A Year!

It's been an entire year since any of the Rebel Perfumers blogged here -- a year! So I'm going to jump in and do so now.

Hello everyone! Long time no post, eh? Well, we're not dead or anything, we're just busy. For my part, I attempted to put together a little paper publication for Le Parfumeur Rebelle, lots of photography, lots of interesting articles and such, lots of tutorials, but alas, the webosphere is chock full of this stuff, though scattered from one end to the other, and it seemed a bit premature, and redundant, to go ahead with the project. It is on the back burners and will come to fruition at some point. Just a bit more organization and a lot more advertisers and we're on our way. I'd like to thank all the contributors to the initial idea of a paper publication and your writing isn't going to languish forever -- there are plans for the future with your informative articles the highlights.

Also, I kind of let LPR alone for a while, like months and months, and just began restructuring and posting new articles and reviews and interviews. LPR's become something of a database and I kind of like that idea. I'd like to get a lot more topics covering individual experiments in perfumery or distillation published on the site, and I am working on it. I think it's important to the art form to instruct and tutor newcomers and perhaps teach an old dog a few new tricks in the process.

I think I'll be posting here more often, keeping you apprised of new articles on the site, maybe getting some input on what you'd like to see on LPR. We're here for you, so let us know what you need.

Justine

Free Shipping worldwide at Magickal Realism Perfume Arts - last day!

Free shipping worldwide and clearance items are available at Magickal Realism Perfume Arts. Shop closes December 1st for a wedding (mine.) So grab it today while it's still there to be grabbed!

And after this, we will return to our regualrly scheduled perfume posts!

Another sales post

I'm closing my shop on December 1st - temporarily. I'm spending that month off in Vegas, getting hitched and doing honeymoon things with the new-minted husband. But that means I have to bust-a-move this month for those of you with perfume plans for the holidays.

So for the month of November, I am offering free shipping worldwide at my Etsy shop. As long as your country will accept fragrance, I'm happy to send it, shipping on me!

Fall Giveaway Winner!

The fall giveaway prize was a full skincare set from The Scented Djinn Etsy Apothecary. The Haseki Skincare Kit, part of the Harem Skincare line, was chosen for the giveaway. It includes Haseki Soap, made in a base of extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil and loads of organic cocoa butter, and scented with lots of really beautiful essential oils ~ pink grapefruit, bergamot (bergaptene free), frankincense b. serrata, petitgrain sur fleur neroli (neroli!), tangerine essence, lemon essence, fresh ginger, lavandin abrial, ylang-ylang and lemon petitgrain. The neroli/floral aspect really comes through this lovely citrusy soap. Also included is Haseki Skin Elixir, made with virgin organic coconut oil and organic jojoba with just a hint of that bergaptene free bergamot (no phototoxicity to worry about), more of the gorgeous petitgrain sur fleur neroli, and just a hint of lemon essence from the juice, and Haseki Scrub, a simple, simple, simple, but oh so good scrub made with organic cane sugar, ground raw almonds and ground organic coconut shreds.

And the winner is ~

Jolyn Trewatha of Portland, OR!

Congratulations, Jo.

It's my Etsyversary!

Normally I try to only post once a week, but this one snuck up on me: I've been in business on Etsy as Magickal Realism Perfume Arts for three years now. If I knew what that meant, I'd tell you, but mostly I'm about continuing to create new explorations in fragrant experience, and no, that's not a tagline, that's really what I'm angling for. The above is our October sampler pack - for a discounted price you can try some of your yummy fun scents, and the pack will change monthly.

So squee with me for year three!

A language of scent

www.flickr.com magickalrealism's Textures photoset

I'm rethinking smell. Perhaps not rethinking, exactly - smell is smell, technically one of the five senses but also somehow more involuntary. We can take steps to block out sights and sounds, even block out physical sensations by wearing gloves and thick clothing - but with smell, well, even nose plugs have an odor.

While we mainly associate smell with taste - because the next closest similarity we have in the layers of information we get from smell is by inserting something in our mouths - I'm starting to reconsider smell as an extension of touch. First of all, the comparison of smell to taste belies a few assumptions: coffee in no way tastes how it smells, for instance. While I haven't run around tasting my essential oils (an experiment bound to end with a hospital visit at the very least) I'm reasonably certain there's no way they taste like they smell, either.

I've also found that certain scents and their quality might possibly vary based on cultural experience and geographical location. There is no one scent that smells good to everyone. There's a filter going on. Also, if you create a perfume that to the knowledge of your scent-memory isn't comparable to anything else you've smelled, what then?

This is why I'm experimenting a bit with my perfume listings on Etsy. I'm completely reconsidering not just smell, but how I describe it. Right now I'm experimenting with the language of texture: rough or smooth? thickness: does it feel light, or heavy? Does your mind conjure an image of a clogged pipe? Speed: this isn't just sillage and evaporation rate, this is how fast it hits your olfactory nerve and whether it makes you go cross-eyed (some people like that.)

Is it a perfect system? Probably not. But it seems like, especially amidst the challenges of online sellers, it's the way to go.

If I were a perfume . . .

If I were a perfume, I would be like blood
Necessary for life, unaware of self