Living in a world of scent

Try to think of everything you smell each day. Most scents come and go without giving you any pause. Every now and then, something catches your nose, and you think about it- there's a memory of it, or a distaste for it, or perhaps it's a scent you adore. Some scents we become so accustomed to, we don't even smell them- the way our homes smell or the scent of our perfumes.

I make an effort to notice every odor I can. Sometimes this is a good thing, other times it's not so great, since the world isn't always a pleasant smelling place. When I walk to my office in San Francisco, I'll catch whiffs of a wide variety of odors within a short amount of time. There's the food form the restaurants I pass, the occasional bits of nature in the form of flowers, trees, or bushes, the more industrial smells from road work or new construction. I smell cigarette smoke way too often, which bothers my lungs, and pot smoke fairly regularly as well- while it doesn't bother my lungs, I think marijuana is rather nasty smelling. Sometimes there's the smoke from a fire, and I hope there's nothing too serious happening at those times.

There's one spot where there's a water fountain, and it has a kind of fake maple sweet smell to it, perhaps like fenugreek. I'll catch someone's perfume or cologne as they walk by- usually thinking to myself that they really ought to be wearing less, especially when I can smell it half a block away. There are odors that I'd prefer not to write about- fortunately those aren't as bad in my area as in others.

The office building is generally one of those places I fell has a neutral odor- I'm used to it. Sometimes I'll get into an empty elevator, and the scent of perfume or cigarettes lingers from the previous occupant. During lunch time there will be food smells, especially if one of the conference rooms has a hosted lunch.

My apartment often has way too many scents to describe- if I'm making something, that will often fill the space. My work space has dozens of essential oils in it, and while the bottles are closed, I feel they contribute to the scent of that room. They definitely make my trash and recycling smell nicer than most people's! Sometimes there will be soup simmering, cookies baking, or candles burning, and those will be the predominant smells. And while I love scented candles, I don't use "air fresheners." Cleaning products might add some odors, but I generally try to find ones that don't smell too strongly.

There's also those smells that are hard to describe, but you know what they are- for me those are the seasons, like when I'm walking, and I suddenly smell "fall" or "summer." They don't always coincide with the actual season, especially now that I live in San Francisco, but when I'm walking around and those scents hit me, they just trigger those seasons in my brain. And while I definitely don't get it in SF, the smell of snow is distinct to me, but I don't think I have words for how it smells to me.

Women and Science

I love science. There is so much out there in science, and I really regret not pursuing it in college. I was rather good at chemistry, did well in biology, and had so much fun in bacteriology. I never did physics, mostly because I wasn't going to be able to get into "honors" class since I didn't take the "honors" Algebra II class. I'm not much of a math person, though I did well in the classes that I did take. My chemistry class in college was simpler than the chemistry class I took in high school, and while it was interesting, it was practically a joke.

I see stuff in the news about getting little girls interested in STEM subjects, with Goldie Blox and what not, but I think there needs to be more focus on keeping teenage girls interested in science, and let them know what studying science can lead to career-wise. I'm more interested in science (in particular the parts that relate to beauty products and scent), but technology, engineering, and math probably have interesting career paths that should be considered and promoted.

Science feels like it's come up a lot for me personally in the last few years. Being married to a software engineer (who reads physics textbooks for fun) certainly helps with that, but in other ways as well. At my most recent show, I was asked by a few people whether I had a science background. While most of the beauty products I make don't involve complex scientific knowledge, there is still science to them. I study the properties of different oils and butters- the types of fats in them can change how they work, so the oil you need depends on the type of product you're making.

Soap making is fun, because it involves a chemical reaction right before your eyes- lye (either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide in water) combines with oil to make soap! At least real soap, not the detergents you'll see sold at most stores. You need to use some math (not scary math, and there are calculators available online just for this purpose) to calculate how much lye you need to saponify your oils. Different oils have different requirements for lye, and typically you're using more than one type of oil to make your soap. This goes back to the above, where the composition of the oils bring different properties to your soap. Since you don't want any lye left over in your soap, you superfat your recipe, which means you need to calculate your lye so that not all of the oils are saponified. Superfatting  means you're left with some left over oils in your soap, which makes it good for you skin.

Lotions present a different set of science issues- like soap, you're combining oil and water, but you want different results.An emulsifier is needed to keep the water and oil from separating. You have water phases and oil phases, you keep track of their temperatures, and combine them into a magical creamy lotion. Then you need a preservative- this is where biology and bacteriology come in. Lotions are good breeding grounds for all sorts mold, bacteria, fungus, etc., so a preservative slows that growth down.

I've been getting my science fix that way for awhile, but now I'm spending more time studying chemistry in regards to perfumery. There's the components of the essential oils, plus I'm reading up on some of the aromachemicals out there.

Depths of Winter Giveaway

 We are giving away a compact of our solid perfume, Depths of Winter! This scent features notes of frankincense, fir balsam, and spice, with a fragrance reminiscent of a cold winter night.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As a January baby who spent her formative years in New England, I love all things snow and winter. I even love shoveling snow, and miss it now that I live in San Francisco. I don't miss the hot and humid summers though! 

Some of my favorite memories are of walking through the woods while the snow was still following, surrounded by cottony piles of snow on the ground and covering the bare tree branches. There's a quiet in the air, and the scent of cold. While it might feel chilly to some, I was filled with warmth from the joy it brought me. After traversing through the snow, I would return home, brushing the snow off my hat and coat. At that point it would occur to me that yes, it really was cold out there, and I would drink hot cocoa to warm up.

Frankincense & Myrrh

At my booth at the San Francisco Holiday Bazaar, I had two small plates out, one with frankincense, and one with myrrh. I figured that this was something a lot of people haven't seen before, and it'd be a good chance for them see it, touch it, and smell it.

While some people had definitely seen them before (quite a few people said they burn frankincense at home), and some people said they had smelled frankincense in church, a lot of people have never seen either. Several people didn't know they were real.

Frankincense & Myrrh Mixed Together.

As someone fragrance-focused, I really wanted people to get a chance to smell these two things. It is easier to smell them when you rub them between your fingers, and most people were willing to do that. I guess some people just liked being able to see them for the first time. The myrrh was a bit hard to smell, but the frankincense would give off a beautiful odor when people picked it up. Having these at my booth allowed me to share something I'm passionate about (scent) with a wide variety of people.

I have a few of these for sale on my Etsy page. They come in little flowery gold pouches, so that those who want their gold, frankincense, and myrrh in one can sort of them together. The flower petals on the bag are there mostly due to my love of flowers.

Preservatives

Recently, I went to open a sample bottle of toner (from a fairly well known brand) when I noticed something dark on the side. I thought it might be a smudge on the outside, but it was in the bottle. It was a dark flake of something, probably mold. I definitely wasn't going to use that toner. This was a sealed bottle, stored in a dark, cool, dry spot. Looking at the ingredients, there were no obvious preservatives.

Preservatives come in different forms (parabens are one type that many have heard of and are trying to avoid) and protect aqueous products from growing mold, bacteria, and other nasty things. Products such as scrubs that don't contain water, but are likely to end up getting water in them, might also contain preservatives. Generally, only a small amount of the preservative is needed- you will usually see them at the bottom of the ingredients list.

I sidestep the preservative issue by not making products that use water. This way I can keep Ivre de Fleurs preservative free, while not worrying about if my product is safe. I add antioxidants, Vitamin E and Rosemary Oleoresin Extract, to many of my products to increase their shelf life. Oils might not turn moldy on their own, but they can go rancid, and the antioxidants keep the oils fresher for longer.
I know a lot of people don't care if their products have preservatives, but others don't want to use products with any preservatives in them. I try to minimize my use of products with preservatives, since I don't know what the long term ramifications of using them will be. I don't avoid them completely, though. If I'm using a lotion, I'm fine with the small amount of preservatives in it, since I don't want to deal with the more immediate issues of mold and bacteria.