12th year Anniversary

I've been so swamped between the move to another house, the spa-cation and getting prepared for the Santa Fe Art Tour at the perfumery that I completely forgot about the 12th anniversary of launching Roxana Illuminated Perfume, ugh!

Back in February of 2007 I was contacted by Sandy Messori to be a presenter at the Ojai Valley Lavender Festival. As you can imagine I felt extremely honored considering some of the other speakers were luminaries in the aromatherapy community, like Suzanne Catty & Michael Scholes. Along with presenting I was offered a booth to sell my products.

At the time I had just started coming out of my shell as a "perfumer", even though I had already been teaching, creating my botanical perfumes and custom fragrances for clients. The invitation gave me the impetus to get my branding and a website together, which launched on the day of the event June 16, 2007. You can read a little bit about it here at the journal.

As a gift to you I am offering 25% off the round tins of Vera (pictured above). This lavender perfume was created specifically for the Ojai Lavender Festival to be a reflection of the landscape, it is complex yet simple with notes ranging from lavender, sage, sun-kissed skin, honey and resin. Use coupon code VERA at the illuminated perfume website, or come pick it up at the perfumery.

Here are a few testimonials I uncovered...

"This perfume has redefined lavender for me. It has built it into a scent that is stunning in its complexity; that is both very natural and very feminine in a sophisticated way. This is one little luxury that I hope never to be without again."

~ Customer of Vera liquid flacon

"Lavender is one of my favorite flowers and scents, and this smells exactly like the real thing, not heavy or overpowering at all like those soap and bath products! Thank you so much!"

~ Customer of Vera solid perfume

"I love that you make perfumes I can wear without getting a rash. I love the heavenly scents and I'm thrilled with the extra solid samples you included! Thank you!"

~ Customer of Vera liquid perfume flacon

"Starts as a herbal-y lavender then dries down to soft resins. Exquisite."

~ Customer of Vera solid perfume

"Absolutely beautiful perfumes. As well as smelling good, I love how each seems to be imbued with intention to me; Sierra is joyful, Q is grounding and Vera gives a feeling of clarity."

~ Grace

"Thanks, Roxana! It smells wonderful ~ as per the words of my fiancee. :)"

~ Fireman, Vera liquid for his girl

I LOVE the VERA it has a wonderfully complex scent,

and the "sun kissed skin" note is very sensual!

~ Customer of Vera solid perfume

"This is my favorite stuff in the whole world. "

~ Customer of Vera liquid falcon

"I am wearing this right now. Seeing how Vera is my favorite thing in the world, of course I love it. Love, love, love it."

~ Customer of Vera solid perfume compact

"The depth of this fragrance is amazing. Lavender has a very open, honest fragrance, but Vera is so much more. It is open and subtle at the same time. I love wearing it.

Thank you so much for creating this wonderful fragrance."

~ Customer of Vera liquid vial

Giveaway Reminder

This is a heads up to remind you of two things....

1. I'm doing a really generous giveaway surrounding Vera, highly recommend you all get on it. I'm giving away a round compact of Vera for the person who creates the most beautiful board on Pinterest about the fragrance. Only one board has been submitted so far (It's a beauty!) thus, if you can create one as pretty your chances of winning are pretty high. Read details about the giveaway and all the different ways to enter here.

2. The Ojai Lavender Festival is this Saturday, although I won't be exhibiting this year, I highly recommend attending and stopping by the perfumery just off the 101 on your way up or down.

VERA Anniversary Celebration 2015

In mid June of 2007 with the help of my friend and graphic designer Terese Harris I launched the website, blog and Vera on the morning of the Ojai Lavender Festival. In honor of that blessed day, lavender and the fabulous journey, here is an anniversary celebration with something for everyone.

The first part of the celebration is a free sample of the Vera natural solid in any order of $25 or over (not including tax or shipping). This is in addition to any other free sample that may be part of your order. To get the sample please include a note with your order upon checkout either via Etsy or my website.

For the second part of the festivities I will be giving away Vera perfume related gifts to four lucky winners. If you are one of the lucky winners you can choose from these two prizes:

- Vera liquid in glass vial, 1 gram by weight
- Vera mini compact solid perfume

- The grand prize is a Vera solid perfume round compact, valued at $195, this prize will go to the most beautiful Pin Board creation, see #1 below.

There are several ways to enter:

(1) PIN BOARD
- Create a board on Pinterest that either evokes the essence of Vera.
- Feel free to use any imagery from the website, this journal, Greg's site, etc. I've started a Vera Pin Board that you can use for reference here. Submit your beautiful creation, or creations, via e-mail (roxana at illuminatedperfume.com) with a link to your board by June 27th 12pm PST.
- The person who creates the most beautiful board will receive the Vera Solid Perfume Round Compact. If you have previously won a Pin It to Win It contest you may enter this contest.

(2) INSTAGRAM

1. Follow @illuminatedperfume on Instagram  2. tag a friend below 3. Repost with @repostapp, tag us @illuminatedperfume and include the hashtags #vera #lavender #giveaway Do all three get THREE entries, or ONE each.

(3) COMMENT
Leave a comment of this blog post and tell me what new product or fragrance you would like to see manifest, ONE entry.

(4) PURCHASE
Any purchase of $25 as of today June 17th, will receive ONE entry. If your entry is for $50 that will count as TWO, if $75 that will count as THREE, etc.

(5) REVIEW
Review one of your favorite Illuminated Perfumes on Make Up Alley, Fragrantica or other major perfume forum (THREE entries per each review). Reviews must be dated June 17, 2015 or there after. Please email me the link to confirm: roxana at illuminatedperfume.com

(6) FOLLOW
Follow this journal or the Roxana Illuminated Perfume on Instagram and you will receive ONE entry per each one. If you already are a follower please let me know.

(7) SHARE
Share this celebration on a social media site with a link to to this post and you will receive ONE entry.

(8) MENTION
Mention this celebration on your blog or any social media platform with a link to to this post and you will receive ONE entry. Please email me the link to confirm: roxana at illuminatedperfume.com

The fine print...

1. The deadline for entering is June 27, 2015 (The day of the Ojai Lavender Festival this year), at 12 pm (PST).
2. Once the pin boards have been looked at all entries will be placed into a random drawing via the "randomizer" and announced on this blog, twitter, instagram and facebook.

Thank you for your support over the years!

Anniversary Celebration!

Four years ago on this day the journal, the website and Vera were launched at the Ojai Lavender Festival. It has been an interesting and wild ride, very much like the childrens book The Wind and the Willows. "Alternately slow moving and fast paced" is how Wikipedia describes the novel with a "mixture of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie." All this and more can be applied to the last four years of illuminating the world with the how, what, when, where and why of botanical perfume.

To mark the occasion I have some festivities planned which include some play and gifts for the next week as we wind ourselves to the release of the new Bee inspired natural perfume.

The first part of the celebration is a free sample of the Vera natural solid in any order of $25 or over (not including tax or shipping). This is in addition to any other free sample that may be part of your order.


For the second part of the festivities I will be giving away Vera perfume related gifts to four lucky winners. If you are one of the lucky winners you can choose from these prizes:
- 1 gram vial of Vera liquid
- Honey bee pot of Vera solid
- A brand new mini compact with a tin of Vera solid (Pictured below, this is assuming they arrive. My supplier has been a major flake since last November!)


There are several ways to enter:

(1) Leave a comment of this blog post and tell me what new product or fragrance you would like to see manifest, ONE entry.

(2) Any purchase of $25 as of June 15th, will receive ONE entry. If your entry is for $50 that will count as TWO, if $75 that will count as THREE, etc.

(3) Review one of your favorite Illuminated Perfumes on Make Up Alley, Perfume of Life or another major perfume forum (THREE entries per each review). Reviews must be dated June 15, 2011 or there after. Please email me the link to confirm: roxanailluminatedperfume.com

(4) Follow this journal, my tweets or the Roxana Illuminated Perfume facebook fanpage and you will receive ONE entry per each one. If you already are a follower please let me know.

(5) Tweet this celebration on Twitter with a link to to this post and you will receive ONE entry.

(6) Mention this celebration on your blog with a link to to this post and you will receive ONE entry. Please email me the link to confirm: roxanailluminatedperfume.com

(7) Mention tthis celebration on Facebook with a link to to this post and you will receive ONE entry. Please email me the link to confirm: roxanailluminatedperfume.com

(8) Answer any of these questions by sending an to e-mail: roxanailluminatedperfume.com
a. What other flash animation appeared on the front page of the Illuminated Perfume website other than the one which is currently featured? TWO entries for a correct answer.
b. What are the names of my favorite perfumes? ONE entry for a correct answer.
c. Which fragrance blog or publication was the first to mention Roxana Illuminated Perfume? ONE entry for a correct answer.

The fine print...

1. The deadline for entering is June 26, 2011, at 10 pm (PST).
2. Entries will be placed into a random drawing and announced on this blog, twitter and facebook.

Thank you for your support over the years!

Images ©RoxanaVilla