Perfumes

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For Lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his fingers through it once.
For poise, walk with knowledge you'll never walk alone."

--"Beauty Tips" Excerpts from a favorite poem of Audrey Hepburn

Making Your Personal Perfume Linger

One of the factors governing your natural perfume selection is how well and how long scent lingers on your skin, not just to your perception but also to others in your environment.

We've decided to be a vegan site which means we don't use beeswax in our solid perfume and don't use civet from the cat like……..?. Although civet and some of the new synthetics are remarkable in adding "lift" to the heavier perfumes like ……..?

Even though commercial perfumers use these animal like synthetics to adjust there synthetic blends my nose tells me "so what if it lasts longer there is no real sensual depth to it. "

We don't harm or test on animals (except ourselves). I admit I do adore the smell of civet and my dog, OZ goes nuts over it. He has trained me so that many evenings of following him through the woods I believe I can detect a whiff of a deer. One time he began to track a mountain lion, I saw the big cat disappear over a nearby ridge. I could definitely smell the civet-like scent. Like a fool I went after him because I was afraid he would get eaten and we found the lion's den with a half eaten deer.

If I get desperate for the smell of the hunt, I go to the zoo and get the real thing. One of the most attractive women I know is a zookeeper and she always smells really fine to Oz.

It's late in the day as I write this and I got side tracked. Here is a brief summary of what we choose and then I'm taking Oz for a walk in the woods to discover what scents we might track.

Fixatives

Fixation refers to blend's ability to remain present in your's and those around you sensual awareness. Smell attenuates quicker than any of our other senses. Another way to describe it is 'odor fatigue'. Soon after you apply your perfume you will notice its' smell diminishing until you don't notice it at all. That would also be true of someone who was standing next to you all day. As soon as that person leaves your side and becomes involved with other smells or if someone else approaches you they will immediately notice your perfume. You may think that your perfume has little or no odor so you keep splashing more on but to some just approaching you'll smell like a perfume pig.

The fixatives we use are natural plant materials that 'fixes' or 'set' the fragrance into your skin and greatly increases it's lasting qualities. When you discover just the right amount of your favorite fixative and sparingly pour it in with the most compatible essential oils it will give your perfume a 'lift' that quickens your pulse and even take your breath away for just a moment. These are the most magical moments of natural blending.

Through trial and error we have focused on a number of base notes that work well as vegan 'fixatives' that because they have good tenacity they can be great at giving your perfume a longer life:

• Ambrette seed from the hibiscus plant is the closet vegetable substitute for musk. It has a rich, smooth, sweet floral body note. It blends well with clary sage, cypress, neroli, patchouli, rose, sandalwood, oriental and more sophisticated perfumes.
• Benzoin has a soft sweet, warm note and is good for extending a vanilla note.
• Bois de rose or Rosewood
• Clary Sage has a sweet flowery type of ___ and can be used for the more delicate bouquets like...?
• Costus is warm and woody reminiscent of an old boat, or barn or the fallen trees in the forest. Oz like it and it smell like him when he gets wet. It blends well with oakmoss, patchouli, rose, sandalwood, and vetiver.
• Galbanum gives leafy effect and blends with courmarin and jonquille.
• Myrrh has the fragrance of wood, and is excellent in violet, rose, and lavender.
• Oakmoss lends the scent of earthy, deep, wet forests and used very sparingly works well with lavender, and Ylang ylang.
• Orris and Sandalwood give a heavier fixative & can be used with the violet type of perfumes, rose & geranium.
• Patchouli and Vetiver are pungent in odor is best in oriental bouquets.
• Peru balsam, like benzoin imparts a warmth and a floral note to vanilla but also blends with labdanum, patchouli, petitgrain, sandalwood, tuberose, and ylang ylang.
• Storax is used most sparingly tuberose
• Tarragon is spicy and sweet and everything anise like and nice. It works wonders with Angelica, clary sage, fir, juniper, galbanum, lavender, lime, oakmoss and rosewood.
• Tobacco tends to give a dry cigar note to perfumes and mixes well with bergamot, cedarwood, clary sage, labdanum, sandalwood, and vetiver.
• Vanillin (from the orchid) with cassie and of course benzoin, and peru balsam and notes they are compatible with.

Everyone has extenuating factors which affect how long a perfume will last and how the fragrance develops on them. That is why it's important to try a fragrance several times before deciding it's absolutely your perfect blend. I have found this is especially true of the vegetable fixatives.