Scent Update, and Shea Cream to Return
I like the current mod of the new fall scent very much, so I’m making the first little batch (about 2 oz) and will send out a few testers later this week. I’ll start with just a few people to see if I’m on track. I’m excited because this mod seems close, depending how it works for other people. It should be perfect for the cooler days that will soon be upon us. The days are already getting shorter here and our nights now have a chill to the air despite the warm summer days — fall feels around the corner.
I’m still working on the new version of Opal, but I don’t have a finished mod to send out yet. I put the fig on hold so I could finish the fall vintage-inspired scent, but I’ll get back to the fig as soon as I can because it’s nearly done. I’d like to make a version of fig for lotion and shea cream too.
The shea cream will be back for fall and winter, starting about the end of Sept or first week of October. If you’re planning to get shea for Christmas gifts, it’s best to order a few weeks ahead because I sometimes sell out before Christmas. It’s always hard to predict how many I need to have ready for the Christmas season. I didn’t have time to do the shea last year but promised to do it again this winter. I’ve been updating the jar labels to use the new logo imagery and they turned out well (I’ll post a picture soon).
My family was up visiting for the holiday weekend and that was very nice. Hope you had a great holiday weekend too!
I’m happy to hear about the return of the shea butter…. do you know what fragrances it will be offered in?
And of course, also excited to hear about the progress on the new fragrances…
Hi Suzanne,
The shea will initially be in Velvet Rose, Lavender Absolute, Egyptian Musk, and Unscented. I plan to soon add an Amber and Fig as well. Most of the scents on my list have not been converted to formulas that work in oil form yet, so I can’t do things like Tabac Aurea yet in lotion or shea. Someday that may be possible when I have a week to spend on the formulation and testing. I do have a couple ideas for some all-natural blends I’d like to add to the lotion/shea menu too as soon as I can get to it.
I’m looking forward to the shea… the amber and fig additions sound wonderful, though more options mean more hard choices.:^) Such a lovely dilemma. Hope you can find that time you’re looking for to work with the body menu…nice, nice products.
Thanks Suzanne. I have a bunch of ideas for some new things in the body product area and will be trialing one of them this winter. Maybe you can test for me. 🙂
Hi Laurie,
I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend with your family.
I’m glad to hear that you’re making good progress on the new fragrance! Can you describe it for us?
Thanks!
Ann C
Hi Ann! This is the one I’ve talked about before as the vintage-inspired scent. Some testers went out last year under the working name of classic or classique, but that’s not the real name (I have picked the real name but don’t want to give it out until release). The scent is warm and rich with a traditional, classic feeling. It has soft aldehydic top notes, a spicy and floral heart (rose and jasmine absolutes, clove, cinnamon), and a base of amber, vanilla, tonka, oakmoss, patchouli, orris, sandalwood, and musk. It also has several lactones that add peach, jasmine, and milky notes. It’s very high in naturals with rose absolute, jasmine absolute, mysore sandalwood.oil, beeswax absolute, labdanum, cistus, oakmoss absolute, vanilla absolute, aged Indian patchouli. I’m really looking forward to adding it to the list! It’ll be in the Boutique group, and I want to release it this fall (shooting for October). I wore it out on Sunday and it worked well, giving nice soft sillage all day. It’s time for tester input as soon as I finish this first little mini batch. 🙂
Wow, that sounds perfect! Most of my autumn favorites are woods and spices, so a fall floral with spices is a wonderful idea.
That’s a lot to work with! Impressive, specially when I begin to think about the complexity of tweaking in this direction or another or yet another.:^) I have so been looking forward to this release… hope all the testers give it a thumbs up and it’s “on the shelf” soon!
Yes, it’s easy to push it a little one way or another, so it’ll be interesting to see what testers say. If a majority wants a change in the same direction I’ll adjust it. One thing I’m always checking when I send out testers is sweetness level, so I’ll be asking about that.
Hi Laurie!
I just ordered full size bottles from you for the first time after falling in love with some of the samples. I will be receiving Champagne de Bois and Lieu de Reves which will be fall scents for me. However, the vintage scent sounds lovely! I especially appreciate the high percentage of naturals. When do you think it will be available? I will be placing another order for a winter scent several weeks from now. Do you think the vintage could be worn in the winter as wee? Aslo, I have a question about Winter Woods. I ordered a sample of it and was pleasantly surprised-liked it more than I thought I would. However, in rereading the description, it smells quite different on me (more ambery,buttery, incensy and hardly a woody at all). Could this be possible, or did I accidentally get a different sample? Would love to know as Winter Woods based on the sample I purchased would be a great winter scent for me.
Thanks!
Hi Brigitte,
Glad you’re finding some things you like! I’m hoping the new one will be out in October but it depends on how the trial feedback goes. Yes, it will be good for fall and winter (it’s a cool weather scent for anytime other than warm summer).
Winter Woods is ambery and on the sweeter side compared to Fireside Intense, which is dry and woody. The amber and sweet musk soften Winter Woods quite a bit, making it almost a gourmand to me too. Some people don’t get as much of the sweet side and find it woodsier, while others find it sweeter. Your overall perception depends on which notes seem stronger to you, and that varies with your own individual sniffer. 🙂 It sounds like you got the right sample, but I’m always happy to send a freebie second sample to be sure before you buy. The juice should be amber in color (like Champagne de Bois) and it does have a light smoke note. Send me an email if you think you need a new sample to be sure you got the right one.
Hey Laurie – You mentioned “gourmand” for WW… I actually get a bit of bread-like quality in the early stages. Not sure if anyone else ever mentioned that to you – or maybe I’m just… “special”… LoL!
Love WW in any case.
a:)
When I first released WW I called it a woodsy gourmand, and I soon discovered some people got more gourmand and some got more woodsy, lol. I’m in the gourmand camp myself, but It really works for me. I get a woodsy, vanillic, ambery, musky scent with just a bit of smoke. I’ve not noticed bread but will have to look for that! 🙂
Oh dear! I noticed all of my typos after it was posted! Meant to say “wood notes” and NOT “woody”!
Yes, it is definitely a gourmand,sweet scent on my skin- not dry or woodsy. When I get home tonight I will check the color of my sample but it sounds to me like I got Winter Woods. If not I will e-mail you directly. Can’t wait for the vintage scent to come out!
Just wanted to tell you how much I enjoy the Egyptian Musk lotion and oil and Lavender lotion I purchased a few weeks ago. I am really anxious to try the shea cream this year, as well as your new fall scent. I was glad to see the mention of Winter Woods. I was wearing this the other day and after a few hours out in the hot sun, it had a sweet, vanilla scent on my arm. I’m definitely not complaining because I love the way your fragrances change throughout the day. They are definitely never boring!!
Blessings,
Cathy
Hi Cathy! Glad you’re enjoying your goodies. I’m looking forward to doing the shea this year since I didn’t have time last year. I like to wait until our heat is over before I start to stock and ship it, about the end of Sept. Winter Woods has a vanillic base to me too — it’s actually one of my favorites in fall/winter. :).
When I tested Winter Woods, I thought it had a vanilla-like scent as well, even though no vanilla is listed among the notes. Do you know which note it is that creates that effect?
I am really looking forward to the new fall scent. I love vintage perfume, so a vintage-inspired scent sounds wonderful!
Hi 50_Roses! There is a very small amount of vanilla in the amber accord, and the musk I used in the formula brings it out in a really yummy way. I was surprised when I discovered that effect because this one musk worked better than others I tried, at least to my nose. It’s one of those cases when several things work together to become stronger and more interesting than they are on their own.
The sample sent to me is definitely Winter Woods based on the description of the color and from what I am now reading from others’ interpretation of it. The woodsy notes are ever so subtle on my skin. What I get is that gorgeous amber/vanilla/musk. Anyone on the fence about this one because of the fear that it may be too woodsy I say “take the plunge!” as you will NOT be disappointed. It’s a gorgeous fall/winter scent. I was going to purchase it as my Christmas present. But then last night I received Seinna Musk as a sample in my package of full size goodies and I was smitten! A gorgeous spicy skin scent which will be fantastic for the cold weather!
Glad you’re having fun with these! As the weather cools it’s the right time for things like WW and Sienna Musk. I wanted Winter Woods to offer a much softer take on a woodsmoke theme than Fireside Intense, so that people would have two widely different options. Most people like one or the other far better so it makes sense to try both.
Vintage perfume is passion of mine as well but with all the reformulations and/or exhorbitantly high prices on e-bay Sonoma Scent Studio fragrances are very rapidly becoming my all time favorites, as so many of Laurie’s scents evoke a vintage feel due to the high quality of the perfume and the gorgeous notes.
Thanks so much Brigitte!
Hi Laurie, Can you please give an update on the status of Opal. I feel really sad that this is no longer available, I find it to be a very special scent and I am kicking myself for not purchasing a full bottle when I had the chance. If you have any backstock lying around I would love to purchase it. I really hope you will put this scent back into production, it has a lot of fans. Thank you.
Hi Ro,
Looks like you just posted this question here on this old thread, so I’ll answer it here. I don’t have any of the old Opal left and need to reformulate before I can make more. I do want Opal to return though. I had been working on the formula a year ago and got about half-way finished when I had to stop in order to finish Fig Tree, Nostalgie and Forest Walk. Now I need to finish the first 3 naturals, and after that I can get back to Opal and the white floral that I also put on hold.
It takes quite a few months to finish each scent. I wish I could go faster. Maybe someday I can afford more help with the order packing etc so I can focus on scent formulation full time. For now, I fit everything in as best I can. I’m glad you like Opal! Thanks so much for your interest!