Botanical Perfume: Time Travel Through Scent
Imagine yourself walking through a magical forest with
mythical creatures and exotic plants! Well that is the feeling you may get when
your experience Botanical Perfumes. Botanical perfumery began to interest me
around 2 years ago. I picked up a few books and just dove in. I wasn’t really
sure what I was doing but I knew I was willing to take time, think on it, play
with scents, and forgive myself if I created something not appealing (and I did
a few of those). I began to experiment with different essential oils and in the process I created my first marketable perfume, which
later took on the name EarthKeeper (with the
personal permission of Marina Raye, as it was named after one of her songs). When
I apply this blend, I have a personal vision that comes to me; I see a lady surrounded by closed canopy woods, she
has a small earth like cottage with a sharp ‘A’ frame stone front with a heavy
oak wooden door. Beautiful green moss is growing up the sides of the house. She
is thin, with long silver hair. Her hair is thick and lustrous. The
red and white oak trees surround her with a peppering of pine and a large Tulip
Poplar that protects the house. The small chatter you hear are the fairies and
plant devas talking aloud in small voices background like two elder ladies
gossiping at a coffee shop. The hawks fly above her head and the Broad Winged
hawk calls, Pseeeeee-eh, as if it is calling her by name as it circles above in
the air high in the air ready to make its migration south. I can hear the small
creek in the background that runs near the house, the water running over the
smooth small rocks that steady the waters.
Along the little branch, Amanita mushrooms popping up, and one little
patch of Indian Pipe that happens to have the sun shining on it like an angel
attempting to come forth and announce itself. This beautiful wonderful magical place
is the time and place that EarthKeeper perfume takes me to.
Botanical Perfume in my mind, and more in fact MY mission,
should bring us to a pleasant place in time. A travel through scent, botanical
time travel to transport you to another place that brings up good memories or
even takes you on mini vacation. Depending on the scent or the blend it may
make you feel a little calmer on a stressful day. Maybe it may make you feel in
standing in sunshine on a rainy or gloomy day. It is certainly possible that it
may even a little more confident as you head out to that interview for that new
job. You may find you have feel a little extra pep in your step after a tired
day, or maybe you will feel a little frisky on the weekend with you mate. The
blending of scents will do different things for different people and THAT is
the beauty of botanical perfume, the fact that one blend can bring different
thoughts, feelings and memories to different people. Want a little botanical
magic in your life, or a mini vacation? Apply a blend today and you may be
transported back in time where you were a child chasing fire flies, or sitting
in front of the fireplace on a winter morning.
Further Reading or Resources:
Jeanne Rose, Natural
Perfumer Blending Workbook
Mandy Aftel, Essence
and Alchemy: Natural History of Perfume
Angie Androit and Alyssa Middleton, Introduction to Artisan Perfumery
Angie Androit and Alyssa Middleton, Introduction to Artisan Perfumery
