Thursday, January 30, 2014

Night blooming and heady!


In the woodland today skies are grey with a chance of rain and the rich, heavy fragrance of the night blooming pink jasmine is in the air! The aroma of this jasmine is much heavier and sweeter than the sambac, in fact, it is so strong that I can't tolerate too much of it or I get a headache.


Everything is blooming about one month early this year because of the strange warm weather we've had. The challenge with this, especially the fruit trees, is the danger of frost in the next few months.


In other local news, a developer has decided to build a monstrous box on the site where the native oaks were cut down. I've spent the morning looking over the plans brought over by a neighbor. There are all sorts of challenges with the building plans that go against existing codes for that particular property. The landscape plan was particularly interesting since it is mostly California natives. The problem however, is that they've chosen plants which are native to the Bay area not here in the sunny, hot woodland of Southern California. (Hello?)

Clearly the landscape designer, which by the way has the same last name as the contractor, didn't expect to have a local resident and lover of native plants looking over her design with a fine tooth comb.

Our landscape design is mainly California natives, the back slope is covered with rosemary which I am very happy with since the bees adore it. All my jasmines, exotics and medicinal plants are in pots. We've chosen native plants...or perhaps better verbage is "the native plants that have chosen to be in our garden design" tend to grow in the local woodland and our beloved by the local fauna and flora. This is my vision for every house in the neighborhood, imagine what a fabulous and positive environmental impact that would be!


Figuring it all out


When the refurbished and greatly improved Figure 10: Noir debuted last March in San Francisco we decided to brand the series with the term "Cabinet of Curiosities" since each perfume in the series is based on a single note is family, for example Figure 10: Blanc is vanilla, Figure 1: Noir is patchouli, Figure 8: Coeur de Jasmin is Jasmin, etc.

Greg created the above image of a "cabinet" for the show, since then we've been working on a bigger image that will have spaces for each of the "Figures" as they debut.


If there is a particular scent or fragrance family you would like to see as one of the upcoming "Figures" please leave a comment or send me a note. Since I have been doing so much blending to restock all the perfumes lately I've had some really fun ideas for new scents. Now, if I could just clone myself!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Scent Posies Post Card


I had some postcards printed up of the photograph I call Scent Posies.The image is of Eve holding a bundle of the little solid perfume mini compacts. I remember when I decided to take this photo because I liked how the ovals on her dress mimicked the shape of the brass cases.



The Image has been printed by MOO on a premium 32pt Mohawk paper which has been sandwiched together to produce a stiff, luxurious 600gsm postcard.


As a special, from now until Valentines day I will add one of these postcards in with orders of $100 or more from either the website or E-shop.


If there is an image you'd like to see as a postcard or greeting card please leave a comment or send me a note.

Hedera helix and Gracing the Dawn


I've been spending my evenings making large amounts of the synergies for all the perfumes, in both solid and liquid form. Page 47 liquid and Eau de Parfum will be arriving shortly as well as Vespertina and Chiaroscuro liquid.


As I was meticulously making my way through the fragrances I noticed that the solid synergies for Hedera helix and Gracing the Dawn were running low. Thus I got out the formulas for both the liquid and solid varieties of each one with the intention to start building them. To my dismay, there are a few ingredients that have become challenging to obtain. What is left in both those perfumes is located at the website. Find them by putting Hedera helix and or Gracing the Dawn into the search bar at the top right.


Figure 5: Bois and Figure 8: Coeur de Jasmin will debut shortly. I am awaiting wax for Bois, in the meantime I am happy to make round tins, mini compact tins and compacts for those who make the request via e-mail or through the website.


I have also been slowly adding Valentine related items to the shops, more on that soon.



Wednesday, January 22, 2014

In the Garden: Early Spring





Here in the Southern California woodland Spring arrives early, even when we've had little to no rain. The first flowers to appear our on the back slope covered with rosemary, these begin to blossom as early as November. Right now the purple sage, botanically known as Salvia leucphylla, is blooming and the girls are all over it in the morning. I've noticed the honey bees tend to prefer plants when they are hit by the sun, at least in the morning at this time of the year. Probably because they are elemental beings of the sunlight.


I patiently observed them this morning, waiting for the perfect moment to capture one of them at work. On Monday while when I was doing this I got a shot in the arm by one of the girls, not quite sure why (!) but I figure little doses of api therapy are always good as it is used in Europe to assist a wide variety of ailments.


The reason this particular salvia does so well in our garden is because it likes clay soil, something of which we have in abundance. Besides being a great plants for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, the native quail love the seeds. Once established it needs no water!

This one is on my list to get more of, in fact, might be good to get a bunch of them!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Movie Monday: Her


I met my friend Joan at the Arclight Cinema cafe for a bite before going in to see "Her", the latest film by Spike Jonze which he wrote and directed. We both ordered the seared Ahi, which was perfection, caught up with each others lives for an hour and then went into the theater.


"Her" is a beautiful, romantic comedy set in a futuristic Los Angeles. The star is the uber talented Joaquin Phoenix with the voice of her, a computer operating system named Samantha, played by Scarlett Johansson. Although the name Samantha might conjur the blond in Bewitch, a 70's TV series, I believe the name is due to the first actress that embodied the voice Samantha Morton.


Upon the start of the film, even by looking at the poster, one is struck by the bold use of color. In an interview I saw with Spike Jonze he said he based the colors on Jamba Juice. It was a great choice as the intensity of the color adds a subtle tone to the matrix that these humans finds themselves living in yet also evokes warmth.

When I watch a movie with Greg he often comments on how the visual intelligence, through color shapes, works to evoke moods and story points. The production designer for "Her" is K.K.Barrett, who also worked with Spike on Where the Wild Things Are and with Sophia Coppola on a few of her films including the visually rich Marie Antoinette.

K.K. and Spike determined the color and design begging with the color red and an intention to present a different type of future that evokes a feeling of both warmth and spareness eloquently woven. They achieve quite successfully at projecting us to a possibility for the future of Los Angeles without grasping at the now very cliched Blade Runner look.


One of the things Joan remarked to me as we left the theater was "I bet you never saw LA like that before!" So true, it was familiar with locations and buildings I am very familiar with, yet it felt very different and truly at some undistinguishable point in the future. Given how attached humans have become to their computers and gadgets it might be much sooner than we think.


"Her" was shot in both LA and Shanghai, a great pairing to give the City of Angels a slightly more modern look to project the somewhat odd and disconnected future. Later when I was pondering the film I couldn't remember seeing any nature, let alone California native plants or honey bees. Of course there is nature, its just not something you carry an image away with from the film. It makes perfect sense that in this dystopian\utopian vision nature doesn't quite fit in. Nature is used sporadically in specific scenes that add an underlying visual intelligence personified as winter with conifers and snow, the shoreline covered with human bodies on El Segundo beach or with family life.


I am attracted to films that are crafted with beauty, content and leave you thinking. The strong visuals, story telling and residual contemplative aspect of "Her" are amplified by the connection you feel to the plight of the characters. I also loved how Samantha did a bit of Byron Katie questioning on her motivations. A nice added extra for those of us who are interested in personal growth, particularly Katies work, given she is a Los Angeleno.

What fragrances would futurians in this uto-dystopic world wear? I'm concerned that it would be synthetics that mimic nature. Let's hope that as we propel ourselves forward that we can do it more consciously than what we currently seem to be doing. I personally don't see technology as something bad, but, I am concerned when it is appreciated more than the authentic natural world.

Images: Stolen movie promotional material from various sites on the internet.

Friday, January 17, 2014

Incorporeal Entity

“The best color in the whole world is the one that looks good on you.”
~ Coco Chanel


In early December Greg was contacted to model for the dynamic color consultant Jennifer Butler. I squealed with delight when Greg mentioned it to me as I am a huge and advocate of her work, having incorporated her principals throughout the branding of Roxana Illuminated Perfume.


When Greg spoke with Jennifer about the details she told him to bring me along as well. Thus, we began to put our outfits together and on December 13th headed down to the photography studio of Mikel Healey.


The shoot was focused on the "Summer" essence, of which Greg and I both belong to, which has the imprint of Twilight and defined on Jennifer's website as "languid and gracious; gentle twilight." Here is more from Jennifer's website:

"Summer is a time when we sustain our energy:  Seeds were planted in Spring, are being sustained through Summer, and will come to fruition in the Fall. The Summer essence comes from the twilight energy, relaxed, diffuse, thoughtful. The lines of summer are relaxed.  Wisteria cascades from trellises and wild roses trail the fences. The world seems brushed with a soft blue.  Days stretch into long rosy twilights and dusks are cloaked in purple shadows.
The Summer personality has a quiet and gentle manner, an air of repose and relaxation.  The Summer Essence typifies humility in its highest form. Sensitive to beautiful things, they love elegance and refinement. They tend to exactitude in their thinking and give meticulous attention to detail. They are precise in their planning and honor order. The Summer essence is contemplative and thoughtful and does not make instant decisions. They tend to see life in an intricate way, and they appreciate and honor art and beauty. They have a great sense of order, timeliness and appropriateness."


"We call the Summer woman the princess; the Summer man the gentleman. We often recognize them for their sense of refinement, and they remind us that we can live life gracefully and graciously. Summers are remarkable at research, engineering, and the medical profession. They make gifted healers, counselors and teachers."


Greg and I had a session with Jennifer back in 2007, just before I began working on my branding so as to integrate what I learned from her so that I could give as "authentic" an impression of who I was and what my business was about.


Based on my skin, hair and eye color combined with my temperament I was cast as a "Tapestry" summer because my eye color was technically Autumnal. Greg is a "Artistic" summer, his palette is a bit more keyed up than mine and includes blues.


The small, street facing studio had a large green screen hanging where the photos of other "Summers" were being taken. I sat down to have my make up applied while Greg was whisked to the back to evaluate the clothing we had brought and put together the outfits we would wear.


The shoot took place in the studio with the green screen as well as a few locations just outside, it was a great amount of fun and very different to be behind the camera instead of holding it and wearing make up. Once Jennifer puts the images up on her site I will give a shout out here so you all can wonder over there and see what they have done with the backgrounds for the green screen and what photos she has chosen.

Portraits by Mikel Healey

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Wild Wonderful


The 2014 edition of Rosa as a solid is back. There were a few tiny modifications to the formula due to available ingredients but not enough to shift the aroma. I am happy to report that there was enough of the precious rose bourbonica from India to include in this edition.

As I have mentioned previously the botanical synergy used to create Rosa has a complex formula which includes two intricate chords, a rose and a leather combined with thirteen other plant essences and infusions. Part of the challenge of complex fragrances like Rosa is that before construction on the perfume begins, the chords must be complete and fully marinated. If an ingredient is unavailable for one of the chords then the perfume will need to be put on hold or reformulated to compensate for the missing notes. Fortunately Rosa was able to be completed with no hitches.


The rose is an elder in the scheme of medicine and history, she appears often and quite vividly. Fragments of her story go back to fossil records from 35 million years ago and Egyptian tombs. Although rose is purchased primarily by women, it is a scent that will also work on men because of the deep, earthy underpinnings.

Carl Jung wrote “The wholeness which is a combination of ‘I and you’ is part of a transcendent unity whose nature can only be grasped in symbols like the rose or the coniunctio (Conjunction).” In alchemy the red rose is associated with the male while the white rose is associated with the feminine. Rosa was designed after the five petalled pink rose of the California woodland, the combination of the red and white and of the ‘I and you’ described by Jung.


The fragrance combines the traditional heart opening, soothing aspects that aromatherapists so often praise in the aroma of rose amplified by twelve other botanical essences and two chords. The rich, verdant bouquet awaits you with its redolent balance of light and dark.

ArtHeart image by Greg Spalenka, available as a print here.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Silver Lockets


All the components for the new silver lockets have arrived thus I did the photos this afternoon and posted the locket on the website and E-shop. Silver is a bit tricky to photograph, the color easily picks up the warm light so that the locket takes on a brass tone even though it is silver.



I'm not sure if these will become a pertinent part of the line or not, it all depends if it is something you all are wanting. I know that these will look fabulous on those of us who are embracing our foxy, silver hair color as well as those with super dark or black hair.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

California Christmas 2013


Our yearly ritual of driving south to Hermosa Beach for Christmas morning breakfast and celebrations came and went. I just realized I forgot to post about it, so here I am.




The day was sunny and warm, in sharp contrast to other parts of the US, especially this week. We have been experiencing a very mild and dry Winter this year, which concerns me because I know the plants need the rain in a big way.





After the "family photo" we sat down and opened gifts followed by an intermission, while Ben and Marilyn prepared the meal. During the brief interlude Eve and I roam the downstairs looking for photo ops, which were abundant with the dollhouse all fixed up. I'll post those photos in a separate post.





As you can see by these photos, and others I have shared of Marilyn's home, she likes keyed up, bold color. Part of this is because of her involvement with mid-century modern design but another reason, which I just learned, is because she associates browns and other more neutral colors with the depression. Now I understand why she doesn't like the palette that Greg and I use.



After the meal, we chatted and shared imagery until we were satiated. Just before departing Eve found a large spoon and fork hidden away. I asked her to pose with Ben as an interpretation of a modern American Gothic.