Monday, January 31, 2011

Fresh!


Fresh and ready for your sensuous delight is a new batch of Lyra solid perfume. Since maximum busyness has become a way of life here in this apothecary in the woods I've decided to make even larger batches of the synergies for the perfumes and create more of them at one time.

The synergy for the solid expression of Lyra contains fourteen essences, making her one of the less complex perfumes to put together. This is in contrast to Vera or Rosa which contain chords within chords, making the creation of the synergy quite a complex adventure.

I created a little slide show in Flickr for Lyra Solid. The show begins with the illumination by Greg and then moves into three main ingredients within the top, middle and base note structure. Grapefruit in the top, Jasmine in the heart and vanilla anchoring the melody at the base. The fourteen essences are individually weighed and added to gether to create the botanical synergy of the fragrance. Once melded and alchmetized the synergy is added to golden jojoba oil and local, grated beeswax. This blend is then poured into the tins that will go into the solid perfume minis, bee pots, lockets and compacts.

The color harmony for Lyra is a pale pink also called blush, it was chosen from the skin tones of my color palette. Originally Lyra was created as a custom perfume for my daughter Eve. I altered the formula to include the fragrance in my line and thus giving it the name Lyra, from the character in the novel The Golden Compass. The fragrance is a floral amber with a hint of licorice. It is sweet and warm connecting to the feminine within, as so beautifully depicted by Greg's illumination.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Lavender Fields


The weather has shifted here in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains and with that trees are in bloom as well as the sage and lavender in the garden. This abundance of nature also heralds in the return of Vera Solid Perfume.

When artist Sands Murray was reviewing perfume at the Perfume Critic he stated this of Vera in her liquid fluid state: "An earthy interpretation sans all pretension, with a surprising influx of the sage and orange blossom."


The creamy solid is very similar to the liquid although the beeswax base highlights some of the resins and gives the aroma a warmer quality.

"We don’t have a language for the senses.
Feelings are images, sensations are like musical sounds."
~ Anais Nin

At the E-shop you will find Vera in the single pink solid mini pot, mini pot sample sets, Honey Bee pots, refill for the compacts and the refill tins for the perfume lockets. The solid perfume compacts will be returning shortly.


Read reviews of Vera solid natural perfume at this links:
- Scent Hive
- The Examiner: Donna Hathaway
- Perfume Smellin' Things: Tom
- London Make-up Girl
- IndiePerfumes

Monday, January 24, 2011

Chroma Spring 2011

The 2011 Spring Fashion Report from Pantone has arrived featuring lots of soft pastels with some contradictions to the colors showcased by the large fashion houses. Where as the colors for Fall 2010 seemed to be based on the themes and trends in popular culture and current events, this assemble feels very traditional and specific to the season. The colors look as if they were choosen directly from Greg's illumination for Gracing the Dawn, take a look.

The Colors are:

Honeysuckle link
Russet link
Coral Rose link
Regatta link
Peapod link
Blue Curacao link
Beeswax link
Lavender link
Silver, Peony link
Silver Cloud link











The trend is featuring lots of complimentary neutrals juxtaposing each other with typical icons of Spring like: florals, whites, shades of blue evoking water and nautical, soft earthy tones, tribal with flow, adventure and far off lands, dreamy feminine, morphing realities and vagabond bohemia.


Since I have a color palette based on my own eye, skin and hair color triad I don't BUY according to what others dictate as the "latest" fashionable colors. I DO however pay attention to it as a designer and creator of imagery.

Of all the designers I am feeling most aligned with Carlos Campos palette harmonizes the best with my own, Rebecca Minkoff "ultimate vagabond" works well with my artistic creative and I rather like Monique Lhuillier inspiration of a "dreamy state of mind."

Lavender: Gracing the Dawn Natural Liquid Perfume


Beeswax: Mindful beekeeping here in the wooded hills for solid perfumes


Silver Peony: Vera Liquid Natural Perfume


Blue Curacao: GreenWitch Liquid Natural Perfume and upcoming solid


Related post: 2010 Fall Report
Images are ©Roxana Villa and ©Greg Spalenka

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Planet Green


Almost one year ago a dialogue between Blythe of Planet Green and I began about the natural perfume. The yield of this synergy produced a slide show with some notations of what goes into an illuminated perfume.

Natural, World Changing Scents from Illuminated Perfume

Image: Q Natural History ©RoxanaVilla

Friday, January 21, 2011

The Y Factor


Last Sun Day we had the biggest meet up yet of our Backwards Beekeepers group. The interest in holistic bee keeping is on the rise with lots of very diversity in the group. Just remember, as Captain Kirk says "All bees are democrats!" and "Backwards is the new Forwards."

Here' some shots from the meeting, you can see more at the Backwards Beekeeping Bee Human blog at this link.


Kirk inspecting the hive that didn't make it this winter. The bee keeper is going to leave her hive as is with the intention of attracting another one while she waits for another swarm capture or cut out.


Kirk brought along his bees wax which he keeps in a crock pot he got at a local thrift store for $5. Many of the new and upcoming beekeepers used it to coat their starter strips.


Looking for the Y factor in honeycomb with fellow bee keeper and friend Ruth. What's the Y factor, look....


See that little upside down Y in the cell of the new, white honey comb above, that's the Y factor. According to Dee Lusby, the mother of Organic Bee Keeping, setting up your hive with the correct Y factor is important to the bee and hive sustainability.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Sprung


The warm, sunny weather got me out into the garden to do some much needed clean up and weeding. While there, in the midst of green and the smell of the earth I noticed abundant signs of Spring. The sage is blooming, the birds and bees are out in droves, new natives have sprouted on the front slope, the violets are once again blooming and the Matilja poppy plant looks like it will give us flowers this year.


In the studio things are crazy and in a states of flux and chaos. I have multiple perfume projects going on along with the daily task of promotion/marketing, ordering supplies, making and packing perfume, accounting, etc., etc. It's a wonder creativity has a chance to sneak into the panorama, but, the muse is present and has planted many ideas into the fertile spaces of my mind.


Although I only mentioned a few perfume and product launches for the year, many are under way and will appear on the horizon shortly. I'm keeping much of these under wraps until actual debut.

In the meantime, today I have the book keeper coming by and a bounty of orders to get out, thus, I wish you all a beautiful day from the sunny and warm City of Angels.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

GreenWitch gets Gold Star


The sea chypre handmade natural perfume offering to Tethys has garnered some gold stars. Green Witch was selected as a Best Natural Perfume of 2010 by Trish at Scent Hive, Donna at the Portland Examiner and Gaia at The Non Blonde.


I'm super grateful for their nods of approval and all the fans and patrons that adore this completely natural and organic perfume. Here are some snippets for you to savor...

"GreenWitch is unquestionably a chypre as oakmoss, galbanum, violet leaves and rose petals greet you from its start. After a bit, it gets a nutty, salty air from vetiver and tonka with floral nuances like boronia and honeysuckle. Honeysuckle is not in the notes, so I’m guessing the mimosa, ylang ylang and beeswax create a hybrid honeysuckle accord on my skin, and I love it. It smells like a day at the beach when you are blessed with warm skin, salt in your hair, and suntan lotion that barely lingers on your body. Green Witch has incredible sillage and staying power which lengthens the fragrance’s evolution, and it might well be Roxana’s most multi-layered perfume yet."
~ Trish, Scent Hive


"Roxana Illuminated Perfume - GreenWitch. This botanical perfume is a green chypre. It took me a few weeks before I could hear the ocean when wearing it, but all of a sudden it was there. Remarkable and original, a must-try for chypraholics."
~ Gaia, The Non-Blonde

"True chypre perfumes area vanishing breed due to ingredient regulations for the European perfume industry, but that doesn't stop this American indie perfumer from making a truly stunning elixir like GreenWitch, a scent in the green chypre style with an added twist of real seaweed. With perfumers like Ms. Villa working today, we need not mourn the loss of chypre scents from the big perfume makers quite so intensely."
~ Donna, Portland Fragrance Examiner


Find GreenWitch at my E-shop:
A sample set of three glass vials containing .25 grams of perfume.
1 gram in a glass vial
and Perfume Flacon

Solid Compact arriving this year, fingers crossed it will be ready for the Spring Equinox.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Nightingale


Eve has been cleansing for just over a week now, thus the inactivity her at the illuminated journal. First she had a fever which turned into a cough which progressed into a sore throat. The fever disppeared but the throat infection raged on accompanied first with an ear infection on one side followed by the other side with pink eye manifesting in one eye and then the other.

Kidding! Talk about going through a gauntlet for both mommy and daughter. She is just about out of it now and I am happy to report the healing has transpired with no visits to the doctor or any big pharma drugs. The medicines were all plant and mineral based and some of them smelled and tasted really nice.

The regimen included herbal teas, baths, steam inhalations, garlic oil ear drops, lavender hydrosol compresses for the eyes and ear,neck and foot massages with aromatherapy blends. Garlic and onion has been our friends in soups along with ginger and lemon in tea.

My training in aromatherapy as well as classes I've taken in herbalism and anthropological medicine really come in handy during these incidents. Last time Eve had this intense of an illness was when she was three. We survived without any synthetic antibiotics then and did it this time once again.

Before Florence Nightingale set up a standard for nursing and the care of illness stems way back to midwife and what some called witches. Regrettably much of this wisdom was lost during the burning times as men and western medicine took over.

For more information on home remedies check out this post here at the journal titled Good food = Good medicine.

I've got lots to share with you all, more in the morrow peeps.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Into the New!

Intending happy times ahead as we leave twenty ten behind us and sail in twenty eleven. The year 2011 in numerology adds up to a numerical Universal Year of 4 (2+0+1+1) or a 13 (2+11), depending which methodologies most appeal to you.

By using the numerology system at the Spiritually Speaking column I calculated that my personal transformation number for the year which is #1 associated with the Major Arcana Tarot Card: The Fool. This is particularly fascinating to me as I have been pondering this card quite a bit lately.

Those who step out of "The Tribe" are often perceived as fools because they function to the beat of a different drummer. That rhythm and beat for me are those of my heart, this pisses off quite a lot of people who want me to conform. Oh well, I'm suppose to avoid being headstrong this year so I'll stop now.

Some of the intentions for Roxana Illuminated Perfume that I am willing to share here in this public forum include:

Page 47 Liquid Botanical Perfume
GreenWitch Solid Natural Perfume
Body Butters
Updating the website


In fabrication are two new perfumes, one is based on a leather accord and the other is a honey bee inspired fragrance. Components for these upcoming perfumes have been in the works for a couple years. Several other perfumes, alliances and projects are underway but shall remain secret for now.


I continue to look for local and eco friendly sources with my packaging. This year I found the organic muslin pouches for the solid perfume minis and some really pretty vintage and eco friendly ribbon. I'm constantly on the lookout for upgrading while remaining true to luxe, my style, color palette and the environment. This criteria added to limited funds makes things extremely challenging.

Most of the trend reports seem to be pretty bleek (sigh) although I did see mentioned that a green lifestyle continue to be on the rise as well as a spiritual approach to living. In regards to a potential epidemics and/or pandemics, I recommend ignoring the stupidity in the news and focusing on: vital healthy foods, exercise, breathing clean air, taking aromatherapy baths, and surrounding oneself with positive nurturing people. Personally I find that staying away from the news is the best medicine. If you don't know this already the three major news sources are also weapon manufacturers. Read more about this at the Addicted to War website.

Some interesting numerological days in 2011 include:
  • ‘Π (Pi) Day’ falls on March 14, 2011
  • Friday the 13th, on May 13, 2011
  • October 23 rd, 2011, or ‘Mole Day’
Happy New Year everyone!!

References:
Numerology in 2011 Year
Spiritually Speaking