Archive category from earlier years; perfumery topics, awards, reviews, regulations, events.
I receive questions from time to time about how the scents are bottled, so I thought I’d describe the process a little bit. My method is probably similar to that of many other small indie perfumers. As orders come in, I bottle the scents at the time of order. I offer so many bottle sizes…
Yesterday Forest Walk was reviewed on EauMG — thanks, Victoria! A few days ago on Bois de Jasmin, Victoria Frolova posted a beautifully photographed story about her visit to Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. She captured images of fields of dazzling tulips and hyacinths. Do check it out if you are a garden lover. In…
My interview on Olfactif has just been posted. Tara Swords, the woman behind Olfactif, does a very nice job with these perfumer interviews. She is an experienced author/journalist and it shows. The blog Sense of Scent recently posted an interesting interview with Tara. She explains her goals with the new Olfactif sample service, her target…
A new sample service for niche/artisan fragrance is debuting this month, and the site’s product pages are going live today. It is called Olfactif. Each month they will mail three samples to subscribers, and Fig Tree is in this month’s debut box. The other two scents for this month are L’Artisan’s Voleur de Roses and…
I have the final Spiced Citrus Vetiver formula done and am working on batching it. This is the stage I hit a few weeks ago when I opened that new bottle of vetiver and had to reconsider. I’ve now reduced the Sri Lanka vetiver a little bit and added a vetiver CO2 oil. I like…
The business model for perfume companies traditionally has been to have products manufactured and bottled in factories and then distributed to retail stores for final sale to customers. With the age of the internet came an opportunity for artisans in many fields to reach their customers directly through their own websites. Artisans can form a…
The Elements Showcase trade show will be held in NY next week, and the Indie Fifi award winner will be announced at the show. This is the second year that the Fragrance Foundation has had an Indie category in the Fifi competition. Indie perfumers enter their own perfumes into the competition by paying the entry…
Here’s a summary of the number of new releases over various time periods as compared to this year, from Fragrances of the World. It is not your imagination that the number of new releases keeps skyrocketing! Last year there were 1330 total new releases, with 331 of those being niche. Ten years ago in 2002…
I didn’t try many new releases in 2012, but I wanted to mention two all-natural floral perfumes that I enjoyed trying this year. Ayala Moriel’s Treazon is a gorgeous tuberose scent that has more tuberose absolute than any perfume I’ve ever smelled (she referred to it as her killer tuberose while she was working on…
IFRA North America has produced an educational video The Story of Fragrances that features interviews with perfumers about their work. Christophe Laudamiel’s segments are especially interesting and capture his passion for the art.
Denise Hamilton, columnist for the LA Times, has written a pair of articles about the growing abundance of indie perfume businesses in recent years. One part of the story gives an overview of the topic, and the other part gives a brief profile of five Bay Area indies, including myself. Thanks, Denise, for including me!
Many people find the terms niche, indie, and artisan to be confusing, partly because brands use them loosely more for marketing than for clarification. As many more brands have entered the market, the meanings of these terms have become diluted, and small brands have looked for more specific words to describe what they do. I’m…
Just a quick public service post that Indie Scents is having a 50% off sale on DSH perfumes as well as Slumberhouse Grev and Vikt and Sara Horowitz Wings. This is a great chance to get some DSH faves. Also, I wanted to remind folks that you can get the 34 ml bottles of SSS…
Here is a great drawing for those of you who want to learn more about natural perfumery. Ayala of Ayala Moriel Parfums is holding a drawing for a copy of her Foundation In Natural Perfumery Handbook. I know some of you are playing around with blending, and this could be a big help to you….
Ida Meister posted a great write-up on Fragrantica today of another panel discussion at Elements Showcase, this one on the topic of “Art and Commerce: Can They Live Together?” The panel included Mandy Aftel of Aftelier Perfumes, Christopher Brosius of CB I Hate Perfume, Carlos Huber of Arquiste, and Jessica Richards of Shen Beauty with…
There were several panel discussions at Elements Showcase today, and there will be several more tomorrow. One panel today was based on a new Robertet rose petal distillation that several perfumers used to build new perfumes. After Robertet explained their rose distillation, the perfumers discussed their creation process. Avery Gilbert, scent scientist, was there and…
I just wanted to post a quick note about a new blog written by Jessica at Now Smell This; it’s called Tinsel Creation (she explains the reference), and it combines her interests in perfume, art, literature, beauty, and things vintage. Jessica is an eloquent writer, as you probably know from reading her posts on NST,…
I just put Nostalgie samples on the site this evening. I will put bottles up in a few days, probably Wed or Thursday. Quite a few orders came in this weekend, so it’s been busy. Someone let me know that I received a favorite indie perfumer of 2011 award on this Hungarian blog. It’s fun…
People comment that they often find a note or accord that seems to run in common between multiple scents in the same line. For example, people talk of the Guerlinade base, or the Tauerade base, or the way the Chanel brand’s style is associated with aldehydes. I can’t speak for other brands, but I’d like…
Wanted to say thank you to Birgit at Olfactoria’s Travels for a beautifully written review of Incense Pure, and thank you to Noor for his review of a number of SSS scents. The entrants for the Indie category of the Fifi awards have been announced, and I wish my indie friends good luck! I had…