Tolu Balsam
Tolu! Tolu! Tolu!
Myroxylon balsamum.
I purchased this from Dan at Apothecary's Garden (on Etsy) a few weeks back and after sharing it with friends at our bi-monthly book club meeting, I decided to take a crack at evaluating it.
Dan describes it as 'a delightful vanilla & spice scent with dry, powdery fruity/floral notes'.
To my nose it is sweet, warm, vanilla-like with slight tonka bean undertones, cinnamin-like, fleshy-floral (think frangipani) with barely ripened banana fruit notes. This is at 100%, zero dilution, so I'm pretty sure some of the more obscure notes will pop when diluted to about 20%. Maybe even more than that, a 10% dilution would probably be spot on.
This tolu balsam would be ideal in a tropical themed perfume providing a foundation for heady tropical florals and fleshy sweet fruit. Tuberose and this tolu would be a match made in heaven.
It reminds me very much of the oils I sampled while in Brazil, those grown in Brazil, that were richer and deeper and more heady than the same oils sampled while here at home. Maybe it was the Brazilian air, or maybe they were just better oils than I've experienced before. This is that.
I have in my collection a vintage tolu balsam that is also on par with this tolu of Dan's. That bit in the collection is from the 1960's, and continues to grow more beautiful and lush as the years pass.
I encourage you to buy a couple bottles of this tolu, Dan's stuff, use one and stash the other until the end of time. Dilute a portion to 10% and stash that as well, then every year, pull it from the archives and evaluate it against itself from the year/s before. I think you'll be in for a treat.
Also, don't forget to comment a question here or on FB for your chance to win something from The Scented Djinn Parfum Apothecary & Thurifercorum -- keep it relevant and don't troll.
Myroxylon balsamum.
I purchased this from Dan at Apothecary's Garden (on Etsy) a few weeks back and after sharing it with friends at our bi-monthly book club meeting, I decided to take a crack at evaluating it.
Dan describes it as 'a delightful vanilla & spice scent with dry, powdery fruity/floral notes'.
To my nose it is sweet, warm, vanilla-like with slight tonka bean undertones, cinnamin-like, fleshy-floral (think frangipani) with barely ripened banana fruit notes. This is at 100%, zero dilution, so I'm pretty sure some of the more obscure notes will pop when diluted to about 20%. Maybe even more than that, a 10% dilution would probably be spot on.
This tolu balsam would be ideal in a tropical themed perfume providing a foundation for heady tropical florals and fleshy sweet fruit. Tuberose and this tolu would be a match made in heaven.
It reminds me very much of the oils I sampled while in Brazil, those grown in Brazil, that were richer and deeper and more heady than the same oils sampled while here at home. Maybe it was the Brazilian air, or maybe they were just better oils than I've experienced before. This is that.
I have in my collection a vintage tolu balsam that is also on par with this tolu of Dan's. That bit in the collection is from the 1960's, and continues to grow more beautiful and lush as the years pass.
I encourage you to buy a couple bottles of this tolu, Dan's stuff, use one and stash the other until the end of time. Dilute a portion to 10% and stash that as well, then every year, pull it from the archives and evaluate it against itself from the year/s before. I think you'll be in for a treat.
Also, don't forget to comment a question here or on FB for your chance to win something from The Scented Djinn Parfum Apothecary & Thurifercorum -- keep it relevant and don't troll.
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