2 posts tagged “essential oils”
I've finally learned how to say "ylang ylang"!
Slowly but surely I’m making my way through Mandy Aftel’s perfume workbook. This thing set me back a pretty penny so I’m studying my a-double-star off to make it worth it. Most of the text of the course seems to be taken from Essence and Alchemy, which I already have, but I was in dire need of a set plan.
The book takes you through each of the so-called “basic scents” of natural perfumery: benzoin, bergamot, bitter orange, black pepper, bois de rose, clary sage, clove absolute, frankincense, jasmine concrete, juniper berry, labdanum absolute, lavender absolute, nutmeg absolute, oakmoss absolute, peru balsam, vertiver, virginia cedarwood (cedarwood) and ylang ylang concrete. I have all of these essential oils/absolutes/concretes lined up on my table.
Last night I tackled bois de rose essential oil. It’s a woody, rose scent that has a slight antiseptic note to it, at least to me. It reminds me a tad bit too much of floor cleaner to use as a single scent, but blending it with jasmine or perhaps ylang ylang would cut that out.
Cedarwood is up for tonight. Cedarwood makes me think of my grandmother’s furs. Or weasels. Or whatever you called those things.
You know what I’m talking about. Back in the day, MuhDear would wrap what looked like roadkill - eyes, claws and all - around her neck and head off to a holy-roller session.
Or the dog track.
She kept her collection in a cedar trunk, hence the connection. Speaking of connections, Salaam Attar has some threads about olfactory memories over at his <a href="http://www.profumo.it/forum/default.asp
">forum.
I’m still playing with civet. I made a test blend (that I mentioned in a previous post) of a few drops each of tuberose, ylang ylang, jasmine and vanilla with one tiny drop of civet. It turned out heavenly. Another heavenly thing I made was jasmine body butter. I mixed some jasmine wax with coconut oil, shea and beeswax, then added a few drops of white cognac and bois de rose essential oils. Y’aaallll. Lemme tell ya. I rubbed it on after taking a shower and…for lack of a better word…hammercy. (Note: I wrote that in Memphisese.)
The butter was amazing. I’m not that fond of jasmine sambac (which was the variety of floral wax I had), but wow, when blended with bois de rose and white cognac, the scent is superb. The combination is fruity with a hint of powder at the finish. I had a field day rubbing this all over…
…uh. Wait. Too much info.
Since white cognac is so freaking expensive, I only had a sample size on hand. Now I’m desperately trying to score some more. The supplier I got the sample from is out of stock. I’m trying to wait to see how long it’s going to take them to get some more in before finding another supplier.
I guess I’m not the only one having a jasmine body butter field day.
(This post was originally on rashundatramble.com)
The book takes you through each of the so-called “basic scents” of natural perfumery: benzoin, bergamot, bitter orange, black pepper, bois de rose, clary sage, clove absolute, frankincense, jasmine concrete, juniper berry, labdanum absolute, lavender absolute, nutmeg absolute, oakmoss absolute, peru balsam, vertiver, virginia cedarwood (cedarwood) and ylang ylang concrete. I have all of these essential oils/absolutes/concretes lined up on my table.
Last night I tackled bois de rose essential oil. It’s a woody, rose scent that has a slight antiseptic note to it, at least to me. It reminds me a tad bit too much of floor cleaner to use as a single scent, but blending it with jasmine or perhaps ylang ylang would cut that out.
Cedarwood is up for tonight. Cedarwood makes me think of my grandmother’s furs. Or weasels. Or whatever you called those things.
You know what I’m talking about. Back in the day, MuhDear would wrap what looked like roadkill - eyes, claws and all - around her neck and head off to a holy-roller session.
Or the dog track.
She kept her collection in a cedar trunk, hence the connection. Speaking of connections, Salaam Attar has some threads about olfactory memories over at his <a href="http://www.profumo.it/forum/default.asp
">forum.
I’m still playing with civet. I made a test blend (that I mentioned in a previous post) of a few drops each of tuberose, ylang ylang, jasmine and vanilla with one tiny drop of civet. It turned out heavenly. Another heavenly thing I made was jasmine body butter. I mixed some jasmine wax with coconut oil, shea and beeswax, then added a few drops of white cognac and bois de rose essential oils. Y’aaallll. Lemme tell ya. I rubbed it on after taking a shower and…for lack of a better word…hammercy. (Note: I wrote that in Memphisese.)
The butter was amazing. I’m not that fond of jasmine sambac (which was the variety of floral wax I had), but wow, when blended with bois de rose and white cognac, the scent is superb. The combination is fruity with a hint of powder at the finish. I had a field day rubbing this all over…
…uh. Wait. Too much info.
Since white cognac is so freaking expensive, I only had a sample size on hand. Now I’m desperately trying to score some more. The supplier I got the sample from is out of stock. I’m trying to wait to see how long it’s going to take them to get some more in before finding another supplier.
I guess I’m not the only one having a jasmine body butter field day.
(This post was originally on rashundatramble.com)
