The Perfume Bee

Natural perfumery Scent Systems is a luxurious natural perfume house located in London, England. Founded in 2003 by Hiram Green, Scent Systems perfumes use the best quality natural fragrant oils sourced from around the world to produce high-end, entirely natural perfumes.

Scent Systems features the exquisite creations of perfumer George Dodd. In 2005, Dodd developed the Scent Systems bespoke perfume service. Most recently, he has developed Scent Systems first ready-to-wear perfume collection, the Floral Collection.

The Floral Collection is a range of five floral perfumes made from entirely natural ingredients:

Flowers have been used as the inspiration for many perfumes throughout the 20th century. Single floral note perfumes have been very popular as they are easy for us to understand: they simply remind us of a particular flower. However, none of the popular floral perfumes of the last century was made using exclusively natural ingredients.

Our floral perfumes use new distillation methods that are much gentler than traditional methods. The result is a range of perfumes that are a synergy of intuitive perfume-making and advanced scent oil technology. They form the summit of technical perfumery. (via Scent-Systems)

All five of these perfumes are quiet lovely. I found Wild Violet to be the most compelling and unusual of the collection. Wild Violet contains:

• Top notes: Indian Flowers, Rose
• Middle notes: Orris fractions, Champaca Absolute, Scottich Myrica
• Base notes: Mysore Sandalwood, Plant Musk

It opens with a very wet, green, earthy, pungent scent. It is very much like coming upon a cluster of wild violets in a misty alpine meadow.

In a short while, it loses its sharpness and turns much softer and more floral. In its final dry-down, Wild Violet yields delicate, slightly powdery notes, giving it a delicious velvety finish.

This is a beautiful perfume. It is complex and well-balanced with a hint of mystery. Wild Violet is a fragrance that is not overly feminine and should appeal equally to both men and women.

Scent Systems perfumes are available online at Scent-Systems.com.

Price: 17 ml natural perfume, £229.00.
It should be noted that web orders shipped outside the UK will be deducted 17.5% VAT (value added tax)

Website exclusive: A Sample Box of all five floral perfumes is available for £34.00. It contains 5 x 0.5 ml glass vials of natural perfume filled with enough fragrance to last a few days.

image source: Scent Systems

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After my recent review of Strange Invisible Perfumes, I wanted to know more about the perfumer behind these delightful creations. To do so, I had a nice email exchange of Q & A with Alexandra Balahoutis, the 32-year old founder and creator of Strange Invisible Perfumes.

Alexandra is passionate about natural perfume and has been creating fragrances professionally for the last seven years. She uses only organic, wild-crafted and/or biodynamic ingredients in her products. Strange Invisible Perfumes are available at the Strange Invisible Perfumes boutique in Venice, California, and online at SIPerfumes.com.

Join me as we chat with the talented and thoughtful perfumer, Alexandra Balahoutis.

Perfume Bee: Hi, Alexandra. At what age did you know you would become a professional perfumer?

Alexandra Balahoutis: At 21, I began to study. I started professionally at 25.

Bee: What led you to this decision?

Alexandra: I cared so much about advancing my knowledge and skill. I could see a very clear future as a perfumer from the very first day I started my education. There was an unstoppable drive to master the art and business of perfumery. I hadn’t experienced that level of clarity or drive with any of my other interests.

Bee: Can you describe your background and training in perfumery?

Alexandra: I am self-taught for the most part. However, botanical perfumer John Steele is my mentor. He studied mainly in India. He is also an anthropologist and archaeologist. His guidance and teachings have been invaluable to me. He is a true aromatic visionary.

Bee: What are your guiding principles in making perfume?

Alexandra: Sincere inspiration, precious botanical ingredients, and diligence in formulating are what lead me to what I call ‘authentic perfumery.’ No synthetics. Only premium ingredients.

Bee: What is the process like for you when creating a new fragrance?

Alexandra: I listen to my intuition and embrace whim and romance, but I work hard and I question my work intensely. I am not easily satisfied with myself. There is a standard and people have expectations, myself included.

It isn’t simply about worshiping essential oils and throwing them together. Botanical perfumery is hard work. Discovering new ways to achieve much loved notes without using synthetics is a lot of work.

Bee: If you had to describe your perfume-creating process, would you consider yourself to be a) a mad scientist! b) a dreamy dreamer or c) none of the above.

Alexandra: A mad dreamer. My vision is delicate but my process is intense. I pull very elusive energies and impressions from the ether into the physical world and then into a very new market place.

Bee: You use 100% natural and botanical ingredients in your perfumes. Was this an easy or difficult choice for you?

Alexandra: The choice was easy. My convictions had become so strong without even my own consent. I knew that I couldn’t leave violet, gardenia, leather, lily of the valley, et cetera out of my compositions but I couldn’t use their synthetic representatives.

I worked day and night to crack these codes by combining essences and aromas, not by manipulating them. Reaching the standard with such criteria has been a challenging route but a very rewarding one.

Bee: Do you find any limitations when using botanicals?

Alexandra: There are some but I don’t accept them and it has always worked out for me. I hit a wall and then at some point, I make an incredible discovery. Achieving notes this way is so much more exciting.

A perfumer should interpret aromas and their impressions, not merely deliver their industrial profiles yet again to the public. A perfumer must have a point of view.

Bee: You favor the hydrodistillation of essential oils. Please tell us about that.

Alexandra: I love this method because it captures many of the delicate, energetic top notes that often escape the distillation process. Hydro-distillations also have a very distinctive, crystalline quality that I love. But I also use essences that result from different methods of extraction with the exception of Co2 extractions.

…coming next, Part II: Alexandra shares advice for new perfumers, discusses what is on the horizon for Strange Invisible Perfumes, and describes what it takes to be a green company…

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As I delve more deeply into the world of natural perfumery, I am continually amazed by the richness, complexity and vibrancy of natural perfumes currently available. Today I’d like to share with you two lovely, natural fragrances from Jo Wood Organics, based in the U.K.

The first is called Amka. This fragrance is an orange-water based, energizing scent:

With a romantic heart of Iranian rose otto, Egyptian jasmine and bright fresh top notes of neroli and bergamot, Amka is a fragrance of energy and spontaneity. Green mandarin and sweet orange add a fresh, vibrant layer, and the whole combination is grounded in a soft, spicy base of cedarwood.

The second fragrance is Usiku:

A warm and sensual fragrance with a fresh, vibrant edge, Usiku combines top notes of rosemary and pineneedle with a spicy hit of cardamom and hot ginger. A complex heart of coriander, clove and clary sage give way to the woody aromas of Moroccan cedarwood, patchouli and vetiver. Earthy and sophisticated, this is a scent for men and women alike.

Both fragrances are available in a line of body care products, including organic body lotion, organic body soap, organic body dew, and natural soy wax candles. I tried the body dews and found both fragrances to be delightful and uplifting. Amka is bright and sparkling, with a light hesperidic twinkle. Usiku is warm and woodsy with a sense of comfort, like a favorite cashmere sweater. One could consider Amka to be the yin to Usiku’s yang!

Founder Jo Wood (who is married to Ronnie, the Rolling Stone) is passionate about organic living. These products reflect her passion for being “green.” I quote her words here because I find them inspirational and because they are proof that beautiful fragrances can also be part of a sustainable culture:

We have great respect for the incredible properties of nature so we’re committed to making the purest, most natural products possible using only the highest grade of essential oils and plant extracts.

Our range contains the highest possible percentage of organic ingredients and we make sure they’re from accredited and audited sources. We’re dedicated to finding organic alternatives for widely used natural ingredients, working with suppliers to boost the production of accredited organic crops.

Nothing but nature
We never use the following in any of our products: animal ingredients, artificial colours, artificial fragrances, GM ingredients, petroleum derivatives, mineral oil, sodium laureth sulphates, phthalates, parabens, chemically derived active ingredients. Everything in our range is suitable for vegetarians.

Our products comply with European and FDA safety regulations. They’re made in Devon in the UK, and of course they are not tested on animals.

We’ve used glass for our bottles because it’s naturally derived and is recyclable. Glass is the best material to protect the precious contents, but because we don’t use chemical sunscreens you should keep your products out of sunlight and use them within 9 months of opening.

Jo Wood Oganics are available at Jo Wood Organics.
In the US, they can be purchased at Bergdorf Goodman, C.O. Bigelow Chemists and beautyhabit.com.

Amka Organic Body Dew: £45.00 ($85) 100 ml 3.4 fl oz
Usiku Organic Body Dew: £45.00 ($85) 100 ml 3.4 fl oz

image source: Jo Wood Organics.

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I’ll admit to wearing Birkenstocks in college. The classic brown suede ones with two straps and no pizazz. I’ve also been a yoga-doing, mantra-chanting vegetarian for nearly 30 years. So, in all fairness, I was predisposed to like Rich Hippie organic perfumes based on the name alone. It’s a great juxtaposition of terms that caught my fancy from the get-go.

Then I saw the price tags on Rich Hippie products. Ouch!

Then I saw the description of all-organic ingredients used in making these fragrances. Yes!

And then I smelled the samples Rich Hippie sent me last week. Double yes!!

Rich Hippie perfumes are made with organically grown or wildcrafted plant and flower extracts. Even the alcohol base is made from organic grapes grown in California’s lush wine regions. Each batch is made in very small quantities with careful attention to quality and concern for the wearer’s health and the safety of the environment. The simple, apothecary-style bottles of Rich Hippie are the perfect flacons for these natural fragrances.

Rich Hippie Creator and Perfumer Nannette Pallrand has developed fifteen perfumes in the collection: Bliss, Maharishi, Devotion, Rock Star, Rich Hippie, Bohemian Wedding, Spring, The Kiss, Purple Haze, Marrakech, Wild Thing, Kalachakra, Utopia, Nirvana and Psychedelic. The last three are classified as unisex fragrances.

My three favorites are:

• Rock Star: Racy, dangerous, sensual tropical floral with extracts of rare Indonesian flowers, Madagascan Vanilla Bean and Clove Bud;
• The Kiss: Lush, romantic and sensual with rare organic Indian Jasmine extract, light notes of French and Chinese citrus, and Indian Frangipani petals; and
• Hoochie Coochie: Sweet, tropical, sexy and romantic floral featuring Indonesian Massoia Bark, Madagascan Vanilla Bean, Ylang Ylang flowers and light notes of Tunisian Neroli, Sweet Orange and Tangerine.

The one I least-resonated with was Psychedelic, with extracts of organic Madagascan Vanilla Bean, organic Madagascan Ginger Root and organic Sweet Orange Peel.

Perfumer Nanette states:

“There is nothing more beautiful than an all-natural perfume where you can actually smell the real flowers as opposed to a man-made chemical perfume that uses synthetic versions of flowers concocted in a laboratory. Studies have even shown that a real and all-natural perfume actually creates a chemical reaction in the body that uplifts the senses whereas a man-made, synthetic perfume brings the senses down.”

She makes a good point. I find, for example, that I feel better when I eat organically-grown fruits and vegetables as opposed to non-organic. There is an ineffable life force present in organically-grown produce that enhances one’s well-being. So, too, I detect a qualitative difference in organic perfumes. I feel a certain lightness when I wear them, like my spirit has lifted and my aura has brightened.

The lasting power of these fragrances is what one might expect from something so sheer. On my skin, after three hours I could detect only the merest trace of a scent. They are more complex than I had expected, but never over-powering.

Rich Hippie organic perfumes can be purchased in chic boutiques around the world, as well as online at Rich-Hippie.com.

Prices range from $125- 1/2 oz. ($325- 2 oz.) for many of the fragrances to $535-1/2 oz ($1355- 2 oz.) for Kalachakra.

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Good news for niche-perfumery lovers: There is a new perfume boutique in Paris which will showcase some of the most lovely and hard-to-find niche fragrances in the world. It is called Evody, and is located in Paris’ sixth arrondissement:

In the very heart of Paris, between Notre Dame and Saint Germain des Prés, Evody is a new boutique that will thrill all those who love hard-to-find fragrances. Founded by trainer Régine Droin, Evody’s name comes from a first-century first name meaning ‘on the trail of scent’. This pleasantly cozy space proposes fragrances for you or your home from several alternative brands, including: Etro, Stéphanie de Saint Aignan, The Different Company, Juliette Has a Gun, Comme des Garçons, Acqua Di Parma, Serge Lutens, Linari and Miller Harris. Evody: 63 rue Saint André des Arts, Paris 6è. Tel.: + 33 (0)1 55 42 06 54 (via OsMoz.com).

This is terrific news for niche-perfumery fans such as myself. I look very forward to visiting this boutique and will consider adding it to the next edition of my Perfume-Lover’s Guide to Paris. I would love to hear from any of you who have already been to this boutique! Let us know what it’s like!

image source: OsMoz.com

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While I have focused most of my writing on so-called “feminine” fragrances, my good friend J. suggested I branch out a bit and review men’s fragrances as well. It would, she said, be helpful to men as well as to people buying fragrances for men. And, I might add, helpful to those of us who dislike the whole “feminine”-”masculine” perfume distinction in the first place.

So, today’s niche fragrances are from a California line called Frank Los Angeles. There are two fragances in this line, convenienty named Frank and Frank 2.

Frank is the lighter of the two. Its notes are grapefruit, lemon, tagette, green tea, ginger root, cassis, bergamot, angelic seed, clove, cardamom, peppermint, ylang ylang, galbanum, and sandalwood. Did I like it? To be perfectly, well, frank, I did not care for this fragrance. At first. It started off smelling of rubbery Chinese food. It did not agree with me at all. However, MANY hours later, it dried down to a much more palatable citrus/spicy slightly woodsy scent. The ginger root/peppermint/sandalwood combo is what came through strongest at the end in a rather surprising finish. And for an eau de toilette, it has above-average staying power.

I found Frank 2 much more to my liking. With notes of bergamot, balsam fir, crushed plum leaves, white lavender, coriander, red maplewood, teakwood, cognac, coffee bean essence and white musk, this is a very magnetic and sensual fragrance. It is warm and slightly sweet, and is especially good to wear in cooler weather. I would definitely consider buying this for the Perfume Drone, if only he wore scented products!

Frank and Frank 2 cost $65 each for 65 ml. They are available at lucky scent and blush beauty bar.

image source: lucky scent

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