Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Crossing a Threshold


As you may recall in March I posted that I had taken Greg locally for lunch to celebrate his birthday. If you re-read that post you will notice that I mentioned how perfect I thought the location was for a perfume studio.

Since that very auspicious day I've been back to the location several times negotiating the contract for a space and conducting a few photo shoots.


Yesterday afternoon, Roxana Illuminated Perfume, acquired a sweet studio/showroom/teaching space in Agoura! That was the BHAG, big hairy audacious goal, I mentioned a few days ago. It's been a bit of a wild ride, especially getting the details of the contract worked out.

Greg has been working on a tarot deck with Mario Donato a psychic, clairvoyant and astrologer. On Sunday on his facebook page Mario posted this:

"April was clearly a significant turning point for the world. April marked the Cardinal Grand Cross astrologically. (snip) In essence, if anyone was waiting for signs to go ahead, to move from one place to another, to shift gears, to change, to finally pass to a different stage of life, to step into new levels of understanding this is the time!"

Although I've been getting lots of signs that this space is a good move, having read what Mario wrote right before going to sign the contract made everything lock into place.

Agoura is within the Santa Monica Mountains off of Kanan Dume Road which connects to Malibu. The location presented itself rather spontaneously as if it were looking for me. Here's a snapshot of the exterior space which is on the top floor of the atrium. It's the one with the door and big bay window.


I won't actually be in the space until the renovation gets done. I'm intending they will finish it within the month, but, usually those things take a lot more time than expected. The space is already segmented into three part, which is perfect for a lab, a showroom and a teaching/consultation space.

Since I expected to sign the lease soon, this past weekend I was hunting for items that might work well for the interiors. My intention is for the space to have a sophisticated vintage, apothecary charm. Conveniently the Agoura Antique Mart where we did the photo shoot has lots of inspiration to pull from. For example, in the front area, where the showroom will be I was planning on having three chandeliers.

On Saturday at the Topanga Vintage Market I found a very well priced vintage dress form which was love and first site. Then on Monday Greg and I headed into downtown LA for a banner he needed for an upcoming show and decided to stop in at The Santa Fe Wrecking Company salvage yard. What fun that was!



There I purchased three beat up crystal chandeliers that will be repaired for the showroom of the shop. In the my work/lab area I'm thinking of going a little more rustic with reclaimed wood and pipe for the counters unless I come across some well priced vintage apothecary items.

I'm not sure how I will manifest all that I need for the space, a crowd funding campaign is a possibility.

The gals who were in the space started clearing there things out today. First thing that will happen is that the fireproof fabric on the ceiling will be changed from black to white, the walls will be repaired, prepped and painted. I'm going to go with Sydney Harbour Interior Distemper paint for the walls in a natural tone with white trim.

I will share photos of the process as we inch along.

The photos in the first part of this post were taken by Greg at The Agoura Antique Mart, the floral crown is by Emily of WhichGoose. The photo of the atrium was found on the internet. Photos of the Santa Fe Wrecking Company were taken by me.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

An Interview in Two Parts


Contributing writer Azar sent me some very in depth questions to answer for a two part feature over at the Australian Perfume Junkies blog. If inspired please hop on over and leave a comment of two, I know that both Azar and Portia would appreciate the love as much as I do.

Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume: Interview #1

Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume: Interview #2

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Agostino Arrivabene



A few months ago, while in the car waiting for Greg, I discovered the work of contemporary Italian artist Agostino Arrivabene via Instagram. I immediately feel in love with the dark, surrealistic imagery.


His work fits perfectly into the stable of Visionary artists that stemmed out of the The Vienna School of Fantastic Realism in the mid forties and became very popular in the seventies. The work also evokes a bit of Spanish artist Remedios Varo in style, content and use of materials.



A nice collection of Agostino's painting, sketchbooks and mixed media pieces is featured in the latest issue of Juxtapoz if you'd like to delve further.



All images were found on the internet, see more of the artists work at his website here.

Saturday, April 26, 2014

White Wedding



When we went to do the shoot at The Agoura Antique Mart we did some photos of our pretty model Savanah wearing a vintage nightgown that belonged to my mother, the diamond pattern solid perfume locket and some flower crowns from Emily of WhichGoose. I'm saving most of the photos for another project I'm working on but here's a little preview.




Tuesday, April 22, 2014

HAPPY EARTH DAY!


Wishing each of you a very happy EARTH day! The earthiest of our perfumes are Terrestre, created on Earth Day and Figure 1: Noir. Read more about elemental earth here.

For a bit of validation on just how magnificent Mother Earth is, check out this video. As you may have heard, I will be a presenter as this Autumns Aromatherapy Conference up in Seattle. My talk is titled "The Tree of Life: A Mystical Approach to the Art of Aromatherapy", this video gives you a clue as to why I choose the tree as my archetype.

Impromptu LookBook



The Lookbook for Impromptu is finally done! Greg and I began working on it on April 11th when we did a photo shoot up at the Agoura Antique Market. Greg had discovered a pretty, young girl named Savannah at the gym he frequents. She is a fabulous model and we hope to use her often.


The photo shoot was specifically for a trio of fragrances planned for next month. Since we were there we decided to use our dedicated time, location and Savannah for a few images for Impromptu.


For the creation of this LookBook I mapped out a storyboard on index cards to serve as a guide. I shared with Greg the concepts I had in mind and then began to hunt for imagery on my hard drive, pull up reviews and create new text. In the meantime Greg began working on a masculine image for the fragrance. The first pages I created were the three text pages about the fragrance. I then moved onto the ingredients spread and the pages that include quotes from Gaia of The Non-Blond and John of CaFleurBon. As I did my work Greg continued creating imagery and working on spreads as well. We work very closely, going back and forth, eliminating ideas while coming up with new directions and sometimes going back to the beginning and then foraging new paths. The constant is we are always surprised how long these LookBooks take to create.

Monday, April 21, 2014

The BHAG


I've been working on manifesting a BHAG: big, hairy, audacious goal. The goal was not necessarily on the top of my list, but rather has occurred by a series of serendipitous events. At first it was just an idea, which like a rolling stone has gathered lots of moss and particles. It is now a big ball, appearing to be gaining speed.

“To dream by night is to escape your life. To dream by day is to make it happen.” 
~ Stephen Richards


In some ways I feel like I will be leaping from a high mountain peak with the intention that my wings will open and the air currents will be manageable. All signs point to GO and each day the goal feels more and more tangible.

Once the goal is in a more solidified form (not just a big mossy ball) I'll be back to share.



Friday, April 18, 2014

Impromptu Reviews


This is the official landing page for reviews of Impromptu botanical perfume as a constant in the line. First up is a paragraph from Sam and review Tom write for Perfume Posse, where he picks up on carnation as the primary note.

"Impromptu is a morpher; a changeling. A fragrance with layers upon layers. A beginning of herbs, wood, and a lemony and astringent quality that eventually warms and morphs into something astounding. Worn leather, sweet balsamic notes, woods and resin mingle together and create this beautiful antique quality and feeling. This isn't a perfume to become weak and subtle with wear, but instead, Impromptu only gets better the longer it is worn - and it lasts an impressively long time."
    ~ Sam, in reference to the liquid perfume extract




Sunday, April 13, 2014

Ex tempore


All aspects of Impromptu are now listed at the site and ready to be enjoyed. Each format offers a different form of enjoyment as the notes seem to sing in different harmonies depending on if the base.


Greg and I are hard at work on the LookBook, which, if everything aligns nicely will be done by the end of the week.

Impromptu: A Rendezvous with Romance


Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Visions from the Minds Eye update


As you may recall, I had asked you all to chime in to find out which of Greg's images you liked best for the cover of his upcoming book. Well, it turns out he gets to use BOTH as well as a third cover for the boxed set.




Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Blooming


While straightening up the studio I happened across a few glass amber bottles containing Blossom Eau de Cologne. I poured them all together, then filtered to make sure any bits of the jasmine tincture and botanical extracts were gone and have listed the remnants here. This is all that is left of the 2013 edition.


The 2014 edition is now underway which will feature a tincture of our jasmine sambac blossoms from last years bloom time.



Monday, April 7, 2014

Radiant Orchids


Pantone, the self deemed authority on color , has deemed "Radiant Orchid" the color of 2014. This cool yet warm hue, which gently lounges on the fringes of red violet, has an affinity with the color harmony of Gracing the Dawn and Cimbalom. In fact, if you were to take the lavender shade of Gracing the Dawn and mix in a bit of the pigment of Cimbalom you'd probably have a match.


Radiant Orchid is within the realm of our mascot hue Purple, and thus we are rather thrilled by this as there seems to be much available in this luminous tone.



Orchids, for the most part do not have a scent, nor do we have a botanical essence derived from their flowers. We do have vanilla, the fermented paste from the bean originally from the V. planifolia that grew along the east coast of Mexico. However, when conjuring the image of this wild, tropical orchid we generally associate it with a cocoa brown color.


Thus, if we were to construct a scent from the Illuminated Perfume line that was in alignment with the "Radiant Orchid" I would choose a soft floral with both a warm and cool character. I'm feeling like Gracing the Dawn is perfectly aligned with what the Pantone folk define as Radiant Orchid. If you have a different point of view let me know, I'd love to hear it.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Carded


I picked up the little Impromptu cards from my local printer yesterday. Thus all the orders that have been placed, along with promotional packets, will begin getting sent out today. Please note that I didn't make a huge amount of this first batch. I'm working on a big batch of the solid and liquid synergy as well as an Eau de Parfum spray.


I took a few more photographs yesterday, still have quite a lot more to shoot and then edit. Launching a fragrance, even when its a perfume that once existed, is always a bit labor intensive.