Progress! A quick update
I was able to do some work on the amber and the incense this weekend between orders. I have the amber tester ready (it’s a half-way cross between the two approaches I’d been working on), and I made good progress on the Encens Tranquille tester. It wasn’t hard to tweak the ET a little bit for better lasting power — I’ve had it on for 8 hours now and it’s still plenty strong. The sandal is a bit softer than in the original, as I’d wanted, and I put the moss back in. It’s quite dry, which I like, but I want to see if I can make the woodsy accord a little creamier without going sweeter. I’d like to have an ET tester I’m happy with so I can send both the new amber and reformulated ET out together to a few test sniffers.
I’m back to orders today but hope to work on ET more tonight.
I’ve been following your progress avidly even when I haven’t left a comment. I can’t wait to smell these. Just to clarify – will there be one or two ambers? I couldn’t tell from today’s post whether you’ve decided to combine the two amber projects or if it is the Ambre Noir tweak and there will be another further afield amber also. The ET sounds great – personally, I wouldn’t mind trying what you consider the “not as creamy” version.
Hi Donna,
I’m not sure yet, lol, so that’s why I was vague for now. The two amber approaches I was working on have led to one conclusion that uses parts of each. It’s a yummy dark amber with that luscious rich smoky cistus and the same labdanum I’ve been using, plus other notes of woods, incense, and resins. I left out the rose in this one — like it better so far without. I do have a topnote that is related to the damascones and adds some contrast and lift along with some plum/apple/rose hints; I’m still deciding if I like it best with or without that. This is probably dark enough to be Ambre Noir 2010 or it could be something else under a new name. I’m going to get some opinions first before deciding. It could be called Labdanum or Cistus ladaniferus since it is rich in both cistus oil and labdanum absolute from the Cistus ladaniferus plant.
Still working on ET but made a little progress last night. I added more dry ambergris and a couple other things to warm it up a bit more. It needed more warmth, I think. Will test more and see…
Thanks for saying hi and giving input!
Maybe is good! lol!
But seriously, the new amber sounds glorious! I can see where no rose might work – you have a lot of rose heavy scents so this might give the rose-phobes another option.
I should pay you, I’m enjoying this process so much!
Glad you’re enjoying the progress reports. 🙂 If you can follow my meandering you’re doing well, lol!
Forgot to say the amber also has spices (mostly clove but hints of cinnamon and saffron too). I usually love a touch of rose with amber, even it it is soft enough to not read as rosy, but for some reason I’m not liking rose in this one, except for that soft damsacone-like topnote.
I didn’t get time to blend yesterday and won’t catch up with orders before tomorrow night, but I did get to test ET again. It’s a smooth incense and woods now, still dry but much smoother than the original. I like that it is smoother and less raw, but I’m going to see what else I can do to add interest. I may have smoothed it to the point where it needs something brought back out for contrast and interest.
You’re killing me! 😉
Lol! This is the wrong time of year for me to work on this — I need some of Santa’s elves to visit for a couple weeks to speed things along. I’ll get some testers out as soon as I have a couple ET options I like. I’ll try to do one that’s close to the original and one more in the direction I’d like to see it take and then get some opinions on the two.
But you don’t have to do either/or – they’re your marbles! LOL! Do ET and AN versions that are as close to the originals as you can get with the new oak moss, and then do the different/further afield versions as new scents entirely!
Yes, that’s one good option for sure. I just like to limit the number of similar scents on my list and if I find that people have a clear preference of one to the other (old vs new) I’d be inclined to just choose one. More likely people will be divided though and at least for a while I should probably offer both. The ambers are different enough to have both. I’ve not settled on old vs new ET yet so I’ll have to wait and see on that one. I’m running behind today after having to be out at an appointment this morning so no blending today, just orders, but hopefully back to ET tomorrow!