The Kiss of Ferula

More work needs to be done on that what-I-think-is-fake lily-of-the-valley absolute. The verified fakes arrived a day after being ordered from Perfumer's Apprentice (fast shipping, that!), and a little quickie eval station was set up. I won't go into the details too much, but none of these verified fakes is anything like the suspected fake. The verified fakes actually smell like pieces and shadows of real lily-of-the-valley, subtleties that encompass green notes, buttery notes, and sweet floral notes. Think heliotropin and hexanol. The evals were conducted at full strength, but the real work will begin once they have all been diluted to 10%, including the suspected fake. Sometimes, and particularly with florals, tenacity can indicate its less than authentic sourcing. This suspected fake has lasted for over a week, closer to two, on a scent blotter. Most florals, especially absolutes and concretes, can last quite a while on a scent strip -- I'm thinking about jasmines sambac and grandiflorum, in particular. However, over time, they do fade. The sus-fake is precisely the same as it was when first applied to the blotter. 

I'm working myself up for another deep dive into the advanced master class workshop stuff. Three of six sections are finished, and while those final three are being written, I must also provide photos, videos, and maybe even podcast info to flesh them out. The masterclasses were initially written to dive into five main subjects. Still, a sixth was just recently added because of what's coming with more regulations. There is a dark looming cloud of the environmental impacts of natural perfumery, issues with sustainability, animal cruelty, and a host of others that often get left out of natural perfumery courses. I always do this to myself, do more work than what can be completed promptly. However, I will keep researching, writing, and sorting through the muck for the students' benefit until I feel the whole picture is visible. I feel like we're at a point in natural perfumery education that mirrors the parable of the three blind men and the elephant. Someone needs to do the elephant justice.

This week, I pulled the stewing amber concoction out and made three new solid perfumes with it using some of EOA's gorgeous floral concretes. Teeny, tiny batches as there wasn't as much amber base as I would have liked. I made a straight amber, a tuberose amber, a bouquet of rose concrete, jasmine grandiflorum concrete, and more tuberose concrete with amber. That one is my favorite. It lasts for hours and is so rich and luxurious. A true testament to the value of authentic natural raw materials. 

Someone asked me earlier this week how I come up with the concoctions I make, specifically incense blends. I have to be honest and say I wouldn't be as good with putting together incense if I didn't already have a background in perfumery. But the how of it? I'm not sure. Informed intuition? Definitely, part of it is from really, really, really knowing the materials as individuals. As you can imagine, it isn't easy to get to know some of them, especially when we walk into ferula territory. Those guys want to beat your a** a little bit before giving you a big, wet, sloppy oniony kiss on the cheek.