Immortal

Personally I am not a devotee of immortal perfume. Fragrances that cling and have no ability to decay are rather frightening to me. This is a good example of how an individuals heaven is another's hell. Within the main stream of the modern perfume world the idea of "permanence" in a fragrance is equated with a "good" perfume. A rather antiquated notion, in my humble opinion.

Let's de-construct this notion a bit, shall we? Before man synthesized aroma chemicals the main fixatives (notes that prolong a scent) were that of the animal kingdom such as musk, civet, castoreum and ambergris. In the late 19th century many man made chemicals were introduced to the perfumers palette. This new chemical cocktail horizon eventually brought synthetic components that gave perfumers the ability to create enduring fragrances without animal products. One of those ingredients includes formaldehyde, a carcinogenic that acts to preserve and prolong perfume. Perhaps you remember formaldehyde from the preserved specimens in high school biology class? Is this something you want to be applying to your skin? How about the newly devised chemicals that have been frankinsteined to emulate the animal ingredients mentioned above such as musk ketone? A noted environmental aquatic hazard and human toxin due to it's ability to remain in fat cells and be passed onto infants through breast milk.

A fixation with permanence seems to manifest itself in the mind. The "need" to have a fragrance endure is a notion that has been spoon fed to the public without much rationale. If Roald Dahl was still writing he could probably illustrate this idea in a brilliant children's book like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The idea that a perfume deserves merit based on it's longevity is an outdated belief system that does not fit into an evolving culture.

This weekend at a family function two of the attendees were drenched in a synthetic chemical haze that made one sensitive to scent retreat to the outdoors. To my extreme displeasure the noxious fumes followed us all the way home and still remain in my husband's sweater.

I've become so distraught by these Cling-on perfumes that I am very hesitant to hug or even get too close to those who insist on fumigating themselves. Add to this the scent of chlorinated water and dryer sheets in clothing and one becomes a walking bulldozer of scent molecules.

Salvation has presented itself in the form of botanical perfume which is not made with animal ingredients or man made chemicals. Botanical perfume has the advantage of staying close to the skin whilst avoiding invasion of an individuals odoriferous terrain.

The botanical perfumer has a set of essences deemed fixative notes which on their own or combined into a base accord can last for days. Take Choya, Indian distilled sea shells, when applied to a scent strip the molecules of this essential oil will remain for months on the paper. Patchouli, Vetiver, Cypress, Muhuhu are just a few other essential oils with the ability to linger. By mindfully orchestrating a fragrant concert of top, middle and base note accords a botanical perfume can last on the skin for several hours depending on skin chemistry. The beauty of botanicals is that they are from life, just as we prefer to adorn a home with fresh flowers instead of plastic or silk imitations. When the flowers are spent we put them in our compost heap and go out to the garden where we can refresh our interior with the vitality of nature.

Image at top detail from a painting by Greg Spalenka

Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us

The oflactory terrain is vast like our Solar system, partly due to our own perceptions thrown in like variables in a scientific equation. One persons heavenly scent is another's hell. This was the path that I navigated while pregnant with my daughter Eve. All aromas became amplified, some that I cherished became dreaded, treacherous areas to avoid at all costs. I must admit, it was an extremely uncomfortable period for one sensitive to scent.

Motherhood for me was somewhat planned, certainly no accident. My physical and mental body was fairly prepared because I had been doing regular yoga for years as well as receiving massage on a monthly basis. My massage therapist, Ione, is a friend I had met in New York through yoga. Ione is one of those individuals who veer into uncharted territory of alternate medicine and consciousness. One of the qualities I cherish in friendship.


When I discovered that a child was developing in my womb I did what most women in America do. I sought out an OBGYN recommended by a friend, started taking specific vitamins, and on the advise of Ione looked into some alternate ideas like home birth. During this process I was extremely nauseous most of the time and vomiting daily.

The main triggers for my discomfort came from the smell of "the refrigerator", fresh gardenias and garlic. I remember running for my life whenever someone opened the door to the refrigerator and begging Ben not to drive by Chinese restaurants with me in the car. The gardenia bush happened to be blooming during my first trimester of pregnancy, luckily it was in the far end of the yard and fairly easy to avoid.

It was a very surreal period of extremely heightened olfactory awareness. Although at the time I had not read the Patrick Suskind novel "Das Parfum", eventually when I did read the story I found myself completely sympathic to Jean-Baptiste Grenouilles plight of extreme odor sensitivity. Many of the odors I now associate with that era of nausea took years to be reincorporated into my smell scape.

In the end I chose to deliver my child at a Home Birth facility with midwives in a large birthing tub. The patronizing OBGYN who told me I was too petite to push out a baby was dismissed. Exactly ten moons after the conception I pushed out my sweet little girl on a cot of an examining room of the Birth Center. Instead of a traditional labor with a prolonged period of contractions, my body to chose to conduct the first stage while I was deep in sleep. At four in the morning on January 27th I was jarred out of sleep by a contraction. I woke up Ben who began timing the contractions. They were intense and only minutes apart. We called the midwife who advised we come to the birth center immediately. Eve was born just a couple hours after that first contraction with no drugs what-so-ever.


It was the birth of Eve that opened up my vista of the power of alternative medicine and nature. First by choosing to raise her completely holistically and as consciously as I could. As a parent we have the opportunity to learn quite a bit from the experience and our children. Secondly I used much of my early aromatherapy training on healing her fevers, ear infections, etc. I would use Lavender essential oil in her baths, to cleanse the air of impurities and a drop on her pillow at night. When she went to sleep at another's home one drop of Lavender on her pillow would facilitate a sense of ease and remind her of her own Lavender scented pillow at home.

When we lived in the big house in Encino I had a large garden of medicinal and aromatic plants that Eve grew up with. She has been raised with mindfulness and alternative medicine, supplemented by Waldorf education. I find her to be a very sensitive, perceptive and creative individual. Eve often gives me valuable input when I compose a fragrance and has a her pulse on what is transpiring with trends, particularly in fashion.

When I began creating custom perfumes Eve requested one for herself, this was the early manifestation of what is now known as the botanical perfume Lyra. Her favorite aromatics are from the citrus family and continually makes comments referencing the mommy smell. I asked her this morning where the mommy smell usually manifests the most and she said, in the clothes that you leave on your bed. Interesting!

This post is part two of yesterdays entry titled "Mother Nature" and has been created in tandem with four other mothers and bloggers. Follow these links below to take the journey into Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us.

Part One: Mother Nature
Perfume Shrine: Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us Together
Scent Hive: Mothers and Kids and the Scents that Bind Us
Ayalas Smelly Blog: Mothers, Children and the Scents that Bond Us

More on the botanical perfume Lyra here at this journal.

Imagery: Most of the images here are old black and white engravings which have been scanned, cleaned and put placed on parchment, all utilizing the tool Photoshop. The picture by Eve was taken by me in 1999 in what was once my garden in Encino. The photo was utilized for a Christmas card. ©RoxanaVilla

Foul & Fragrant

In the autumn of 2004 I attended a series of presentations associated with a show at USC titled The Foul and the Fragrant: Creating Perfume. These notes below are from a presentation toward the end of the exhibit in mid November 2004.

Originally a representative from Santa Maria Novella in Italy was scheduled for the evenings event, unfortunately they were replaced by Valérie LaJeanne of Grasse, France at the last minute.

We were all amazed that a "trained nose" can decipher up to 2000 different aroma compounds, and is able to discern a Bulgarian Rose from a Moroccan Rose. Valérie touched briefly on some history of scent, asked why we wear scent and spoke of the seven perfume categories as classified by the French Society of Perfume. The scent categories were illustrated by using sounds that are associated to each category. She was quite funny and had a very thick French accent.

During her explanation of animalistic base notes she stated, "A great perfume is defined by how long it can remain on the skin." My friend and fellow natural perfumer, Faith, turned to me and asked, "Did she just say that a great perfume is defined by how long it remains on the skin????!!!" I said "Yep." Faith looked at me in horror. I replied, "Why don't you say something?" So, Faith did. Ms. LaJeanne insisted. Thus Faith and I began debating the issue with her. Valérie went on to say, to my and Faiths shock, that "the naturals" can't compete with synthetics and it's better for the planet to use synthetics because or else there would be no flowers left. I commented that it is quite wonderful and sensual to re-apply a natural perfume and not a hindrance to wearing it at all. She again claimed that synthetics are superior. At that point I was ready to wrestle this woman, however, one of the curators stood up. He said that many of us are natural perfumers and have a very different sentiment when it comes to synthetics. Valérie again asserted that synthetics are better.

Whether a natural or synthetic perfume is better is completely a matter of ones personal preference and point of view. Is a great perfume defined by how long it remains on the skin?
Non. That would mean that plain civet applied to the skin is a great perfume. It would meet the criteria of lasting on the skin, but, would fall short on aesthetic beauty and evolution.

"Perception is an act of creation." - Anon

The presentation continued with a workshop where we each created our own synthetic perfume by mixing 3mls of a base note, 3mls of a heart note and 3mls of a top note. The options were:

Base:
Musk
Sandalwood
Moss
Wood
Vanilla

Middle:
Ylang Ylang
Rose
Jasmine
Lily of the Valley

Top:
Grapefruit
Bergamot
Orange
Green Tomato

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™

Visit my perfume shop on Etsy for the largest selection of Illuminated Perfumes: IlluminatedPerfume.etsy.com
Image top: Latest illumination of Vera and an old engraving of a nose and grapefruit on parchment.

Canada: Sensorium, Scent

"Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived." ~ Helen Keller

The sense of smell has been critical to the survival of human beings. Early in our evolution, when we were on all fours, our smell sense was vital to our survival. As we became upright, olfaction was no longer the dominant system. We still depended on it for locating our food, mating, and hunting however the other sense systems began to play a much larger role.

Some interesting smell facts:
* The sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than any other sense. * Every person experiences the same exact odor differently. * We have a keener sense of smell later in our day. * Woman have a more acute sense of smell than men. * Olfactory nerves can renew themselves. * Each of us has an individual odor thumb print. * The right hemisphere of the brain is responsible for odor recognition. * Smells fall into the following catagories:
minty, floral, ethereal, musky, resinous, foul and acrid.

Smell Idioms:
To win by a nose. The sweet smell of success. I smell a rat. Everything is coming up roses. Smelling like a rose. Nosy. The nose knows. Something smells fishy.
Wake up and smell the coffee!

The word for smell in Spanish and French is "sentir" which means to feel / to smell.

When I heard we were going to Vancouver the first thing I did was to e-mail fellow botanical / natural perfumer Ayala Moriel. Ayala and I have known each other and participated in a few perfume groups and exchanges, but we had never had the opportunity to meet in person. Having arrived in Vancouver late in the afternoon, Greg suggested we go on a walk. As we toured the city by foot he mentioned that the following morning we would be shown an apartment as a potential live space during his stint at Rainmaker Studios. When he told me the address, I looked at him in disbelief. It was the same building that Ayala lived! What synchonisity.
My first visit with Ayala was fun, insightful and inspiring. Like illustrators, niche perfumers spend much time in solitude, cloistered in their ol'factories. It is a delight to meet
other artists working in the same medium, and a double treat when given the opportunity to see how they work. The arena of Natural/Botanical perfume often resembles Gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome. Ayala and I choose not to be part of the adversarial games and see the benefits of an inclusive perfume community.
Upon my arrival I was treated to a custom blended tea made specifically for her perfume Tizrah, meaning linden in Hebrew. In addition to the delicious tea she brought out fresh dates and Ethiopian tahini, as well as chocolate truffles. What an unforgettable and wonderous combination of flavors. I was enchanted with the fresh date and tahini pairing.
Ayala took me up to the studio and introduced me to her consultation process which was followed by experiencing her perfumes and witnessing a bit of her working methodology. She is very warm and willing to share glimpses into her scented realm, including some fragrances still in progress, soon to be released. My favorite of the perfumes I experienced and have samples of include Tamya: a cheerful floral, Caberet: a warm, rosy fragrance and Espionage: a deep, leathery perfume which dries down with a lovely soft and sweet powder note.
Ayala has just debuted her new, very expansive and informative website where you can read more about her and get samples. Additionally you can view a feature of her on CBC TV creating a custom perfume.

The Sense of Smell Institute
Smell Idioms
Ayala Moriel
Ayalas blog

Base note

We don't have TV hookup here at the house. We prefer watching films, and in the case of LOST, we download it off iTunes. My daughters father, Ben, works in the advertising world. When he comes by to see Eve, he shares, via the internet, some of the cooler commercials. This is one of them: http://www.aglassandahalffullproductions.com/?CMP=EMC-a_mgp%5Cn