We are featured in 805 Magazine!

Our natural botanical perfume flacons have been beautifully photographed in a feature within the December issue of 805 Living Magazine! Check it out on page 78 with a little write up on page 79, here's the link to the online version. Find the paper copy outside of Blue Table Wine and Cheese Bar at the Wizard (Whizin) Market Square in Agoura Hills.

Interview with Perfumer, Roxana Villa

Back in March, the blog editor over at Ziibra contacted me requesting an interview. I replied with a "Yes, I'd love to!" immediately. Here is the link below, what you should know before ready is that I get a bit passionate about what drives and triggers me. There's so much deception in perfume, which includes those working in the realms of botanical and natural, I can't help but bring some authenticity to this bizarre industry I am part of.

Interview with Perfumer, Roxana Villa

Featurama

I have two new features to share with you, one includes a photo rich interview at the Pure Green Magazine blog and the other is write up on the perfumery in a series titled "Inspiring Workspaces" at Etsy.

Enjoy!

Come Have a Peek

While in Seattle at the Beyond Aromatics Conference I met with Omri Mor, the founder & CEO of ZIIBRA. Ziibra is a new kind of marketplace which features makers with videos telling their story and an opportunity to subscribe to their offerings. I liked Omri and his vision right away and am here to share my page with you which features a three minute video with footage in the new workspace.

ZIIBRA // Illuminated Perfume

And yes, as you can see from one of the subscription, the chocolates are returning, more on that tomorrow.

Interview at Té de Violetas

Shortly after returning from the NAHA conference at Bastyr I was sent a lengthy questionaire by my beautiful fellow Argentine compatriot Virginia Blanco of the perfume blog Té de Violetas. I am beyond happy to share that the interview was posted today, follow this link over to Virginias lovely blog which translates at Violet Tea. The interview is first posted in spanish with the english version down below.

Watery Friday News

Happy Venus Day! Here in the woodland we finally have rain!!! Not just a little, but quite a deluge that began last night and has come and gone since. The biggest part of the storm is due to hit today. The plants in my garden and very happy as are the bees, birds and butterflies.

On this auspicious day, dominated by water element, I am in the "Celebrity Spotlight" over at the Facebook Fragrance Friends group. Many thanks to an invite by Charlotte Scheuer one of the group moderators. If you are not a Facebooker you can read the piece on my new site here, if you are part of the group please share you favorite fragrance from my line in the comments.

Wishing you all the blessing of Venus and elemental water.

The Deluge

The three day feature on the Etsy front page has brought in a deluge of orders. During that time frame I was averaging about seventy orders a day. I also received a bazillion messages, most of which were asking for help selecting a fragrance.

The downpour resulted in shifting a variety of aspects of the business immediately including bringing in some worker bees. My mom now comes every afternoon to print orders and create shipping labels for the new batch that is ready to be sent out. I also have My, who helped me out at the LA Artisan Fragrance Salon, coming by to help pack orders. While those two gals focus on their tasks I make as much perfume as my two little hands can manage.

Our living room has been converted into shipping & receiving. We brought in three long tables where we lay out orders and begin slowly putting each one together. Most are for solid perfume sample sets. Illuminating the world to the wonders of the value of nature and true, authentic natural perfume has reached new heights this week, I'm so happy to be part of that awareness.

I have ordered more materials across the board and will be updating some of the packaging. Most exciting is that now that I have funds, I can move forward on all those different projects that have been waiting on the tarmac, like little airplanes at a busy airport.

Orders are still coming in by the bucket loads, thus, for you who have been with me for years and tend to have me send you paypal invoices for orders, please be patient while things find a new equilibrium. Waiting at least a week or two would be a great help.

Featurerama

The silver shine of the waxing crescent moon reveals several features this week. (Did you ever notice that the word scent is in the word cresent?) The first is a review of Impromptu by Gaia over at The Non-Blonde blog. The second is an overview of my shop and perfumes that have captivated the heart of the poster ChatterBlossom over at her lovely blog.

And the third is the reason I had Rebecca come to my studio and take photos....today I am the Featured Seller on Etsy!!

Enjoy and many thanks to those who have chosen to write such eloquent words about my work and felt that it was worth a special feature.

Photos by Rebecca Fishman

A Feature and a Giveaway

 At the Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco I met and spoke with lots of bloggers and writers, one of them was Tama Blough. Tama is the organizer of the SFSniff events, a contributor to the fragrance blog CaFleureBon and has an amazing bee tattoo on her left leg.

While sniffing some of my perfumes at the salon she asked if I had ever been featured on CaFleureBon. One thing led to another and thus, here is the feature along with a giveaway. Many thanks to the principal editor Michelyn Camen and Tama for the suggestion.

 CaFleureBon Profiles in American Perfumery: Roxana Villa of Roxana Illuminated Perfume + Draw

Eau Natural in the LA Times

Monday morning on October 3rd Denise Hamilton, critically acclaimed author and perfume contributor to the LA Times Magazine, stopped in for an interview. She was gathering data for her monthly column which would focus on natural perfume.


As of late Denise has been promoting her latest novel Damage Control at local book stores here in Los Angeles and beyond. While visiting at the house she mentioned that she has come across a large contingent of people who love perfume but can no longer wear them due to allergies. As an alternative for this chemically sensitive tribe, which includes myself, she decided to focus the November column of the times on natural perfume.

The perfume community has embraced Denise and her new book wholeheartedly. Here is a snippet I found written by Angela over at Now Smell This:

"When I cracked open the novel Damage Control, I knew I’d have some good reading ahead. The dedication began, “This one’s for the perfumistas.” Add that the book’s author, Denise Hamilton (shown above right), is the Los Angeles Times’ fragrance columnist as well as a bestselling crime writer, and I was ready to call in sick and spend the day on the couch, book in hand."

Although I had "friended" Denise on facebook prior to her visit, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Upon opening the front door I felt an immediate kinship and offered her some water botanically enhanced with her choice of jasmine, frankincense, or agarwood hydrosol. After spritzing her with each one she settled on jasmine.

We sat down to chat with our jasmine elixirs and a tray freshly made cara sucias (a type of Argentina scone). I told her my story beginning with graduating from Otis when it was in dowtown up to the present. I showed her the oak grove, which with the help the local community, we managed to save. We walked out among the oaks onto the hillside to observe both thriving hives of rescued bees, one of which was from the LA Times building.

I then brought her into the studio where we began an olfactory exploration with a collection of vintage fragrances, many of which Denise was intimately familiar with. Since her most recent article for the times had focused on precious oud I had her sniff a few different varieties my my stash. She also experienced a sneak peek (sniff) of the new perfume I've been working on which will be released shortly.


By mid afternoon Denise was completely satiated. As she left I took her into the front garden pointing out the different plants which had been tinctured and infused for perfume.
I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to spend some time with Denise and been included in the article, which you can read in it's entirety by following this link.

Images: LATimes Sunday Magazine cover and page 32 full size and segment, Damage Control book cover and photo via Denise Hamilton's website, photo of the author by Blake Little.

Planet Green

Almost one year ago a dialogue between Blythe of Planet Green and I began about the natural perfume. The yield of this synergy produced a slide show with some notations of what goes into an illuminated perfume.

Natural, World Changing Scents from Illuminated Perfume

Image: Q Natural History ©RoxanaVilla