Botanical Perfume Classes in March & April

Art of Botanical Perfume

March 2nd & 3rd in Encino, CA

April 6th & 7th in Santa Fe, NM

The Art of Botanical Perfume is a level one class, an introduction to making perfume with plants. In the past this was a one day course that always felt rushed and overwhelming, thus now I set it up over two days that will include these seven categories:

• 1. What is Perfume?
• 2. History of Perfume
• 3. Tools & Raw Materials
• 4. Fragrance Families & Types
• 5. Olfactory Awareness
• 6. Artistry
• 7. Orchestration

For an more in depth description of the workshop look at the online course, although keep in mind that we are squeezing 70 hours into two days. The Art of Botanical Perfume live or online course is a perquisite for the advanced classes. Seating is limited, grab your spot today.

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Chord Construction & Perfume Types

March 9th & 10th in Encino, CA

April 13th & 14th Santa Fe, NM

This two day workshop is for those who have taken the 

ART OF BOTANICAL PERFUME 

class live or online course

DAY ONE : Chord Building A chord or accord in perfume is a term borrowed from music referring to constructing a synergy of notes that will be added to your perfume to create more complexity. In this day long workshop you will learn the notes and essences associated with eight fragrance families, how they relate to each other and how to make them more complex. These are the eight fragrance families we will focus on:

• Green
• Floral
• Earth
• Wood
• Spice
• Gourmand
• Citrus
• Fruit

By the end of the day you will have created a few chords that will be used on Day Two when we construct a perfume within a specific class.

DAY TWO : Perfume Types Perfumes are categorized into categories or types, which are also referred to as classes. This organizational system is based on the overall, universal scent impression. We will learn about these types, the notes that go into their formulation and construct one or more, depending on our time.

• Chypre
• Oriental
• Fougère (meaning fern in French)
• Floral
• Green
• Leather

All supplies & tools are included with the purchase of this class. Please bring a notebook for jotting down your formulas. By the end of the each day you will have gained new insights to add complexity to your botanical perfume formulas and knowledge to continue working with new skill sets.

Seating is limited, thus I recommend enrolling ASAP to grab your seat

Stranger

Everyone perceives things differently, for example, have six people smell fresh ginger essential oil on an unlabeled scent strip and ask them what they smell.

Most of us realize this as young children in school, for me it came as bitter medicine when the teacher would ask a question and I would be the only one who saw things in an alternate light. I was considered weird, and to add salt to the wound being from another country no one had ever heard of and having unusual items in my lunch just made it worse.

I remember a vivid experience in kindergarden when I decided to paint the entire paper yellow, without any imagery what-so-ever. The teacher didn't know what to think of my act of artistic expression and after grilling me in front of my parents chalked me up to being a strange child.

This continued to happen even in art school, a professional illustrator and a bit as a perfumer, since I was very outspoken about people in the industry calling a fragrance natural when it had synthetics or animal ingredients.

When setting up to teach botanical perfume I decided to empower the student and their intuition, what I term as circular thinking, instead of a more rigid "this is the way things are" approach. Sure learning the basics is important, but if you remove a persons essence from the equation, you are left with very little creativity. Creativity requires a bit of chaos, in fact it is usually birthed from dis-order or falling down rabbit holes.

Yesterday afternoon, while spending time in my friend Liza’s garden with her black cat, I came across a thick pile of the most exquisite leaves with bright magenta veins. I went about taking a few photos and then this morning the thought of the Acanthus leaf pattern by William Morris wafted into my mind out of no where. Here are the two images side by side, there's a similarity, but they are also quite different.

On the left is the photo of the maple leaves with the acanthus leaf pattern on the right, although they are different there is an essence about the two that makes them similar because of the pattern, texture and color...its a resonance.

The word resonance is defined as evoking a string association. In terms of fragrance, associations can be quite varied due to culture and ones personal olfactory terrain. For example one person will love lavender and find it calming, while another will associate the word with a bad experience and thus find the scent emotionally troubling. Now, if you ask a person to put the scent into a fragrance family, they will tend to look at you blankly unless you give them some prompts like, "Does it smell like flowers, green, earthy, fruity or like wood?" Asking an individual questions, instead of telling them, is empowering and leads to creativity.

Creative perception often comes from courageously following an inner muse, even when others disagree. It's not an easy path, its full of crazy twists and turns, not knowing what is up from down, being called names, shot at and even killed. What is certain is a wild adventure with plenty of stories, even after you've left this realm.

Images:
Ink Blot Test by Inudragon
Scent strip photo by Rebecca Fishman in my California studio
Maple leaf photo by me (Roxana Villa) with Acanthus leaf pattern by William Morris

Text © Roxana Villa

The Art of Botanical Perfume is Now Open for Enrollment

One of the worlds most beloved courses on botanical perfume is back and open for registration! It is now streaming 24/7 with downloadable files from anywhere at anytime, on your desktop, mobile device or tablet with lifetime access. A specially designed, essential oil kit created with Eden Botanicals is sent out when you sign up. If you have opted for the payment plan then the kit will be sent upon completing the second payment.

The Art of Botanical Perfume is a pre-requisite to some of the future advanced online courses I've been developing. The seven module course is now open a select number of new students.

 Promo Video by Greg Spalenka

Art of Botanical Perfume .02

In May, after a rather surreal conversation via email, the Art of Botanical Perfume online course was temporarily closed for enrollment. Slowly (in between packing, selling the house and moving lock, stock and barrels to another state) I have been revamping the material for a relaunch.

Here is an overview of the original course:

In the ART OF BOTANICAL PERFUME Roxana shares how the craft of botanical perfume is essential to our modern day because it holds the seeds of Alchemy, Herbalism, Aromatherapy and the Arts—while still serving the Earth and positively affecting change in the human being. The artistry of the creation of natural perfume contributes to a sustainable way of life that is part of organic farming as well as the evolution of humanity’s spiritual consciousness. Perfume making is a fine art that goes beyond reading books and putting together suggested scent-pairings; it’s about truly experiencing the complexity and nuances of volatile essences, understanding what they mean to you and where they came from; as well as the comprehension of how to create a fragrance based on your own personal aesthetic. By the end of this course you will have a foundation to create unique botanical perfumes and a template to continue building your skill set.

1. What is Perfume & Introduction Module: 

Have you ever wondered where the word “Perfume” came from? In this module Roxana defines the word and gives an overview of the different palettes currently used to create perfume, knowledge on the complexities of this ancient practice and help you understand its depth before proceeding to the history of the industry.

2. History of Perfume Module: The “wholistic” telling of this story begins with the first aromatic molecules which came from the conifers. Discovered by the First People who noticed mood shifts and decreased insects while burning this plant material, the history of humanity has progressed in unison with our utilization of fragrance. In this module Roxana will share how the crafting of perfume stems from ancient fragrant preparations that were used for spiritual rituals and physical remedies. She will teach you about the multifaceted world-wide uses of scent from India, China, the Middle East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome providing insight into how this art form has changed and progressed through the ages.

3. Tools & Raw Materials Module: An artist, of any sort, cannot do anything without their tools and supplies. Roxana will explain what basic tools and raw materials you will need before fashioning your own perfume. She will explain and define words such as “Pipette” and “Stirring Rod”, as well as why you need beakers, funnels, blotter strips and more. Also in this module you will learn about essential oils; absolutes; extracts and concretes; high proof alcohol and how to make tinctures, infusions and an enfleurage. 

4. Fragrance Families & Types Module: In this module you will learn about the basic fragrance families and types of perfume. Roxana’s knowledge on this subject abounds, and she will provide you with the basics to better understand the scents you will be experiencing during this course and into the future. The language of perfumery is very complex and by the end of this module you will understand the difference between “fragrance families”, “types”, “descriptives” and “notes”.

5. Olfactory Awareness Module: In this module you will be exercising and building what Roxana refers to as olfactory awareness. This is something you can practice every single moment of your waking life, with every breath…and in turn it will help you develop mindfulness. Roxana will provide step-by-step instructions on how to dive deep into the wonders of your olfactory SUPER POWER, enabling you to experience scents rather than just learn about them. In this section of the course, you will be creating a notebook of what how you personally experience a scent and create from that authentic and individual resource. The process of experiencing scent without predetermined concepts, helps you create much more innovative fragrances. Your own distinctive sense of smell is your SUPER POWER, it will enable you to craft heavenly scents unlike any that have been made before. You will become empowered by your own experiences, and not be forced to conform to predetermined conceptions of scent.

6. Artistry Module: In this module Roxana shows you how there are many paths of learning and creating, sharing her experience of drawing from the right brain and circular thinking. Once you have learned the basic language of scent and how to categorize an aroma (Module 5), and then begin to tap into your own unique interpretation of scent (Module 6) we then move into personal artistry and aesthetics. 

7. Orchestration Module: In this final module you will construct your own unique perfume using the basic top, middle, and base note structure with suggestions on how to make modifications based on supplied formulas. She will guide you on perfume concentrations, proportions of aromatic compounds and the different carriers; and what the different types of carriers mean for the end result of the scent. We also delve deep into Alchemy and how the seven processes relates to creating botanical perfume. In the final lessons of this module you will orchestrate your distinctive perfume and with all the knowledge gained in this course share your new gifts with the world.

For more details contact me via e-mail: roxana <at> illuminatedperfume <dot> com

Study, Learn, Evolve, Repeat

This Sunday, April 9th, I will be teaching what appears to be the very last Art of Botanical Perfume live class at the "current" perfumery. It won't be the last live class I teach, but my lease in the Whizin Market Hall is up on May 5th, thus it will likely be the last live class I do in this exact location...at least as of this sacred moment.

The online Art of Botanical Perfume course is available 24/7 and more live and online classes are on their way. What this also means, if you haven't put the pieces together yet, is that the perfumery as we know it in this incarnation will cease to exist. I won't say more at this point since things are in a fluid state, however, if you've been meaning to take a class or visit the space, tick tock.

A Feature and Perfume Course Giveaway

Eden Botanicals has an interview with me on their blog and is hosting a special giveaway of my course with the kit! Details on the giveaway is at the bottom of this post.

Want to learn about authentic botanical perfume, the history of healing and fragrance, alchemy, how to tap into your inner artist and learn to create scented potions from nature? Then don't miss your chance to win free access to the online course, 'Art of Botanical Perfume' created and designed by me for YOU! 

With a value of over $600, this one of a kind, multi-media course was designed with a feast of beautiful imagery along with extensive texts, links to external sources, a slide show, designed handouts, a fragrance wheel, videos and the special kit of 27 essential oils, absolutes and C02 extracts provided by Eden Botanicals.

For your chance to win free access to this course, like EdenBotanicals on Facebook or follow them on Instagram and comment on the 'Art of Botanical Perfume' post on their blog by 12/5/16. One winner will be randomly selected, good luck!!

Live Classes are back at the Perfumery!

FINALLY, I am so happy to share that the live classes are now back at the perfumery!! If there is something specific you are looking for that I did not cover, use the contact page on the website. Space is limited so don't hesitate in grabbing your velvet chair.

To my online students: the intention is to add advanced classes will be added to Aromatic Studies in November. Inch by inch.

Artistry Video for the Art of Botanical Perfume

I've had an amazing team helping out with elements of the Art of Botanical Perfume online course. Greg being the principal, who acts as a art director for my brand but also my all around support person. Jeff: who helps out with graphics from time to time. I contracted him to create the pdf's, many of which ended up being pretty elaborate like the Essence slide show, the fragrance wheel and the timeline. He and Greg worked together on  the essence kit for the course. The videos for the course were shot by Brian Oh and were then edited by Brian, Greg and a little help by my daughter Eve.
As you can see many artists helping hands facilitated the artistry of this course.

Here's the video that accompanied the opening lesson of the Artistry Module from the course, filmed by Brian and then edited by Greg.

Sign up for the course here.

Spring Flowers

Spring flowers begin blooming here in Los Angeles in January with our native white ceanothus. The little sky blue, rosemary flowers on our back slope usually start up at this time as well, which begins to hum with the sounds of busy bees. The cascade of colors then slowly ebbs its way in with the blue ceonothus, also referred to as California lilac. The photo above is the one on our front slope which is very happy.

Although we had a bit of rain in the early part of the new year elemental water has become scarce once again, with only a few sprinkles now and then. It sure would be helpful to have more rain before we go into the dry, hot months looming around the corner.

I've been so immersed with assembling all the bits and pieces for the Art of Botanical Perfume online course and making/fulfilling perfume orders that most other aspects of life have dropped away. The content for the course includes both written material and video. Although the footage for each module was shot and a first draft of the edits sent over, Greg has been sweetening this footage with his artistry.

Only Modules 1-4 have been released so far, mostly as written content, the videos are being added slowly as Greg finishes them up. The kit I designed with Eden Botanicals is now complete and were sent to students last week. Modules 5, 6 and 7 will be released on April 17th..with or without the corresponding videos.

One of the students sent in this note to Jade today, who then forwarded it to me:

"I am doing the art of botanical perfumery with Roxana Villa. And it's absolutely beautiful.  Hands down one of my favorite courses ever. And I have taken a lot. I love all the sensory stimulation writhing the course and extra credit pieces. I'm so glad you have brought this to your course menu."

Notes such of these make all the hard work so much lighter. I mentioned to Greg that when we are complete with all this a vacation is certainly on the horizon.

Thus, my absence here at the journal is due to the overwhelming amount of work involved with launching a sensory rich course. The challenge with detail oriented / perfectionist people like Greg and I, is that we have high ideals. In the end its a good thing but in the middle is the worst. One of the students sent me this note after reading my apology regarding the delay in including the videos with the launch of each Module.

"You need Chaos in your Soul to give birth to a Dancing Star." 

~ Nietzsche

Webinar for the Art of Botanical Perfume Online Course

After a week of editing Greg and I have finished the webinar for the Art of Botanical Perfume Online Course and uploaded it to YouTube here.

We are having some massive team and technical challenges getting all the videos finalized. The content for Module 1 is live with the video forthcoming. Intending Module 2 will be arriving soon. I had no idea that there would be so many challenging with having videos made. Might just be letting go of professionalism and perfection, and learning that getting a great, reliable team when embarking on a project of this scale is so important.

Art of Botanical Perfume Online Course

I created a special essence kit for the course, which is mentioned in the video with a link at the course page. The labels, stickers, folded booklet etc. have been all custom designed and are being printed as I type. Thus, the kits will be sent out next week which is in plenty of time before the students will need them for the debut of Module 5: Olfactory Awareness in mid April.