Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Perfume Lab Notes


Wine barrels at Tenuta Valdipiatta
Montepulciano, Italy


My shipment of hand-selected naturals will arrive soon.

Oakwood absolute from France, a dry woody fragrance with nuances of plum and red wine. This material is produced from used wine barrels, using a hydrocarbon extraction method. I have several ideas about what I “think” it will pair nicely with and am looking forward to doing some testing. Should fit well into a couple of concepts I’ve been thinking about.

Ylang Ylang from Madagascar, VOP (Very Old Process). This was a rare find. It’s a complete
ylang rather than the modern standard process of reconstructing fractions. I recently learned that this is the nicest ylang yet encountered by one of my trusted “nose friends”. I am looking forward to comparing it with my current Ylang extra that is quite lovely itself.

Hydrocarbonresine from Spain. Another rare find, this material is a fraction of the Cistus absolute. It is almost clear, with incense and slightly smoky nuances over a warm cistus heart. (Cistus absolute is made from the top portion of the entire plant rather than from labdanum gum.) I will try this in a white flower/honey/labdanum blend that I haven’t released yet.

Rose Otto from Iran, organic, Iran-ecocert. Iranian rose is rarely available outside of Iran, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. One of our buyers has been waiting for eight years to this especially spectacular material.

A singularly gorgeous Agarwood from Laos, comparable to any oud we have
ever encountered.

Today I continued late-stage testing with the white flower, honey and labdanum perfume mentioned above that contains some special enfleuraged materials.


Image credits: http://impressive.net