Outlaw Perfumes: Light and Ambress

Drawing Alert! I will do the drawing for the full bottle of "Belle Starr" by Lisa Fong of Artemisia Perfumes on Tuesday, Nov. 23rd!

If you've left a comment on any of these "Outlaw" posts, you're entered. If not, leave one -- I'll announce the winner Tuesday morning.

Light 

Perfumer: Anya McCoy

Ever since the demise of “Love’s Fresh Lemon,” a zillion years ago, I’ve looked for a citrusy fragrance that smells real. It’s been just about impossible to find one. Either it smells fake or the other ingredients step all over the lemon note.

This one is different. “Light” opens with wonderful mixed citrus that never fades, remarkable in any fragrance. The reason is the Chinese aglaia flower, around which this perfume is built, hand-tinctured by McCoy. She writes that the flower, smaller than a lentil, has a scent like that of a fresh lemon held in the hand. (Most lemon oils are obtained by crushing the peels.) 

The name “Aglaia” was that of a Greek goddess, one of the Three Graces or Charites, three sisters who represented Good Cheer (Thalia), Mirth (Esphrosyne) and Splendor (Aglaia). Generally they were associated with charm, creativity and fertility, and were of uncertain godly parentage. Aglaia did particularly well -- there’s an asteroid named after her.

This is very much a unisex scent, and could be worn anywhere, by anyone. The inclusion of musky genet and the resinous frankincense base add complexity to the citrusy heart. Delicate and artisanal.

As always, ingredients on the IFRA's proposed no-no list are given in red italics. Untested essences are in pink italics.

Top notes: Sicilian cedrat, Israeli yellow grapefruit, French juniper berry.

Middle notes: Chinese aglaia flower*, French genet flower, North Carolina ambergris.

Base notes: Hojari frankincense oil, edible frankincense sacra resinoid

“Light” stays close to skin, as do most botanicals. Longevity is better on cloth than skin.

Ambress

Perfumer: Anya McCoy

I tried this without looking at the “notes,” and was very surprised to immediately recognize a deep, multifaceted rose essence. I’ve searched for an amber/rose commercial perfume, but most are very sweet on my skin, sugary and/or gourmand-y or caramel-like. The roses here are sweet, but that’s ok; they never get shrill, as synthetic roses sometimes do. They’re nicely balanced by the earthy ambers, patchouli and vanilla. And they’re entirely without the beanlike aroma I’ve found in some rose absolutes and scents made with them. The amber oil used here is real also, made from fossilized Himalayan amber. “Ambress” smells best on skin first (aka a “patch test”), then fabric near skin and, finally, paper.

“Ambress” also features a new kind of rose, the Zambian Princesse de Nassau Rosa Moschata, as well as the new amber oil. Well done!

A precious essence to save for special occasions. Stays close to skin. Longevity: about average for a botanical.

As always, ingredients on the IFRA's proposed no-no list are given in red italics. Untested essences are in pink italics.

Notes: Zambian  Princesse de Nassau Rosa Moschata, African musk rose otto, and Musk rose absolute, Madagascan ylang ylang, South African rose geranium sur fleurs

Base notes: Indonesian patchouli, Himalayan amber oil, Turkish styrax, Greek labdanum, Peruvian tonka bean, Salvadorean balsam tolu, Balsam of Peru, Chinese benzoin, Madagascan vanilla.

Outlaw Perfumes: Notoriety

Notoriety

Perfumer: Jane Cate,  A Wing and A Prayer Perfumes

I like this one a lot, as I’m a sucker for any mixture involving quality rose essences. This does, and more.

Using the triad approach for testing -- on paper exposed to air, on paper held next to skin and...horrors!...on skin itself -- I find that the trajectory is similar to other naturals I’ve tried. (I should mention that my skin is capable of burning through anything in double-time.) The drydown on this is a creamy amber-rose with a bit of oakmoss punching through it: very nice. 

“Notoriety” reminds me of some of the fragrances the Parisian perfume company Rosine features, which are all about rose, but do use synthetics. There is a velvety quality to this scent that none of those have, though, and it makes the perfume more sensual. The perfumer states that she was interested in making a fernlike fragrance infused with a floral, and, although “fern” is more an idea than actual scent, I think she has succeeded. Worn on my skin alone, the fragrance is a little sweeter than on paper held to skin, and that’s a good quality -- a choice.

The perfumer says that she uses the concept of a muse when assembling a scent. In this case she thought of Etta Place (the “girl” in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), the dancer Isadora Duncan and Lillie Langtry, the 19^th century actress who was also the mistress of Edward VII -- how about that Royal Family, eh? I didn’t know that! And that all* of the ingredients here are on the IFRA no-no list.

“Notoriety” contains oakmoss in the base. Oakmoss was the first substance to come under fire as a possible sensitizer. Interesting how it is a naturally occurring lichen which grows on oaks in some of Europe’s darkest corners, and is subject to fluctuation from weather and so on and must be gathered by annoying peasants, isn’t it? So much better to replicate it somewhere. They’re stll trying. We’ll see. In the meantime, I have already noticed that “Notoriety” is lasting longer than most botanical perfumes, another plus; that’s what oakmoss does.

Very nice rose/amber; longevity is better than most natural perfumes.

*I don't see lavender on my lists, but that doesn't mean it's not perceived by the regulators as some sort of threat.

The notes for “Notoriety” are:

Top: Bergamot, Rosewood

Heart: Rose, Wild Rose, Lavender, Violet Leaf, Carnation absolute and Geranium

Base: Amber, Oakmoss

Outlaw Perfumes: Belle Starr

Lisa Fong, Artemisia Natural Perfume

Belle Starr EDP

This is a really pleasant perfume. I gave it the toughest test in my arsenal -- I wore it to the gym on a humid day. It lasted through a couple of hours of -- well, you know what a gym smells like.

Right away, I knew it contained a high-quality jasmine, a little rose and bergamot, but I have to admit that I’m not sure I’ve ever smelled, for example, karo-karounde absolute, so I had to hit the books for some of the ingredients in this scent. Another that caught my attention was rooibos absolute, about which I knew nothing.

Karo-karounde is the product of a flowering shrub, with a jasmine-like, but woodier, spicier scent -- aha! The secondary jasmine! Rooibos, usually used as a tea, is faintly woody and sweet, with fruit/berry undertones. The other ingredients are more common in perfumery, bois de rose; lotus, carnation -- perhaps as natural essences, perhaps not. These are, of course, botanicals.

The result is a lovely floral, very feminine and pretty. Like all the botanicals I’ve tried, it is  made better by body heat; I sprayed this on a card, and found it to be much greener, and cooler, but then put the card against my skin for a while. All the floral essences came to front and center. I smelled great. My workout companion said it reminded her of a Chanel perfume. 

Ms. Fong named this scent after another outlaw with an undeserved bad rep -- Belle Starr, whose skill at riding and, er, leadership qualities won her censure as a “sex-crazed hellion with the morals of an alley-cat…” Well. How about that.

Very nice jasmine-centered scent, wearable anywhere, good longevity.

Ingredients (the ones on the IFRA’s proposed restricted-substances list in red italics) are: 

Red cedarwood, ginger, bois de rose, bergamot, karo-karounde absolute, carnation absolute, jasmine grandiflorum absolute, tonka, lotus concrete, rooibos absolute and cepes absolute.

Introduction: Outlaw Perfumes

 A little over 2 1/2 years ago I started this blog. Within a short while I came across a 2007 article on the death of Mitsouko, which was written by Elena of Perfume Shrine.  The gist of that article was that Guerlain, which had been acquired by giant conglomerate LVMH, was changing the ingredients in an important milestone fragrance. I did more research, and heard the growing rumblings about suddenly restricted substances, and a word I’d never heard before: reformulation.

(Let’s shorten this to "refo", shall we? Pronounced reef-oh. It can be a noun -- “a refo,” -- or a verb “I think this perfume has been refo’ed.” Rhymes with “repo,” as in “repossessed”: for example, “Goddamnit, the car just done got repo’ed!”)

So the fragrance industry began, very magmaniously, to regulate itself, with self-directed (and self-financed) research groups with initials like RIFM, and the most dreaded of all, the IFRA. How wonderful, that they’d look out for the health of their treasured customers like that! Well, of course, expensive, uncertain, naturally sourced ingredients were suddenly found to have all kinds of terrible side effects, and needed to be replaced by synthetic duplications. Who could have known that that these synthetic molecules would be patentable and profitable? 

More and more classic perfumes were remade in a way that rendered them just about unrecognizable. Shelves filled with refo’ed Frankenfumes replaced them. Mass-market and mainstream fragrances began to smell and look very similar -- a little synthetic "white" musk, same as in your favorite laundry detergent, fruit salad, a celebrity’s name. Prices of vintage perfumes on auction sites began to go up -- and up, and up. Bloggers and forum posters began to exclaim in horror over the gutting of the legends -- many LVMH-owned now -- like Shalimar, Joy, Opium, the Diors. Lists of suspected refos sprang up on perfume forums. Still, more and more suspect ingredients were added to the IFRA's no-no list, until ridiculousness was fully achieved.

Here in the perfume blogosphere, we smelled a rat. There are ingredients on this list that I’ve used all my life, that have been used throughout history in perfumery and sometimes food or medicine; I’m still here, and as far as I know, no one has ever died of lemon balm poisoning.

 I suspect that the mainstream perfume industry didn’t know that the perfume blogosphere existed (and some still don’t). No one expected an outcry, since a typical perfume customer, who has a “signature scent” and replaces the bottle when empty, wouldn’t notice any difference.

But the bread-and-butter customers are starting to notice. In casual conversation, I’ve been asked several times over the last few months why a signature scent doesn’t smell the same and doesn’t last as long. It’s probably a refo, I say, and tell them what a refo is. 

They get mad. To make and bottle one substance while keeping the name and packaging of the much better original one is, as one friend fumed, deceptive.

I don’t think a handful of passionate perfume fans are going to change LVMH much. However, an alternative is springing up: the artisanal perfumer.

I often compare the perfume industry to the music industry, as I am a veteran of the latter business and see the former one on a trajectory eerily similar at times. Those of you who can remember the 70’s can also remember the bloated, gimmicky music that characterized the middle years of that decade: Journey, Boston, Bad Company, Peter Frampton -- the sales figures on “Frampton Comes Alive” alone prove beyond any doubt that we were all on drugs -- but I digress.

The music industry kept pumping out this Corporate Rock, and then out of nowhere, appeared back-to-three-chords-with-attitude bands like the Ramones, and punk, which blew it all away. Within five years, punk and its descendants ruled, and corporate rock was a joke.

The world is different now, and of course music news travels faster than perfume trends, but I hear echoes. There are a handful of people, almost all of them women, mostly self-taught, producing these elixirs in small studios, and promoting them on the web. The fragrances are different too: not sneeze-inducing, elevator-clearing synthetic Frankenfumes, but gentler, closer to the skin, more complex, more modulated.

This event is called “Outlaw Perfumes” because the perfumers have all, rather gleefully I imagine, used natural ingredients that have suddenly popped up on the IRFA’s no-no list.*  Hence, outlaws. Outlaw essences, outlaw perfumers; well, I’m pretty typical in this respect I think: after all, who doesn’t love an outlaw?

Details:


"*"  You just knew there would be an asterisk, right? Well, the fact is that some of these essences may be photosensitizing, so don't wear them on skin in the sun. Spraying on clothing and/or hair is fine, and even better, makes the fragrances last longer. (See the Appendix for the full proposed no-no list.)

Each blogger gets a full bottle of one of these artisanal perfumes to give away to a lucky commenter after the conclusion of the group blogging session -- leave a comment and you'll be entered.

I plan to post reviews of 2 perfumes, additional information and related thoughts per day, and so will need to post every day to finish by the 21st. Will I make it? Tune in and see!

The lovely, gracious and diligent other Outlaw Bloggers are:

Perfume Smelling Things

Waft By Carol

Fragrance in Portland by Donna Hathaway, Examiner.com

 Fragrance Belles-Lettres

  The Non-Blonde

 IndiePerfumes

  Cafleurebon

  Perfume Shrine


Thanks to Anya McCoy and Elena Vosnaki for setting all this up!


Appendix: This is a list of oils and absolutes which will be affected by the proposed IFRA Code of Practice.

Essential Oils and Absolutes Restricted or Prohibited by the proposed IFRA Code of Practice (CoP): 

Listed on the following pages are the essential oils and absolutes that are affected by IFRA, either because they are listed directly, or because they contain listed chemicals. Including essential oils prone to oxidation, there are some 200 materials impacted by the IFRA Code of Practice. This list has been drawn up to highlight the extensive repercussions of the guidelines, not to suggest that none of the listed oils should be in any way restricted.*

Ambrette seed oil 

Angelica root oil 

Bakul absolute 

Basil absolute 

Basil oil (estragole CT) 

Basil oil (holy) 

Basil oil (linalool CT) 

Bay oil (West Indian) 

Bergamot leaf oil 

Bergamot peel oil (distilled) 

Betel leaf oil 

Birch tar oil 

Black tea tree oil 

Boldo leaf oil 

Broom absolute 

Cabreuva oil 

Cade oil 

Calamus oil 

Cananga oil 

Cangerana oil 

Cardamon oil 

Carnation absolute 

Carrot seed oil 

Cascarilla oil 

Cassia oil 

Cassie absolute 

Cinnamon bark oil 

Cinnamon leaf oil 

Cistus oil 

Citronella oil 

Clary sage oil 

Clove oil 

Costus oil 

Cumin oil 

Davana oil 

Elecampane oil 

Elemi oil 

Fenugreek oil 

Fig leaf absolute 

Galangal oil 

Geranium oil 

Ginger oil 

Ginger lily absolute 

Grapefruit peel oil 

Ho leaf oil 

Honey myrtle oil 

Horseradish oil 

Horsemint oil 

Huon pine oil 

Hyssop oil 

Jasmine grandiflorum absolute 

Jasmine sambac absolute 

Karo karoundé absolute 

Laurel leaf oil 

Lemon balm oil (Australian) 

Lemongrass oil 

Lemon basil oil 

Lemon leaf oil 

Lemon myrtle oil 

Lemon tea tree oil 

Lemon peel oils 

Lemon thyme oil 

Lemon verbena oil 

Lemon verbena absolute 

Lime peel oil (expressed) 

Lovage leaf oil 

Mace oil 

Mandarin leaf oil 

Marjoram oil (sweet) 

Massoia bark oil 

May chang oil 

Melissa oil 

Mustard oil 

Myrtle oil 

Narcissus absolute 

Nasturtium absolute 

Nutmeg oil 

Oakmoss absolute 

Opoponax oil 

Orange blossom oil 

Orange blossom absolute 

Orange leaf oil 

Orange peel oil (bitter) 

Orange peel oil (sweet) 

Oregano oil 

Palmarosa oil 

Peppermint oil 

Perilla oil 

Peru balsam oil 

Phoebe oil 

Pimento berry oil 

Pimento leaf oil 

Pteronia oil 

Rose absolute 

Rose oil 

Rue oil 

Sandalwood oil (Australian) 

Santolina oil 

Sassafras oil 

Savin oil 

Savory oil (winter) 

Snakeroot oil 

Spearmint oil 

Spike lavender oil 

Styrax oil 

Sugandha oil 

Taget oil 

Taget absolute 

Tarragon oil 

Tea leaf absolute 

Tejpat oil 

Thyme oil (thymol CT) 

Tolu balsam extract 

Treemoss absolute 

Tuberose absolute 

Vassoura oil 

Violet leaf absolute 

Wormseed oil 

Ylang‐ylang absolute 

Ylang‐ylang oils 

Essential oils containing “substantial amounts” of limonene or linalool should have antioxidants added to them. IFRA does not define “substantial amounts”, but adding essential oils containing 20% or more of either or both constituents to this list would grow it by 50‐60 further essential oils. Essential oils derived from the Pinacea family should also have antioxidants added to them. This would include a further 25 or so essential oils 

*Source:  IFRA/EU Boycott Primer 2007