KPFA Show

Here's a picture of my booth from the KPFA Crafts Show. There was a lovely panoramic view of the Bay behind me with Oakland and San Francisco connected by the bridge. It was an awesome show- some many other great artists and craftsmen were there, and the location was rather nice. I didn't like the sweltering heat and blinding light on Sunday, but I still enjoyed it overall. For those who are thinking about going next year, the location is pretty nice and has plenty of free parking. There were often dogs walking around outside (which I could easily see from my booth). Plus an animal shelter had puppies and kittens that were up for adoption by the entrance. It was very nice taking a kitten break.

Selling at the KPFA Crafts Show.

An IP primer for those who don't know what IP means

First, IP is short for intellectual property. This covers patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade dress. The work of your brain, or more often, the work of someone else's brain.

Last night while looking at something on Etsy, someone used "TM" following two terms. I had my suspicions that the USPTO was unaware of these of trademarks, and a quick search revealed they were not. You cannot tack TM on to something and comfort yourself that now no one else can use that word, term, etc. First, TM means you've applied for a trademark, but you don't have it yet. The USPTO can be slow, and if there are any issues, you can be using that TM for a long time. Once you have that trademark though, you can use a little R, for registered. Yay!

If you really want a trademark, and you're the first to use it for the product or service you're providing, go and apply for it sooner rather than later. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than dealing with any mess that might come about later from delaying it. If you can't afford an attorney, you can apply for one on your own or find a service that helps you file for trademarks.

If you want a patent, you should get a lawyer. If it's something you worked on while at your job, that patent is going to your employer. There are utility patents and design patents, and possibly a few other types I never looked into. I've done a lot of research on patents, but I don't know much on getting one, except that ridiculous patents do make it through the system, and the patent office does make mistakes. To all first year attorneys, that includes acknowledging receipt of documents they never received. Shocking, I know. Fan yourselves and sniff your smelling salts and get over it.

I could go on forever about patents and the patent office (mostly on what I find frustrating about them), but I won't. If you think you have something that deserves a patent, find a patent attorney that can you help you with it. By the way, there are two types of patent attorneys- a patent prosecutor will help you get that patent, and a patent litigator will help you if you're suing or being sued over a patent. I know the patent prosecutor term doesn't seem to make sense, but that's what you need to look for when you want to get a patent.

Copyrights. I don't have much to say about getting them, since it's something I haven't researched. But I must say the same Etsy seller abusing the "TM" also featured copyrighted images on her products, and I'm guessing they weren't licensed. There are out of copyright works and also open content. Even if you don't get in trouble, it's still wrong to steal the work of others.

In the Works and Preservatives (again)

It's been rather difficult thinking about products for fall and winter, when it feels summery or spring-like here in the Bay Area. I have a few items I will post soon for the fall, plus some wintery items. These were my favorite seasons when I lived in New England, with the changing leaves and then the snow. I don't miss the summers there though- hot and humid.

I will be introducing a few body sprays that use hydrosols in the next few weeks, and since these have water, I will be using preservatives. At first I wanted to to avoid preservatives, mostly because I wanted to say all of my products are preservative free. But that's silly. One is derived from radishes- Leucidal (Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate), and the other is potassium sorbate, a food grade preservative. I'm also using alcohol in some products, because I really don't want anything growing in them. 

I do microbial testing on the products, and so far everything looks good- nice and clear, with zero growths. Preservatives are better than any of the nasty things that can grow on those slides.

Photos

I realize I'm a bit strange at this point, with everyone whipping out their cell phones to take pictures of this, that, and the other thing. But after going to a wedding across the country and visiting my friends, I only had one new picture on my phone.

One of the worst business books ever.

I saw the books in the bargain section of the used bookstore, turned to my friends to make a joke, but then realized none of them would get it. So I snapped it and sent it on to a friend that would get it.

My friends had taken plenty of pictures, and at the wedding there was a photographer, so I figured I would just enjoy things and let them deal with the photos.

10 years ago I went to London and Paris. I took quite a few pictures in London, and started taking them in Paris. I realized something seemed off about my camera in Paris, and it turns out the film never loaded properly, and I had no pictures. I was upset at first, but decided not to make a big deal out of it. My camera was still acting up, and I didn't feel like buying a disposable camera- disposable is just such a nasty word, when you think of it. I enjoyed the rest of my time in Paris camera-free.

I realize a film camera seems like an antique to some people at this point, but I hadn't gone digital yet.

After that trip I stopped taking so many pictures. For me I enjoy my time better when I'm looking around me, absorbing the sites, the sounds, the smells. I know there are people out there that just really love taking pictures, and that's fine. But ask yourself if you're spending too much time worrying about the perfect picture instead of living in the moment. Plus, chances are if you're with a group of people, one of them will be a shutterbug and snap away.

So far I do the product photography for Ivre de Fleurs, and I must admit I hate it. I'll be outsourcing some of it soon, since try as I might, I'm just not a great photographer. Plus the natural light I get is pretty dismal.

Gluten Free Vegan Vanilla Cake

Not much of a food photographer. Or a cake decorator.

I grew up around cake. My mother had her own business making cakes- birthday, wedding, and pretty much every other occasion you can think of. She stopped selling them when we moved from one state to another, but of course we still had cakes. She even made my brother's wedding cake. I saved her the trouble of making mine- she had to fly across the country for my wedding, so I didn't want to ask her to make a cake on top of that. Plus the caterers at my brother's wedding thought it would be fun to put a heavy box on top of the box containing the largest layer of cake, so she had to fix the cake while the reception was starting. And then she had to serve the cake later- my mother is such a good person.

When I moved to California, I would make cakes for for birthdays- coworkers, friends, husband. These were always vegan, and I got pretty good at making them, though I never made really pretty cakes. More like smears of frosting, and the occasional little piped on designs. I made gluten free vegan cupcakes for one friend's birthdays after she cut gluten out of her diet. So when she asked if I would make a GF/vegan cake for her wedding, it didn't seem like much of an issue.

Except that she moved a few years ago and I hadn't baked anything gluten free since. And GF/vegan cakes are harder to make than cupcakes. I also didn't know when I started that sweet rice flour isn't a suitable replacement for white or brown rice flour. It's basically like adding starch instead of flour, and the first recipe I attempted already quite a bit of starch. I used Ener-G egg replacer, which is basically more starch. When I "poured" the "batter" went into the pan, it was really glopping down dough, and trying to get it to spread to the far reaches of the pan. When it came out of the oven it looked like a giant biscuit. It deflated, leaving a jelly-ish cake that was inedible. Thankfully you can compost all food in San Francisco, so that's where it went.

Not realizing my issue was most likely an overly starchy cake, I moved on to round two. Unfortunately, round two coincided with the beginning of a heat wave in the bay area. Baking and hot weather do not go well together, and least when you don't have air conditioning.

I used a different recipe for round two, since I wasn't really fond of the first recipe- the blogger wasn't clear on teaspoons vs. tablespoons, and so I figured it wasn't worth figuring those out for a second time. I used a GF/vegan cupcake recipe, modified a bit to use the flours I had on hand (which might have been fine, if my rice flour was white or brown instead of sweet), turning it into a 9-inch round, and adding xanthan gum. Throwing xanthan gum into your recipes just because you haven't probably isn't the best idea. I know it's supposed to help with GF baking, and I knew this recipe produced crumbly cupcakes, so I figured I'd just see what would happen. What happened was Fail Cake #2- it deflated soon after it came out of the oven, leaving behind another gummy messy. Into the compost bin it went.

I decided it was time for some research. First thing I figured out was that I should save my left over sweet rice flour to make mochi, and go out and buy some brown rice flour. I found a recipe for vanilla cake from a blog that seemed good at explaining all sorts of things pertaining to gluten free baking, which made me feel more comfortable using it. Giving Fail Cake #1 another try with brown rice flour might have resulted in a decent cake as well, but I was still afraid it might result in Fail Cake #3.

And I finally have a gluten free vegan cake that is worth eating. I've listed the ingredients I used below. See the original blog for directions how to bake (steps 10-17). I'll probably try it with the pomegranate and strawberries at some point, but I didn't make the frosting and filling from this recipe- I just used leftover vegan buttercream from last week for the first cake.

Like people, it's what's on the inside that counts for a cake.

Based on Gluten-Free Strawberry Pomegranate Cake by Gluten Free Gigi.

2 1/2 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend (I mixed up a bunch of this before starting the recipe)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance, softened (one stick)
1/2 cup soy yogurt, plain or vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons flax meal
1 1/2 tablespoons chia seed (use white if you don't want little dark spots, though I didn't mind them)
9 tablespoons water
3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk (use other milk substitute if you like)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Notes:
Start by mixing the flax, chia seed, and water in a small bowl so they can become all goopy. The chia seeds add a little texture, but they don't change the flavor.
I didn't actually measure the yogurt- just plopped the six ounces of yogurt from the container into the bowl and that worked well enough.
The layers were a bit thin, but at least they weren't gummy! One was quite a bit thinner than the other, because my depth perception is kind of sucky. I used 9-inch pans.
The edges of the cake came out tougher than the rest of it- this might be due to my pans or my oven. My oven loves to bake things quickly.
Check out the rest of the blog- there's a lot of interesting information on various ingredients used in baking.
I pretend this is healthy, since it has chia, flax, and brown rice flour. Plus, it's cholesterol free!

Book Reviews

I can't wait to review the book I'm reading now. Oh, I love it so much.

But for now, I'll write a bit about two other books I recently finished reading.

Ellena, Jean-Claude, Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent, New York, NY: Arcade Publishing, 2011. ISBN: 9781611453300

Burr, Chandler, The Perfect Scent: A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York, New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2007. ISBN: 9780805080377 HD9999.P932B87 2008

I included the LoC call number on the second citation because it was in the book, and I used to add those to a list of books we had collected at my old job. It can help you learn what a book is about by looking at those, and while it might seem obvious for many books, that isn't always the case.

I would definitely recommend The Perfect Scent to anyone interested in fragrances and the perfume industry. It covers many of the aspects of fragrance creation, from the scent itself to the bottles and marketing. Naturals vs. synthetics comes up, and most fragrance companies don't want you to realize their scents aren't all natural. All natural fragrance is really a niche, though some of the larger companies do use large amount of naturals in their perfumes.

I also thought it funny that fashion designers want the public to believe they make the scents themselves. It never occurred to me that they would have, though I didn't know much about who did create them until a few years ago. The Perfect Scent delves even deeper into this, revealing how much goes into one single scent.

I don't really recommend Perfume: The Alchemy of Scent unless you're obsessed with Jean-Claude Ellena. It's not that it's a bad book per se, but it covers a lot of the same ground as the The Perfect Scent. One of the two fragrances featured by Burr was created by Ellena, and he does a better job of capturing Ellena's thoughts and creative process better than Ellena does. Of course Burr is primarily a writer and Ellena primarily a perfumer, so it's probably proper that Burr would write the better book. Ellena does have another book that I haven't read yet, so perhaps that one will prove better.

Cocoa Absolute

Cocoa absolute has a great scent- rich and chocolatey. You can use a little to modify a fragrance, making it a little dirty and a little sweet, without going full out gourmand. With The Lab #7 Cocoa, I didn't add just a little, I added a lot.

I spent a long time figuring out this fragrance. Starting with the base notes, I added patchouli and vetiver for their earthiness. And then let it sit. Added some labdanum to complete the base notes- I love labdanum and its ambery odor. I added some ylang ylang for the middle, and went uh oh- the chocolate brought out the banana notes in ylang ylang. I did not want to create a chocolate covered banana fragrance, though I'm sure there's a market for that.

I let it sit again. Then, to adjust the chocolate-banana middle, I added some clary sage and pimento berry (aka- allspice). I finished it up with spice up at the top, with a good blast of fresh ginger, and dash of woodsy petitgrain.

One problem with chocolate absolute- it does not work well in oils. I let this fragrance sit around for awhile so the chocolate scent could permeate it, and then filtered it before bottling. A lot of the thick brown absolute still made it's way into many of the bottles, and it would be best to shake them to disperse it before applying. I pulled aside the one with the most cocoa absolute hanging around, and it didn't stain or color my pale skin, so that shouldn't worry you. I wouldn't rub the fragrance into your clothes though, since it might stain those. Plus you shouldn't be covering your clothes in oil.

The Lab #7 Cocoa is available from Ivre de Fleurs and Etsy for $10 for a 4ml roller ball.

KPFA, Soap, and Dusk

Ivre de Fleurs will be selling at the KPFA Crafts Fair this year! I went to this show when I first moved out to the SF Bay Area, and I've been there a few times since, including last year. My husband and I bought so many presents there last year. I'm a bit sad it won't be 3 blocks from where I live this year, but crossing the bay is worth it.

I've just poured some soap- it smells great, and it has so many amazing things in it- blueberry, cranberry, and acai powders, but I have to admit, it's not looking so pretty now. I do intend to sell it, since if it all works out well it should be a nice bar of soap, but it won't be a looker. Which isn't so bad when you think about it- soap washes away to nothing, leaving no trace of its beauty or lack there of.

And it's not like it's the ugliest soap I've ever made.

On to dusk. I don't even really know how to describe how I made it- it just kind of guided itself, in a way that I don't normally make scents. Oftentimes I have an idea, and I just add a little here and there to complete the idea. With this one, I just kind of went with the flow, and the result is a fragrance that reminds me most of dusk- the darkest stage of twilight. There's a good dose of patchouli in the base notes, which probably gives it that feeling. There's a heavy dose of florals and some spice, but no overwhelming note. This scent is really more of a feeling than an idea, with things of beauty barely visible, awaiting the darkness to come.

The Lab #6 Dusk is available from Ivre de Fleurs and Etsy for $20.

The Lab # 5 Lavender

This started out as an idea for a lip balm flavor- lavender, anise, and vanilla. When I did my flavor tester (I made a zillion of those), I wasn't impressed. I took the scent blend and put it in some soap, which was rather lovely. It did make the soap turn dark due to the vanilla in it, so it wasn't the prettiest soap, but it did smell nice.

This scent is an expansion of that idea- vanilla at the base, lavender at the middle and top (lavender absolute and essential oil), and anise at the top. Vetiver, patchouli, and clary sage bring some earthiness to it, and black pepper spices up the top. I also added some yuzu absolute to brighten it up- that stuff is hard to find and rather pricy for a citrus note, so once this fragrance is sold out, there will be no more of it. Perhaps a slightly different version, but unless I can get my hands on some more yuzu absolute, I won't be able to make any more.

The Lab #5 Lavender is available at Ivre de Fleurs and Etsy for $15.

Davana

Davana is an odd scent. Kind of fruity, and to me, kind of boozy. It reminds me a bit of cough syrup sometimes. It is also a bit of a chameleon, and can smell differently on different people. Of course that's true of all (or at least many) fragrances, but when creating this scent, I couldn't stand it in the bottle, but liked it on my skin.

I wanted to emphasize the fruitiness of davana, so I added Roman chamomile. Frankincense and Peru balsam at the base added additional sweetness and some citrus. At this point, it seemed like it could be a sugarbomb of a fragrance, and while there is a market for that, I don't want that to be the end result.

Back to the middle notes, I added rose geranium and ylang ylang. This probably didn't help with the sweetness, but adds a small touch of floral. For the top notes I went with spice (black pepper and juniper berry) and some floral woods- petitgrain and rosewood. The scent definitely isn't a fruity floral- the floral aspect is pretty quiet.

Lab #4 Davana is available from Etsy and Ivre de Fleurs for $10.

Also new on Etsy are blended floral balms. There are currently three different blends- Trio Blend, which leans towards jasmine but with hints of rose and tuberose; White Flowers, a blend with jasmine, neroli, and tuberose; and Mimosa Neroli, a honeyed scent with an orange flower twist. These are $10 for each .15 ounce jar.

Vanilla and More

New Gardenia and Sandalwood Fragrance

Before we get to Lab #3 Vanilla, I'd like to introduce Gardenia Sandalwood Natural Fragrance, available in our Etsy Store. The gardenia is infused in apricot kernel oil, and while sweet and beautiful, the scent doesn't last long on the skin. I added some sandalwood so there would be something there once the gardenia was faded, and it provides soft, lingering back up to the gardenia.

On to the vanilla. When I first started studying fragrance, I loved vanilla. It's a nice scent after all. But as I continued, I started using a greater variety at base notes, and at times I didn't even have any vanilla absolute or CO2 on hand. Once I realized I wanted to make something with vanilla but didn't have any, I made sure to get some. Plain it may be, but it's still useful to have around.

This fragrance starts with a vanilla infusion, with vanilla CO2 added for more depth. Peru balsam, which has some vanilla notes to it, was then added. At that point I left it alone for a long time, and wasn't sure what else to do with it. One day after sniffing it, I decided it needed some wood notes, and so I added Himalayan cedarwood and some sandalwood. As with the Neroli Rose, this fragrance has no top notes. It is available through the Ivre de Fleurs store for $15 for a 4ml roll-on bottle.

The Lab #2- Neroli Rose

Neroli Rose is another simple blend- middle notes of neroli and rose absolute, with sandalwood for some longevity. I skipped a top note for this fragrance. I understand their importance, but I wanted the focus to be on these two flowers. Sandalwood blends seamlessly into it, quietly sitting in the background.

I don't think I'll build off this fragrance in the future, though it's likely I'll create a blend at some point with all three oils. There are so many ways this scent can go that it's hardly a starting point. This would be a good scent to layer with your favorite perfumes, to add some floral notes.

This scent is only available through the Ivre de Fleurs website, with only three bottles available. Samples will be available soon on Etsy.

New Limited Edition Fragrances!

Fragrances #1-#5

The Lab fragrances are limited edition perfume that explore different ideas in scent. Each silver roller ball holds 4ml and costs between $10-20, depending on the essences used. Each perfume is naturally scented, including some with rare and expensive oils. All of them will be available through the Ivre de Fleurs website, and #4-#7 will be posted to Etsy soon. I will also add sample sizes for sale on Etsy.

I will be writing about each of the fragrances in separate posts, starting with #1 today.

The Lab #1- Wood
When I started making perfume, I loved all the florals- rose, jasmine, neroli. I still love them, but over time I have come to appreciate pretty much all of the scents out there. Except for clary sage, but I do like blending with that one. I just don't like it alone.

I love the various wood scents out there, in particular rosewood and sandalwood. Sadly, these face endangerment, but I hope with increased attention, there will be a way to protect these trees and obtain their beautiful oils. I know for rosewood that some distillers use the branches, and I've seen it distilled from the leaves as well.

 Virginian cedarwood is pretty far down my list of woods. It turns out it's not even from a cedar tree, but from a juniper tree (Juniperus virginiana). It has a scent like a pencil, which can still be nice and useful, but it's not my preferred cedar. For this fragrance, I decided to use Himalayan cedarwood, a real cedar (Cedrus deodora). It creates a nice bridge between the top note rosewood and the base note sandalwood.

In the future I might build off of this fragrance- I thought about adding agarwood, but that stuff is expensive, and I wanted to keep these relatively affordable.

In the Works and Such

I was really hoping to write more once I no longer had my day job, but I just haven't felt like writing as much as I should. I've had so much other stuff to do, and still more I can do, that I haven't made blogging a priority.

I've been working on some new perfumes, and quite a bit of soap. I'll be coming out with fall/Halloween soaps hopefully in the beginning of October. It can take so long for soap to cure, and since I've gone palm free and soy free, I'm finding it trickier to make a hard bar. I don't think the hydrogenated soy helped much anyway, but even with sodium lactate, I've found some batches hard to remove from the molds. I'll also be working on winter/Christmas soaps soon. As much as I love fall, I truly love winter. The scents, the colors- everything is perfect and beautiful. I really want to capture the freshness of newly fallen snow. It's too bad I'm not likely to see any this year, and haven't seen good snow in a long time. Last year I did see a few patches of old snow in Ohio, but that's not exciting.

I'll be writing more about the perfumes as I post them for sale. I've been having lots of fun with fragrance lately, and I'm even delving into home fragrance! Home fragrance is tricky though- essential oils don't seem to want to blast you in the face the way some people might want them to, so it's taking some time.

No More Day Job!

This past Monday I gave notice at work, with an end date of 8/15. I was honestly nervous beforehand, because I like my co-workers and didn't want to make their jobs harder by leaving. Plus leaving them makes me sad. On the other hand, I'm excited that I finally get to devote my time to turning Ivre de Fleurs into the company that I want it to be. Trying to balance a full time job and a business was draining me, and I couldn't give my best to either one.

I had considered at one point going to back to school to get my Master's in Library Science. This was a truly horrible idea- I hate formal education, even though I tend to do well in school. Without that degree, I had no way of getting promoted at my current work place (which is ridiculous, since I was clearly up to the job). Even with the degree, there was no guarantee of promotion, since it depends on the firm's needs. So then I would have a some-what expensive degree (I estimated about $25,000) that could help me get a job in libraries, except that librarian positions are being cut left and right everywhere.

I can't imagine spending my life doing mostly menial work, with bursts of real research here and there. And there is no beauty in a law firm (at least not the one I worked at). For so long I've been walking down drab hallways filled with every shade of blah. Soon I'll be dedicating my time to making life more beautiful, one drop of jasmine at a time.

I hope everyone gets a chance to pursue their dream job at some point. I feel really lucky that I'm able to do so, since I know that the difficulties of life make it impossible for others. If you have the chance though, take it.

Learning About Lotions Part 5 - The Results

A few weeks ago I made a batch of lotions to try out the "natural" preservatives along with the olive-based emulsifier. I do think with further trials and adjusting the formula it could all be made to work fine. This would involve quite a bit more studying, money, and time, and so in the end I will not be pursuing lotions.

I had split one batch into two, adding Synercide Asian Fusion to one half (Water, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Wasabi Root Extract, Ginger Root Extract, Garlic Bulb Extract), and Leucidal (Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate) to the other. Before splitting the lotion I had added a few preservative extracts (elderberry, aspen bark, and willow bark.) I also included helichrysum extract, which isn't a preservative, but does help with preserving. So far both batches have held up, but it's too early to tell if the preservative systems are working properly. And without challenge testing, I won't know for sure how safe they are.

I had hoped to test each preservative separately (with the exception of the helichrysum extract, which is not a preservative), but I realized I didn't have enough appropriate containers to do so. I'm also unsure if splitting the batch in two is better than creating two separate batches for testing.

I used Olivem 1000 (Cetearyl Olivate and Sorbitan Olivate) for the emulsifier with Oliwax (Hydrogenated Olive Oil, Olive Oil, Olive Oil Unsaponifiables) to help stabilize the emulsion. Using xanthan gum instead of the Oliwax might have worked better, but I really wanted to try the Oliwax. One of the biggest issues I had was melting the Olivem. If I use it again, I'll need to find a better way to melt it, since my pathetic double boiler set up did not work well.

I'm not sure if the emulsifier hadn't melted properly or wasn't properly blended in, but the Synercide half did not emulsify well. This was the bottom half of the mixture, with the Leucidal half being poured off into another container. The lotion with Synercide is thin and runny, and the water separates out to the bottom when sitting for awhile. I just shake it and use it, but it is gross looking at it when it has separated. The Leucidal lotion has not experienced any of the separation and has a thicker consistency.

Learning About Lotions Part 4 - Other Ingredients

I've concentrated on preservatives and emulsifiers, since those two are key ingredients that are to find in a natural and effective form. After those two ingredients, it should be easy to find everything else as close to natural as you care for it to be.

Water- The simplest choice is distilled water (not purified or tap, since those might introduce things to your lotion you don't want). You can also try hydrosols and aloe vera juice, plus some other things I'm sure I'm not thinking about. Some hydrosols and aloe do include preservatives, so you might want to consider that when choosing your liquid.

I wonder if you could use wine or beer in a lotion, like you can with a soap. Though you might end up smelling like you've been at a bar all night and had too much to drink.

Oils- So many kinds, including the butters like cocoa, butter, and shea. I use strictly plant based oils, but there are animal oils (lanolin, emu, etc.) that are available. Looking at some suppliers, I'm surprised to see all the oils I never knew existed!

Humectants- Humectants draw in water or help to retain it, making the lotion a better moisturizer for your skin. Glycerin is a well known natural humectant, with the disadvantage that it can be kind of sticky. I've taken to using sodium lactate instead of glycerin, since I think it feels better, and it also can be added to soaps help them harden. Sodium lactate is derived from the fermentation of sugars, usually from corn or beet. Since I began looking into lotions, I've become interested in Honeyquat, a conditioning humectant derived from honey.

Antioxidants- Use these to extend your oils so they don't rancid too quickly. Rosemary oleoresin extract (ROE) and Vitamin E T-50 are both good choices- I often use one or both in my oil based products.

Additional Additives- There are a lot of additional things you can put in lotions- waxes, thickeners (like xanthan gum), and extracts, plus other ingredients depending on your goal. If you want to add a little color to your lotion, you can add a bit (not too much, since you don't want to color your skin!). Use essential oils for a natural scent or fragrance oils if you're fine with using those. For colors and fragrance oils, make sure you're only using things that are safe for the skin.

Learning About Lotions Part 3- Emulsifiers

Water + Oil + Sodium Hydroxide = Soap
Water + Oil + Emulsifier = Lotion
That's if all goes well, and there's obviously more to both of them than that. When I learned about lotions a few years ago, I heard about emulsifying wax (sometimes called E-Wax). It's a popular emulsifier for homemade lotions and it works well. Melting the wax and blending it in while still hot to your oils and waters creates your lotion.

A bit later I read about BTMS 50 (INCI: Behentrimonium Methosulfate (and) Cetearyl Alcohol), a conditioning emulsifier. It works well in conditioners, and when used it lotions it can give a powdery feel to the skin. This is a cationic emulsifier, so some preservatives might not work with it.

Some makers use beeswax and borax to create a natural emulsifier, but it doesn't create a stable emulsion. These will need to be shaken to mix the water and oils back together. I find separated lotions kind of gross, and usually toss any I have once they do separate. These lotions were using different emulsifiers and took a couple of years to separate. I'd be disappointed if I had one breaking down so soon.

In my recent experiments I am trying Olivem 1000 (INCI: Cetearyl Olivate (and) Sorbitan Olivate). An olive derived emulsifier sounded cool, plus it emulsifies by forming liquid crystals. But it does have some issues with stability. Adding a thickener like xanthan gum or a co-emulsifier helps stabilize it.

There are a lot of other emulsifiers out there, but these are the three I've tried. I haven't tried (or been tempted to try) the beeswax and borax method.

I'm not particularly interested in emulsifiers, but here are a few things you might want to look into if you are:
Use of silicones
Types of emulsion: Water in Oil, Oil in Water, Water in Silicone
Cold Emulsions
Self-emulsifiers (you don't need to add additional oils to some of these)
Type of product (lotion, conditioner, spray, etc.)
Cationic/non-ionic/anionic
Co-emulsifiers
Stabilizers

Learning About Lotions Part 2- Preservatives Continued

While there are several preservatives available now, the most important thing is that the preservative used works. When I made lotion the first few times, I just followed a basic recipe and didn't give much thought to inhospitable conditions for the preservative. Looking into them more now, there are various factors to consider. I've listed a few of them below.

1. Temperature
This one is an easy one to adjust for. Find out the temperature at which it's safe to add, and then during cool down, check the temperature and add the preservative when it's low enough. A few can withstand higher temperatures, so you might be able to add those to the water phase (possibly oil phase, though I don't recall seeing one that's added to the oil phase).

2. pH
This is one of my favorite considerations. You get to play with pH test strips or a fancy pH tester, though for now I'm sticking with the test strips. Preservatives seem to prefer acidic environments, though some will work at higher pH levels.

3. Reactions & Compatibilities
 You need to make sure your preservative won't react with another ingredient, leading to something like benzene in your lotion. You need to make sure it works with all ingredients, such as cationic/non-ionic/anionic surfactants and your emulsifier.

4. Light exposure
I've only seen this so far in reference to Tinosan, but if you use that preservative, you should make sure to avoid exposing the preservative to light, and you will need to test the final product if you use anything other than opaque bottles. Tinosan actually sounds fairly interesting since it contains silver citrate. I think that sounds pretty cool.

5. Benefits
Some of the natural preservatives offer benefits on top of preserving your product. For example, willow bark extract is a natural source of salicylic acid-like ingredients, so it can improve your skin.

6. Broad Spectrum
If the preservative used kills only one type of nasty (bacteria (gram positive and negative), yeast, fungus, or mold), you'll need to add another to kill the others.

7. Solubility
Usually you add preservatives to products that contain water, but you might add one to an oil-based scrub that will be exposed to water. In this case you need to find a preservative that is soluble in anhydrous solutions.

Learning about Lotions Part 1- Preservatives

I've started researching preservatives and other lotion ingredients, and soon I will start experimenting with making lotions again. I don't know if I'll sell lotions- it depends on how the experiments work out. I'll be writing about the various elements of lotions as I go. These are general thoughts, not in depth information on any one item. I find researching lotion making very exciting, and I want to share that knowledge with people who might not know what goes into making lotions. I think it's important to know what is going into the products you use, why they're there, and how they work.

I have made lotions and creams in the past, but I haven't made any to sell. If I were to sell any, I couldn't market my brand as preservative free, because there's no way I'm selling a lotion without something to keep it safe. Recently I've started to feel like calling Ivre de Fleurs a preservative brand is causing me to be a part of the scaremongering against preservatives, and I don't want that. I want to make products as naturally as I can, but I also don't want to be limited to using only ingredients that the average person can pronounce.

I'm starting with some natural preservatives in my experiments. It sounds like they don't work well for the most part, but maybe I can get them to work somehow. The ones I'm trying now are various fermentations and extracts, and some offer additional benefits beyond preserving. If they don't work, I'll start looking into other preservatives. A broad-spectrum preservative system is important to keep your water-based products free from bacteria, yeast, mold, and fungus out there. I've got a little kit to test for preservative efficacy, so I should be able to determine some things quickly, but then you have to make sure it works over time (no separating, no mold or fungus, no other nasty things). If I have a good recipe, I'd need to send it off for challenge testing, to make sure it's verified safe.

Parabens are one of the preservatives that you hear most often about, and usually not in a good way. Parabens are actually really good at preserving products, they are used at very small percentages, and I'm not convinced they'll lead me to a long and painful death. While a lot of people don't bother to check the labels of their beauty products, those that do often don't want parabens in them, so I'll be skipping them.

By the way, honeysuckle extract has a molecule that acts like a paraben. I've only read a little into it, and I'm not sure if it's effective as parabens are, but if you are avoiding parabens, you might want to add honeysuckle extract to your list of ingredients to avoid. Grapefruit seed extract might also have parabens in it- the parabens are being used to preserve the extract, and are then helping to preserve the final product. It seems like there's a lot of controversy on grapefruit seed extract, so I don't want to go there.

Formaldehyde donors are another type of preservative, but I haven't read too much into them yet. I have no plans to use them, but I'd still like to read up on them some more.

There are a few preservatives that can be listed as "parfum" or "fragrance" on a label. If a product claims to be preservative free but lists fragrance, they may or may not be using that fragrance to preserve the product. I've read of two- one that has a rosy scent, and another that's more vanilla/almond. I'm slightly confused as to why fragrance would be preferable to preservatives, but I guess it depends on why you're avoiding an ingredient.

Hydrosols

Lately I've been researching hydrosols- water that has been used to distill a plant for its essential oil. While they are usually a byproduct of essential oil distillation,  sometimes the distillation is done specifically for creating the hydrosol. They are often cheaper than the essential oil, perhaps always, but I haven't looked too much into it yet. The scent is lighter, and often quite different than the fragrance of the essential oil.

Witch hazel is one of the most common hydrosols, and you can often find it at your drugstore, mixed with 14% alcohol as a preservative. You can sometimes find rose or orange blossom waters in the baking section.

The problem with hydrosols is that since they do contain water, they can go bad. If you're buying small amounts for personal use, it's probably safe to keep it in your refrigerator and use them quickly.While looking into hydrosols, I also started looking into preservatives, since I wouldn't want to sell anything that could go bad easily. While I didn't want to use preservatives in my products at first, after doing some research, I've found some that I would be comfortable using in my products. If the tests turn out well, I might have some hydrosol products available for sale soon. There is also alcohol- a good amount of high proof alcohol also acts as a preservative (see witch hazel, above).

I have bought several small bottles of hydrosols, and while I plan on moving forward with using some of them, others were not so appealing. Yarrow is almost gag-inducing. There are also some fruit hydrosols out there, which can be used to create natural fragrances with strawberry, apple, and other fruity scents.

Ideas (perhaps too many)

I've had a hard time falling asleep lately. No matter how tired I am, as I try to sleep my brain runs wild with ideas for things to make. I've had issues with insomnia in the past, though I think it's mostly that I'm a night owl living in an early bird world.

The problem is that I have too many product ideas- probably more than I can ever make. I'm inspired by all sorts of things. Some ideas start as making unique versions of products that already exist (such as hair oils). A lot of ideas start with a single ingredient though- I read about something, and then I have to see how it works. I had read broccoli seed oil is good for the hair, but I haven't seen many people selling it. So I bought some broccoli seed oil, and Broccoli Shine Hair Oil was created. This created some interesting design problems- namely, how to mask the scent of the broccoli seed oil. I used some of the same oils I add to my other hair oils, and then added some powerful essential oils. The end result is a product that helps your hair and does not smell like broccoli.

The Everywhere Oils are a result of my testing several oils for how they feel- I wanted to find ones that you can put on without feeling greasy. Camellia seed oil works great, and I started using it regularly on my face and hair. I wanted to keep the product simple, so I used only one essential oil for each variety- lavender, rose, and ylang ylang. 

I have several new products I need to add to my store. I also need to figure out which ideas in my head are worth pursuing. I am so easily intrigued by the various ingredients out there, and I need to stop myself from buying and trying all of them.

Rose Balm Giveaway!

I am currently hosting a giveaway of one .25 oz Rose Perfume Balm. This product uses only the natural fragrance of rose- rose wax and rose absolute.

If you hate the scent of roses (real roses, fresh from the garden) you might like one of other scents better. Ivre de Fleurs has perfume balms in Jasmine, Mimosa, Orange Blossom (Neroli), Plumeria, and Tuberose.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Reviews- Perfumes: The A-Z Guide & Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide, Turin, Luca and Tania Sanchez, New York, NY: Penguin Books, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-14-311501-4

Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries, Williams, Tessa, New York, NY: Merrell, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-8589-4577-4

Two books on perfume- Perfumes gives short reviews of hundreds of perfumes, while Cult Perfumes is a coffee table book full of pictures and the stories behind several perfumeries. I liked them both, but Perfumes: The A-Z Guide is probably more helpful to most people. Of course, Cult Perfumes is nicer to look at.

Perfumes: The A-Z Guide covers a wide variety of perfumes, many that you've probably heard of, and some you probably haven't. I enjoyed the writing styles of both Turin and Sanchez, and often found myself laughing at their reviews. The reviews of bad perfumes are usually funnier, though I'm not sure that would take the sting out of a one star review. The reviews are alphabetical by fragrance, with an index by star rating and brand in the back. After the name of the fragrance, they give the brand name, star rating (1-5), two word synopsis, and pricing (1-4 dollar signs). Price and stars don't always correlate- there are good cheap perfumes and bad expensive perfumes. They're a bit dismissive of all natural perfumes, though there are some good reviews of natural fragrances. Some brands have both 5 star perfumes and 1 star, though the reverse is definitely not true. While I read this cover to cover, I think it could be a nice book to just pick up every now and then and read a review for fun- even if you're not interested in perfumes.

Cult Perfumes: The World's Most Exclusive Perfumeries is probably best for those that truly love fragrance. It has pictures of bottles, advertisements, showrooms, and items of historical interest. It goes over the history and fragrances of 27 perfume houses, from the few that are centuries old to the relatively new. Prices put some of the fragrances out of reach for most people, including some that are $1000+ and bespoke perfumes that have waiting lists on top of exorbitant prices. The book doesn't go much into pricing, but there are some fragrances in here that do cost significantly less than $1000 (diptyque has some for less than $100). Some perfumeries strictly control distribution of their fragrances, making them hard to find. Serge Lutens has many available worldwide, but has a collection of fragrances that are only available in Paris, for example.While this is a lovely book, it wouldn't be a good choice for helping you find a new scent. In addition to the issues above, the lack of criticism in this book makes it hard to determine which of the exclusive scents are better than the others. If any sound intriguing to you, check out Perfumes: The A-Z Guide before going any great lengths to pursue the perfume. 

Soap making- Pros and Cons of the Different Methods

Note: If you're interested in the soap making methods below, The Nova Studio in Point Richmond, CA offers classes on most of them.

I've tried a lot of the different kinds of soap making out there, so I figured I'd write about the different types, for those interested. I'm making some at the moment, so it seems like an appropriate time.

A lot of soap you buy in the supermarket isn't really soap, but a detergent bar. Soap involves the reaction of lye and fats to make a solid. Those who buy or make handmade soap are probably most familiar with cold process or melt and pour soaps. I'll start with cold process.

Cold process isn't totally cold- when you add lye to your water, it heats up rather quickly, you also need to melt your oils and butters, and then when the soap is in it's mold, it's probably creating heat as well. I know that's probably obvious to a lot of people out there, but I still feel cold process is a bit of a misnomer. Safety is a bit of a concern, but with proper precautions (goggles, gloves, and covering yourself up, plus keeping your lye away from children & pets), it can be a safe and fun way to make soap. I'm admittedly not too good at it, though that's more to do with my experimental recipes thickening up to quickly. Impatience also doesn't help, since I might combine my lyes and oils too fast.

The advantages to cold process include freedom to choose your own oils & liquids and creating beautiful designs. You're also starting with raw ingredients, so it's totally handmade. I'm honestly in awe of what some people do with cold process soap- amazing swirls, fancy layers, and beautiful colors. There are a few disadvantages, which can be avoided to a degree. Start with good instructions and a good lye calculator, and you've avoided a lot of them. Using tested recipes from a trusted source also helps when you're beginning. One of the biggest issues is a bad batch, at which point you have to either toss a lot of soap or rebatch it. You're also a bit limited in scents you can use. With fragrance oils, buy them from a store that mentions any issues that can come up from using the oils, such as ricing, seizing, or accelerating trace. Some of these problems can arise from using essential oils as well. And while I've seen recipes calling for sandalwood and rose essential oils, this would be impractical for many people. This would cost a lot of money, though it would make for a lovely soap.

While not necessarily a problem, cold process needs several weeks to cure, during which time some water evaporates out (leaving you with a harder bar) and the lye fully saponifies. Which brings us to hot process soap. There are a few ways of doing hot process soap, but I make mine in a crock pot. Your soap essentially cooks, leaving you with fully saponified soap that's ready to use (though it can benefit from curing time as well). There are fewer fragrances you can use, since anything with a low flash point will not survive the high heat. You don't need as much as with cold process though, so it can save you a little money. Colorants are a bigger issue, since some of them don't work well in hot process. It's also much thicker than cold process soap, so when it comes time to pour, it's harder to make nice designs. I still like making it though, since there are generally no surprises once you pour it into the mold.

Melt and pour is a good beginner's soap- you can pick up supplies at a craft store, making it more accessible. If you really like it though, better supplies are available online, and you'll save money that way, too. It is what it says it is- you cut up and melt your soap base, add colorants/scent/additives and then pour it into a mold. While you don't get to choose what your soap is totally made of, since you're starting with a base, you can use all sorts of colorants and scents, and create fancy designs in pretty molds. It's also safe for kids to make, since you're not using caustic ingredients. It's a nice way to get into soap making, if you're not sure if you want to try making cold process soaps. One big disadvantage is that it can sweat if not packaged properly, leaving clear beads all over your soap. This isn't very attractive, though wrapping it in plastic wrap seems to help keep this at bay.

Want a real challenge? It's possible to make your own melt and pour from scratch. I have never done this, though I've learned how to in a class. Too me it seems like a lot of trouble for something that you can more easily buy, I guess that can be said of all soap making. It's more complicated than cold or hot process soap, and involves extra ingredients. The soap I saw made wasn't crystal clear, though the sample I did melt down and I was able to pour it. It could be worth it for someone who wants to make translucent soaps from scratch.

Another challenge is liquid soap- this is a longer, more drawn out process, and requires potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. I make this every few months for personal use, starting on a Saturday night and ending on a Sunday afternoon. You start by making a soap paste, which you then add to distilled water to get your liquid soap. I've had mixed results, though with some experimentation and research, I can sometimes get a nice thick gel. Other times it's a bit runny, and every time it's a dark yellow color. Insoluble ingredients fall out, so if you don't want that to end up in your finished product, you need the soap to sit for several days before pouring into your bottles. I also use a recipe that starts off lye heavy to make sure all the fats are saponified, and then I need to adjust pH once it's dissolved in the water. Some scents don't mix well with the final product, so that requires testing. While I probably won't ever make it to sell, since I find the end results unreliable, it is nice to make a liquid soap for less money than what you buy at the store. And I feel great when I do make a nice batch.

As mentioned in cold process, one more way to make soap is rebatching or hand milling. This involves grating up your soap, melting it down (in a double boiler, in an oven bag in your oven, or in a heat proof bag in a crock pot of water), adding your scent/colors/additives and then pouring into your mold. Often the melted down soap is more of a paste, so it's usually more like glopping it into your mold. You can create your soap specifically with this in mind, or use it as a way to possibly salvage a botched batch of cold process soap. It gives you more freedom in terms of scents and additives. I am making rebatched soap today- one that I using soap specifically for this purpose, the other using a batch of funky soap. Should the first batch come out nicely enough, I will be selling it at some point. It's has chamomile powder and lemon essential oil. The color isn't the nicest, since the chamomile powder turned it a muddy yellow, but I'm hoping the benefits of the soap out way it's appearance. The funky batch is currently melting in a double boiler. Even if the final result is better than the initial soap, it won't be for sale, since I don't want to risk selling a bad bar.

Book Review- Delivering Happiness

Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose, Tony Hsieh, New York, NY: Business Plus, 2012. ISBN: 978-0446576222 (paperback) 978-0446563048 (hard cover)

First off, the hard cover is cheaper is you buy the book used, but if you like your books all shiny and new, I gave the ISBN for the paperback as well, since that's cheaper than the new hard cover copies. I love used books, but generally like finding them in used book stores, where you can see them before buying them. Plus, it's more of a treasure hunt that way.

I borrowed this book from my firm's library- libraries are also great places to borrow books- they let you take them for free, as long as you promise to give them back in a timely manner. It was written by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos. If you've never ordered from Zappos, they really are pretty great. The prices are a bit high, but they don't compete on price.

This book would be a good read for a wide audience, whether they are interested interested in business or not. Hsieh goes into some personal stuff and writes about his previous company before going into how he became involved in Zappos. It gets a little weird at times with the Zappos stuff, kind of cultish, but there is still plenty of good stuff to take away from the book.

While I already knew about the importance of customer service and passion for what you do, it made me think more about company culture. It also seemed like Hsieh's investments and efforts for Zappos were a real gamble, that fortunately paid off for him. I'm thinking a lot of his decisions wouldn't work for other companies, but his ideas on keeping employees happy and making sure they're a good fit for the company are good.

I'm not business expert, and this book certainly didn't turn me into one. But if you're looking for an inspiring and somewhat useful business book, I would recommend it to you.

4 Day Bath & Body Boot Camp at The Nova Studio

I attended the 4 Day Bath & Body Boot Camp at The Nova Studio back in October 2010, and this week I'm returning to volunteer as a teacher's assistant for the perfumes portion of the camp. It looks like it's changed a little, since they're now teaching lip tints and gloss, but for the most part the same classes are offered. You don't learn to make soap, but you learn to make a wide variety of bath and body products, plus information on packaging.

You can take individual days if you're not interested in everything, but if you're traveling, it's a great way to learn about a lot of products in a short time. Some are pretty easy, and you can probably make as soon as you return home, like bath salts and salt scrubs. Lotions are a little more complicated, but seeing them go through it step by step will hopefully give you the confidence to try it on your own.

I had shied away from making perfumes after first taking the class- many of the essential oils cost a lot, including those wonderful floral middle notes. When they needed a teacher's assistant for the class about a year later, I agreed to do it, since it is a fun class. After that, I pursued perfume whole-heartedly, first with Mandy Aftel's workbook, and then attending her classes. I recently took my fourth class with her, and I now have a Level 3 certificate- I was really excited to receive it. I'm working my way through her second set of workbooks now- quite the undertaking I must add.

The perfumes class at The Nova Studio introduces you to several top, middle, and base notes, and you walk away with three new perfumes. The stand alone class is a bit different now, but in the bootcamp you make one each of oil-based, alcohol-based, and solid perfumes. The perfumes class this Thursday can be taken alone, or as part of the boot camp. It's a great class for anyone interested in learning to make natural perfumes, or for aromatherapists who want to make their blends smell nicer. If you're creating naturally scented products, you can also apply your perfumery knowledge to creating unique scents for your products.

Book Review- An Introduction to Perfumery

An Introduction to Perfumery, 2nd ed., by Tony Curtis and David G. Williams, Port Washington, NY: Micelle Press, 2001 (reprinted 2007 and 2009 with corrections).  ISBN: 9780960875283 (USA) 9781870228244 (UK)

This is a textbook- not light reading, and while it's called an introduction, it's pretty intense for someone who might want a few ideas of things to blend to make a perfume. A lot of it is about working at a perfume house, and if you're anything like me, that's not happening. It goes over things like the chemistry and business of perfumery, including the things you might not want to think about, such as the household cleaners that need scenting. A lot of the experiments talk about using a lab, and if you're just sitting at home reading this, chances are you won't be able to do a lot of them.

I wanted to start with that so that no one invests the money in this book who won't find it suitable for their needs. For me personally, this was a great book, though not always the most fun to read. It covers many aspects, including the aroma chemicals and essential oils that might want to learn about, plus experiments on creating floral bases, such as lilac, rose, and gardenia. If you're interested primarily in natural perfumery, this book is probably not the best for you, since it doesn't go in depth into how to use the naturals.

I liked how it covered the chemistry aspects of perfumery, though those sections were sometimes daunting. The applications of perfumery sections were useful in learning exactly why chemistry is so important- not all scents are suited to all applications. It was a bit silly the way they talked about fragrance and some products you don't associate with fine perfumery, but products like laundry detergent and dish soap have their scents developed by perfumers.

As someone who thinks about top, middle, and base notes, it was also interesting to think of how some products don't need an evolving scent- for example, candles need to give off the same scent throughout their burning.

While the business sections of the book might be interesting for someone, they're more focused on big businesses rather than small, independent perfumers. It covers things like marketing, management, operations, and product development.

While I would not recommend this book to most people, I do think anyone who has a serious interest in all aspects of perfumery and fragrance might be able to useful. While I was certainly bored at times while reading the book, overall I'm glad I read it.

Librarians and Books

For my day job, I work as a research assistant as part of a law firm's library. I do not have my Master's in Library Science, though I had applied and been accepted into a program. I had a few reasons for not pursuing me degree, the primary one is that so I could focus more on my business, which would be hard with a full time job and classes. But I had other reasons as well. This has probably been going on for awhile, but since I started my job, I have seen all sorts of libraries cut back on their staff, so a library degree didn't necessarily feel like a path to job security.

This gets a little political, but I don't think it should really offend anyone. The governor of California, Jerry Brown, has appointed a journalist to the position of state librarian. This person does not have his degree, though he claims he will take some classes. No experience either, making him less qualified for this position than me. It angers me that there is so little respect for librarians, and I hope his appointment does not go through. I'm considering how to get my opinion best heard, and I hope any Californians reading this do as well.

While many people feel libraries and their employees are becoming obsolete, they really are a valuable resource. While there are many times you can enter a few words into Google and get the information you want in your first page of results, there are occasions where that doesn't work. A librarian knows the various resources out there, and can help you find the information you need- whether it's in a book, or buried online in a place not even Google goes (and there a many places it doesn't- paid databases, for example).

This might seem a little off topic for this blog. As someone who has spent years working in a library, and has spent a lot of time in public libraries as well as my college's library, I want people to realize that librarians do have value. It is a profession that requires an advanced degree for most positions.

Now getting back to normal things. My love of libraries sprang from a love of books. I have read a lot of books pertaining to fragrance and other products I make, and will start including book reviews from time to time. I don't review books elsewhere, but I feel this is a natural fit, and hopefully I can guide some readers to some helpful books.

Product Spotlight: Monoi Lotion & Massage Bars

Spotlighting a discontinued item might seem strange, but I want to call attention to these wonderful little bars while they're still available. They won't ship well over the summer- there's a good chance they'll melt if they're left on someone's hot doorstep or if they spend a long time in a hot USPS truck. I might bring them back next fall, but with a few changes to the formula and possibly in tube of some sort, for easier usage.

So what is a lotion/massage bar? It's a combination of oils, butters, and waxes melted together and poured into a mold. The result is a solid bar that melts with your body heat- I find it easier to use my hands to get it to melt, but it can also be rubbed directly into the desired areas. When used as a lotion, the ultra rich formula is great for dry skin, and is best used right after you towel off from your bath or shower. This will help lock in the moisture. The oil it produces can also be used like a massage oil- since it's in solid form, you don't have to worry about oil spills like you would with traditional massage oils.

I started with Monoi de Tahiti- coconut oil that has had tiare (gardenia) blossoms steeped in it. A lot of Monoi de Tahiti on the market has added synthetic fragrance to it, since the natural scent isn't very strong. The one I use has no perceptible floral scent to it, so each one is scented with natural essential oils. As some of you may know, coconut oil has a low melting temperature- it can be solid or liquid depending on the temperature of the room it's in.

Shorea butter and mango butter firm the bar up a bit, and add moisturizing qualities. Rice bran wax, which maintains some of the benefits of rice bran, keeps it solid. Each one is scented with a single note or a blend of essential oils.

Our Monoi Lotion & Massage Bars can be found in our Etsy shop sales section, along with a few other items.

Flowers

When I started this blog, I used the description "Flowers, fragrance, beauty." I just changed it to "Fragrance, beauty, and business," since that more accurately reflects what the blog is about. I had hoped to write more about flowers, and I still do, but mostly in terms of their fragrance or use in a product. But now I won't feel like I'm feeling so deceptive- I don't want someone to see flowers in the description, and expect to see posts with photos and words all about flowers.

I'll still right write about flowers, at least hopefully, from time to time. That will include today.

When I was young, I would sometimes walk with my grandmother through her yard (really, my father's yard) and her neighbor's yard, looking at the flowers. She would tell me their names, and then I would try to identify them on future walks. These weren't particularly fancy flowers, but I still enjoyed learning about them. She was frail throughout most of my childhood, and these walks were probably good at getting her out for a little bit. She and my father both died when I was eleven, but I believe the walks ended some time before that.

My mother's house had flowers, too, of course, but I don't remember those as well. There was rose bush by the driveway that was eventually cut down so it would stop scratching the cars- at least I think that's why it was cut down. There was a big lilac bush on one side, at least I think it was lilac. It had large clusters of purple flowers, and I know it wasn't wisteria. We moved to a place with lots of trees and shade. We grew hydrangeas along the path to the front door, and I remember little crocuses popping up through the snow as the first sign that spring was coming.

Living in college dorms and various apartments, flowers were of little importance. I had nowhere to grow them, though I sometimes had a bouquet in vase. When my husband and I bought a house with a yard, I was excited about having lots of flowers, and would look around the neighborhood for inspiration. But I had a black thumb and we never replaced our yard with drought tolerant plants and flowers (though we didn't water the grass either- my apologies to those who had to look at my yard). Lavender was the thing I could grow best, and by grow best, I mean it was the thing I could ignore and it would still thrive. Giant white calla lilies would also show up when the rainy season started with no effort on my part, along with a few other random flowers the previous owner had planted. But I never did get well at adding flowers to the garden, or keeping many of the other plants thriving.

I'm now back in an apartment, with a little house plant. It's over a year old, and the flowers are blooming again. Such a nice little plant- it seems to do fine with little attention.

New product ideas and other thoughts

When selling items in person, I notice that what I think is normal in terms of products, other people either haven't heard of them, or think they're strange. Mostly in terms of the oils I sell. Hair oil? Wouldn't that make your hair greasy? Only if you glob it on. With hair oils, you only need a small amount. If you're using it as a hot oil treatment, then you would add a lot more. But as an alternative to a leave-in conditioner, just a small amount works.

Same thing with face oils. A small amount is all that's needed for the face, and if the right oils are used, you shouldn't feel oily. I spend a lot of time researching oils and experimenting with them to make sure they won't feel gross. You do need more for your body, but again, the right oils will absorb quickly and won't leave you greasy.

So now that I'm thinking of new products, and testing them out, I'm wondering what people really want to buy. Current ponderings include things like dry shampoo, facial cleansing grains, scrubs, and bath salts/teas. I am also considering lotion, if I can sell one that I'm comfortable with in terms of naturalness and safety. Also expanding my selection of soaps. But since I can't expand every which way, I need figure which items people really want or need. Any feedback would be welcome.

Also, I have secret products in development. Because even if I want to figure out the products people know about and want, I also want to create things they didn't know they needed until they saw it.

Art vs. Craft vs. Science vs. Gimmick

I was looking for spring/summer craft shows to apply to, and I looked at the pages for some art shows. These types of things go by all sorts of names, so I'll look at pretty much anything that sounds sort of promising. Of course these art shows are "fine art" shows, and fragrance is not an included category. I realize a lot of what I make wouldn't fall under the category of fine art, but I strongly feel that fragrance doesn't get the respect it deserves.

Most perfumes that people buy are more about marketing than scent. Sure, the scent counts, but most of the money goes into making the packaging pretty and paying for all the ads. I don't know if the people making these scents consider it an art, or if they're sitting in their labs looking at what's needed and figuring out the cheapest way to get there while still making a scent that people will wear. Those scents are mostly science- a degree in organic chemistry is actually very useful to anyone wanting to work in a big perfume house. There are some commercial perfumes, and definitely a lot of niche perfumes, that are art. To me it seems like what separates the fine art of fragrance is the passion that goes into, making the best you can with what you have, and creating a scent that has some meaning, even if that will never be clear to 99% of the population. You need mastery over the materials, just like you would with any other fine art.

I aim to be a perfume artist, and hope that if I'm not there yet, I will be soon. Working with scent can be a craft as well. When I assist at a perfume's class, the scents that people make are sometimes nice, but they don't rise to the level of art. That's not to be harsh, but a great perfume requires more time and thought than can be fit into an 8 hour class.

And a lot of what I do is craft- hair oils, lip balm, foot balm, lotions bars- those really aren't art. The scents are usually blended so that the product smells pleasant, usually with hopes of bringing hopes of some benefits to the product as well. So there's a bit of science in there too- nothing that would make me a scientist, but I do research which ingredients do what. Soap makers are working with science and craft. I don't know if those who make fancy swirls and designs consider their soaps works of art or not. I've seen some truly beautiful soaps (nothing I've made- I'm lucky if mine aren't plain ugly), but I'm not sure if there will be a gallery of beautiful soaps, or soap displays at museums. I guess in that sense perfume is getting a little more recognition, since there are occasionally exhibits dedicated to scent.

Beauty products are usually somewhere between craft and science. The ones you see at chain stores are probably mostly science, though don't necessarily fall for all the claims on their boxes. Just because something is made by people wearing white coats in a lab, it doesn't mean it will make your wrinkles disappear. Those who make beauty products on a smaller scale probably do use some science knowledge. You need to understand things like emulsion, preservative systems, and what each ingredient brings to the finished product. But these are handcrafted, not made on an industrial scale.

And then there are beauty products that are gimmicks. These are the most painful to me. I see single oils (like argan oil) being bottled up and sold at a large mark up. If you want 50ml of pure argan oil for less than $48, email me and I'll make you a bottle for less. While some of my products only use a few ingredients, I don't create single ingredients products and then sell them for a huge profit. Though I suppose if those companies are spending a lot of money on marketing, they might not be making such huge profits after all.

TL;DR- I want perfume to enter the world of fine art, and hope to be a fine perfume artist myself. Most of my products are craft, with a dash of science. And I will not sell you a gimmicky product like a single ingredient at a high mark up, unless you ask me to (at which point I'd reduce the markup).

Giveaway! Lavender Herbal Monoi Lotion & Massage Bar

We are giving away one Lavender Herbal Monoi Lotion & Massage Bar. Made with rich shorea & mango butters, exotic Monoi de Tahiti, and rice bran wax to moisturize dry winter skin. This particular lotion bar is scented with a blend of lavender, rosemary, lemon tea tree, and juniper berry essential oils.

We have all of our Monoi Lotion & Massage Bars for sale on Etsy now through February 14, including those in sets!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

These gift ideas would work for any time of year, but with Valentine's Day vast approaching, these items in particular would make a nice change from chocolates and flowers.

Instead of a dozen red roses that will wilt and die within a few weeks, why not try our One Dozen Roses, a set of twelve vials each containing the essence of a different rose. These are all single notes, at 20% strength in clear jojoba. The rose essences come from around the world (South America, Europe, Asia, Africa), cover a few species, and various extraction methods. Some of the rose essences are incredibly rare, such as the enfleurage from South America. The roses lined up together make a colorful set, with the different roses and extraction methods creating a range of colors- some are clear, others more yellow, a few are green, and some are orange. The vials are packaged in a tin, nestled in a ring of paper roses. The set will come with information on each type of rose, and would make a great gift for any rose lover.

For a gift that's better shared, we also have our Rose & Vetiver Massage Oil. A woodsy rose, this is a scent that can be easily enjoyed by both men and women. Made with apricot kernel oil, the massage oil will absorb into the skin, leaving your skin soft afterwards, not greasy. This can also be used as a moisturizing body after you get out of the shower.

We have also marked down all of our Massage & Lotion Bars, including sets, now through February 14. More moisturizing than our massage oil, these are warmed in your hands with the resulting oil massaged into the skin. They also come in a wide variety of scents.

Our Perfume Balms would also make great gifts- they come in six different floral scents- Jasmine, Mimosa, Neroli/Orange Blossom, Plumeria/Frangipani, Rose, and Tuberose. All are available in .25 ounce jars, and all of them except for Plumeria are available in 1 ounce jars.

The perfume balms and the Rose & Vetiver Massage Oil are also available as options in our 3 item and 5 item sample sets. These sets give you many options for trying out new things, and would be greater for a smaller gift.

Perfume Class and Art

This past Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I spent my days taking classes at Mandy Aftel's studio in Berkeley along with seven other students. This was my third time attending this class, and it was amazing as always. If you're interested in studying natural perfumery, this is the place to be. Mandy has so many essences, one's that you'll never be able to smell any where else, and with the exception of the antique ones, you can use any of them in the blends you make.

Each day you make a blend, and then remake it based on Mandy's critique. The critiques are very helpful, and they're not at all mean or scary, for anyone reading this that might think of attending some day. You then remake your blend based on that. The first day we had to work with six essences voted on by the class, and needed to add a few more to complete the blend, working out how much of each to add. The second day was similar, but with three instead of six. The third day we got to choose three essences we wanted to work with, and then make our blends around that.

The first day was a bit of a disaster for me, since I became anosmic to a very strong scent that isn't so pleasant in high doses, and I put a whole lot in my blend. For my remake I added only a small amount, and tried to do my best knowing that I couldn't smell two of the things I needed to use. The other two days were easier, since I was able to smell everything I was putting in. Though I must admit adding black tea absolute to my blend on the third day was difficult, not due to the odor, but due to the fact that it took forever to dissolve in the alcohol. I left it out of my remake just because I didn't want to have to spend an hour shaking my bottle to get it thoroughly dissolved.

For me, one of the best parts of the class is spending three days with people who feel the same way I do about scent and perfume. For me, working on a blend is a form of art, with the various scents replacing paint and the alcohol or oil replacing the canvas. It might not seem like art to most people, and a lot of perfumes out there aren't really art. But for me, each drop is carefully thought out, and the final fragrance often started with an idea or feeling. I spent all of my life searching for an art form to express myself. But I can't act, I'm not musical, and I'm pretty bad with painting/drawing. Some crafts kind of help with that, but I could never take any of them to the level of art. I did want to be a writer, and I probably graduated high school with more English credits than anyone else, but even if I could learn to write well, the words would feel false. This doesn't apply to non-fiction and journalism, of course, but the only satisfaction I could get out of those was editing. I really did love my red pen.

I stumbled on natural perfumery a few years ago, and while I enjoyed it, the materials are expensive, and with a limited collection of essential oils, it was more frustrating than fun. After volunteering as a teacher's assistant for the same natural perfumes class at The Nova Studio a year later, something just clicked, and I knew that I wanted to study perfumery. I started collecting more essential oils and absolutes, worked my way through Mandy's Level 1 work book, and have now taken three of her in studio classes. I am working my way through the advanced work book, but have only done a little of it so far. I hope to continue studying, and I also hope to bring the beauty of natural fragrance to everyone, whether it be through a perfume or a lip balm.

Coming Soon

I've started working on a special project for Valentine's Day- or any day really. But I've had a particular idea in mind for a product involving roses, and releasing it in time for Valentine's Day seems as good as time as any. I'll have more info once everything is ready to go.

I am also working on a massage oil. I already sell Massage and Lotion Bars, but for those who prefer an oil that starts as a liquid and not a solid, the massage oils will work better. For those who have never used a massage bar, it's a mix of butters, oils, and wax that melts in your hands or rub directly onto your body, creating an oil that you can use either as a moisturizer or a massage oil. Our massage bars work great as an intensive moisturizer for dry winter skin. The massage oil will be a lighter weight oil and will come in a glass bottle, so you can just pump some out.

Product Spotlight: Floral Perfume Balms

Neroli Balm, 1 ounce Size, available in all but Plumeria.

The floral balms I make are probably my most unique product. Both highly fragrant and moisturizing, they can work like a solid perfume, or as a balm for cuticles or other rough skin. My Etsy shop has all sizes of the floral balms available. You can also purchase the quarter ounce jars directly from the Ivre de Fleurs website, where I offer free shipping on all orders.

Floral Balms from Etsy

Quarter Ounce Jars from Ivre de Fleurs Website

The balms are centered around the floral waxes. These are made when the respective flower is washed with a solvent,creating the concrete- the fragrant materials and waxes of the flowers. The concrete is washed with alcohol to make the absolute, leaving behind behind the wax. 

The floral balms combine the wax of the flower, shorea butter, various oils, and a little bit of extra scent from the  to match complete the scent of the wax- for example, the Neroli Balm pictured above uses orange flower wax, and has a little bit of neroli (orange flower) essential oil for a more rounded scent.

.25 ounce jars of all varieties.

I've tracked down as many floral waxes as I can- I've seen lotus and champaca before, but not in stock. I have rose, tuberose, orange blossom (neroli), mimosa, plumeria (frangipani), and jasmine. The jasmine uses two varieties for both the wax and absolute- Jasmine Sambac and Jasmine Grandiflorum. 

All six are available as a set on Etsy for a reduced price.

Minis! Each lasts for awhile. Available in all but rose. 

Try three minis!

Try five minis!

So how to use these unusual beauties? I use them mostly as cuticle balms- a little goes a long way, and I get to enjoy the scent while doing something I find tedious. While it probably wouldn't work as an all over body moisturizer, rub some into particularly rough spots, like elbows. 

They would also work as a moisturizing solid perfume, either using one or layering a few to create a custom fragrance. Please note that since they are natural, the scents won't last as long as commercial perfumes. You can also apply it before putting on your favorite fragrance, giving it a scent unique to you.