Bottega Veneta and my love at first sight! (or nearly)…

Encountering a new fragrance can be a really unusual experience particularly when the fragrance takes you back to your childhood – more exactly to the silk or satin lining of Mum’s leather bag after the bottle of Ô de Lancôme or of a Coty Chypre had slightly leaked or just impregnated the fabric!

It’s even more of a treat  as the encounter takes place when  perfume is the last thing on your mind!

Last week, I was flying back from Bordeaux to Manchester via London Gatwick! This is after having caught a train (luckily there was no strike!) and a shuttle to the airport. Landing in Gatwick, all I wanted was to catch my connection flight to Manchester. After going through the UK Border Agency passport control, I had to check-in again at another departure gate, about 3 km away!!

And here it was!! Winking at me: a simple but elegant bottle of Bottega Veneta

In my run to the departure gate and before being asked to smile for the camera, scanned through the body and searched by a lovely London custom officer who was wondering whether my bottle of Sauterne wine  was a liquid bomb and why I was carrying a French baguette in my bag, I went past the World Duty Free perfumery!! 

I was literally sweating under my coat and I needed to freshen up… And here it was- like winking at me, standing exactly where the marketing people knew everyone would go first i.e. on the side shelf, on the way to the departure gate,  a simple but elegant bottle of  BOTTEGA VENETA, a brand I had never heard of!

Mind you, I might have forgotten it all together because I quickly sprayed my neck and scarf and my wrists and run to the plane… I had forgotten to  note the  name and back home all I could remember was some words like VENDETTA  in the name…

 Time stopped!!

I could swear the smell that was developing on my wrists and scarf was Coty! And it was like the silk lining impregnated with a Chypre perfume in a leather bag!! No wonder! Bottega Veneta is LEATHER itself!! The company started to produce artisanal leather goods in 1966 and since 2001, is in the hands of Gucci. Bottega Veneta means ”Venitian Atelier”….

 This leather bags and accessories Italian house went for the full Monty on its first fragrance. Thomas Maier, their creative director  turned to Coty and Robertet for the creation of this Chypre-Fruity fragrance with Leather as its theme. The beauty of it is that because Bottega Veneta is about craftmanship, the fragrance has not lost the philosophy of the craft and this is why it is such a beautiful fragrance, reminiscent of the lost vintage perfumes.

On the first spray, you get bergamot and pepper (pink)!! I could swear it’s a CO2 extraction because it’s light. Exactly what I needed in my rush through Gatwick airport! But nothing really special at first glance! The spice continues through the fruity heart of prune. This Prune smells natural (maybe a blend of cedarwood + rose?) butI read somewhere it was a blend of osmanthus and violet. It’s not sickening at all because it blends with the jasmine (a natural isolate of jasmine to tone down its green aspect) and very quickly develops to give place to a powdery Venitian leather created through  a combination of patchouli (natural isolate giving a less mouldy smell), oakmoss (the derivative version of it, Evernyl )and leather note (its smokiness evokes birch tar). You start falling in love with Bottega Veneta when you realise that the first impression of vintage and classic scent gives place to a velvety leather seat on which you share a kiss with your lover in a Rolls-Royce! But it’s a soft, reassuring and warm leather that makes you feel like cocooning.

It’s been a week and the smell is still lingering on my scarf in which I plunge my nose every time I wear it. I close my eyes and I see Mum’s bag when I was 10!! Its price is affordable: £60/$90 for a 75 ml bottle but if you want the Murano bottle version, you’ll have to spend $395. It is definitely one I will treat myself with in 2012!

Bottega Veneta leather bag

Are designer fragrance houses finally getting back to senses?

 I am rarely – if ever – enamoured by any of the fragrances created by designers, at least those created after the 1980s and the advent of EU regulations!

Usually, when I venture into sniffing designer fragrances, it takes me days to get rid of the awful synthetic smells lingering on my skin even after showering and I always feel sickened by the smell!

So when I was invited by a friend to discover the Collection Privee of Arabian scents by Giorgio Armani, I did not expect any thrill nor excitement. But as an Artisan perfumer, I confess I can sometimes be set in my mind and be too critical about designer’s fragrances.

My discovery of the Woody-Oriental Trio collection by Armani first introduced me to OUD ROYAL, a fragrance which -as its name clearly states – is composed mainly of Oud (or Agar wood) from Cambodia…

The Oud Royal composition is a classic one so it is not unique.  My own Arabian oud perfume, Escapade à Oman has very similar natural ingredients i.e. amber, rose, sandalwood, myrrh and incense but Armani has enriched his Oud Royal with saffron, his sandalwood is obviously an expensive Mysore one and he has added synthetic animal notes.  Oud Royal is designed to be unisex and it works. The whole scent is voluptuous, sensual, animalic and highly sexy. Its lasting power is incredibly powerful! Even after the shower, the oud is still lingering and the sexy smell still teases your nostrils but in a nice way. You want to revisit it again and again until it disappears completely and then, you want more!!  You will have to fork out a hefty £180 for the 100 ml Eau de Parfum though. Originally, the Armani Trio-Collection Privee was launched for the Middle East market which explains the Black and Gold bottles… and the price tag!

I then tried AMBRE D’ORIENT- a woody oriental perfume , that starts with a strong note of thyme, so strong that the first impression is that of a failed attempt of a natural perfume that smells medicinal. Oud is equally present in this one with a strong hint of vanilla. A bit too much for my Westerner sensitive nose,  definitely more Arabian. It did not do it for me but maybe it’s my skin that did not take it.

The last fragrance of this Trio Collection is ROSE D’ARABIE. Here the oud is accompanied by a beautiful Rose de Mai, classically blended with dark patchouli and a base of ambergris. The Rose is definitely powerful, topped by the spicy notes and wrapped by sandalwood. This is a nice Oriental Rose attempt and again, even though I believe many of the ingredients used are probably isolates rather than essential oils, I must recognise that Armani has raised my expectations that designer’s houses might actually come back to their senses and understand that creating perfumes according to traditional methods is -after all – what perfumery should be all about…

Happy 50th wedding anniversary Mum and Dad!

 …To my beloved Mum and Dad, on your golden wedding anniversary…

11-11-11, The perfume of your life

 For you,

A Special perfume made of white roses & ylang ylang 
Because your love is True & Pure,
Ginger for your life has been so full of spice
Peach to tell you how grateful I am you are still here with us And for us
Vetiver because of your inner strength I admire so much
Hibiscus as you always fought with courage whatever the obstacles on the way… 

I love you with all my heart!
Je vous aime de tout mon coeur!  

Online perfume micro-business: struggling to make ends meet…

It is not easy to be an artisan entrepreneur! It always strikes me to realise that most governments in the world do not consider micro-businesses in their reforms for entrepreneurship. Although on 1st January 2005, a new definition for ‘micro-small and medium-sized enterprises’ has been incorporated in the EU legislation , advocating the Member States to use it as a reference and make the measures taken to support such enterprises more ”consistent and effective”, I still fail to see how this acknowledgement fulfils my needs as a business-minded woman with plenty of ideas for creativity and expansion and running a micro-business…

” A microenterprise is an enterprise which employs fewer than 10 persons with an annual turnover and/or annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 2 million”

This is according to the EU definition. In my quest for support through such government bodies as Business Link and other similar useless schemes, I was received with indifference and at the most, despise. In order to bring my perfumes on the UK market or export them, I need to join a scheme at a cost of £1000 and in exchange, I would be able to accompany delegations in countries of interest against meeting 50% of the costs!!

As an artisan perfumer whose mission statement is to help people ‘rediscover the essence of Nature and travel through scents’, £1000 will be spent on costly and precious essential oils (some of them worth the price of gold!). What I need from these so-called ‘development and business support agencies’ is financial support. In all my discussions with the various advisors, this aspect seems to be a taboo topic. You see, when you run your business however small it is, people you talk to think you are successful and making plenty of money so the money aspect is not something to discuss. The advisors are here to advise: and they do so by advising me – well - to spend more money in packaging, lab testing, marketing. No wonder why only the major corporates can impose their products in the economy!

 Lets take a look at such costs in the UK (these are minimum costs quoted to me so far):

- Rebranding and redesigning: £3000
- Blending and bottling of the natural perfume in factory (2000 bottles) ex-raw materials costs: £2250
- Packaging (recyclable): £5000 for 2000 units
- Marketing: to place perfumes on the shelf for 3 months  in departments stores such as Boots: £15 000 (publicity to be carried out by the business)
- Laboratory testing to comply with EU regulations: £500-£1000 per product
- Hiring a public relation agency to promote your products in magazines such as Marie-Claire: £1500 per month i.e £18 000 for a year

So in total and at the minimum, I need to raise about £45000 if I want my natural perfumes to be more visible and in my crusade to bring a 100% natural perfume product on the shelves. Like many hundreds perfumery micro-business owners, I have not been able to pay myself a salary for my hard work in the last 5 years; every penny is reinvested in freshly extracted raw ingredients, needed to keep the ethics and business integrity alive.  I must say that I am loosing heart at being an entrepreneur in view of the lack of support out there… If to the financiers’ mind, I am a small potato, what about the VAT I pay on each order of raw materials I buy and what about the dozens of suppliers for whom my regular small orders allow them to carry on with their businesses…. There is no small profit, is there?

”In the 1960s up to the 1980s, starting without capital was a real possibility”

I am questioning the essence of ‘entrepreneurship’ and whether rather than a global economy, we are not going to be left with the 1% catering for the 99%, just like what’s happening with the banks mergers at the moment. Besides, whereas in the 1960s up to the 1980s, starting without capital was a real possibility when new products were not popping up every day and anything new or not trendy could make its way on the shelves, since the end of the 20th century, many brands have been acquired by the likes of L’Oreal, Estee Lauder to name but a few with the founders’ original philosophy being truncated and compromised in order to cut costs on quality and increase profit margin.

So far, I have been able to carry on thanks to the Internet. My business revenues are mostly generated from online sales which means I have cut a lot of costs such as physical and marketing ones… But running a perfumery with a computer screen as a shop window can turn out to be restrictive. And it does not remove the issue of storage place and production which involves an injection of capital…

So I am left with the decision of whether I want to carry on trying to make ends meet with my passion, how I can expand by setting up a more ‘small business’ structure or if I should go back to perfume-making as a hobby only…

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely the opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of businesses or institutions affiliated with the author. 
 

 

Becoming a natural perfumer…

How does one become a natural perfumer?

This is a question I am often asked and each natural perfumer has their own personal story to getting there; from Trygve Harris  and her quest for Omani frankincense to Alec Lawless and his passion for oenology and so many other colleagues all over the world, one common denominator is that we are all contributing to making people discover or re-discover the Scents of Nature with the main driving force being PASSION for NATURALS…. So as we celebrate the 5th Anniversary of the Natural Perfumers Guild, it is the opportunity for me to reflect on my own personal path to becoming a Natural perfumer.

Natural perfume is in my DNA!

I believe we are good at maths or we are not as much as I believe we are creative or not. It has all got to do with which part of our brain is more active and in my case, it is obvious that my rational/logical part has never been favoured by the stars!

On the other hand, my senses – particularly my sense of smell – have developed very early. It is probably due to my ‘melting pot’ origins! Born in the very capital of Beaujolais wine, Beaujeu… from a Mauritian /Madagascan father and a Belgian / Polish mother, it would be difficult to deny that my DNA was not printed with variety and scented genes! Yet, I probably fell in the Beaujolais wine pot because to this day, Beaujolais has never left me with any great memory nor taste! But it did leave me with a sense of appreciation of Nature and it is probably no coincidence that one of my sources of inspiration are the vineyards.

The few first years of my childhood that I spent in the Pyrenees and Basque country made me discover the smells of old school fireplaces, farmhouse animals smells, fields of daisies and forests of chestnuts and mushrooms and the powerful smell of tranquility but strangely enough, I remember more the smells of VETIVER and VANILLA  brought by our family visiting us from Madagascar.

A golden childhood in a Pacific island…

But my early passion for perfumes undoubtedly started at the tender age of 7 when I first set foot in the tropical island of New Caledonia. Each stop of the 34 hours journey in a DC-8 plane on the way to the island had been marked by memorable smells of some kind: petrol smoke in Bahrain; strong leather skin in Karachi; exotic flowers in Colombo; gunpowder in Saigon (our plane was the last one to be allowed to land there at the peak of the Vietnam war); humid and damp earth in Singapore and finally the smell that I will never forget upon getting out of the plane: NIAOULI essence! I can remember breathing that smell in deeply during the 70 km journey to Noumea, the capital city where I will live for 8 years.

First flowers, first perfumes!

My Tahitian friends and I were producing Monoi of New Caledonia!…

Those golden years in Paradise were spent with Nature in all its aspects: beautiful sandy beaches with the smells of coconut, mangroves with the smells of roots, rainforests with the smells of niaouli and sandalwood, woods with the smells of guava and passion fruit! One could not experience more exotic smells at one time than when visiting New Caledonia! It was not long before my Tahitian friends showed me how to macerate tiare flowers in coconut oil. As kids, we were doing this on the beach while the parents were preparing the local meal ‘bougna’… After experiencing the production of Monoi, I saw no reason why not to continue with other plants. My next successful trial would be the infusion of sandalwood, niaouli and camphor wood! I used it as a wax for my desk in my bedroom. That gorgeous smell still is strongly imprinted in my memory today… It goes to show how strong the memory of a scent can be!

Leaving New Caledonia and arriving in Africa!

My teen years were spent in a totally different environment and culture yet a fascinating one: West Africa. Once again, I will always remember the smells during the journey from the airport to our house: those smells were a blend of all kinds of smell that are difficult to describe and that anyone should experience at least once in their lifetime; alongside the roads in Togo, were small stalls run by women – the scents were composed of anything from resin woods for burning to Brazilian nuts, peanuts, grilled maize, charcoaled cassava, spices and herbs and the scent of SHEA BUTTER (slightly smoky) which – in its raw and unrefined version - is most commonly used in cooking meals and as a skin moisturiser… The smells were enhanced by the beautiful and vibrant colours of the fabrics and of Africa: earthy, yellowish, green! A real dance of the senses takes place when you visit Africa.

First sight at arrival in Africa

Those smells are so addictive that it is very difficult to get rid of the powerful grasp Africa can have so, after my graduation in France, I decided to return there. And guess which sector I worked in: SPICES AND AROMAS! For 3 years, working for a Japanese food & spices company, I travelled all over West Africa, covering 16 territories, from cities to the bush, to source,  negotiate, buy and sell spices, green tea and herbs. These remain the most memorable years of my life, with so many tales and adventures that they could easily be contained in a book… But above all, this very intensive experience of the senses did set the basis for the perfumery path I am now on…

It is also during my years in Africa that I learnt about the essential oil and shea butter extraction processes in the bush! I also became the Secretary General of the Coffee/Cocoa/Pepper farming association in Togo and learnt a great deal on organic botanicals and farming. This explains why I do not accept to join any organic certified association in Europe or the West… Real organic farming using natural plants for fertilising should be learnt from developing countries!

Welcome to green England and back to the DNA theory!

I left Africa eventually as I felt I needed some Western professional experience in my career. I arrived in England where I lived for 4 years before embarking on more international travel from the Canary Islands, Spain and Mexico to the Indian Ocean islands of Reunion, Madagascar, the Seychelles, South Africa and eventually returning to Africa before ending up in France, Belgium and finally back to the U.K.  Even though the weather is so different to most of the exotic places I lived in, there was always something attracting me about England in particular…As I said, perfumery to me is in my DNA…

A few years ago, I did try to put together my family tree and discovered that one of my distant ancestors were Jean-Baptiste and Auguste Gellé, soapmakers and perfumers in the end of the 18th century in Paris… I also found out that another direct ancestor was a persecuted noble Huguenot who run away from France to England where my great-great-great grand father was born. He eventually left to Mauritius island as a trader on behalf of the Queen! Talk about DNA eh?

My family coat-of-arms

I am a self-taught perfumer and hold a diploma in aromatherapy from Oxford College, U.K. as well as an Indian head massage diploma. I also am a qualified lecturer (Hull College and University of the Arts, London) in the lifelong learning sector and regularly run perfumery and aromatherapy workshops and courses throughout the U.K.

Having always lived with and around pure Nature, I define myself as a true environmentalist and I believe in a holistic approach to the Beauty in general.

Perfumers:

Adam Gottschalk – Lord’s Jester
Alec Lawless– Being Led by the Nose
Anu Prestonia– Anu Essentials blog
Anya McCoy – Anya’s Garden Perfumes
Charna Ethier – Providence Perfumes
Christine Ziegler– A little Ol’factory
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz – DSH Perfumes
Denise Smith - Perfume Journal
Elise Pearlstine – Belly Flower Perfumes
Emily Pienaar – The Western Cape Perfumery Blog
Ida Meister – Ca Fleure Bon
JoAnne Bassett – JoAnne Bassett Perfumes
Karen Williams – Aromatics International
Laura Natusch – Olive and Oud
Lise Abdul-Quddus  – Blossoming Tree Bodycare
Noelle Smith – ElleNoire
Robert Tisserand – I’m Just Saying
Ross Urrere – Olfactory Rescue Service
Susan Stype – Aromatherapy Contessa
Trygve Harris – Absolute Trygve

Forget Grasse! The future of perfumery is in India…

Herbs and spices of India

2 years ago, I exchanged communications with Anya McCoy, President of the Guild of Natural Perfumers about the future of perfumery and Grasse. My belief was that Grasse would eventually lose its reputation as the capital of perfumery and one would have to look somewhere in Asia (China and India) to bring perfumery back to the future!

The main reasons that led me to think this way were mostly the tightening of EU regulations and the madness of IFRA (International Fragrance Association) standards that have killed the Art of perfumery, transforming artist perfumers into nothing more than bureaucrats having to fill tons of documents to attain distribution’s status… Octavian Coifan, the Paris-based perfumer and historian of perfumery qualifies the actions of IFRA as being ‘a cultural genocide’ in his post entitled ‘Is fragrance Art social?‘ while Roja Dove, the British fragrance guru and French independent perfumer, Serge Lutens have all joined the condemnations  of the restrictions dictated by IFRA in the name of ‘Health & Safety’… 

But  2 events I read of recently, make my prediction even  more real. First, the leak of aluminium toxic wastes in Hungary despite the approval of the EU! Who can trust the EU when their scientists, toxicologists and other experts are so biased that they refuse any kind of independent reviews? It seems obvious that they have closed their eyes on the potential dangers of this obsolete factory in Hungary and I would not be surprised to hear that some independent scientists had warned against this danger…

Back to IFRA, the restricted or prohibited materials such as essential oils of oak moss or costus are natural but yet, IFRA promotes the use of aromachemicals to replace them! Once again, IFRA is only the puppet of a consortium of lobbyists protecting the interests of the major chemical and cosmetics conglomerates thanks to whom IFRA has its raison d’être. The madness of this association goes as far as wanting to ban the use of citrus or basil… However, nobody prohibits their use in food. Not to mention the poor bergamot which has now been so deprived of its furocoumarin that its use in perfumes is equivalent to adding kernels of olive without the olive in a Greek salad!

Grasse has not been spared by the murdering of the Art of perfumery. In fact, going to Grasse nowadays is like visiting Pompei in the aftermath of the volcano eruption… The past jasmine and lavender landscapes are being replaced by luxury property developments; the rose de Mai (centifolia) is becoming a rarity and the plantations are reduced to a few such as La Bastide du Parfumeur (now know as ‘Museum of International Perfumery’)with a meagre 2 hectares of cultivated land left and the only landmark of Grasse being the mostly obnoxious odors of the fumes from the 100s of laboratories synthesizing raw materials…  Small artisan perfume studios that used to work from the back of their garden or their garage outside Grasse, in the Valley of Vesubie have all closed down because they cannot comply with the diktat of Brussels both financially and technically…

One of those traditional artisans explained to me that he is closing down because he has been asked by H&E to replace the rose petals he used for his rose Eau de toilette by synthetic equivalents that are supposedly safer and more stable (during the laboratory tests!). The problem was that his eau de toilette had a shelf life of no more than 1 year because of the fresh botanicals he was using! Distributors want long shelf life and huge profits and using ancient methods such as enfleurage or distillation are costly… Quality has not been the name of the game for many years in most of the Houses of Parfums in Grasse. Of course, the city has not yet lost its reputation as the place to go to for learning everything about the history and the making of perfumes but this is about to disappear as well.

View of Grasse – Where are the fields gone?

Because the second event that tells me that Grasse is on its way out, is the creation by Symrise of a Perfume Academy in India… Now, to me any corporate of this size that invests millions of dollars in an emerging country is basically saying  to industrialised countries that they have gone past the sell-by-date and that it is time to go ”back to the future’‘…

It has always made sense that a country like India should become the place for perfumery. After all, it has a young and dynamic population, a growing emerging middle class that will want to spend more and more on luxurious goods but above all, its access to all the plants and flowers for essential oils and botanicals is unlimited… For sure, plantations in India are more than the tiny 2 hectares left in Grasse!  Flowers are used for every occasions: Buddhist festivals, births, weddings and any rituals… Spices of all colours and sorts are added to yummy and scented meals and herbs are used in Ayurveda medicine… Nature and botanicals are part of the Indian way of life! Besides, the links between India and Africa have been established for many years and Indian perfume and flavours laboratories are already setting up in countries like Nigeria : they extract the wealth of botanicals available in Africa (I recommend you read the blog African Aromatics by Sophia for an expert opinion on these) and develop fragrances adapted to both markets

But in my view, the main reason why India is set to become the next capital of perfumery, the next ‘cosmetics valley’ of this world is that maybe (just  maybe), it will allow old or vintage perfumes formulations to be recreated and relaunched in order to be sold in the growing markets of Asia and the Middle East WITHOUT any regulator on your back telling you that synthetics and GMO are the best options! Because India is a sovereign country and does not bend to any diktat but their own… Their closeness to Nature will probably make them realise that regulation kills industries like ours!

As small artisan perfumers, we are unlikely to be able to compete with the likes of Symrise but I see an opportunity to position ourselves by helping smaller communities to develop and produce essential oils. Symrise and the other big ones are only interested in big scale production and in chemistry graduates… These companies are miles away from restoring the Art of Perfumery as they will carry on producing synthetics and creating  new odours to fulfil the demand of the industry and  keep up to date with modern technology.

Our objective should  then be to focus on rural farming communities, helping them set up essential oil extraction plants for smaller scale yields and ensuring they gain from the rise of perfumery in their country through education about the traditional Art of perfume making, sustainable agriculture and social enterprise. 

Rural life in India/Photo courtesy of Gautam

Link to Gautam pictures

Making perfumes according to ancient French methods: Production process

How a perfume is born…. according to traditional methods?

Now we are going to look at the process from production to packaging of a perfume in the traditional way of master blenders from the House of Grasse… In this section, I will describe the traditional processes of production… 

Perfumes existed long before the Grasse glovemakers corporation decided to use them as a way to reduce the stench from the tanning factories. Among the pioneers, were the Arabs who made popular a distillation system to extract oils from plants called the ‘ALEMBIC’ usually made of copper- According to history however, the first users of  ’alembic’ were the Hellenic Egyptians. The word actually comes from the Greek ‘ambix‘ meaning ‘vase‘.

The Grasse corporation of glovemakers was the first to use the alembic on a commercial-scale to distill flowers and today it is still the most widely used method of extraction.

The first step of the production : STEAM DISTILLATION

Through distillation, we extract the essence of a flower. This must be done quite soon after the picking up of the flowers when they are still fresh. Here is a drawing of how distillation with an alembic works:

Along with essential oils extraction, alembic also allows the recuperation of distilled water.  Only distilled rose water and orange flowers are used. It takes a huge quantity of flowers to obtain a tiny amount of oil:

- 600 kg lavender for 1 mere kilo of lavender oil!
- 4000 kg of rose for 1 kg of rose oil!
- 7 kg of dried clove buds for 1 kg of clove oil…

Other production methods 

ENFLEURAGE (COLD AND WARM)

 This is a very expensive process used for fragile flowers such as jasmine, tuberose or daffodil. Due to its high cost, it has been replaced by another technique called ‘solvent extraction’. Nowadays, only artisan perfumers endeavour to keep this traditional process but with a low yield and a lengthy duration, it is not commercially viable.

‘ COLD ENFLEURAGE’ consists of using refined lard, spread on both sides of the glass of a frame (chassis) on which petals of flowers are placed and left for anything between 48 hours and 1 week. The scent of the petals discharges into the lard and they are regularly replaced by fresh ones. The process can last for several weeks and is very delicate. 1 kg of lard can absorb about 3 kg of flowers scent. Once the scent has impregnated, the lard is collected with a spoon and slowly melted then decanted in ethyl alcohol.  The lard is introduced in a centrifuge with alcohol, dissolving the odor molecules.  The blend is then cooled down to get rid of the scented lard through filtration. This costly technique has been abandoned in Grasse in the 1930′s.

‘WARM ENFLEURAGE’ is a very ancient Egyptian method where lard was being melted in a big pan through the ‘bain-marie’ process (double boiler) in which fresh flowers were added. This was blended for 2 hours. The next day, the old flowers were removed with a flat sieve and replaced with fresh flowers. This process was repeated at least 10 times. When the lard could not absorb the scent of the flowers any longer, filtration was done to separate the lard from the flowers. The result was a scented paste called ‘‘POMMADE” which was then processed in the same way as cold enfleurage.  Flowers such as Rose Centifolia, violet, orange flowers and cassia were dealt with in this way.

COLD EXPRESSION

This process is used for citrus fruit such as lemon, bergamot, mandarin and consists of pressing the fruit peel to obtain the essential oil. Traditionally, the peel was pressed to burst out the layers containing the essential oil through scraping them on metallic picks. Later on, a new process called ‘through sponge’ was developed whereas the peel was pressed several times on a set of natural sponges attached to a clay pan. The expression was done through a rotating movement of the hand. The expressed blend was collected by squeezing the sponges and then decanted to separate the essential oil from the aqueous phase which also contained wastes from the laceration of the layers of the peel.

New techniques such as CO2 extraction and headspace are now used for so-called ‘mute flowers’ such as lilac and lily of the valley which cannot be distilled and do not release their scent through the traditional processes.

In part III to come soon, you will learn about the CREATION PROCESS of a perfume…

Pictures Fragonard Museum, Aroma Sante

Making perfumes according to ancient French methods…

Many people have asked me: what do you mean by ”making perfumes according to the ancient French methods”? So here I will explain what lies behind the process of artisan perfumery…

But first, let me tell you: we work solely and only by the tradition of the Art of Perfumery… Most of us are self-taught creative perfumers. I  started to blend as a kid while living on a beautiful South Pacific island. Am I a nose? By the definition of a ‘nose’, the mainstream perfume industry means ‘somebody who is able to smell up to 4000 scent chemicals and to create a new scent out of it’. Most so-called ‘noses’ are chemists… So in this sense, I am not a nose… I am just an artist with a sense of smell acquired throughout my life thanks to travelling the world! This is why my signature is focused on ‘exotic‘ perfumes.

From necessity to art…

In traditional perfume making, there was no ‘scientific method’ as such. Like in those days, INSPIRATION is behind all our creations. Needless to say that when inspiration shows up, we are not thinking of calculating ppm (parts per million) according to IFRA controversial recommendations or about the price of the oils we use! In the same way that you would not ask a painting artist to think of how many colours he should use or whether the blend of too much blue and yellow might give a green too intense or to use low quality gouache for his work of art, you cannot ask the creative perfumer to reduce the percentage of oils like oak moss to the minimum… The couple of extra drops DO make a difference in the end result. Which does not mean we do not consider the safety levels. No perfumer would add more of the so-called ‘ALLERGEN‘ oils than necessary!

The ancient French methods did not take into account any IFRA standards or any standards for that matter. French perfumery then was driven by necessity. Actually, the Grasse leather tanning industry actually started it in the 16th century. At the time, leather gloves were the necessary item for the luxury clients. But the strong smells of animal skin in the tanning workshops was making the city stink like no one’s business and the glove makers were desperate to find ways to get rid of this stench. They had the idea to use natural essential oils extracted from the flowers growing in the region such as jasmine and Rose de Mai to perfume the leather skins. This is how the corporation of perfumers & glovemakers (Parfumeurs et Gantiers) was born and this how perfumes made their way into our daily life.

Ancient French methods of perfume making: the basics…

Anybody who has seen the film, ‘Perfumer, story of a murderer’ can understand what lies behind the creation of a natural perfume: the attainment of Perfection, the perfect scent…

To understand better how a perfume is composed, you need to at least know the OLFACTORY PYRAMID that explains the notes we smell as the perfume evolves in time. 

A  basic perfume is composed of 3 notes:

• top note: lasting power of approx. 0 to 2 hours - ingredients are mostly citrus (Hesperides) notes but also fruit  notes
• heart note: lasting power of approx. 15 min to 4 hours - ingredients are floral, aromatic or spicy
• base note: lasting power of approx. 1 hour to 24 hours - ingredients are usually woods, animalic notes and resins

 

 

The lasting power will depend on the choice of raw materials used, some being more volatile than others…

 What is the difference between a perfume and an eau de  parfum?

In simple terms, the more concentrated the essences of the perfume are, the more likely it is to have lasting power. Put in figures, a perfume usually averages 24% of essences while an eau de parfum only contains 15%. Of course, if some precious and expensive oils are used such as rose, sandalwood, neroli, Osmanthus, the price will also be reflected. In the old days and until the late 60′s, ingredients such as civet, deer musk and castoreum were used as fixatives. Their smell is fecal or like urine but in lower dosages, they transform the perfume in a beautiful way.

If you happen to smell an old perfume bottle, you will not fail to notice how lingering the smell is. These ingredients have been banned or their use restricted. Although we understand the reasons behind the ban (mostly harm to the animals as far as the extraction is concerned), most of the artisan perfumers using ancient French methods sometimes wish they could access such strong fixatives.

The uniqueness of natural perfumes…

When you start using natural perfumes, the first thing you notice is the lack of STABILITY. The molecules of the essential oils are more volatile than their synthetic versions and the natural perfume will rather tend to grow on your skin, matching your pH. This is why when 5 different persons try the same natural perfume, each smells different. A NATURAL PERFUME IS UNIQUE to the person who wears it. It is a real INTIMATE experience, only shared with the people close to you and not with the whole assembly in a room.

Natural perfume making is like wine-making: the more it macerates, the better it becomes but like wine, there are years when the crops are excellent, and other years when their yield does not produce the same quality…  

In ancient perfumery, the aim was not to market on a big scale. Perfumes were considered a luxury and many were made-to-measure for an elite clientele. Then, at the end of the 19th century,  synthetic and chemicals started to be used to make perfumes. These were not welcomed by the perfumery industry at first. Artisan perfumers said that using chemicals could never produce a pure perfume. But the costs of essential oils and precious ingredients and the market drive over the decades gradually eliminated the use of high quality and pure essential oils to be replaced by mostly aromachemicals.

In the second part to be published soon,  I will explain the traditional process used from the creation to the end product…

What’s the fuss about Syn-Ake!

The ecological Botox which costs £125!

Snake venom

Two years ago, I shared a finding which was supposed to revolutionise anti-ageing practices: an ecological face cream acting like Botox!  And now it is back in the cosmetics grapevine as a desperate attempt by some ‘celebrity’ cosmetics companies to pretend they have discovered  the ‘fountain of youth’.

Being a usually rather skeptical person when one talks about miracle cosmetics, I thought that I should try this one on my fine lines to see whether the results would match the claims of 50% wrinkles reduction and 80% smoother skin texture. It did work: the skin texture felt definitely smoother although I did not like the tingly feeling it was causing….

The cream is based on a recent discovery which won the Swiss technology awards in 2006: Syn-Ake®. SYN-AKE® is a new anti-wrinkle active compound based on a synthetic tripeptide that mimics the effect of waglerin 1, a peptide that is found in the venom of the Temple Viper, Tropidolaemus wagleri.

A tripeptide contains 3 amino acids and a pentapeptide contains 5 amino acids. Generally, the more amino acids in the chain the more reactive the peptide is (Botox is a peptide with around 25 amino acids in the chain). However, the converse to this is that the smaller the molecule the quicker it is absorbed through the skin, and therefore it reaches the targeted site in the depths of the skin, and the quicker it starts working.

No snake is harmed to create this cream. Only the venom is extracted (in the same way as for a vaccine) and transformed in the cosmetic laboratory. Although it has been widely available for the last couple of years, in cream or oil version (with cosmetics companies preferring to call the oil version a ‘serum’), at prices between £6 (Aldi) to £38.99 (various brands), it is now being launched at Harrod’s, Harvey Nichols and the likes at £125 for 25 ml!! 

One cannot fail to notice that the price tag matches the number of celebrities endorsing it…

Is it worth trying? I’d say yes at least as a good moisturiser and skin protection screen but do not go and spend £125… Buy the Lacura wrinkle stop from Aldi and you will probably end up with the same results…

Ecological sandalwood… Part II… Haiti

Amyris sandalwood from Haiti

Amyris sandalwood from Haiti (the poorest country in the world and now the most unfortunate one too!) is the one I remember from my childhood in New Caledonia. It does not smell as strong and as ‘religious’ as the Indian one but has a subtle slightly smoked scent and is coming out greatly in fragrances for any purposes.

It is interesting to know that the recommended sandalwood species to fight against the endangering of the existing Mysore sandalwood from India are those from Haiti , Vanuatu and New Caledonia although the Vanuatu quality depends on whether it is extracted from plantations in the North or South of the island.

Amyris production factory Haiti

According to the research, in New Caledonia, the sandalwood is grown ecologically i.e. for 1 tree cut, 3 are replanted. In Haiti, the production of sandalwood is a major source of revenue for this poorest country in the world and therefore buying theirs is encouraged. It keeps most of the young people on the island in employment. Their earnings are a mere $3 per day but a few 1000 people are able to survive thanks to the Amyris.
 
All this to say that since the Soil Association, Ecocert and other associations of the kind, seem to actually be working against small producers in poor countries, I am more and more taking the view that those associations are actually endangering the revenues and living conditions of producers from poor countries by being so drastic (i.e. wanting to ban sandalwood all together) and through their behaviour, have the countereffect of what they are supposed to promote.
 
According to a UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) report on Amyris, the existing trees can produce essential oils for the next 10 years and the plan is to start reforesting soon. Amyris is only produced in Haiti and is grown biologically and organically. UNCTAD confirms that the distillation process is extremely long (120 hours) and no chemical is added in the production process. Also UNCTAD is trying to make sure that the production of Amyris, vetiver and mango from Haiti are recognised as biological products.
 
On the other hand, Indian and Australian sandalwood, due to the production processes are indeed endangering a whole forestry ecosystem since the worldwide demand has reached incredible levels and this is why if we, European and industrialised countries consumers want to show our ecological and organic interest, we would be well informed to actually start using sandalwood from Haiti and New Caledonia.
 
In 2002, an organic agency has been set up in Haiti in collaboration and sponsored by the UNCTAD and they are trying to ensure that they become recognised in Western countries. Have we ever heard of it? No. It makes me wonder what organic SA and Ecocert are actually promoting. It seems we have not evolved since the 70′s when the Western countries attitude of promoting sunflower oil rather than coconut oil led to the end of the production of coprah (and coconut oil) in many countries such as the Seychelles islands and Vanuatu. At the time, it was announced that the sunflower oil was better for health (when in fact it was all about promoting US sunflower production). Since then, numerous scientific reports have proved that coconut oil was one of the best oils for health as it contains all we need such as the lipids, proteins and glucids.

Market scene in Port-au-Prince before the earthquake Courtesy of Adam Jones

I am using Haiti amyris sandalwood in my perfumes and the results are really worth. As time goes, I am becoming more aware that we can strike a balance between endangering natural species and ensuring that we allow some populations in developing countries to earn a living. This is why I have decided to forget Organic, forget Fair Trade and proceed with MY own Fair Trade support by trying as much as possible to deal directly with producers in the countries which need our help and to benefit from our change of habits.

And at a time like now with so many Haitians affected by loss of revenues because of the earthquake, I have no doubt that many will follow my views…