From the Apothecary of Dabney Rose

Calycanthus, Carolina sweet shrub, spice bush ~ I know nothing about this except that it arrived in a package from across the country, along with a few other things, which I will be discussing here. My Carolina sweet shrub arrived in the form of a wee bundle of sticks, trussed up to look like a miniature packet of kindling. My first impression upon breaking one of the sticks was one of resin, bitterish and green with a spicy punch -- crushed pink peppercorn, galbanum, violet leaf, labdanum, pine pitch, and juniper berry. It's an edible scent with an agrestic twist, like a lovely spice from far away that one might add to a savory cream dish or sprinkle atop wild fowl. This bundle will definitely be dried and added to an incense in the future.

Long leaf pine ~ ooh! This scent, I'm sure, can be smelled everywhere this tree grows. It's loud and lovely and not pine-like at all. It smells of the sweetest alfalfa ever mown, tremendously grassy and green with a sweetness that verges on floralness and juicy fruit (raspberry, mango). The resin from the branch holds all the piney notes, and yet the resin isn't pitchy and sharp or camphoraceous, but again, sweet and green and slightly floral with a fruity overtone.


Now those are just the raw materials in their original forms, and as stunning, surprising, and beautiful as they are, they are mere shadows compared to what Dabney Rose can do with them given a little time and a lot of ingenuity and imagination. Though my affiliation with Dabney Rose has been a long one, a few years at least, it hasn't been until very recently that we've been in fairly regular contact with one another in collaboration, not of projects, but of ideas, and this harkens to my belief, and apparently Dabney's as well, that we can be friends and competitors in this business, and do both quite well without harming the other. She and I bring a lot to our little table and we both of us share this information freely, like two old friends sipping tea on the veranda discussing apple pie recipes. I am deeply envious of her abilities to extract scent via enfleurage -- she's a magician when it comes to this technique, and if you're ever given the opportunity to purchase one of her enfleurage creations, do yourself a favor and buy it. You won't regret it, I promise. Her creations are pure and fuss free and original -- she's the real deal. 

Long leaf pine CONCRETE ~ yes, a concrete! This is long leaf pine plus a thousand. If one were to sniff this without knowing what it was, it would never be guessed as pine. It is floral. Straight up like bulb florals -- jonquil and narcissus which fold back to reveal a mellow greenness more like river moss than grass. It's absolutely amazing.

Hyacinth Extract 2012 ~ Stunning. This IS hyacinth in a wee vial. Unlike the hyacinth evulsion I made a few years back, this extract is clear and sparkly without the muddy, earthy notes, so I'm guessing this is an extract of enfleurage, which is a much better way to extract the scent from hyacinth or any delicate floral than is direct contact with the flower and alcohol. It's that initial hyacinth hit one gets when hyacinth introduces herself to your olfactory organ. It begins with a gentle little poke of powdery sweetness and quickly expands into blinding sweet headiness and floral drunkenness. The longevity of this extract is impressive. I applied a drop to my hand about 20 minutes ago and the scent lingers yet.

Ginger Lily & Santal Co-Emulsion ~ This is so beautiful. Sublime. It's a rich, warm, sweet santal with a gorgeous white floral cloak. Exotic and tropical and sexy. This could get someone in trouble in the sexy-time department, if you catch my less than subtle drift. It's got the gut punch impact that fragrant aphrodisiacs possess. I'll stop now ~ ha!



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