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Be "THE EXPERT" IN YOUR COMMUNITY

26/11/2021

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Lalauraparis
LaLauraParis by Van Malder Photography
By TERRY JOHNSON, IPF USA Chair and Business and Marketing Expert
Last month’s newsletter article discussed three value-market fundamentals every business should practice in these very challenging times. Let’s expand on these basics starting with the first fundamental:
To develop a totally value-based business to differentiate you from the competition and persuade growing numbers of high value customers there is greater value in your products than that of other competitive products. 
A key word here is “differentiate.” 
​
To succeed against stronger, well-financed competition, businesses can attract more customers by giving them better choices (differentiation) for what they purchase. This is where value and value-added come in. Competition, by the way, is much stronger than most people think it is with budgets the way they are.
If you sell to consumers, you are competing with everything they need to purchase or want to purchase. That’s quite a list!
​
To attract and keep customers you will be needing every value-added tool available. Why should consumers purchase your perfume or essential oil instead of something else? Can you give them ten reasons why? Twenty?    
Establishing yourself as an expert in Natural Essences within your community is empowering because it gives you the capacity to help your community make the right choices for healthier and safer lifestyles.
Obviously, anyone who wishes to become and continue to be an expert in Natural Essences must have a great deal of accurate knowledge about Natural Essences, which is where the value of continuing education comes in. 
If you are a Natural Perfumer, you also need expertise as an aromatherapist, and the reverse is true for Natural Aromatherapists needing Natural Perfumery. Having knowledge of the history of perfume also has important benefits and needs to be studied. 
Continuing Natural Essences education along with effective messaging of the value of Natural Essences will lead to clear, positive distinctions between your up-to-date expertise and the lack of expertise from your competition.

Three Action Steps to Implement Beginning Today
  1. Identify and include in your value proposition all the things you do that make you and the products you sell more valuable to consumers than competitive alternatives. Careful sourcing. Commitment to natural. School accreditations. Certifications. Experience.
  2. Keep making yourself and your products more valuable by regularly adding value. Continuing education is a superb way to accomplish this.
  3. Focus on being an expert within your local community. Use your continually growing value to effectively communicate your expertise to those who need to know. 
Enrol for Terry Johnson intensive 6 weeks online course 
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Beautiful POMANDERS AND THEIR RECIPES

31/10/2021

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Pomander enameled gold in the shape of a pomegranate and adorned with ruby, emerald and diamond. Circa 1600 - 1625 © Rijksmuseum
Pomander enameled gold in the shape of a pomegranate and adorned with ruby, emerald and diamond. Circa 1600 - 1625 © Rijksmuseum
by Pr Françoise RAPP, IPF Chair France
​and French Natural Perfumery and Natural Aromatherapy Expert
Perfume has always had a sacred meaning connecting man with the divine, but did you know that it had other more "therapeutic" roles such as protecting or even preserving the good health of the body?
The oldest knew it and they used essences, resins in various forms for this action. Fumigations, anointing, and also accessories for carrying perfume were used as early as ancient Egypt. This way of proceeding was then taken up again during ancient Rome and then came to Europe through the Crusades.
​This accessory diffused the scent of aromatics, animal raw materials and various resins thanks to the body heat. It is said then that he helped protect himself from the Black Death and other miasmas of the time. Far from being a tool or means of seduction, this perfume had above all a medicinal function above all.
Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), Portrait of Lucrezia de Medici. Oil on panel, circa 1560 © North Carolina Museum of Art
Agnolo Bronzino (1503–1572), Portrait of Lucrezia de Medici. Oil on panel, circa 1560 © North Carolina Museum of Art
​It was most often of an almost solid pasty texture. Its powerful and purifying fragrance emanated from an accessory called sweet apple.
​This object has evolved greatly over the course of history to be worn like a jewel on the belt or around the neck. The Renaissance saw sweet apples as a fashion accessory with multiple functions, including those of covering bad body odor and protecting against epidemics decimating the population. It must be remembered that bodily hygiene was understood as something almost erotic by the Church. The sweet apple was then very practical to use and this accessory was declined like a real jewel even demonstrating a level of richness by the object and by the raw materials used because these were expensive.
German pomander in gold, enamel and precious stones, early 17th century. This jewel measures 8 cm in height and 4 cm in diameter. © Burghley Collections
German pomander in gold, enamel and precious stones, early 17th century. This jewel measures 8 cm in height and 4 cm in diameter. © Burghley Collections
What is a sweet apple and how does it work?
Sweet apples, "pommanders" or "pomanders" are either openwork or made up of airtight "quarters". These objects are almost exclusively precious jewels. Common people and poor people cannot afford these rare and expensive perfumes. Pomanders are usually spherical in shape and open in two parts and then into several quarters, like an orange. In each of these quarters are placed the herbs. In contact with the heat of the body, the aromatics exhaled their perfumes, delicious perfumes offered to God "per fumum". Perhaps this original oblation helped to obtain a divine favor: that of living a long life or curing an illness in addition to emanating powerfully purifying and protective aromatic scents. Medieval sweet apples were continually worn by their owner. As a necklace, a ring or held at the end of a velvet ribbon or a precious metal chain, they accompanied the body and remained as close as possible to it.
 
What raw materials for perfume were then used?
These objects allow you to carry the scent of musk, ambergris or civet with you (materials all secreted by wild animals with a ... pronounced smell)
The Song of Songs also regularly refers to spices. In its different versions (Greek, Latin or Hebrew), it always ends by evoking "the mountain of spices". The aromatics therefore legitimately find their place in the culture of the Middle Ages. They are the luxurious ingredients warmly recommended by the Church to guard against epidemics and especially the Black Death.
In 1174, the ancestor of perfume diffusers arrived in Europe. On this date, Baudoin IV (1161-1185), King of Jerusalem, offered Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (1122 - 1190) several golden apples (precious sweet apples) filled with musk. Chronologically, musk and amber are the most popular scents. Nevertheless, from the middle of the 14th century, the Paris medical faculty added no less than 29 odorous substances suitable for taking place in these cases. Thus make their appearance nutmeg, aloe wood, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, camphor, sandalwood or cinnamon. These herbs come from the Eastern Perfume  Roads crossing countries as far as they are fascinating.
Recipe for making pomander included in The Treasury of Commodious Conceits, and Hidden Secrets by John Partridge (London, 1586)
"Benzoin resin, calamus, labdanum, and storax balm were ground into a powder, dissolved in rose water, and placed in a saucepan over a fire to cook together. The cooked mixture was then removed from the heat, rolled into an apple shape and coated with a powdered mixture of cinnamon, soft sanders and cloves. After that, a concoction was made from three grains each of ambergris, deer musk and civet musk. Ambergris was dissolved first, and deer and civet musk were mixed later. The "apple" ball was rolled through the musk concoction to blend into these ingredients, then kneaded to combine and molded into an apple shape."
Nostradamus Recipe
Michel de Nostredame had a similar method and formula but a rather different procedure. The "rose tablets" were made by soaking a pound of roses without the flower heads in deer musk water overnight. The water was then carefully wrung out and the roses crushed with seven ounces of benzoin, a quarter of ambergris and another of civet musk. This mixture was made into tablets, which were each sandwiched between rose petals and dried in a cool, dark place.  To form the final pomander, two ounces of the purest labdanum, one ounce each of styrax and benzoin resin, half an ounce of rose tablets, one ounce of violet powder, and half a dram each of ambergris and musk were ground into powder and kneaded with rose water from the manufacture of rose tablets. This produced "an aromatic ball of the most sublime and long-lasting scent that could be made anywhere in the world" it seems.
Pomanders - Creezy Courtoy's World Perfume History Master
Simple and usual pomander
If you were to create a pomander today with existing raw materials, what would the formula be? 
Become a natural perfumer and discover how to formulate natural fragrances; discover the program and register quickly before November 8th. The French Natural perfumery program opens its doors for 8 exciting weeks!
And if you want to learn more about the history of pomanders don’t miss Creezy Courtoy’s World Perfume History MasterClass starting on December 6. ​
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Hunting for strange and unusual new materials

30/10/2021

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Hunting for strange and unusual new materials

THE POWER OF THE RAW MATERIAL AND THE ART OF REDISCOVERING THE ORIGINS OF NATURAL PERFUMERY.
A sentimental introduction to the extraction of raw materials
by Andrej BABICKY,

IPF Chairman Italy,
Raw Material Methods Extraction and Olfaction Training Expert

There are plants from which we are not surprised that essential oil or an absolute is extracted. Their use is understandable due to their aromatic properties: think of a rose, jasmine, basil, etc. They are "obvious" raw materials. They have now become fundamental in a perfumer's palette. But there are also those which we will not immediately think could be used. I love these, curious and sometimes even strange essences.
Pr. Andrej Babicky
Pr. Andrej Babicky
I live in an area of Italy, Piedmont, in a small town surrounded by woods and fields.
​In the garden, I cultivate ornamental plants for the pure pleasure of their flowers or their leaves but also other, perfumed, to extract their fragrance: different varieties of roses, aromatic herbs, daffodils, hyacinths, chrysanthemums, lilacs, tetradenias and much more. I love the explosion of colours and scents of the garden in spring, but I also love the quiet of autumn. The garden is slowly falling asleep. These are the moments that lead me to look beyond the hedge, to return to take long walks in a bare landscape immersed in the usual fog of the area. These are moments of calm and intentional solitude in which I can contemplate the passing of the seasons. These are also times in which I start looking for seasonal fruits and berries, or new plants to extract; something different, new to fill the tincture jars with.


Not all the extractions I do, I then use in perfumes. Some remain closed in their containers for some time, even years, before I can find the right use. But I often extract for the sheer pleasure of experimenting and exploring.
Raw Material Methods Extraction MasterClass
Autumn is the season of mushrooms that can be used to expand our palette of essences.
​Think of their damp mossy smell, of undergrowth, of fallen leaves wet from the rain. Think about how nicely these nuances can expand those of the woods and barks. Different varieties are used in cooking or cosmetics that we can use too. Porcini, chanterelles, field mushrooms, honey mushrooms and many more. Each with their olfactory peculiarity. 
chanterelles
I discovered chanterelles by chance. Their orange colour stands out on the ground, single or in clusters camouflaged among the fallen leaves.
The characteristic that struck me is their taste and aroma that somehow recalls that of apricot with wild nuances. Mushrooms can be dried and then used in tinctures.

To my surprise, I found some woody mushrooms. Doing some research, I found out that it is the Ganoderma species. They are known for their medicinal properties. Some are easily recognizable and rather easy to find. They are lignicolous, annual or multi-annual fungi of brown, ocher, or reddish colour with a lighter underside. They are parasites and saprophytes. They can be found on both deciduous and coniferous trees.
Their scent immediately refers to that of mushrooms in general but once dried it takes on a darker, richer woody profile. Sliced when still fresh and left to dry in the air for a few days, they can be used in tinctures.

How could we forget about the truffles? They constitute a precious and sought-after food essence. Their scent, so penetrating and distinctive, develops only after ripening and to attract wild animals to spread the spores and perpetuate the species.
The truffles were already appreciated in ancient times. Aphrodisiac properties were ascribed to them. For some, their aroma, during the period of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, contributed to the ecstatic effect on man.
Although relatively rare and expensive, truffles can add a distinctive earthy, musky, moist, somewhat nutty and dark chocolatey undertone. A small amount is enough to give a new dimension to a fragrance.
The leaves, which in this period are tinged with bright colours, can represent an interesting raw material. Have you ever rubbed the nearly dry leaves of walnut or cherry in your hands? Have you ever smelled it? While walnut leaves may be difficult to work into a final composition due to their ability to dye, cherry leaves have a delicately fruity hay scent. I especially love the oak ones that I extract both in spring and autumn. The young ones have a bitter, warm, lively and intensely green scent while those at the end of their life cycle give me the sensation of wood warmed by the sun, the scent is more dense, mysterious, rich with earthy nuances.

During one of the walks, I had by chance browsed among the shrubs of Amorpha fruticosa in search of mushrooms.
I still remember today the pungent, resinous, warm, and intense smell that remained on my hands while I was trying to make my way through the shrubs. I did not immediately connect the smell to that of the plant to which I had not paid much attention before. I was very surprised when, by exclusion, I was able to link the odour to this species and after some research on toxicity I started the first extraction experiments. It is a North American plant that grows spontaneously around the house. In the past, it was used to produce dye for fabrics and ornamental purposes. With time and abandonment of cultivation, it became wild and invaded roadsides, riverbanks, and the fields. It is one of the most invasive species in Europe. Its seeds have a curious olfactory profile: herbaceous, aromatic, vaguely urinous with hints of spicy accents that remind me of the seeds of some Apiaceae. The leaves also have a characteristic scent, strongly aromatic, resinous, warm and different from that of the seeds. The same plant offers two interesting and unusual raw materials.


Among my favourite fruits, not so much for the taste, but for the smell, is the quince.
My grandmother used to put some in the closet. Their scent mixed with that of wood, bunches of lavender and fabrics, creating an intense and rich aroma. The fruit, cut into thin slices and dried, creates an acidulous, unusual, pleasantly juicy and liqueur-like tincture with green, herbaceous and vaguely floral nuances.

 
Mahonia plants are also covered in dark blueberries this season. Their sour taste is reminiscent of that of unripe grapes. The fruits, berries with a floury consistency, can be easily dried. I use them to create a sour-scented, wild berry tincture that adds a pleasant fruity hue to the rose.
Picture
Picture
Think of what nature offers around you in this period: pumpkins, berries, roots, tree bark covered with moss, lichen, mushrooms, seeds, pine cones covered with resin, leaves and flowers.
Sniff them, taste them, rub them in your hands. Do you smell them?
​Can you imagine it in a fragrance? Sometimes you just need to look around.
Autumn is a magical season for this too: nature is preparing to conclude a cycle, to fall asleep until spring, but for us, it may be the right time to awaken our sense of smell. Let us be guided by the nose to discover new smells around us.
Follow a Natural Olfaction Training Course or a Raw Material Extraction Method Course with Pr. Andrej Babicky
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NEW LUXURY CODE, THE VALUE OF RESPECT

29/10/2021

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The New Luxury Code
by TERRY JOHNSON, 
Vice Chair International Perfume Foundation & Marketing Expert
Make no Mistake; Selling to Consumers Today is as Difficult as it Has Ever Been, and it Doesn’t Appear it Will be Easing up Anytime Soon. 
With competition so strong from large brick-and-mortar retailers as well as rapidly growing online retail activity, continued success for high value retailers will increasingly depend following these three basic value-marketing fundamentals:
  1. Develop a totally value-based business to differentiate you from the competition and persuade growing numbers of high value customers there is greater value in your products than that of other competitive products. 
  2. Target consumers who demand more value, will pay more for receiving value, and if satisfied will repurchase again and again.
  3. Follow the New Luxury Code, the most important value-marketing fundamental. 

The New Luxury Code is about recognizing and acknowledging the value of ourselves and the world surrounding us. 
It is a continuing reminder of what is important to respect and why; and because of its importance, the New Luxury Code should be part of the value proposition of everyone involved in the high value essential oil distribution chain community from seeds to consumers.

How Can High Value Retailers Express Their Respect for Consumers?
  1. Understand what represents value to them and then provide that value. Consumers want natural products, free from GMO and synthetic chemicals. They also want to know more about who produced their products and whether they were produced sustainably.
  2. Always treat customers courteously and professionally, even if you disagree with them. Angry customers tell more of their friends about their negative experiences, as opposed to loyal customers sharing positive stories.
  3. Establish yourself as an expert in your community. Education empowers retailers by differentiating them from large, powerful competitors, so educate yourself and then educate the community or communities you serve. 

Make sure your customers and the rest of the high value essential oil distribution chain community get the respect they deserve by following the New Luxury Code.
 
Terry Johnson will be teaching marketing starting February 2022
Contact Terry
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BATH SALTS TO FALL FOR

29/9/2021

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Marigold Bath Salts
What do I Need to Feed my Dry Skin and to Keep Warm
by Vennie CHOU, Natural Skin Care Expert

​As we enter months of fall season, we can feel the cooler dryer weather. Nature is busy trying to shake off the leaves off trees, so the dead leaves can decompose and provide nutrients for the soil that plants and trees feed on. I also look for what I can use from nature in this season to feed my dry skin and to keep warm.
I decided to make bath salts that I can use in body and foot baths. I pulled off petals from two Marigold and blended the fresh flower petals with Epsom salts. Marigold is very soothing for the skin and colored the salts a beautiful soft yellow. The petals completely disappeared into the salts.
Learn Natural Bath Salts
​I sprinkled a little Safflower petals as Safflowers helps with circulation. To prevent itchy dry skin, I added my red infused Gromwell oil and grated a little coco butter into the bath salts. For scents, I sprinkled some dried orange peel grains that I saved for my tea. I also added little bit of black pepper and ginger essential oils. Ginger, black pepper and a hint of orange warm the body and increase blood circulation. 
​​This is definitely Fall inspired bath salts using colors of fall and scents to warm the soul and body.
Vennie Chou Bath Salts for Fall
LEARN NATURAL SKIN CARE AND CLEAN LIVING WITH VENNIE CHOU
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NEFERTUM, GOD OF PERFUMERS

30/6/2021

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Nefertum
PERFUME IN ANCIENT EGYPT
NEFERTUM, God of Perfumers and Aromatherapists

by Creezy Courtoy
Nefertum (Nefertem, Nefertemu) was an ancient god, the God of Perfumers and Aromatherapists ( at this time perfumers were all aromatherapists ) mentioned in the Pyramid Texts (c. 2350 BC), but became more prominent during the New Kingdom (1539 - c. 1075 BC) and later.

Nefertum was the son of Ptah and Sekhmet.
Ptah, his father, was the creator God and the Patron of artisans.
His mother, Sekhmet, was the Goddess with a dragon head who protected Egypt from its enemies but she was also the Goddess of plants and herbs and the Patron of medical and alchemist distillation.  Nefertum ruled over ointments and perfumed oils.

In Ancient Egypt, fragrances were considered as the essence of materialization of all things. Nefertum was thus considered the spirit of life. 
He represented beauty in its perfection and was associated with purification and youthfulness. His symbol and representation was the blue lotus flower, the sacred flower of Egypt through which the sun rose. 
Nefertum was the god of the lotus blossom who emerged from the primeaval waters at the beginning of time, and a god of perfume and aromatherapy. 
Nefertum was the god of healing, medicine and beauty and strongly associated with the lotus and often depicted in Egyptian art with a large lotus blossom forming his crown. The lotus was the only flowering plant in Egypt that bloomed nonstop throughout the year. Held by gods and goddesses near the nose of royal kings, queens and pharaohs as its scent, this flower was believed to be restorative and protective. 
Nefertum and the lotus flower

Nefertum was seen as the sun god and the grandson of the sun god.
He was not originally worshipped in temples, but was an important aspect of the sun god, who was later discovered as the grandson of the sun god.
For the people in Egypt, he was their protector and their healer. 
Nefertum was linked both to the pleasant scent of the lotus flower and to its medical properties which were well known to the ancient Egyptians.
​He was also associated with a number of the Egyptians favorite flowers, such as rose, geranium and cornflower. In fact, he could be described as the archetypal aromatherapist.
According to one legend, he brought a bouquet of beautiful lotuses to the aging Ra to ease his suffering. As a result, he was described in the Pyramid Texts as "the lotus blossom which is before the nose of Ra".  He may have originally been considered to be an aspect of Atum. According to one version of the creation story of the Ennead in Heliopolis, Nefertum (translated as beautiful Atum, or perfect Atum) was born from a blue lotus bud which emerged from the waters of Nun at the beginning of creation.
Atum represented the sun and so Nefertum represented the sunrise. He cried because he was alone and his tears created humanity. It was thought that he was born with every sunrise, matured into Atum during the day before passing into the world of the dead every sunset. The cycle of birth in the morning and death every evening (as the sun travelled through the underworld) represented the daily struggle between Chaos and Order (Ma´at).  When Atum was absorbed by Ra (Atum-Ra), Nefertum came to be considered as a seperate deity, still closely associated with the newborn sun. Then Ptah was promoted to the chief national god and proclaimed the ultimate creator, and Nefertum was described as his son by either Sekhmet or Bast (both "Daughters of Ra"). However, as the son of Ptah, he also became patron of the perfume and healing arts derived from flowers. Thus, Nefertum was seen as both an aspect of the sun god, and also his grandson.  He was also linked to rebirth, both as a personification of the newborn sun and as the patron of many of the necessary ingredients of the mummification process. A passage of the Book of the Dead says the blessed dead will 
"Rise like Nefertum from the lotus, to the nostrils of Ra, and come forth upon the horizon each day".
The Egyptian pantheon is particularly huge and fluid, with a wide variety of deities entering and exiting each other's myths.
Nefertum used to be depicted as a beautiful young man wearing a lotus headdress, sometimes standing on the back of a lion.
Occasionally he wears a headdress with two feathers and two necklace weights that were fertility symbols associated with Hathor (who in turn was closely associated with the two goddesses described as his mother, Sekhmet and Bast).
He was sometimes depicted as a man with the head of a lion or as a reclining lion or cat. In this form, he was associated with the lion god Maahes, who may have been his brother, but may also have been an aspect of Nefertum. Like the newborn sun, he was generally depicted as a beautiful baby sitting on a lotus bud. Sometimes his body was shown wrapped like a mummy, with his arms and face unbound. He also had a lion or cat shape, attributed to his mother. He was also depicted as a human head emerging from a large water lily.
Picture
For the ancient Egyptians, however, with their holistic understanding of the universe, fragrances and perfumes were not only beautiful, but were also spiritual and therapeutic.
The Blue Lotus
The lotus flower flourishes on the banks of the Nile. It opens its large petals with the rising of the sun. To the ancient Egyptians it represented the sun because it banished darkness. Blue Lotus played a unique and important role in Ancient Egyptian culture. The plant was widely popular for its mood enhancing and mild psychedelic properties. Used both recreational and for spiritual effects, they often made a concoction out of Blue Lotus and wine. 

This flower has even been placed alongside the deceased in ancient tombs. The plant is often depicted on walls and paintings as well, often depicted together with wine. 
The Blue Lotus was even the symbol for the union of Upper and Lower Egypt. Commonly used in art as a symbol of Upper Egypt. It was often shown with its long stems intertwined with papyrus reeds (a symbol of Lower Egypt) as a representation of the unification of the two lands.

For the Ancient Egyptians, The Blue Lotus represented how the sky greeted the sun. Just as the sun rises above the horizon to start the day, the flower opens in the morning. Then just when the sun is setting, the flower closes itself at dusk. And because of this, the Egyptians coined the Blue Lotus the sacred flower of the sun and sun gods. 

As this symbol means also the creation and rebirth, the lotus is a fixed part of tomb and coffin decoration, often in combination with the scarab, which has similar symbolic meaning. 

If you want to learn more about national flowers visit my blog 
powerfulflower.blogspot.com
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LEARNING OLFACTION TRAINING

25/6/2021

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Picture
Aromatic Journal of an Olfaction Trainer
by Maria Rodriguez Genna
​One of the exercises during Creezy Courtoy’s olfactory training course was to be fully conscious of our sense of smell and to note our progression everyday. It was an interesting experience being purposely smelling everything to train my nose. 
  
First day: What I recognized is the smell of skin. Clean skin, dirty skin, also my little daughter received a vaccine so I smelled her arm and I noticed a change in her natural scent, not long afterwards, but it was more noticeable the next day. On the street I smelled the salty air, the fresh green aroma of the trees, the gasoline obnoxious scents from the traffic.

Second day: I tried smelling ice, although it just smells like water, practically inodorous, the cool feeling has an effect on the nose. This cold scent is difficult to describe. It’s fresh, cold, sharp, almost metallic or even gassy like smelling nitrogen or helium. I didn’t go out for many days because my daughter became ill with fever for days due to the vaccine and I had to stay home to take care of her. So I did experiments with what I had around me at home, like laundry, cleaning items, medicines, etc.
                 
Third day: I did a different exercise, I used imagery to recall or remember how a scent smelled. Like the sea and the beach, or for example amber notes, how a cake would smell,etc.
 I also used images like paintings and tried to imagine how colors would relate to scents, for examples amber notes, the color already tells us of possibly resinous, heavy notes or even honeyed, white can be powdery, heady aromas, narcotic. So it was like trying to smell a painting.
                 
Fourth day: I tried imagining what notes would have a perfume I’d like to create, and if they would harmonize. When I imagined the notes, the scents came to mind, like a faint sketch of a drawing, with colors and scents. I would need materia prima for experimenting with these notes and to corroborate if my imagination was correct and they are harmonious or not.
                 
Fifth day: I quickly went to pick a package to the post office but with masks it’s difficult to smell much, only this cottony artificial scent it has, very unpleasant. They smell a lot like hospital sanitizer. It’s an interesting observation, how if we are very distracted with chores or if we go out but are thinking about something while we walk, we tend to lose the scents, because our attention is overpowered by thoughts and our other senses. This is something I’m trying to train myself to, because very easily my other senses overpower my nose, unless of course I close my eyes or try to consciously smell, with intention and full attention.

Last day: Noses can get accustomed to some smells, that is an observation.
I need to focus on something different for a few minutes, then I can revisit certain smells to be able to analyze them. My dry allergic nose doesn’t help either. So much pollen in the air, it can be smelled and it makes the throat and nose powdery and itchy. I will keep training because I’m very used to daily scents, that they disappear into the background. Usually opening a window helps, I notice it moves scents around and that makes my brain perceive them better.
I’m trying to train my nose to human skin odor. Just like I can recognize my little daughter’s natural skin scent, I’m trying to consciously remember or discreetly smell people close to me,to see if I can learn their unique aroma. It would be like taking an aromatic photograph to remember them.  So far, I’m being successful with people that are very close to me. 
The challenge is to smell different people and without them noticing -hahaha- but it’s an interesting anthropologic experiment. There’s someone I know, a really good friend, that smells incredibly good and it’s not perfume but natural scent. So all this research made by Creezy Courtoy about gorillas is starting to make sense, how they can recognize each other by scent, chose healthy future partners, etc.  For someone in this field it is normal musings, but for the rest of the world it is politically incorrect so I have to be cautious if I will be training with human species. Gorillas would appreciate me getting to know them by scent much more!
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FRUIT AND FLOWER DAYS

11/4/2021

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Perfumed Wine
Biodynamics, Wine and Whole Ingredient Perfumery
by RACHEL BINDER
For years I worked in the culinary world- as a server, a sommelier, as a manager. One thing that has always been a professional standard is that you don’t wear perfume while working near food and wine.  In fact, if you wear scent during your sommelier exam you automatically fail the service portion of your test.

What grows together grows together
One spring I was lucky enough to have a Barolo tasting that changed my life. It was spring and the patio we were tasting on was covered in jasmine- that pink sweet jasmine that takes over my home town of Venice Beach at certain times a year. The Barolo just seemed to taste and smell with more beauty  and nuance with that aromatic addition of (the jasmine) nature!
Especially notable since jasmine grows so beautifully in Italy where the Nebbiolo grapes of Barolo grow.
​It was an aha moment for me because I realized that if you follow the guiding principles of wine pairing you understand that what grows together grows together. So why do we not do perfume and wine pairings? Often that is because synthetic scents don’t grow with nebbiolo grapes, pinot noir grapes or anything else. They are isolated in a lab even if they had a natural beginning. They no longer contain that beating heart of nature but there is also a more assertive sillage to molecules made in a lab (even “natural” isolates) that prevents ones ability to fully smell and taste food and wine to its fullest capacity. 

Why does that “beating heart of nature” matter when it comes to perfume and wine?
For me it goes back to the principals of Rudolph Steiner (who began the modern biodynamics movement in regenerative farming) and biodynamics.  As someone who tasted wine and also directed wine tastings and winemaker dinners for years I have experienced on so many occasions how the biodynamic calendar and its “fruit and flowers days” (which are based on the moon and the tides) can fully impact a tasting and how people experience scent and taste. Even the most hardened not natural seeming sommeliers will pull up the biodynamic calendar to see how their wine is going to show on a given day. 
This works with wine because it is still a living, evolving whole ingredient ageable aromatic of nature. These principals do not work with items or ingredients that are so processed they no longer belong to this living cycle- a traditional designer fragrance is the same day after day. It does not evolve in time nor does it have the energetic imprint that is offered with a truly natural perfume. For this reason I started doing perfume and wine pairings with natural perfume and ingredients to help demonstrate to people the living difference that is possible with truly natural perfume.
​
A society whose noses have been dulled by a false sense of smell
There is something remarkable that happens when you pair a hydrosdistilled jasmine with a rose wine that has a floral component. First you smell and then you taste so many different levels of what these incredible gifts of nature have to offer. It becomes crystal clear that something different is happening with a natural perfume than we have learned to expect from a synthetic when we allow it to be experienced with retronasal olfaction (nose and taste buds).  There are layers of scent and taste that are unlocked that can entirely bewitch and help shift ones appreciation of these natural beauties. 
So many products that people use are scented with synthetics that are louder than our natural environment. Before someone even applies a synthetic scent they have quite literally been nose blinded by all of the other products they have applied to their bodies (shampoo, body lotion, cleaning products, fabric softener). It has led to a society whose noses have been dulled by a false sense of smell. Many of us have forgotten what real flowers or soil smells like because the idea of the fake one has taken over.  

Go to the farmers market
So here is my pairing challenge!  Go to the farmers market (if you have one nearby) and pick out some fruit that is in season, your favorite whole ingredient natural perfume or essential oil and grab some rose wine. Sit down and breathe in each of the aromatics, drink the wine and eat that beautiful fruit.  I find it to be transcendent to experience these things together. From a sensory point of view this is a great tool of education on the possibilities of returning to the beauty that was one experienced with all perfume before they were taken from the earth and rebirthed in a lab. 
 All over the world people are finding ways to help combat global warming with regenerative farming but I think the natural perfume world has an opportunity to help people remember what it is we are fighting for: the native plants uncommonly utilized, the beauty of biodiversity, and the possibility of a rebirth of how we experience and share aromatics.
Black Tea and Rose Rose Sangria and Sangria Verde

Black Tea and Rose Rose Sangria.
It’s rose (wine) season and so many are being released this time of year!
I recommend trying this with a deeper rose (think Bordeaux varietals, or an Italian, Spanish or Chilean rose).
  • Take one glass of the bottle and tincture overnight with a loose organic black tea and then filter the leaves out.
  • Add 4 ounces of natural red fruit juice (pomegranate works great in this), the rest of the wine and tea tincture and put over ice.
  • Too with dried rose petals and enjoy! 

Sangria Verde.
  • Make a punch of green guavas, white wine (a Malvasia or Riesling works beautifully for their aromatics), aromatic herbs from your garden or farmers market (and if you are daring a little chile works if the wine is sweeter).
  • Soak over night and pour over ice.
  • Top with organic marigolds or any organic edible flowers you have at your disposal! 

All sangrias or punches may work differently depending on wine choice - a little citrus like a splash of blood orange always works great!

 

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IPF WORKSHOPS IN VANCOUVER

22/4/2019

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Workshops are organised by Vennie Chou, IPF certified Natural Beauty Product Specialist, Skin Care Expert, Histology Immunology Marker Expert and Member of the Teacher's Academy. 
​Students will receive a certificate of accomplishment from the International Perfume Foundation.  
Natural Skincare Workshops
APRIL 27-28 2019 (SATURDAY, SUNDAY)
NATURAL SKINCARE WORKSHOP Study of Creams & Lotions in Natural Skincare:
Learn the key components that go into making natural, organic and non-toxic creams/lotions for yourself, family and friends. Products used will be simple natural ingredients to make gentle, yet effective skincare moisturisers.  
​Cost: $280 ( non- member) $155 (member).
Natural candles and incense workshops
MAY 5 - 2019 (SUNDAY)
NATURAL SOY CANDLE & INCENSE WORKSHOPStudents will learn the basics of making soy tea-light candles and votive candles, using essential oils and natural plant dyes. In addition, students will learn to make cone incense using all plant materials.  
​Cost: $195 ( non-member) $100 ( IPF member)
Natural Dyeing Workshops
MAY 19 - 2019 (SUNDAY)
INDIGO DYEING WORKSHOP, THE BASICSStudents will learn different ways of making Indigo Vats. Students will build a collection of Indigo dyed linen, wool and silk samples, including indigo over-dyed samples.
Each student will have a silk scarf to experiment simple Shibori techniques for dyeing. 
Cost: $195 ( non- member) $100 ( IPF member).
Natural Soaps Workshops
JUNE 22-23  2019  (SATURDAY AND SUNDAY)
SOAP MAKING WORKSHOP WITH NATURAL DYES:
This is an intensive soap making workshop. Students will learn to make bar soaps and various decorative techniques using Natural dyes. Different techniques including Hand Milling, Impression, Embedding, and Marbling. On Day 2, students will learn to make liquid and foam soap. Formulas will be provided that you can use to build your own soap recipes. 
​Cost: $345 (non-member) $225 (IPF member).
CONTACT
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THE FUTURE OF PERFUMERY

7/3/2019

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Consumer behavior is changing. Consumers are starting to ask questions about what they purchase for fragrances, the same way they have for healthier foods and beverages. They are beginning to look for new perfumers, custom perfumes, and natural perfumes. The world of perfume is changing: in the past there were around 10 perfume houses making perfumes for hundreds of brands. Today there are thousands of perfumers, and thousands brands worldwide. 
Are we living in a new era for the perfume industry? Is this a revolution driven by consumers or is this a normal cyclical evolution leading perfumers to come back to what perfume used to be in the past?
Since ancient times, fragrances and perfumes were used for healing purposes and at the same time perfumers were healers. They studied perfumery to learn the beneficial power of plants, created their own little healing gardens, used enfleurage, maceration, and distillation techniques and start making their own perfumes while thinking about people’s wellbeing. Thanks to flower fields, perfumers also made sure that bees did their part in preserving flowers and plants for the future. Perfumes were precious, made with 95% flowers and plants and 5 % alcohol.
Today, what challenge does the perfume industry have to face?
How can major brands adapt to changing consumer behaviors and meet the growing demand for natural? How can they enter this New Luxury Market, respecting the New Luxury Code?
Do we need to change the curriculum of perfumery courses to reflect the changing marketplace and tomorrow’s perfumes?  What is the purpose of a perfume?  Shouldn’t it be more than just self-satisfaction for a perfumer? Will this be enough to satisfy the inevitable changing consumer demand for natural products?
What major changes already in place will continue to form a very new picture of the perfume industry and its exciting future?
All of these questions and more will be covered by a panel composed of the following Certified Experts and Members of the Teachers-Academy: Rodney Hughes, IPF Certified Natural Perfumer, Françoise Rapp, Expert in Essential Oils and Aromatherapy and Ruth Ruane, Director of the IPF Certified Natural Perfume Academy 
Join us at Cosmoprof Bologna for this important conference about the Future of Perfumery



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