Gardenia Pomade 2019

As I begin writing this post it's Friday, the day attributed to Venus, the Goddess of Love, quite fitting for the euphoric fragrance of Gardenias.

The violet jars that I had ordered for the pomade arrived, thus, today I began scooping the 2019 Gardenia pomade of the enfleurage process, into the glass containers, causing a lovely white floral cloud to hang in the air.

This particular pomade is special because it was first originally the bed for my lilac enfleurage, see photo above. Since the scent of that process came out so subtle I decided to use the existing oil bed for the gardenias.

Although the lilac scent is not noticeably present to the nose, there is an imprint of all those flowers and love that has carried over to the gardenias. For those of you who feel energy, let me know if you sense it.

The process of infusing plants, mostly flowers, into a cold fat is called “enfleurage”, it is a technique made popular in the Southern region of France in the late 1800’s. As I share in the Art of Botanical Perfume course, the origin of this very laborious ritual resides in Egypt, along with alchemy. I learned about this cold fat extraction technique in the 90’s within a yahoo group of botanical perfumers. We were all experimenting and sharing our results with each other.

The gentle coaxing, liberating and harnessing the exquisite exhalation of plants takes patience and a heck of a lotta love. In Los Angeles I worked with potted jasmine sambacs, gardenias and plumerias as well as wild violets and jasmine grandi from my moms garden. Until we get more settled here in Santa Fe, my mom has been lovingly tending to my potted babies, as well as infusing & tincturing. She also sends me plants by mail to work with. Enfleurage is definitely a labor of love & devotion, perfect for an obsessive personality and lover of nature.

The gardenia pomade, is heavenly as a solid perfume or decadent face oil on its own, or you can mix it into jojoba oil to extend it. Keep in mind that the fragrance is subtle, and there are some that may not be able to perceive much.

If gardenia isn’t your thing, consider picking one up as a gift for upcoming mothers day, etc. Since the heavenly pomade is protected from light and oxidation in the special violet glass it, the scent will be preserved for when you need it most. The high quality violet glass jars offer optimal protection against the harmful effects of light and increases the shelf life to prolong potency.

I only have a limited supply of this edition, which will be offered to newsletter subscribers first.

If you would like to learn how to make fragrance from plants including the enfleurage process sign up for the Art of Botanical Perfume online course here.

✨GARDENIA✨

I did it, and feeling extremely proud and grateful, a true to flower gardenia extraction! This elixir is like no other I have ever smelled, from the Tiara of Tahiti to Columbia. The extract is so pure and true, nothing compares but the white floral soul of Gardenia herself.

Since the extraction also produced a lovely fragrant alcohol I will likely combine the two into a pure plant solifleur, or expand on it to produce a more complex fragrance. #StayTuned

Want to smell it? I invite you to come to my lab in Santa Fe, and experience the rare and true beauty of authentic botanical perfume. Want to learn how I did it, come study with me, begin by signing up for the online class and then we can chat about attending the retreat in November where I will show the students the entire process.

White Flower Season

The white flower season begins here in the garden of pure fumes with gardenia, then gradually overlaps with jasmine sambac which overlaps with plumeria.  I was lucky to get extra gardenias from my mothers plant which is much larger and more abundant than mine.

The gardenias are now done but we are in the thick of jasmine sambac bloom time just as the plumerias are starting up.

Currently I have lots of different potions brewing, but the most amazing is a toss up between the gardenia enfleurage and the jasmine enfleurage which was layered over a violet enfleurage.

In the Garden: Gardenias

Despite watering and pulling weeds, the garden has pretty much been abandoned since February when I began putting the course together. (I really need to find a gardener to help out!) In the meantime the gardenias, both here and at my mothers, have started their bloom cycle which means a 2016 gardenia enfleurage is underway.

When I swap the big fragrant gardenia flowers out I put the spent ones in a bowl in the kitchen to infuse the air with their fragrance.  Its amazing how long the scent of those big, leathery flowers will last and change over time.

White Flower Season!

The white flower season has arrived! It appeared like a rough start for the Jasmine sambacs but not for the Gardenias. Here at the house of beautiful smells I have a jasmine sambac tincture and a gardenia enfleurage in tandem, eventually I will have a jasmine sambac enfleurage as well but its too early in the season. Although in all honesty, the weather pattern is completely off and thus so is the flowering pattern of the sambacs.

For those of you who are subscribers of my newsletter you'll find a little treat of the 2014 gardenia enfleurage from last year. Little tubs are also available at the fan funding here. Keep in mind that the 2014 edition is very subtle, the fat was only charged with flowers three times. The 2015 edition should have a much stronger presence since we began the process earlier in the season.

Flowering Perks

Since March 13th, when I came across my new workspace, I've been contemplating creating a campaign to get some help with the set up of the atelier, specifically the counters for the apothecary area.

I'm just about ready to debut the project which will offer rewards that are not currently available in my E-shop or website like Mellifera, a new jasmine fragrance, body butters, etc. Some of these delicacies have exotic white flowers as a common denominator, like a heavenly Gardenia item that I have in a small amount. I am also devising some perks that will be special for those who attend the grand opening.

Using an established site like IndieGoGo is an option but I am leaning more toward hosting it here at the journal and sending the rewards out immediately as the donations come in to keep things simplified.

If there is anything special you would like me to offer please leave a comment or send me a note. This week I'll be meeting with some folk to get clarity on what the minimum amount I need is to get the space finished up.