Elf

This summer, I was delighted to take part in the Mystery of Musk project, which featured natural, musky perfumes created by radically individualist, indie noses. My most-worn of the group was Jane Cate’s “Tallulah B2”, a luxurious, yet cheerful floral with a sensual, musky base. Intrigued, I contacted Jane. Her perfumery is called “A Wing and A Prayer Perfumes”, and she runs it with her daughter, Sarah, in Northern California. Here’s our conversation:

Marla: For many centuries, ...

It's now been over a year since I'v'e smelled anything I wanted to own (new perfumes, that is) in any of my local perfume shops here in Central Europe. A few have been wearable and inoffensive, most have been harsh and cheap. Yesterday I tried Escale Portofino and Escale Pondicherry. Yeesh! What's with these cheap laundry musks and super-harsh synthetic citrus chemicals? The Portofino smelled identical (but cheaper) to the lemon cologne used on Anatolian buses to help refresh the passengers. It's ...

I finally decided to splurge and buy a small bottle of real vanilla absolute from India (via Liberty Naturals). I grew up with vanillin, the synthetic version of a compound that exists in actual vanilla, and its cousins, ethyl vanillin and methyl vanillin. I didn't realize that actual vanilla pods have hundreds of aromatic compounds in addition to vanillin!
The waxy absolute surprised me with it's complicated, rich, and woody scent. It isn't particularly sweet, though vanillin is a dominant ...

Got to visit the headquarters of the American Orchid Society today. Their greenhouses and gardens are spectacular. If anyone reading this ever visits Boca Raton, Florida, don't miss it, it's an olfactory wonder.
I didn't know orchids had so many intoxicating perfumes, and some that are, well, interesting. Several had sweet, powdery, spicy scents. Others smelled strangely like antique roses. One huge purple orchid smelled, well, purple. Its sillage was immense. Other orchids looked like alien ...

Hello! Thanks for checking my blog. I'm on vacation in Miami, getting tropical with a lot of gardenia, jasmine, and ylang ylang. It's fantastic! I'll be back shortly with some more notes.
Cheers,
Elf