February 20th, 2012 / Berkeley, CA
Dear Laurie,
In creating this perfume, one of the things that I especially like (yet also find especially difficult) is trying to translate an emotionally visual experience into an equally emotional perfume experience.
What I find so compelling about the art of perfumery is its seemingly direct access to our memories, hooking right into the experiences and feelings that stay with us throughout our lives. I’m talking about deeper connections than the way that smelling Play-Doh takes us back to childhood moments; I mean smells that can plug us in to dreamy, inchoate places inside each one of us where the entire landscape is painted with colors pulled from the very depths of our soul.
For reasons I can’t explain, certain old buildings and ruined towns create a world that my imagination rushes in to fill — seeing these aging ghost towns is an electrical experience for me, and I long to capture the near hypnotic reactions of wonder and loss I feel when I look at long-ago emptied structures and abandoned streets.
Mandy finds wonder in a local Berkeley shed — photo by Aftelier
I took a swing (several swings, actually) at using the fire tree and alpha ionone essences, and they didn’t work for me. One question I would love to hear your thoughts about: how to work with alpha ionone? I have yet to unlock its mysteries, and would love to hear any stories you have of working with what I consider a beautiful, yet frustratingly difficult, essence.
When I first deleted the fire tree from the formula (goodbye fire tree, again!) and replaced it with a flowering tobacco absolute, what I found was that the alpha ionone interacted with the tobacco to create an unpleasant drydown, “thinning out” the tobacco in a way that left it somewhat putrid instead of the mesmerizing effect I was aiming for.
But after putting a few more blends through their trial paces (and easing out the alpha inonone), I definitely see myself building this perfume up from the flowering tobacco absolute in the base — a dry yet entrancingly musky absolute — and blood cedar, a top note that’s a special distillation from the heartwood of the cedar tree, hence the name and the garnet color of the oil. I find this color particularly seductive.
One of my favorite natural isolates is ethyl phenyl acetate, which smells like sweet peas and reminds me of fading flowers from a lost era, making it a good fit for the project. And I’m still aching to include my luscious poplar bud absolute, both for its incredible history and its woody apricot notes.
*NOTE FROM NATHAN: Mandy has mentioned her desire to use the elusive, tricky poplar bud absolute in previous Letters. See: Mandy Aftel & Andy Tauer (ep. 4) and Mandy Aftel & Dawn Spencer Hurwitz (ep. 3). Mandy used the sweet-pea-fresh ethyl phenyl acetate in her Haute Claire EDP.
A particularly seductive view from Mandy’s window — photo by Aftelier
Earlier, I tried replacing the blood cedarwood with the creamy sandalwood-type sugi wood, but the blood cedarwood works so much better to convey that sense of elegant decay I wish to express.
To counterbalance the main dusty themes, I’m leaning toward some of my fresh ginger for its bright spiciness, and also lime for an extra shot of sparkle.
I’m eager to hear about your progress as you create your own perfume inspired by the forest in your imagination.
Warmly,
Mandy
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February 21st, 2012 / Healdsburg, CA
Hi Mandy,
It’s fun to hear about your progress! It’s very difficult to translate a deep personal scent association into a creation that others will relate to in a similar way. You’ve picked a challenging but beautiful concept.
Your question about alpha ionone is interesting because I’ve always gravitated more to methyl ionone gamma and/or beta ionone and haven’t used alpha ionone as much. Methyl ionone gamma comes in a number of variations by different suppliers, each one differing in the relative amounts of orris-like notes, fruitiness, powder, woods and floral notes. I especially like some of the woodsier ionones that are less sweet and powdery.
I know you can get beta ionone in an all-natural form, just as you can with alpha, but methyl ionone gamma is a synthetic aroma chemical only. I often use several different ionones together in the same scent.
You may have already tried this, but since you’re adding an alpha ionone isolate to a composition that’s composed mostly of more complex naturals, you could try using just a tiny amount, possibly pre-diluting before incorporating it to make sure it retains its status as a subtle player. Ionones can easily add too much powder, which can then damp down or overwhelm a blend.
Not so subtle players in Laurie’s garden — photos by L. Erickson (click to enlarge)
But it may not fit your vision for this blend even in small amounts, or it may not get along with something else in the blend. Sometimes I find that one ionone works better than others, so it’s been helpful for me to have a number of them to try. For example, sometimes a full-blown floral ionone like alpha ionone or methyl ionone gamma seems like too much in one of my blends, but beta ionone or some orris works as a woodsier touch of ionone.
The irones are also very beautiful, but I don’t know offhand which, if any, are available in naturally derived forms. I wonder if some natural beta ionone, orris, or boronia would add some ionone notes you’d like better than the alpha ionone isolate.
You have some very special and unusual naturals going into that blend! I’ve not sniffed either blood cedar or sugi, and both sound intriguing! (I realize you’re not using the sugi in this blend though.) Your theme of the dignity of decay makes me think of things like agarwood and mushroom absolute, but your ingredient choices are more original than those. I like the sound of the tobacco absolute.
The first mod I made for my own forest scent was a little sweet, so I rearranged a few things and the second mod was more pleasing to my nose. I liked it a lot, but the lasting power was only mediocre. I want to keep this blend very natural, but many of the natural woods I’m using fade after a just a couple of hours.
I continued to work on it, and now the current mod lasts for over four hours, but is still quite close to the body. I’m playing with the formula to see what else I can do to add strength while preserving the naturalness.
I replaced the synthetic vetiver acetate with natural vetiver from Sri Lanka, and like that much better. Oddly, I like the Sri Lanka vetiver better in this blend than my vetiver co-distilled with mitti, which is earthier but didn’t enhance the other woods the way that the Sri Lanka does.
I’m using quite a bit of natural New Caledonia sandalwood in it, which lasts well but doesn’t offer much in the sillage department. I certainly don’t want this to be a sillage monster, but it needs to be strong enough so as not to disappoint people. I’m trying not to use too much amber or vanillic items in the base because I don’t want it to be sweet, so that also limits my options for adding staying power.
Bottling day at Sonoma Scent Studio — photo by L. Erickson
I think I’m getting really close, but I’m still not quite ready to stop working on it and send out testers. Each mod leads me addictively to the next. I think perfumers are optimists, having faith that a future mod will hold the key to the puzzle.
I’d be happy to send samples of any other ionone chems I have that you might not have sniffed if you want to see how they vary. If you like beta ionone, you could get a natural version (I’ve tried a natural beta ionone that was very similar to the synth I have, so the synth would be close enough for you to see how it compares to alpha).
I’ve already started a little pile of samples for you.
Thanks so much for the update! It’s good to check in with you. I can’t wait to see where you go with your blend!
Laurie
***This is a continuation of a series. You can find other letters between Mandy and Laurie at the links below:
1.) Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Laurie Erickson (ep. 1)
3.) Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Laurie Erickson (ep. 3)
4.) Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Laurie Erickson (ep. 4)
5.) Letters to a Fellow Perfumer: Mandy Aftel & Laurie Erickson (ep. 5)
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