Miscellany of the day

[Mr.P]

Restrung my freebie cultivated kinam bead bracelet. refinished with a layer of CK distillate and then a layer of resinoid. Very pleasant oud aroma forming a small bubble around that bracelet.

(this bracelet was free but clearly the wood was made to look more resinous than it actually was my painting a layer of resin over the surface which eventually rubbed off. It might be something to watch out for when buying this type of product)

 

[Mr.P]

Finally! Been looking for a female Zanthoxylem shrub for three years now, this being the first year I found one. Anyone who is familiar with green Szechuan pepper will recognize the citrus-like pitting of the fruit surface (a visual reminder that these are in the same plant family as citrus, the rutaceae, and these resemble tiny little citrus fruit on a certain level). Can't tell you how happy I was to find this - just did a quick look today and collected this small number of peppercorns. I chewed on one of them, strongly mouth numbing just like the dried fruit.

 

[Mr.P]

Patchouli, iron-free, Indonesian, from White Lotus aromatics and has been sitting in my collection since 2003. I appreciate this one more every day, a very nostalgic scent that brings me back to some interesting times in my life. This one has started to really show that beautiful well-aged ethereal tart wine-like quality on top of the earthy, musky, leafy, and peppery facets that have been there since it was younger.

 

[holy-wood]

Saffron Absolute from Craftoud for this afternoon.

how is this one?

 

[Mr.P]

Just applied a nice dab of Rose absolute that I got from @mesOUD back in his early days. I'm a little unclear on this but I believe this was one that he extracted himself and it's a very fine rose absolute. Quite voluptuous and juicy rose.

 

[anexplorer]

how is this one?

Frankly, I find it nice. It does smell very much like saffron (there's no sandalwood etc. like in a saffron attar), and is very smooth (I find sticking your nose into a small container of saffron gives a similar smell, but the smell is a little harsher/more leathery in that case).

 

[Mr.P]

Clary sage absolute is such an interesting material. Initial aroma is as you would expect but as it settles on skin it transforms into this soft abstract natural floral type bouquet. Just a great material for filling out a perfume and apparently it is commonly added to otherwise synthetic fragrances to add a touch of naturality.

It doesn't smell like ambergris or ambroxide, but at the same time when you take a good whiff it completely makes sense that this is the starting material for making synthetic ambroxide.

One fragrance that I recall that at one point used this material very effectively was Quelques Fleurs (Houbigant) back in the early 90s. With all of the reformulations I have no idea what this perfume smells like today but I'm guessing it still comes with enough of a dose of clary absolute to clearly show it.

 

[Mr.P]

again I am overjoyed at the existence of clary absolute. I am drying my own clary to try to make a resinoid because I noticed years ago that the dried flowers retain a lot of fragrance. I doubt it's the best way to process this but since I've smelled so many essential oils and absolutes, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to add a new variation on this amazing plant to my collection. My hope is that the unique pungency of the fresh material will stand through any leafy or stem notes that get extracted... there is definitely something missing from the essential oil and the absolute, they bring at most 30% or so of the bouquet of the actual plant.

I have some flowers drying in front of the dehumidifier in my basement. Because I have a radon remediation system the air down there is pretty fresh it's always actively vented. My cats came down and of course went to work destroying the cheap plastic yuletide tree I used when I first moved in here. It's now part of their routine. I set it up, they tear it down. Training for the solstice! I guess it's a Christmas tree but can I really call it that if it's not a religious symbol for me? These trees are an old pagan thing, really have nothing to do with Abrahamic religions in origin- a result of blending of cultures during past migrations / invasions and I think some people would be blown away if they knew more of the true origins of the imagery associated with evergreen trees and solstice celebrations! We all have our own way of thanking the universe for everything we can't comprehend... looks like the "serious tree" will be at my father's house and my house will have the one that's set up for them to enjoy.

 

[Mr.P]

again I am overjoyed at the existence of clary absolute. I am drying my own clary to try to make a resinoid because I noticed years ago that the dried flowers retain a lot of fragrance. I doubt it's the best way to process this but since I've smelled so many essential oils and absolutes, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to add a new variation on this amazing plant to my collection. My hope is that the unique pungency of the fresh material will stand through any leafy or stem notes that get extracted... there is definitely something missing from the essential oil and the absolute, they bring at most 30% or so of the bouquet of the actual plant.

I have some flowers drying in front of the dehumidifier in my basement. Because I have a radon remediation system the air down there is pretty fresh it's always actively vented. My cats came down and of course went to work destroying the cheap plastic yuletide tree I used when I first moved in here. It's now part of their routine. I set it up, they tear it down. Training for the solstice! I guess it's a Christmas tree but can you really call it that if it's not a religious symbol? These trees are an old pagan thing, have nothing to do with Abrahamic religions in origin- a result of blending of cultures during past migrations / invasions and I think some people would be blown away if they knew more of the true origins of the imagery associated with Evergreen trees and solstice celebrations! we all have our own way of thanking the universe for everything we can't comprehend...

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and guess which one is the male and which one is the female? I thought cats were androgynous because I've only had neutered males as pets. The difference is striking! she's maybe 70% of his size but she constantly tackles him, he's not safe anywhere.

 

[Mr.P]

I love the smell of DEET - in fact I think it was the smell of bug spray that predisposed me to like oud. There is a certain peppery and pungent quality to certain bug sprays that are high in this material and I always enjoy the aroma. Anyone else?

 

[Mr.P]

And now I'm back to the spikenard resinoid - this material produces a gorgeous ethanol extract with these wonderful powdery dry qualities that remind me a little bit of aspects of sandalwood and patchoulol that I've not smelled in the essential oils. Really surprising refined dry appealing ambery woodiness.

Put this on your list of things worth soaking in alcohol. Surprisingly, it's quite sticky and resinous - seems to have excellent fixative potential

 

[Shiningrobes]

I love the smell of DEET - in fact I think it was the smell of bug spray that predisposed me to like oud. There is a certain peppery and pungent quality to certain bug sprays that are high in this material and I always enjoy the aroma. Anyone else?

I hate to admit it but Taif rose smells like bug spray to me. Specifically OFF! brand bug spray. They must use geraniol and citrus.

 

[Mr.P]

I hate to admit it but Taif rose smells like bug spray to me. Specifically OFF! brand bug spray. They must use geraniol and citrus.

no I get it, that pepperiness definitely overlaps with similar notes in rose as well. I love the smell of OFF!

 

[roflwaffle]

And now I'm back to the spikenard resinoid - this material produces a gorgeous ethanol extract with these wonderful powdery dry qualities that remind me a little bit of aspects of sandalwood and patchoulol that I've not smelled in the essential oils. Really surprising refined dry appealing ambery woodiness.

Put this on your list of things worth soaking in alcohol. Surprisingly, it's quite sticky and resinous - seems to have excellent fixative potentialView attachment 55570

Odd question - what kind of pen/paint marker do you use to get that Ralph Steadman style spatter? I generally use a chrome pen, since it marks well, but this is stylistic and kinda neat

 

[Shiningrobes]

no I get it, that pepperiness definitely overlaps with similar notes in rose as well. I love the smell of OFF!

I do too but it really threw me the first time I smelled a $400 bottle ( of rose that is).

 

[Kai Leon Art Perfumer]

As a 'side-kick' to the Ouds arrival from Habzoud today, I finally got the Afghani Neroli of the house -
essential oil of Bitter Orange Blossom, my first ever from Afghanistan.
Overall this Neroli is well-rounded and smooth yet with clear and breathy tart-citrusy-leafy-fizzy 'freshness' envelope around the light floral core - giving off an edge of rather masculine and somewhat reserved character (comparing to the Mediterranean varieties).

After the initial dispersion of the opening, a green-woody facet grows, and an unexpected soft-Leather undertone emerges as well, creating a fascinating pull into the depth of otherwise light and bright essence. Some delicate and delicious sweet-gourmand buttery nuances make courteous but noticeable appearance at the background of the 'Heart' phase. As the essence dries down, a very subtle but gorgeous clean Musky note fleets in and out, captivating and delighting the nose furthermore.
The general vibe this Neroli creates is the 'Classy VIntage' - soft, relaxed, spacious, tasteful - with both a weight in the character as well as sparkling surface, like a welcoming ambience in a luxurious and well-established grooming salon - both impressive and effortlessly cool.
I'm immediately going to add it to the summery and sensual perfume I'm working on right now, and probably I'll try to overdose it 😉

 

[Mr.P]

Odd question - what kind of pen/paint marker do you use to get that Ralph Steadman style spatter? I generally use a chrome pen, since it marks well, but this is stylistic and kinda neat

they are paint pens, reasonable adhesion to glass but not perfect so they are semi temporary labels. The brand that I'm using currently is "Posca"

I also have somewhere some white pens from another brand that seemed to stick a little better. They are all water-based, probably acrylic paint or something like that. they can write very neatly but if you overcharge the tip with paint they will splatter.

 

[Saudalhajri]

Spikenard absolute
love this material, sweet and manly, cypriol-like, a little rooty, and musky-musty, not like an animal, or fecal, but more familiar, kind of like a pillow cover that wasnt washed in a while, or like yesteryear's winter clothes that you just unpacked then realized they werent washed, it also has a slight rooty earthiness thats not as strong ad vetiver but still present. It has a slight oud-iness too, lovely material.
I dont know if i touched my geranium bottles or other florals but im now smelling something that reminds me of geranium's sweet-floral scent, i dont think this is from the spikenard but it might be

 

[Mr.P]

Got this immortelle absolute from one of the old Grasse extraction innovators (Pierre Chauvet) back in 1995/1996. It has held up nicely, I'm not a connoisseur of this material in the sense that I don't know how this vintage specimen would compare to contemporary options.

The company was bought up by some larger fragrance conglomerate not too long after I made this purchase. They had a catalogue that in retrospect makes me want to cry... I should've bought as much of their higher grade Moroccan jasmine oil as I could've gotten my hands on, based on what's circulating today that would just blow people's minds

it was not easy to get my hands on this stuff, fortunately some representative in New Jersey took mercy on me and would get my small orders filled along side of commercial orders of the same material so I wouldn't have to pay a "pour fee" for every bottle (which in many cases would've been much more expensive than the small quantity of oil I was trying to buy).

I know I've mentioned this before but the "pour fee" was the price that you paid to get somebody to go retrieve a drum of whatever material it was and fill a bottle. Whether it was 1 g or 20 kg, the fee was the same and it was something $70 a pour back in the 90s

 

[Mr.P]

Today it's a batch of patchouli, iron free, indonesian origin acquired from White Lotus in 2003. I've scrutinized this so many times trying to understand what set it apart, there is so much going on in each patchouli oil that is actually really challenging to memorize the real profile and potential of one oil because it can present itself in a dozen different ways depending on humidity temperature and aromatic context. I've come to see this one as especially powdery leafy, with the expected tart wine(?) like notes that almost remind me of one facet of some Borneo oud oils. great stuff, still trying to understand what is the oil itself versus the effects of aging. I have a pretty nice collection going back to the 90s, and even after having them for all these years it still remains a challenge to really predict what each particular oil will give on any given day.