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Natural Perfume
!All Natural Perfumery!
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  • The Growth of Natural Perfumery
    It is a natural law... what you focus on grows. If we focus on the good things we get more of them. Focus on what we don't have and we lose more. That goes for everything.

    These days, after the economy crisis (hint hint..ahem what you focus on grows) the focus is still on naturals and the environment. Natural is a buzz word that is much abused, that's true, but it's used and used because people want it. Natural clothing, natural food, natural cosmetics and natural perfumes. Because we focus on it, it is growing. We know that for sure. It's happening fast. Another thing that's growing is the trend for people making their own natural perfumes. It really is a wonderful hobby.
    In olden days art was only for the elite, now it is taught in every school. People take up art as a hobby and other people do it professionally. The once secrets of the great artists are now easily learned, they are shared and everyone can try their hand. Same with natural perfumery. Everyone can try their nose. Mandy Aftel gives perfume recipes in her books and with just a few materials anybody can make a perfume. There are some brilliant courses out there too. Justine Crane is teaching a class on NNAPA, Lyn Ayre teaches a Natural Perfume Course, Jeanne Rose teaches a course, Ayala Moriel teaches a foundation course in natural perfumery, Lori Nova teaches a class, Joan Morais also teaches a class.
    There are many more but these are the most notable that come up when searching on google. Mandy Aftel teaches classes too but for some reason her classes don't come up when a search for 'natural perfumery classes' is put into Google.

    The growth of natural perfumery is happening because of us. If you like to talk about natural perfume you can talk about it on this forum: Nature's Nexus Natural Perfumery Forum

  • About the Wholeness of Natural Perfumery

    Wholeness is about complexities. It's about taking the rough with the smooth. When using natural essences in perfumery it sometimes happens that there are certain notes that we might think we could very well do without. Rose essence in it's whole natural form possesses beautiful delicate rosy notes but it can also have notes that smell dense, or waxy, or sometimes even sharp. Some rose essences can have indolic, heavy notes. The same heaviness can sometimes prevent the more delicate floral notes characteristic of real roses from shining through.

    As a natural perfumer I am learning to how to work with the wholeness of natural essences. This takes acceptance and imagination as well as a great deal of time, experimentation and sometimes painstakingly hard work. I have sampled synthetic rose essence, and a good quality one at that. I was struck by the clarity and the basic simplicity of what I was smelling. It was as though all of the might be 'unwanted' notes were stripped away leaving a vibrant, light, delicate rosy note. However it lacked far more than I have the words to describe. What I noticed was the absence of complexity, mystery and most of all wholeness.

    With skill the natural perfumer can work with her materials, blending them with other whole essences. I think a good perfumer knows what an essence needs to bring out it's best qualities and what to use to neutralize or balance the heavier notes.

    Wholeness speaks to us in volumes rather than in words. We are working with nature's masterpieces rather than individual pigments. We are performing using mother earth's symphonies instead picking separate notes.

  • Perfume Academy
    "A Perfume Academy founded to provide education to aspiring perfumers and the course will be focusing purely on the use of natural materials."


    Read the official press release here.

  • The Passion of Natural Perfumery

    Passion, life and breath, they go together. Passion is a force that comes from the heart into the breath. It is raw emotion finding a release through life. Without passion there is no art. Through emotion, imagination and passion the perfumer breathes life into her raw materials. The perfumer pours herself into her creations. Leaving fear behind, leaving control behind a perfumer becomes wild, she pokes at the unexpected, creates chaos to find perfection. Passion is a great teacher, you can learn more working through passion than through years of controlled experiments. In passion a perfumer loses herself in her work and has no fear of dancing to her own tune.

  • The Nature of Natural Perfumery

    in the center, a small heart
    changing, growing
    for ages


    ...life force
    ...the circle.
    Nature is our cloak.
Dedicated to All Things Natural