Floral Consciousness on Valentine's Day!

“With an increased floral consciousness,

humans will begin to make full use of their ‘light brain’ 

and make more refined and sophisticated use of their ‘smell brain.’

The two are portentously linked.

In fact, they overlap to such an extent that they may be considered inseparable.”

— Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume

Saturday, February 14th from 2pm - 4pm

in Agoura Hills, CA

Experience an olfactory adventure exploring the mythology, history and aromatic properties

of flowers and why they are associated with love, attraction and evolution.

Engage in Roxana’s collection of rare botanical essences, how they are obtained and

experience first hand the ability of flowers to elevate our moods and consciousness.

Inhaling floral bouquets are a inspiring and uplifting way to spend a couple hours on Valentine’s Day.

This unique happening is a way to honor oneself. Please share with a friend and or a beloved.

Aromatic treats will be served.
Each participant will receive a trio of solid perfumes or 15% discount*.

$40 per person / $75 per couple

Location:
Roxana Illuminated Perfume
Whizin Market Square, Atrium Building, Mezzanine level
28914 Roadside Dr, unit #219
Agoura Hills, CA 91301

Contact Roxana to reserve your seat:
text/e-mail: roxana <at> illuminatedperfume.com or by phone (818) 992-0490

* Discount excludes gift certificates and samples.

Friday Flowers

Currently the prominent colors in the woodland are moving into the dark greens of the live oak, ash browns of various tree bark and the rust of fallen leaves. The native plants have been in their summer slumber and are now starting to awaken by the recent rain and cooler temperature.

Amidst the more somber palette, planted in pots lining the front of the house there is a festival of more vivid color transpiring among the flowers. Various roses, jasmine, hibiscus, white and pink plumeria, lavender and garden geranium are all showing off their spectacular blooms.

These flowers serve as a reminder that natural and botanical perfumes stem authentically from the plant kingdom and all Mother Nature so generously offers is. Flowers is the palette of the natural perfumer provide key heart notes in the structure of almost all the perfume families.

Although, to my knowledge, there is no hibiscus flower essence, we do get ambrette seeds from the hibiscus which is an important fixative and offers us that wonderous botanical musk note. ambrette also has an alchemical quality when paired with florals in a perfume.


Happy Flower Friday from my woodland garden to each of you!

Content and Photographs: ©Roxana Villa

Narcotic and Enchanting

It's that time of year again when I discover a bounty of the sweetly scented flowers strewn along the concrete just under where the row of pots sit. The blossoms are of the jasmine sambac plants blooming in the big clay pots of our front porch. Little, waxy flowers burst open during evening perfuming the air with an enchanting, narcotic aroma, occasionally melding with the native sage.

There are three jasmines I use for creating natural perfume: Jasmin grandiflorum, Jasmin auriculatum and Jasmin sambac. Each one is beautiful and narcotic, adding different shades to a perfume. My introduction to Jasmin sambac took place in August 1997 (?). I had asked my friend and colleague John Steele if I could help organize a class led by him here in Los Angeles.

The class was orchestrated as a two day workshop in Malibu overlooking the ocean and titled "The transformational use of fragrance in Ancient Egypt and Amazonian Shamanism." This was right up my alley at the time as I was immersed in aromatherapy studies and an initiate with a Celtic shaman. It was while inhaling several transporting flower absolutes that I fell hard for jasmin sambac, as well as several other psychoactive flower essences.

On day two of the workshop we created a blend where I used the jasmin sambac as the main note. I've decided to find that formula and revisit it, perhaps with a new birthday perfume in line with Cimbalom and Page 47. Rather synchronistically the perfume created in Johns class was on my actual birthday way back then.


Since the jasmine flowers are blooming it means time to take photos and make more of the tincture and infusion. Thus, each day I start off with a few photos and then carefully placing the flowers into organic grape and organic jojoba oil. Once the flowers are spent I remove them, refreshing daily.


Photos ©RoxanaVilla

Perspective

One of the primary exercises in art school is doing a drawing using perspective. Generally we learn one point perspective usually based on the geometrical horizon. The exercise is then followed with creating an image with two, three or more points.


Today I offer you an intersection of five point perspective on the natural perfume Gracing the Dawn. Instead of my single perspective on the notes, sillage and evolution of the perfume, here are three other points of view for you to savor:

Beth at The Cleveland Examiner
Donna at Perfume Smelling Things
Trish at Scent Hive
Lucy at Indie Perfumes
and
Elena at Perfume Shrine


Gracing the Dawn, more so than any of my other creations, has a very tangled and twisted her story. Originally she was a draft of notes called The Three Graces created for Heather Ettlingers Perfume in a Poem Project. Over time, with the birth of many other accords and perfumes, the formula morphed and shifted. The original illumination for the fragrance by my husband Greg Spalenka changed as well, becoming his iconic image at the 2010 San Diego Comic Convention where the perfume was debuted.


GreenWitch and Gracing the Dawn, as representatives of the two classical chypre perfumes in my collection, share similar notes and accords from the Animalia kingdom. GreenWitch leaning more into the realm of the Protoctista family and Gracing the Dawn in the Plantae arena. I call both of these "natural" perfumes because they contain ingredients from the animal kingdom.

While visiting Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel and Barneys in NYC last week I was very distraught to hear the sales people refer to many non natural perfumes as natural. When I politely told them that so and so brand was not a natural they argued with me and explained that the creator(s) of the fragrances told them they were natural. I decided to drop it, even though I know for a fact that the fragrances are not natural. Even worse is the fact that the term organic is applied to synthetic perfume. I must be living in an alternate universe where linguistic terminology and integrity exist on the same plane. Thankfully most of the perfume bloggers are well educated.

Beth, who was sampling perfumes with me at the Henri Bendel department store, commented that the word has obviously become "fashionable". The L'Artisan rep shared a scent strip of a fragrance with us featuring apple mentioning all their perfumes were natural. Hello? Not only is it plain as day that the perfume had synthetic aroma molecules but also there is NO apple essential oil. Only apple blossom concrete which is difficult to obtain.


The orchestration of ingredients in Gracing the Dawn shares a few similar essences and four accords which are also in GreenWitch. The four accords have all been crafted by my own hands using essentials oils, absolutes and C02 extracts. In total there are twenty other pure, plant essences including a plethora of flower: rose, jasmine, tuberose, ylang ylang, boronia and nightqueen. I choose to use whole essences in my perfumes, primarily from the botanical world, no isolates what-so-ever.

The base alcohol is organic grape and grain from Oregon with a tincture if infused violet flowers from my mothers garden. There is only a limited amount of the tincture, however, I will be making more in the early Spring as the little violets once more grace us with their delicious aroma.



Samples of the first edition including the violet tincture are available by weight in .25 and 1 gram, the full flacon size features the light purple crochet pouch. I choose purple as the Gracing the Dawns color harmony because when my daughter and husband first experienced the perfume they both murmured "purple".



Images:
1. Perspective engraving from the 17th century mathematics work by Marolois
2. Detail of The School of Athens (full image) by Raffaello Santi, 1509, showing Euclid
3. Gracing the Dawn ©Greg Spalenka. Postcards and posters of the illumination are available at Gregs E-shop, if you ask nicely he might be willing to print up a big banner for you like the one at Comic Con, which sold. I was rather looking forward to displaying it in my studio.
4. Roxana Illuminated Perfume display from Comic Con 2010 ©Evangeline Neuhart.
5. Detail of Gracing the Dawn Gracing the Dawn ©Greg Spalenka
6. 1 gram bottle of Gracing the Dawn Natural Perfume.
7. Violet photo ©Roxana Villa.

Page 47

"You are an alchemist, make gold of that!"
~ Shakespeare

A new series of fragrances has been birthed. As you may recall, last year in August I had a few hours to myself and decided to create a bespoke solid perfume. I gathered my favorite essences and quickly formulated a scent. Eventually I released the perfume which has now grown to be my most popular fragrance, Cimbalom.

This year, I took the pilgrimage to the land of Olfactory delights to produce another imaginative sensual Odyssey to christen my new birth year.

I began by sniffing several vials of perfumes and accords I had created over the years . One perfume in particular struck my fancy. I found the original formula noted in a journal and began building the new fragrance. The formula includes three heavenly accords, Jasmine, Frangipani (Plumeria blossoms), Ylang Ylang, an old Vintage of Mysore Sandalwood and a few varieties of Orange for the top notes. There are at least 16 botanical ingredients in this perfume, I need to count each essence in each accord to reveal the exact total.

Since I am a lover of creamy unguents, this was formulated as a solid perfume. One solid compact was made with thirteen samples to share. I have begun selling and dispersing the thirteen solids and look forward to hearing your thoughts.

At an event at our home I shared the perfume and asked the friends and family gathered what they thought would be a good name. The perfume went around the room with everyone enjoying the fragrance and pondering a name. Finally someone said "How about Chapter 47?" This answered triggered my daughter to yell out, "No, it should be Page 47!!!"

Page 47 works for a variety of reasons, those in the know will be able to figure out the primary one. However, there is another aspect to it which is why my daughter felt "Page 47" was ideal. For now I will leave that as a mystery for you to uncover. I love mysteries don't you?

The subsequent edition will change slightly as I enhance the formula. I already have some ideas of my own, but, await your insights to add to the pot.


The colors associated with Page 47 are an old, dusty white and burnished gold. Page 47 is a sweet, fresh floral perfume with notes of incense. Of all our fragrances it shares a similar aromatic experience as Lyra, but, a bit more fresh with Lyra being more warm.

Once the formula is set I will have the fragrance available in both the natural solid and liquid botanical perfume format. Until then, I await your feedback!

All photos by Roxana Villa

Let's Dance!

"Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowing through the jasmine in my mind."
~ Seals & Crofts

The Jasmine sambac plants in my garden have all decided to begin flowering. A little late this year, not sure why, perhaps because now that I am back from various travels they are getting consistent water.

I adore Jasmine sambac both as a fresh flower and as a single note perfume. The heavy, rich, sweet, floral, green note is a favorite of mine as a botanical perfume artist. Jasmine sambac is like the color pthalo blue and green in my paintings, a reoccurring theme.

The botanical perfume I have created that features this heavenly note in abundance is Cimbalom, created almost a year ago for my birthday. She can also be noted in Lyra (both liquid and solid) and in smaller quantities in Vespertina, Aurora, Vera and Rosa.


Some consider Jasmine the Queen of the Night because a few varieties bloom in the evening, impregnating the air with her sultry aroma. Beckoning you to depart from the mental filled duties of our daily lives she asks you come dance a more creative, sensuous life.


The Scent of the day, is Jasmine! I suggest dancing the weekend in with Cimbalom, she contains three varieties of Jasmine and will facilitate in transcending you from the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Images: Fresh Jasmine sambac flowers in Eve's hands, Heaven painting , 1 gram bottle of Lyra Botanical perfume and Cimbalom perfume in the compact with hand crochet pouch. All images ©RoxanaVilla.

Soul Food

"Food nourishes the Body,
but Flowers nourish the Soul."
~ Ancient Proverb

In the botanical perfumers palette the most expensive and valuable essences are those that come from the heavenly domain of the flowers. Floral notes give body and heart to a perfume. The essences most often used to add a sensuous bouquet include:

Rose
Jasmine
Orange blossom
Ylang Ylang
Lotus
Tuberose
Frangipani
Champa
Mimosa

Besides the glorious fragrance these precious essences possess many also contain aromatherapeutic attributes. This is a unique feature to that of a pure, botanical perfume.

"The rose distils a healing balm
The beating pulse of pain to calm."
~ Thomas Moore

Rose, from the Rosaceae family, is a small deciduous shrub with Persian origins. In aromatherapy we use this essence for skin care, for challenges of the respiratory system, as a tonic to the uterus as well as a variety of nervous and stress related conditions. Sappho, the ancient Greek poet referred to Roses as the queen of flowers for their grace on earth.

For more on Roses here at this journal, including recipes and formulas follow this link: The Name of the Rose.



Thus, our scent for this day shall be floral...Lyra, Aurora, Vespertina or Rosa? How about Rosa since we have touched on a few of the healing attributes of the Rose.

"What is understood by essence,

in the pure sense as used by the mediaeval alchemists, for example,
is the actual energy, the 'soul' of the plant."
~ Marguerite Maury

Image above titled "Blessings" ©Greg Spalenka, original painting available as limited edition Giclee prints and greeting cards. Contact Greg at www.Spalenka.com for details. Blessings was created as an illustration for "Project Open Hand" in San Francisco.

LYRA: new edition

"I found God within myself and I loved her, I loved her fiercely."
~ Ntozake Shange

To celebrate the latest edition of Lyra, our resident illuminator Greg Spalenka, has created a new image. Although the other image is stunning, one of my personal favorites, she is just not quite the right mood for the delightful dance of floral confection.

The inspiration for Lyra began with a custom perfume created for my daughter Eve (Evangeline). Since I do not replicate custom perfume formulas, I swapped out some essences in the top, middle and base and added new ones.

The tropical headiness of this perfume lies in the melding of Jasmine and Ylang Ylang at the heart. Both these essences are associated with femininity and sensuality. In fact, in aromatherapy circles these essences are considered relaxing, euphoric and strong aphrodisiacs. The word aphrodisiac comes from the name of the Greek Goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.

The word stressed spelled backwards is desserts.
~ From Botanica Erotica

The sensuous, floral fragrance is reminiscent of Stargazer lilies. Built upon an amber accord, the exotic sweetness of the Jasmine Ylang Ylang heart is lifted with heady citrus notes. The perfume is euphoric and playful uniting us with the delectable sweetness of pure joy.

LYRA Botanical Perfume

Fragrance Family: Floral

There are twenty different essential oils, absolutes and C02 extractions in this perfume. Main notes are: Citrus, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang and Amber.

The liquid perfume is available in a quarter ounce stopper bottle from France, which arrives in it's own couture, hand crochet pouch.

Lyra Image ©Greg Spalenka, other images are old engravings which Roxana has modified and placed onto parchment, and a photo of our Lyra couture pouch ©Roxana Villa.


More information on Lyra

Read Reviews at these links:
Memory and Desire
Ideal Bite
Noteworthy Fragrances
Bath'n Body, Craft Gossip

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Queen of the Night

At the last minute before heading out the door I chose to wear pure Jasmine sambac absolute as my perfume to the film screening in Hollywood. It seemed an appropriate way to honor the small little fragrant flowers that have been strewning themselves in the walkways around our home.

Whither dost thou hide from the magic of my flute-call In what moonlight-tangled meshes of perfume, Where the clustering keovas guard the squirrel's slumber, Where the deep woods glimmer with the jasmine's bloom?

~ The Golden Threshold by Naidu

Jasmine sambac, the sibling of Jasmine grandiflorum, has a heady floral quality which moves into intensely green notes, somewhat animalic. Its origins began in eastern India and the southern Himalayas, finding their way to China. In fact some source China as the point of origin. The small, waxy florets are found in the fragrant gardens of royalty: sultans, emperors and kings both past and current.

Jasmine is a white floral note found in oriental perfumes classified as florientals. Synthetic Jasmine was perfected in the early nineteen hundreds and continues to be an important floral note in main stream perfume. The botanical perfumer utilizes the essence from the actual plant in a variety of forms, sourced from many parts of the world. Often referred to as sweet, floral, heavy, fruity and herbaceous. Jasmine sambac, however, has an added green note.

I adore this heavenly fragrance, much more so than the other available Jasmines. Most of my custom perfume clients opt for the traditional Jasmine note of the grandiflorum. The luscious green fairy of the sambac makes an appearance in the sweetest and most floral of our perfumes. She is also prominent in a series of signature floral accords in my perfumers palette.

In aromatherapy Jasmine is considered a euphoric with applications for treating depression, anxiety, sexual challenges and facilitating greater creativity. Within magical circles Jasmine is associated with the moon, the feminine and elemental water.

For promoting prophetic dreams:

• Use a dab of a botanical perfume containing Jasmine or a dilution of the pure extract just before sleep.
• Place a few of the little Jasmine sambac flowers on you nightstand.
• Use a few drops of an essential oil synergy containing Jasmine in a warm bath.
  
• Create a small herbal with dried Jasmine flowers.
  

I have used Jasmine sambac hydrosol at festivities for invoking higher states of consciousness and uniting us with our joy filled heart.

The photograph above is a closeup of our little Buddha in front of our front door with Jasmine sambac flowers in his hands, ©RoxanaVilla.

Name that note

He arrived back from the farmers market with the usual suspects: greens for juicing, plenty of salad greens, plump berries of all kinds and a surprise! I thought, mmmm chocolate perhaps? He instructed me to close my eyes, which I did obediently. Then he said "Now smell this." Oh, I thought, not chocolate, brain switches to olfactory mode and I inhale with odor identification in mind. A floral, but not the usual farmers market flowers...a little powdery, a bit of green, a slight spice note and hmmm, is that a back note of soap. I am perplexed, I think...not rose, not jasmine. I finally give up. It was a bouquet of beautiful violet and white lilacs!
Lilac, as a raw material to the botanical perfumer is not currently available. They have tried many times to extract the lovely fragrance, but, to no avail. It is one of those rare beauties whose time has not yet come. Although, may arrive shortly. As I've continued to inhale the fragrance throughout the day, studying the array of notes permeating the dining room. I have come to the conclusion that there is a lilac component to the botanical perfume Vespertina. I have cracked open a few of the perfume books in my collection. Sure enough some of the natural components which create the fragrance of lilac are in Vespertina.

Images ©Roxana Villa. The blueberry photograph was taken at a farmers market in Vancouver last Summer and the Lilacs are the ones that Greg brought me today.