. Each of them also have wonderful websites that are an education in and of themselves. I can spend a long time wandering along the paths of White Lotus Aromatics; they give in depth attention to many important fragrance components and produce an online newsletter whose archives contain much on the origin and the method of production of each essence. There is also a wealth of literary references. For example, their section on violet was full of period illustrations and included the songs of violet sellers in old London, the biography of the Duchess of Parma, and old poetry featuring the violet. There is information on the traditional production of violet perfume, from the old method of gathering many thousands of violets by hand to make tiny amounts of essence to information on modern substitutes. Liberty has an extensive botanical reference section as well as herbal and aromatherapy information and a very wide selection. Profumo has articles on a number of special natural perfume ingredients by Luca Turin and a section on the psychology of scents, and essay length descriptions of their natural essences written in language which is redolent of the original Italian even in the English translation. There are many sites that give botanical information on perfume ingredients but these have combined a direct offer of high quality examples for sale with an atmosphere conducive to daydreaming of the ethereal.
Above photo: Harvested Rosa bourbonia/Edward rose gathered in Rajasthan from the White Lotus Aromatics site.

An End of Winter Cold, Comforted by Aromas

This is a re-post of one I did back in 2006, with modifications and additions -- mainly because I have a sore throat and cold at the moment, and it's cramping my style a bit, perfume wise. Perfume is to be avoided during colds, it's a waste because you can't smell them well and they may aggravate a cough or sensitive noses. However, there are a number of aromatherapy essential oils whose pleasant fragrance can actually have a therapeutic and comforting effect if you get a cold or stuffy nose, a sore throat or a congested chest in this end of long winter season.

Thyme can be used in a diffuser to purify the air. If you are at home or at work, sneezing or coughing and congested, diffusing thyme essential oil can get rid of a lot of the germs in the air and has an uplifting effect on the body and mood also, which can be very helpful when dealing with a cold. As we know, they are often not bad enough to stay home but affect your energy at work and the stuffiness can be very uncomfortable. A few drops of certain beneficial essential oils can be mixed into water, and misted around the environment.

Eucalyptus, rosemary and peppermint impart a comforting decongesting quality to the air around you. Eucalyptus or tea tree oil drops on a tissue or inhaled in a steam bath can break up sinus congestion. These essential oils actually kill cold germs.

If you can take a bath with some mineral salts with lavender and rosemary oil, the heat will ease the aches of a cold or flu and act as a steam inhalation of the therapeutic oil to help clear and soothe the nasal passages. At the same time this is healing and cleansing for the skin because of the antibacterial qualities.

Ravensara and ginger are also often used for steam inhalation. Ginger tea, made by taking sliced ginger root and boiling it in water for ten minutes, then straining, can suppress a very stubborn cough and is also good for the headache you can get with fever.  Aftelier makes a wonderful fresh ginger essential oil, which I have been fortunate enough to have on hand this time, due to Mandy Aftel's thoughtful kindness.  It is pure enough to be ingested as well as inhaled through the steam of a tea.  The ginger is designed as a chef's essence, but it has come in as a comfort to me in my present state of respiratory disarray.  It is Indonesian with some citrus notes too.  I have put a couple of drops into a tall glass, filled with almost boiling water, so the shape of the glass acts like a funnel for the fragrant steam to the nose, and then as it cools drinking it pulls the fragrance into the mouth and the beneficial aspects are also pulled directly into the body. Ginger is a stimulant which also improves headache and fogginess.

I have also been drinking hot cinnamon spice tea from Harney & Sons during the day, whose fragrance is strong enough to cut through congestion.  It also has orange and clove and is naturally sweet. 

Above, Fresh Ginger Chef's Essence, by Aftelier, 7 ml $12.
Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea - 20 for $6.
Thyme at Eden Botanicals, $12 for 1/2 ounce.

Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes & Giveaway

These days seem tense with imminent change, with the full weight of the coldest days of winter on us with much to accomplish and the days passing too quickly when icy nights have fallen. The news, the uncertainties, the multiple calls for attention and care from many directions are more demanding when the very air and ground are so cold. These are perfumes that suddenly open a window into the early days of a care-free summer and so transport me while the weather and whole season has been so stormy and the nights longer than I recall ever before. They are a possible alternative Rescue Remedy recalling the days and nights of the most clement conditions and so refreshing and energizing for the days yet ahead.

I can well see why orchid growers become enamored of these flowers' perfumes, which are rich and varied, distinctively day and night fragrances. The orchid scent generating tissues work so hard that sometimes the flower actually warms up from the chemical activity. As live flowers they are most fragrant at the time of day or night most compatible with the activity of their pollinators. These are ancient fragrance compositions, made of the primordial chemistry of natural selection. They range across a wide scent spectrum, from what we think of as a true floral to cinnamon, vanilla or citrus, woody or moss.

Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids  has made perfumes inspired by the types of orchids she cultivates in her nursery in the Pacific Northwest.

There is a strong stylistic unity to the range. They combine floral and green notes as naturally close and subtle as in garden reality, and all begin with very subtle top high notes, then linger in the mid-range, then dry down deeper but not darker. Like music that doesn’t get too fast or dramatic but stays in the Eric Satie/Chamber music/Oren Lavie range of impressions. It makes it all even more appealing to know that these clear moments of plant generated beauty are originally directed to attract the favored pollinators with such determination their natural perfumes became so gorgeous as to attract human olfactory senses too.

I thank Scent Less Sensibilities for pointing me in their direction, because her review intrigued me enough to get samples, which I suggest to all who have an interest in artisan made floral themed perfumes. They are immediately beautiful on application, and have good longevity for perfumes made with a high concentration of natural materials, holding close to the skin and growing softer over time. (30-33 % for perfumes) and it appears they are reproductions of orchid scents made and modified with other notes and accords, rather than extractions from the orchids themselves.

Red Cattelya is my favorite. Smooth, lyrically floral, beginning with a light citric tang that deepens into a rosy jasmine with no indolic element, a true orchidaceous archetype, like an idealized violet without that extreme sweetness but with a faraway moss distantly anchoring the velvety floral aspect. This is arrived at with listed notes of citrus, peach, apricot, melon, hyacinth, gardenia, violets and lilac. At its base is a dark current of musk, exotic woods and vanilla. I see this as a perfect present for Valentine’s Day or anytime.

Golden Cattelya is a honeyed version that has an airy quality, a lightness buoyantly carrying the floral and green notes into melon-ness.

Little Stars is a jasmine like perfume most expressive of refreshing night air filled with blooming nectar filled flowers. The notes are listed as citrus, neroli, ylang-ylang, clove bud and jasmine on a base of exotic woods, oud, black agar and atlas cedarwood, evoking the white night blooming orchid flower in the midst of the woods.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is just that, florals, hay, cut grass, a green but rich floral that is held in an open air expansiveness and spaciousness.

Luzonica has a lemony floral sweetness that burns down to a subtle and light tea fragrance.

Javanica is a spicy floral cinnamon with green overtones.

After taking some notes on the train, I notice that the fragrances have penetrated the notebook in a pleasant way. The pages and cover give out a lightly vanilla-floral odor when they are turned. I think these perfumes would be good aromatic sweeteners to my winter wardrobe of sweaters, scarves, cases and books.

For more information and pricing (each perfume comes in a variety of sizes/prices) see the online site for Olympic Orchids Artisan Perfumes.

Above: the American  orchid painter Martin Johnson Heade:  An Amethyst Hummingbird with a White Orchid.


P.S.  Ellen Covey of Olympic Orchids Artisans Perfumes has offered two 5ml spray bottles of Red Cattelya as a give away to two commenters who request entry for the draw.  I will announce the winners on Sunday night in the comments section of this post.

PSS:  The winners of the draw, as announced in the comments, are Skyebotanicals (Monica) and Liz G.  Please contact me with your information so 5 ml of the Red Cattelya can be send on its way to you asap!  Congratulations!