Introduction to some of my own perfumes

I started to create perfumes when I was just a child, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I started studying the history and methods of perfume making.  As I studied, my passion for perfume grew and I began to use the components of perfumery (both natural and aroma molecules) to create “scent stories”.  Some of my scents are designed to simply evoke a mood or memory of a person, place or time.  Others are blended to using the principles of aromatherapy to shift and adjust mood, emotion and physical issues.

The Shore Series: designed to evoke memories of the beach….
Growing up on the beach made a lasting impact on essential "me" - so it is only fitting that one of the first series of scents I created was based on the beach.  All of these fragrances may be used as a perfume or blended into soap, lotions, massage oils or bath products.

After the Sun Sets

The sun setting through vivid shades of orange, pink and blue until it sinks calmly behind the dark of the ocean.   A scent designed to whisk you away to that magical moment of time when the sun winks out for the night.   The scent of  juicy Florida oranges, coconut milk and creamy vanilla are blended with a touch of sandalwood and musk for an after dark sexiness.      

Beach House

Memories of relaxing in a hammock listening to the waves crash on the shore while the kids jump off the porch steps.  The scent of star jasmine on an ocean breeze mixed with sand dunes and the warmed wood of the porch floorboards.  

Ocean Waves

A perfect day at the beach.  Vivid blue waves crashing on  pure white sand.  A salty sea breeze gently blowing across skin.  Ocean Waves is a fresh ozone scent with sublte hints of sun-beached driftwood, hot sand and salty sea algae. 

Sur la Falaise
A solitary walk along the rocky cliffs of Northern France.  Romantic and haunting.  A heart of aromatic cistus, lavender, thyme, juniper and rosemary are blended with hints of marine algae and sea salt.

Today's Soap

 

Using a simple technique, I was able to create this ocean inspired soap.  It is scented with a mix of an watery white floral and coconut.  Very relaxing.

After doing the water soap, I decided to try out an earth day type design.  

Using the same method of cutting shapes out of a thin layer of soap and embedding them in a clear base, 

I was able to make a soap that had a leafy motif.  It is scented with a crisp green leaf fragrance.

You can't see it in these photos, but the top layer is lightly colored with an iridescent green which adds just a bit of shimmer to the soap. I am really excited about the outcome of this design 

and I am going to try to do some more soap with slight variations.

Bok in Bloom

I thought it might be fun to display some of my before and after editing shots.  This is my first photo shoot with my new Canon Rebel.  I don't know how to use the camera yet, but the auto focus modes made it easy to still get some good pictures.  The after photos are edited using Picasa.  The before shots have such vibrant color that they didn't really need tweaking - however, I liked the idea of turning the photos into surreal snapshots.

 

I took these pictures at the Bok Tower - it is about 3 weeks from the full peak bloom season, 

but already the flowers are so beautiful.   The scent of camillas and jasmine and the sun shinning 

brightly made it a simply lovely afternoon. 

I can't get over the detail visible when I adjust the tuning to include deeper shadows, it makes the flowers pop.  I am taking a class in a few weeks and I can't wait to have a little more knowledge of my new camera.  I am also scouting out places with great architecture so I can get some interesting shots.  

Floating Dots Soap

This was such a fun soap to think up and create.  To make it, I mixed the color with a little glycerin and added it to clear soap base.  Then I poured a thin layer of the colored soap into a baking sheet.  When the soap cools - it stays flexible because of the addition of the glycerin.  Simply cut shapes out of the sheet of soap.  For this soap I punched out two sizes of circles in blue and green.  After pouring one layer of clear, I added a few of the dots; then poured another layer and added more dots.  I repeated this process a total of 4 times. This technique allows the dots to overlap at different depths, thus - Floating Dots. 

The scent is a fruity mix of pink sugar and cranberry. 

Soaps On Hand

I love making soap and bath products and always have a lot to give away.  If anyone would like some please let me know your address and I will send out a bar or two.  Right now I have:


Hibiscus and Lemon: A mix of crisp lemon and tart hibiscus makes this soap smell like a tropical breeze. This is definitely “show off” soap with layers of pink and yellow separated by a ribbon of dried hibiscus flowers. Beautiful.




Ugly Soap: This is one ugly soap, but it is all natural with healing essential oils like sweet birch, balsam, and rosemary. It also includes rooibos tea for a gentle exfoliating action. Ugly soap has oatmeal flour to sooth irritated skin and shea butter to protect and moisturize. The scent is both herbal and woodsy. Great for the winter weather.

Sunday Morning: The scent of richly brewed coffee and a dash of coconut cream all in a super moisturizing coconut and shea butter soap. The soap is colored with natural cocoa powder which adds a trace of chocolate to the scent.

Sea Soap: This soap has a refreshing ocean scent and is loaded with sea salt and spirulina (a mineral rich sea kelp powder). This soap would also make a great hair shampoo as it includes panthenol and silk protein; plus the sea salt will add volume to your hair.

 Lavender Dream: A creamy. luxury soap scented with lavender.  I made this one with shea and mango butters for a skin softening lather.  This soap is scented with pure essential lavender oil which calms and relaxes the mind as well as soothes irritated skin.


Topsy Turvy Grapefruit Cream: This soap is one pretty pink concoction.  One half is a crisp juicy grapefruit scent in pink translucent glycerin soap and the other half is creamy vanilla in moisture rich shea butter soap.  Combined they form a bar that is both  yummy and good for your skin.

I'll send some honey your way....

Hibiscus Infused Honey:  sweet and tart with an absolutely beautiful color.

•add a little to lemonade

•stir into Tea

•drizzle over brie or goat cheese

•drizzle over Ice Cream

•try on to toast





Chipotle Infused Honey:   smokey with a slight spicy and sweet taste •great as a glaze for chicken or pork
•dip cornbread in it
•use it in a salsa
•wrap a Brie wheel with pastry and cover with the honey; bake and then drizzle some more honey on top

Lavender Infused Honey:  fragrant, slightly floral, slightly green taste – very subtle and sweet

•stir into tea

•try on English muffins

•drizzle on ice cream

•use in salads

•drizzle into greek yogurt




Basil Infused Honey:  flavored with the slightly sweet, peppery taste of fresh basil
•warm and use over brie or goat cheese
•drizzle a little on a margherita pizza
•mix into a salad dressing
•glaze carrots or other cooked vegetables
•use in a roasted pear recipe

Just let me know and I will send a jar your way.  Also, I still have a lot of honey and a lot of honey jars - so, if you would like - I can create a multitude of infused honeys using organic honey.  Just let me know what flavor you would like and I will started infusing....

Carton of heavy whipping cream = 5 fun projects

This all started as a way to teach Eli how butter is made and to have Eli learn a small science lesson as well. It turned out to be a delicious day of treats.
Making BUTTER is so easy and only requires 2 ingredients:
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• Salt to taste (just a few pinches will work; not much at all)

Pour the 1 cup of heavy cream in a bowl and whip using a hand held mixer. The cream with thicken into whipped cream consistency and will form firm peaks; then keep whipping and suddenly the cream will turn into what looks like cottage cheese. Keep whipping – soon the cream separates into a solid (the butter) and a liquid (the buttermilk). Keeping mixing for about 10 seconds after this happens to make sure it all separates. Using a spatula push the butter into a lump and pour off the buttermilk (into a container to save). You will now have to rinse the butter; if you don’t rinse any excess buttermilk – the butter will go rancid quickly. To rinse, add a little ice water to the butter in the bowl and beat for 10 seconds. Drain and repeat a few times until the water is clear. Now add salt to taste.

Here is a short recap of the science behind butter:
Heavy cream is an emulsion. The fat is spread throughout the cream in very tiny drops. The protein in the milk acts as an emulsifying agent; it keeps the fat droplets suspended. When you shake the cream you force the fat droplets to come together. If they come together with enough force, they'll stick to each other and keep forming bigger and bigger gobs until you've got butter.

Now for the buttermilk. FYI by using a cup of cream to make the butter, you should get ¼ to ½ cup buttermilk.

BUTTERMILK RANCH DRESSING:
• 1 cup Mayonnaise
• ¼ cup Sour Cream
• ¼ cup Buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• Fresh or dried herbs ( we used Rosemary and Dill from our herb garden)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Just mix all the ingredients together; add more mayonnaise if you would like it to be thicker.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS:
• 2 ¼ cups Bisquick
• 2/3 cups buttermilk

Heat oven to 450. Stir ingredients until soft dough forms. Place on surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix. Knead 10 times. Roll dough ½ inch thick. Cut with 2 ½ inch cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

And then we made the yummy WHIPPED CREAM:
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Add all ingredients in bowl and whip quickly either by hand with a whisk or by using a hand mixer until soft peaks form (if using a mixer – make sure you don’t over whip as the cream will curdle).

Now we really lived it up and I cut a buttermilk biscuit in ½, put some fresh strawberries on top and then topped with whipped cream. On the other half of the biscuit, we let the fresh butter melt – yummy.

We had a little more of the heavy cream left, so we made one bonus treat - ICE CREAM. Now this is a very simple, very light delicate ice cream.
• ½ cup of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon of vanilla

Simply put all the ingredients in a small Ziploc bag. Seal very well (you could even double bag the cream so that it doesn’t leak) and make sure all extra air is squished out of the bag (if the bag is filled with extra air, it may pop during the next step). Then put that small Ziploc bag in a gallon Ziploc bag. Fill the larger bag with ice and sprinkle the ice cubes with 4 tablespoons salt. Wrap the bag in a towel and shake it around, making sure the ice keeps the inner bag covered. It should take the cream about 5 to 10 minutes to freeze – so keep SHAKING.

The science behind Ice Cream:
When the ice melts it takes heat energy from the warm cream and in turn makes the cream get colder…the salt lowers the freezing point of the ice and this makes the ice melt faster and cools down the cream mixture faster as well. The water in the cream freezes and forms ice crystals and viola – ice cream.