Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Natural Perfume Holiday Shipping


The holiday shopping season has arrived, thus, I took a peek at the USPS site to look at their shipping dates.

For order shipping within the continental US please make sure to place them before December 18th so that I can ship them by December 20th. All orders going abroad should be placed no later than December 10th. Keep in mind, this is a rough guess based on the USPS site and my ability to make and ship perfume in a timely matter.


If you would like to gift someone a natural perfume but are not sure which one I highly recommend one of the solid natural perfume sampler sets. Folk of all ages adore these and they are a big hit on Christmas morning. A gift certificate can be included so that the recipient may then order their favorite in a larger size.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Gratitude


It's the day of gratitude once more here in the United States, a tradition started back in 1691 at a meal with the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians.

Greg and I are headed off to Riverside to his sisters mansion for a gathering of the Spalenka tribe. On Saturday there is a 80 birthday celebration for David Spalenka, Gregs dad, thus everyone is in town, adding eclectic diversity to the collection of family members.

Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, 
turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. 
~ William Arthur Ward

When I woke up this morning I felt immediately grateful for the warm flannel sheets and my husband laying next to me. Then I started making a list in my head of all the things I am grateful for, gee, that went on f o r e v e r. Thus, I will share a very simplified version of it here. Please let me know what you are feeling grateful for today. What is my perfume for this blessed day...well, not sure yet, it has started off with jasmine.

Friends, lovers and dear hearts.

Nature

The four elements: water, earth, air and fire
and the beings of those elemental forces.

Creativity

Many thanks  to all my patrons and admirers who make it possible for me 
to make beautiful perfumes from nature for you! 
What a glorious symbiotic relationship we have.

and

Chocolate!

Monday, November 19, 2012

La Luce


As I sat at my drafting table this morning, with the light pouring in from the window, I was struck by the way beauty of the light as it illuminated the bottles filled with jojoba oil and perfumers alcohol. I'm sure there was a clarity to the electromagnetic radiation, visible light, from the recent rain. I started really paying attention to light while in art school, when all kinds of visual perception on a whole reached new heights.

It was mostly drawing, painting and photography classes that stimulated this new awareness. We would look at sources, quality and color of light. How light affects mood and most importantly that color is produced by light. In art history classes we learned about the artists who mastered different aspects of light and color from Caravaggio to one of my personal favorites Rothko.



 When I met my husband Greg he was constantly talking about light, which expanded my horizon even more. Greg often points out the differences in the color of light when we go on walks or travel, noting how California often has the same "pink" light that is found in Venice. Lately he has been turning me onto how color is used in films. As I have mentioned here before the 1998 version of Great Expectations has glorious use of color.



Some of my other favorites include "Amelie", "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover", and the "The Matrix".  If I were to choose one for use of light I'd say "Barry Lyndon". How about you, which films do you feel use color really effectively?

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Creature Comforts


The solid chocolate perfume experiment from last week seems to be "aging" well with a strong possibility to move forward with them. I'm waiting to see if there is any separation of the chocolate and cocoa butter, what is called "blooming" in the chocolate world.

In the meantime I've been working on other treats. First off there are a few new lockets and cases in town. The little round bee lockets are back with the big sister I am calling large oval. The image for these lockets is printed on a very special metallic paper that makes the honey bee extra luminous, especially with the resin coating. This beautiful large oval will be available in a bright green color next week.


The Victorian inspired, diamond pattern locket is back in stock as a necklace, although I am having challenges getting it as a mini compact. Thus, there are only a few mini compacts currently left, I'm working on getting more, or finding an alternative.

The large oval solid perfume case is now available in the same tapestry pattern that is on the round cases. Regrettably the brocade pattern is not being made anymore.


Last, and certainly a thrill to share, soon I will have these large oval solid perfume cases with the honey bee in resin featured on the top in rich jewel tones of purple, burgundy and emerald green. The honey bee image looks very velvety and lush. I can't wait to show them to you as thing are quite exquisite! Here is a glimpse of the case, put on your "visualizing hat" to imagine the resin coated bee image in the top oval recess with your favorite solid "illuminated" perfume inside the case.



Monday, November 12, 2012

Movie Monday: Margin Call


I love good movies, well actually to be more authentic with my words, I love good stories and movies are part of that equation as with books, theater, etc. Last night I decided to take a break from the 24/7 perfume/art making bonanza and watched the film Margin Call by writer-director J.C. Chandor. The modern story is a melodrama with a slew of acting giants including one of my favorites Kevin Spacey. I began admiring Mr. Spaceys work in the 80's when he starred as Mel Profitt in the crime drama Wiseguy. He was also brilliant in The Usual Suspects, one of my all time favorite films.


As I was doing this research I came across on Wikipedia that he Kevin attended Northridge Military Academy, Canoga Park High School (in tenth and eleventh grades), and then Chatsworth High School, where he graduated valedictorian of his class. Gee, so local.

Margin Call is a very poignant film depicting a slightly over 24 hour period taking place at the brink of the recent economic disaster. The acting, story telling and character arcs are fabulous as well as gorgeously shot. When I lived in a coop on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights most of my fellow neighbors were bankers working on Wall Street or lawyers. Ben and I were the only artists in the building and the only ones who had glass block and brightly painted walls.Despite are vast differences many of them were dear friends. None of them were as greedy and unscrupulous as the characters in the film. Toward the end of the film I was wondering why people with such little morality like this continue to thrive, and then I saw the ending. So perfect and made me think of another film I'll talk about next week, Cloud Atlas.

Other films this reminded me of are Limitless and The Adjustment Bureau, the later based on a based on Philip K Dick short story.

Opening image New York City, NY by Tracey.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Chocolate please!


After much research and speaking with experts I have reformulated the chocolate solid natural perfumes with apparent success. Before putting them in the shop I thought I'd get some feedback from all you lovely folks as well as take some time to observe them a bit.

Whose game? I have sixteen pink pots to share. If you would like one, I will include one in every order over $50 as of today at 1pm PST, as long as you tell me you heard about the chocolates here at the journal. I will also give what is left away.

For the giveaway your task is to e-mail me (roxanailluminatedperfumecom) or leave a comment answering at least one of the following questions, the more you answer the more importance you will be given:

1. Did you sample any of the first edition chocolate solid perfumes? If so what did you like best and what did you like least?

2. Do you prefer a chocolate solid perfume, a chocolate body butter or both?

3. Is there a particular fragrance you would like to experience as a chocolate solid perfume?

Everyone who enters will be put into the randomizer to select the sixteen winners. Please make sure to provide your contact information so that in the event you are a winner. This special and giveaway ends when all sixteen samples have been spoken for.


Here's a detailed post about the original chocolate natural perfumes that debuted back in Autumn of 2010.

Photos: RoxanaVilla


Sunday, November 4, 2012

Chiaroscuro Solid October 2012


 The skyrocketing sales of solid, natural perfume during the last month has created a few shifts in the studio. One of them is creating much larger batches of each synergy.

During the deluge of the feature the I sat down to make more of the synergies, one was for Chiaroscuro solid. I multiplied the formula by four and proceeded to work. Reports from those who have received the newest version say that the spice note is more prominent and the jasmine note less. Since the formula hasn't changed this makes me think that the multiplication by four has intensified the spice note. I have made a note of this for the next time I sit down to create the Chiaroscuro and any solid synergy I recreate in a significantly larger batch.


In the meantime, I am making a Jasmine soliflore for those who would like a stranger jasmine note added to Chiaroscuro...or any illuminated perfume. You all know how much I adore jasmine. As mentioned here at the journal in the post As Noted: Chocolate 1 and 2, soliflore, means one flower in French,  it is a term used to describe a composed perfume dominated by one single flower, such as Gardenia or Jasmine.


The first soliflores I created were the chocolates, which by the way I am reworking and intend to release shortly. Blanc, the vanilla soliflore, came out of the chocolate solid perfume series. As part of that series there was a jasmine chocolate titled Figure 8: Coeur de Jasmin, that is what the new Jasmine soliflore will be based on.

Part of the reason I am able to move forward so swiftly with the Jasmin soliflore is because while ordering more wax last week I came across a gorgeous purple that will work divinely as the seal for the fragrance. Finding the thread for the pouch may not prove as easy, thus, not sure as of yet of the debut date.

Read more on this related topic here at the journal at these posts:
Mutations
The Fragility of Tactile Materials
As Noted: Chocolate 1 and 2
As Noted

Images: Opening and middle photos are by Rebecca Fishman, Figure 8: Coeur de Jasmin photo by Roxana Villa.