The Depth of Our Longing

I had set this post to automatically publish and see now that it never happened. I apologize for the delay.

For the Blossoms of Summer event last month on a very balmy evening we debuted the two new illuminations by Greg within a little video projected onto fabric just outside my workshop. Here are a few photos of the evening highlights and the video for those of you who were not able to attend the launch party.

Mellifera and Fleurish exist in all three formats: solid, Eau de Parfum (EdP) and parfum extract. I'm rather loving the Fleurish EdP, is become a daily obsession. At the launch, I observed to see if there was one that was more popular than the other, what I discovered is that people liked both of them equally. There were the "Mellifera" peeps and the "Fleurish" peeps, no cross over, it was either one or the other for the most part.

The fabulous savory delights were provided by Gina of Blue Table with mead supplied by Golden Coast Mead. Our dear friend Fritz was the musical director which filled the atrium quite nicely. At 10:00 pm attendees grabbed drums, rattles and shakers to join in a drum circle.

Urban bee keeping in Los Angeles was finally legalized which makes the timing of the debut of Mellifera rather auspicious.

Melli & Fleur

Greg has created two new illuminations to accompany the release of Mellifera and Fleurish this weekend. We decided to work with a local model discovered at the San Diego Comic Con a couple years ago shown in the photos below. Her name is Stevie and she is a dream tow work with! Regrettably she won't be joining us this Saturday in physical form but the new images will bring her essence to the event.

The opening image, pictured above, is one of the thousands of photos Greg took as reference for the two new pieces which are a secret until tomorrow night.

The image above and below this tect are from the 2014 San Diego Comic Con dressed in renaissance type attire and as the White Violin.

Blossoms of Summer Event

"Blossoms of Summer" 

A Sensorium of Sensual Delights and Artful Musings. 

Roxana Illuminated Perfume, 

Whizin Market Hall in Agoura, CA

Saturday, August 29th

7:00 to 10:00 pm

A celebration to mark the debut of two highly anticipated fragrances associated with flowers of the season.

Mellifera is the part of the latin name for the honey bee translated as honey bearer of maker. The unisexy fragrance features notes of honey and wild flower meadows, the scent is evocative of the terrain where the winged alchemist collects the nectar to make her golden elixir. One of the dominant ingredients is Helichrysum italicum, also known as Immortelle or Everlasting, which contains fresh floral and warm herbaceous notes perfect for conveying a sun drenched meadow buzzing with bees.

Fleurish is a feminine, fresh floral bouquet featuring three types of jasmine. The scent is indolic, sensual and evocative of languid nights heavy with the hypnotic scent of these treasured night blooming white flowers. The perfume contains Jasminum auriculatum, Jasminum grandiflorum and Jasminum sambac. These sweet, white florals with varying notes of tea, honey, gardenia, leather and ripe fruits is paired with sandalwood, ambrette and kewda embellishing the luminous night sky with more depth.

The introductory sketches of Mellifera and Fleurish will continue to be offered at the perfumery and through the Fan Funding until sold out.

During the festivities we will have music played by esteemed composer Fritz Heede, a drum circle at 9:30 (bring something to bang on), and unique culinary delights including a platter from Blue Table Wine & Cheese Bar and local mead generously donated by Golden Coast Mead.

Greg is creating two new “illuminations” to accompany each perfume and will be working on a new chalk board drawing in the perfumery that night. Save the date, more specifics about our fellow participating friends to follow.

Get a sample of Fleurish, Mellifera or Figure 5: Bois!

I am offering Fleurish, Mellifera and Figure 5: Bois as solid perfume tins over at the Fan Funding post here at the journal.

Pictured in the photo is Fleurish, a fruity jasmine with robust notes of indole. Samples are available via the fan funding post or get sample of one of the three included this week with any order of $50 from the website, make sure to mention this promotion in the notes section upon check out, or via an e-mail.

Introducing Mellifera

Mellifera, meaning Honey (melli) Bearing or Maker (fera) is the second part of the name for our little honey bee. The entire name is Apis mellifera, apis being the genus.

I began the fragrance Mellifera in the summer of 2013 for the HoneyLove Wax Symposium held in Culver City. The fragrance is based on everything that makes up the realm of the honey bee including herself and tribe members, the hive (as in To Bee), the landscape where she forages and other interesting bits about her.

The orchestration was initially composed by listing everything relating to the honey bee in terms of scent and then pairing essences to those words. For example:

Queen bee: Lemongrass

Forage bee: Based on research regarding the hone bees "nasanov" (scent) gland secretions that have components related to Melissa officianalis and Eucalyptus citriodora Melissa, Eucalyptus citriodora and Geranium.

Honey: Ylang ylang and Mimosa

Propolis: Resin and spice

Hive: All of the above plus musk and wood

Landscape: Herbs, flowers and tree sap.

After that I took birds eye view of these ingredients and began to weave them together with other notes to support them, keeping in mind perfume structure. The final composition of twenty two ingredients, all botanical except for the beeswax absolute. The orchestration includes woods, resins, leaves, flowers, herbs, rinds and roots. One of the featured ingredients is helichrysum both from Croatia and Ojai California.

I found this interesting bit on the wordnik blog: "In Latreille's system, the fourth family of aculeate Hymenoptera; the Anthophila; the honeybees." and this bit from Wikipedia: "The first Apis bees appear in the fossil record at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary (23–56 Mya), in European deposits. The origin of these prehistoric honey bees does not necessarily indicate Europe as the place of origin of the genus, only that it occurred there then. A few fossil deposits are known from South Asia, the suspected region of honey bee origin, and fewer still have been thoroughly studied."

I have many healers and intuitives come by my new workspace in Agoura, one of them mentioned to me that honey bees originate from Mars, as do all colony based creatures.

When this little forager was named they believe that she was a male and thus many songs and poems refer to her as such, for example:

“The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee; A clover, any time, to him is aristocracy.”
~ Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems

The main image for Mellifera is the crown, with the color harmony being antique gold and iconography related to the Goddess since the honey bee is mostly female. Greg took a some beautiful photos of my fellow "Summer essence sister" Sophie specifically for Mellifera, including this one which was previously shared.

Mellifera is one of the items offered in the upcoming Fan Funding Event, and thus for a time being will only be available through that venue. It will be available for sniffing at the upcoming celebration of the new space on November 15th.

Here is what Sarah said about it when I put a little sample in with a locket she ordered:

"I applied some Mellifera mid-morning, and it's still lingering (4+ hours later). Initially it smelled of sweet vanilla + pepper, with beehive (i.e., beeswax + sun-drenched pine wood) notes. A bit like a sweeter + lighter Impromptu. Now, a few hours after application, it smells like a sweeter, lighter Aumbre, which is FANTASTIC, and may account for its longevity on my skin (Aumbre lasts forever for me)."

The scent is most similar to the fragrances in the line that have earthy, resinous, herbal notes like Impromptu, Aumbre, Terrestre, Chaparral, etc. Some noses might perceive it as "medicinal" due to some of the spicy camphor notes.

Then there is what happens to the scent when it comes into contact with each persons chemistry expressing itself on our skin. Everyone experiences scent so vastly different, depending on the olfactory terrain that they are accustomed to. If you have smelled Mellifera please include your experience in the comments or e-mail them to me so that I can share with the rest of the tribe....or should I refer to us as a hive?

Related posts here at the Journal:
HoneyLove Yellow Tie Event: August 2014
Life is a Flower
HoneyLove Wax Symposium