The Perfume Bee

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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The May 2007 issue of Perfumer & Flavorist magazine features an article titled, “Topics in Perfumery: Creating Effective Natural Fragrances.” Writer Helen Feygin looks at how large fragrance companies are responding to the public’s desire for 100% natural fragrances. Acknowledging that “natural personal care is no longer a small niche business,” Feygin points out that using an entirely natural scent palette poses challenges for modern perfumers. She states:

There is no blueberry essential oil available to make a fragrance smell like blueberries, nor are there grape or raspberry oils. Matching these fruits with a palette of synthetic materials such as methyl anthranilate and raspberry ketone would be achievable, if not easy, for most perfumers. But limiting oneself solely to naturals, this process becomes a true test of creativity [emphasis added].

I love that she highlights the importance of creativity needed to work with natural essences. Of course it would be easier for a perfumer to add a few synthetic drops of this and that to achieve a particular scent (as you may recall from an earlier post, Lily-of-the-valley’s beautiful scent, for example, cannot be captured through distillation. Lily-of-the-valley is a synthetic note in perfume). But to create something similar to this fragrance using natural ingredients requires ingenuity of the highest order. This is where the joy and artistry of natural perfumery shows its true colors.

Feygin adds:

The complications in working with natural materials are well compensated by the sparkling elegance they impart to fragrances. Wonderful fragrances can be created using only naturals, the way it has been done since perfumery’s dawn.

But she then states:

Synthetics, on the other hand, are essential as well—they extend perfumers’ palettes, adding complexity and diversity…In truth, there is room in the marketplace for safe synthetics and naturals, often complementarily blended together in the service of a fantastic fragrance.

Until those last few lines, I was in agreement with Feygin, who is the founder and principal of a fragrance development company. But nonetheless, I see it as a good sign when the major perfumers are taking an interest in naturals. May this be the beginning of a long and fruitful dialog.

The full article may be purchased from Perfumerflavorist.com or read in GCI magazine.

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Long-time readers of The Perfume Bee may have recently noticed a change in content as I write more about natural and organic fragrances and less about synthetic perfumes.

This shift is entirely intentional.

You see, I have switched to wearing only natural perfumes in my own life, and I feel compelled and delighted to write about these fragrances in this blog.

The reasons for this shift are both simple and complex, which I will address in a future post. But let it suffice to say that this decision comes after much careful thought and consideration.

As you know, I absolutely LOVE fragrance. And the thought of living a fragrant-free lifestyle was abhorrent to me, not to mention downright sad. Somehow I equated going green with going fragrance-free.

Fortunately, I was wrong. It is not an either/or proposition. Talented perfumers around the world are creating astonishingly beautiful natural fragrances that are both safe and lovely. I have had the very good fortune to begin sampling these fragrances and have gotten to know some of the perfumers through lively email and phone conversations.

In upcoming posts, I will share these discoveries and perfume reviews and interviews with you as I always have. I will also discuss the natural/organic dialog that is taking place in the world of perfumery and cosmetics.

And, finally, I am expanding my coverage to include discussion of natural cosmetics and personal care. These are a natural extension of my interest in eco-chic beauty. My focus will continue to be on perfume, but when I come across fabulous finds in the “organic beauty” category, I won’t be able to resist sharing them with you.

I know this is a lot to take in. But I try to live an integrated life and this new orientation is reflective of that principle. So, I warmly invite you to consider The Perfume Bee as your “go-to” source for all the buzz on eco-chic beauty and natural perfume. And, as always, I encourage you to share your thoughts with me.

Love,
Christine

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Today in my salon we have the pleasure of talking to hip niche perfumer Ineke Rühland. Ineke lives in San Francisco, California, which is also world headquarters for her company, Ineke. She launched her line in August 2006 with four beautiful eaux de parfums: After My Own Heart; Balmy Days & Sundays; Chemical Bonding; and Derring-Do. Ineke creates inventive fragrances inspired in part by the rare scented botanicals she grows in her garden. As a professional nose and classically-trained perfumer, Ineke creates joyful fragrances which are a delight for the senses.

When I spoke to Ineke by phone and email, I felt I had met a kindred spirit. She, too, practices yoga, has been a vegetarian for 20+ years, and is 45 years old. We had a terrific time discussing the fascinating world of niche perfumery. Join me as we get to know the friendly, talented and extremely knowledgeable perfumer and business-woman, Ineke Rühland.

Perfume Bee: Hi, Ineke! First of all, how do you pronounce your name?!?

Ineke Rühland: It is pronounced “In-a-kuh,” and is a Dutch name.

Bee: Thank you! I understand you were born in Canada and now live in San Francisco. At the risk of over-generalizing, do you perceive a difference in attitude towards perfume in Canada compared to the US?

Ineke: In many respects, Canada lies somewhere between the US and UK in terms of culture and attitudes. Canadians are perhaps more discreet about fragrance usage than Americans, although I would say they are probably quite aligned with West Coast preferences. Before moving to San Francisco, I lived in Europe for 12 years, and that is where I noticed the biggest difference in attitudes to perfume. Europeans, particularly the French, are much more enthusiastic in their fragrance usage. The French consider fragrance to be part of their “patrimoine” (heritage), and the average person is surprisingly knowledgeable about perfume.

Bee: Could you please tell us a bit about your background leading up to your career in perfumery?

Ineke: After studying business in Toronto, Canada, I started my career in marketing at the fragrance supplier Quest (now part of Givaudan) in the Netherlands, and eventually found my way to Quest’s offices in the UK and France. I always thought that perfumers had by far the most interesting job at Quest, and the idea of changing professions came to me when I was working for Quest’s fine fragrance group in Paris. Most perfumers are chemists by training, and the idea of moving from marketing to perfumery had never been done before, so it must have seemed a strange request. My boss and mentor, Yves de Chiris, very graciously agreed and suggested I first attend ISIPCA in Versailles.

Bee: Was there a defining moment that led you to become a professional perfumer? What keeps you coming back (i.e., how do you prevent burnout?)

Ineke: There was no defining moment, but rather a gradual process of listening to my intuition. Like many people, my career path has been somewhat of a process of following the forks in the road that seem most interesting and rewarding. As a perfumer working for a fragrance supplier, I think it’s possible to approach burnout when you are asked to work on dozens of projects at a time, but that’s not likely to happen when you have your own business. Unfortunately, I end up spending less time in my lab than I do on packaging, sales, PR, administration, etc. Since I plan to launch just one new fragrance per year, I can devote a lot of time to its creation. I’m planning to create a home fragrance line so that I can spend more time in the lab.

Bee: You studied at ISIPCA in Versailles. What was the most unexpected element of that experience for you? The most difficult? The most fun?

Ineke: Studying at ISIPCA was a great experience. First of all to get accepted at the school was a great privilege since the classes are very small – my year had just 17 students in perfumery. The most difficult thing for me was the chemistry, since the other students already had undergraduate chemistry degrees. I was allowed to skip the really chemistry-oriented classes, which worked out well for me because I knew I would end up in fine fragrance creation where it’s not as necessary. Secondly, all the classes were in French, which was a bit of a challenge for me. ISIPCA now offers an abbreviated course in English, but it didn’t exist at the time. The most fun was always “travail pratique” in the lab, where we worked on things like natural ingredient reconstitutions, basic structures (eg. eau de colognes, chypres, orientals), countertypes of important fragrances, and original creations. We worked under the tutelage of experienced perfumers like Dominique Ropion, for example.

Bee: There is a lyrical lightness to your fragrances. They are like poetry in scent. How do you come up with the concepts for your fragrances and how difficult is it to capture these concepts in the actual fragrance? Which comes first, the name or the fragrance?

Ineke: Thanks! Sometimes a fragrance idea comes first and other times I start with a more conceptual idea, but I’ve found that the ideal approach is to work on them simultaneously so that there is coherence between them. For me the conceptual side of a fragrance needs to be supported by visuals, colors and words, so I really focused on that for my packaging. I’m quite visually oriented, so I don’t find it difficult to associate imagery with scents. The execution is a bit more difficult because it’s a very hands-on effort. My husband Bill O’Such is an accomplished photographer, and took all of the photos based on my ideas and styling. I collaborated with my sister on the text on the cartons, brochure and website. And I have a brilliant graphic designer named Helena Seo, who makes everything look polished and professional.

Bee: How many trials (mods) does it typically take to make one of your fragrances?

Ineke: As perfumers go, I’m definitely on the slow side. Each of the four fragrances launched so far took about 2-3 months of elapsed time to create (not full-time) and over 100 modifications. Typically each fragrance has between 50 and 75 components. Customized fragrances are not in the cards for me because I can’t work that quickly and be happy with the results.

Bee: How do you know when a fragrance formulation is complete? That “aha” moment?

Ineke: Since I have a perfectionist side, each fragrance never seems 100% perfect. What I usually do is work on a fragrance until it seems about right and there is nothing obvious left to do. I then put it away for a month or so, and when I return to it with a fresh nose and perspective, I find plenty of things to modify. I find it helpful to have a deadline, otherwise I could probably keep tweaking to infinity.

Bee: I love your notion of the alphabet book (abécédaire) for naming your fragrances. How did you come up with that idea?

Ineke: A girlfriend of mine came up with the idea years ago in a different context, and the idea stuck with me. There are lots of instances where it has been used effectively in publishing (eg. the Sue Grafton murder mysteries), but never in perfumes as far as I’m aware. I like it a lot because it gives the fragrances chronology – people will always know which is the latest fragrance. The alphabetized names also add to the “storytelling” aspect, and allow for some nice graphical flourishes.

Bee: When can we expect to see the launch of the “E” fragrance?

Ineke: I’m currently working on “E”, and it should be available in late fall/early winter. Since the current selection is largely in a fresh and clean register, which comes very naturally to me, I would like the new fragrance to be warmer and richer in contrast. As components, I’m working on replicating a couple of plants we grow in our garden here in San Francisco: Angel’s Trumpet (brugmansia) and Midnight Candy (zaluzianskya capensis), both of which are night bloomers.

Bee: You not only create beautiful fragrances, you also manufacture, bottle, package, ship and market them. How do you balance the creative aspects of perfumery with the business aspects?

Ineke: That’s an ongoing challenge! The most important part of the solution for me is to use a contract manufacturer to take care of most operations. I use a great company in Pennsylvania called Fragrance Manufacturing Inc. (FMI), who take care of everything from storing components, blending, filling, assembling, storage of finished goods, fulfillment and shipping. I’m also fortunate to have a very organized husband who works evenings and weekends for me. He’s an engineer, and by some stroke of luck, he’s exceptionally good at all the things that dreamers like me can’t do easily. Our dog Fritz also pitches in with evaluation support from time to time. Although he has by far the best nose in the family, he’s not always good at communicating his preferences.

…Tomorrow, part II: Ineke shares advice for new perfumers and discusses perfume trends and her favorite fragrances…

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Wow! What a week for perfume bloggers! First was the unpleasantness regarding possible “pay for favorable reviews” addressed earlier.

Fortunately, this was quickly followed by good news in the perfume blogosphere. Several happy announcements by three perfume bloggers include:

• Victoria of Bois de Jasmin has announced her new job as Creative Coordinator with IFF (International Flavors & Fragrances), one of the top five fragrance houses in the world!
• Ina of Aromascope has begun working for the wonderful French perfume company, L’Artisan Parfumeur, at their new store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago; and
• Ayala of Smelly Blog has announced that Ayala Moriel Parfums are now available at Elemental Beauty Concept in Dnepropetrovsk and in Kiev, Ukraine.

Kudos and best wishes to all of you, dear bloggers!

And yours truly had a lovely mention on Grant’s Basenotes this week in which he noted my Perfume-Lover’s Guide to Paris e-book. Thanks, Grant!

All in all, it was a very busy week for perfume bloggers and hopefully our readers are keeping up with these events which have been unfolding at such break-neck speed!

I wish you all a pleasant weekend, and, whether you are a mother or have/had a mother, may you enjoy a very happy Mother’s Day!

Mary Cassatt. Sleepy Baby. c. 1910. Pastel on paper. Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, USA. Image source: abcgallery.com

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The May 2007 issue of Perfumer & Flavorist magazine has an interesting article by perfume writer Michelle Krell Kydd. It is titled “Exposing the Perfumer: What it means to be a perfumer in the information age and the need to communicate with consumers.”

Kydd looks at the current debate about what classifies a person as a “perfumer.” Classic perfumers such as Jean Guichard, director of Givaudan’s Perfumery School, are clear in their emphasis that “a perfumer needs real [perfume] bases, real knowledge and real experience.” He states, “just because someone can smell well and is adept at mixing accords does not make him/her a perfumer.”

Meanwhile, Kydd refers to non-clasically-trained perfumers as “self-trained fragrance crafters” and “oil mixers”.

This reminds me of a similar debate I experienced when I was studying to be a dietitian twenty years ago. There was a strong movement by the American Dietetics Association and state licensing boards to define who could call themselves a dietitian and those who were “merely” nutritionists. Regulations and licensing requirements became very strict and prescribed. To be a registered dietitian (R.D.) required a 4-year undergraduate degree, including courses in biochemistry, organic chemistry, statistics, economics, english, as well as the multitudinous food and nutrition courses. This was followed by a 1-year dietetic internship in a medical center and passing of a rigorous examination. Then, and only then, could I call myself a dietitian.

At the same time, I empathized with non-classically trained nutritionists. They had valid reasons for entering the field and a different philosophy than the classically-trained RDs. The point being that there was and is room for both types of nutrition professionals to practice their profession. Just because I chose the rigorous, more orthodox route in no way implies that I think other nutritionists should not be allowed to practice.

Similarly, in perfumery there is room for a variety of training and approaches. There will always be those who are drawn toward more classical training, and thankfully there are wonderful schools available for such an education. (Although, having mentioned two of them in her article, Kidd then cryptically added, “Other academic perfumery schools…exist,–but the public doesn’t know about them.” Why the secrecy???)

And there will always be those who choose the path of self-education in perfumery. These individuals spend countless hours blending and learning and experimenting. They read books and work with mentors and participate in active online discussion groups learning this art at their own pace and in their own way.

Which way is better? Neither. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Show me a lovely fragrance that puts a lift in my step and makes my heart sing, and I can promise my thoughts will not be focused on the training of the person who made it. I will instead be giving them my thanks!

This article can be purchased at Perfume&Flavorist.com.

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New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr recently spent some time talking with Marie-Françoise Stouls. Stouls is head of the esteemed beauty department of Paris’ classic department store, Le Bon Marché.

Stouls has been instrumental in making Le Bon Marché a world-class destination for perfume and make-up devotees. In 1998, she oversaw the creation of “Le Théâtre de la Beauté,” literally recreating the floor of beauty from the ground up. During this renovation, she cut way back on the beauty brands carried by the store and began carefully rebuilding the collection. Her emphasis is on niche brands, and niche perfumers continually seek her out in hopes that the store will carry their brand.

Stouls admits to currently being fond of two niche fragrances in particular. The first, Oha, is the dark rose fragrance recently launched by Téo Cabanel. The second, which she is eagerly awaiting, is Vicas, the most recent vintage reissue from Robert Piguet, owner of Fracas and Bandit. To read the whole article, please visit the NY Times.com website.

I found the perfume department at Le Bon Marché to be an absolute delight when I was there a few months ago. It is sparkling and well-lit with the classic and niche perfume lines well-displayed for easy access. The sales attendants were helpful, not at all pushy, and respectful of my desire to proceed at my own pace.

My only caveat is to remember that, while the selection here is fabulous, it is impossible to carry all of the items of each niche perfumery in a department store. In other words, know that you may be missing some of the fragrances in a particular line and that in order to see the whole collection of a perfumery that catches your fancy, it is preferable to go to the brick-and-mortar boutique itself.

Having said that, Le Bon Marché should be high on the list of any perfume-lover’s visit to Paris for its convenience, beauty and well-chosen collection of fragrances.

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A southern California niche fragrance company, IBI, has launched a new fragrance called Virtue®. Touting itself as “the world’s first spiritual perfume,” it is “based upon an inspired Biblical formula.” The perfume contains top notes of apricot, pomegranate and fig; heart notes of iris; and base notes of frankincense, myrrh, aloe and spikenard.

What I found most noteworthy on this company’s website were its instructions for the spiritual use of perfume. A shortened version is as follows:

• Begin your spiritual practice
(prayer, meditation, contemplation, etc.)
• Establish your desired spiritual state.
• Smell your wrist, maintaining awareness of your spiritual state.
• Keep repeating this association.
• In the course of your day, let it remind you of your spiritual state by smelling your wrist.

These guidelines seem to have real merit. As most of us have discovered in our own lives, our sense of smell is closely tied with our memories and emotions. For instance, the scent of geranium leaves always reminds me of summertime on my grandmother’s deck, overlooking the beautiful Puget Sound. Conversely, the odor of deep-fried onion rings brings back the feelings of nausea I had during my first trimester when I was pregnant with my eldest son. And the use of incense in religious rituals for helping establish and maintain a sense of centeredness and reverence is well-known. The point is, scent and memory as well as mood are closely linked.

So, to extrapolate from that, can we use scent to consciously evoke certain moods or states of mind at a later time? Can we choose a fragrance, and, while sniffing it, link it to a particular experience and then, by simply smelling that scent at a later date re-enter that original state of mind? Makers of Virtue® would suggest that we can. And I am inclined to agree. I look forward to doing more research on this fascinating topic.

For more information on Virtue®, visit the virtueperfume.com website.

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Michelle Krell Kydd is an independent marketing and communications consultant who also writes about perfume. In this Perfumer & Flavorist Magazine interview, Kydd talks about what it takes to be a true perfumer, the “imposter syndrome”, the importance of “unveiling” the perfumer, and the Jean Carles olfactive training charts.

In discussing the value of knowing the “nose” behind a perfume’s creation, Kydd notes the wealth of information available in the blogosphere. She states:

In the Internet age, fragrance connoisseurs and individuals with an interest in perfumery share information on blogs and virtual communities. The names of perfumers along with histories of their respective creations are now a regular part of the blogosphere—which is not always true of print media. Curiosity regarding the perfumer is a natural extension of perfume’s DNA—it is an intimate product that literally touches the wearer. People don’t let strangers get that close, so why wouldn’t one want to know more about a person who is touching their heart with something beautiful?

To read the entire interview, please click here.

image source: perfumerflavorist.com

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In a previous post, there was a question regarding the availability of Chanel No. 19 eau de parfum. I have received a letter from Chanel-USA’s customer relations department, as follows:

Dear Christine,

Thank you for your inquiry regarding CHANEL N°19, that was Mademoiselle
Chanel’s personal perfume and named to celebrate her August 19 birthday.
Like its creator, Nº19 is forever young, intensely feminine,
contemporary and supremely spirited.

CHANEL N°19 Eau de Parfum is discontinued (emphasis added). I searched all CHANEL
Boutiques in the US and was unable to locate any remaining inventory of
that item….

CHANEL Nº19 can be enjoyed the following forms:

– CHANEL Nº19 Eau de Toilette Spray ….

– CHANEL Nº19 Body Lotion ….

Thank you for your interest in CHANEL.

Best regards,
(name)
Consumer Relations
CHANEL, Inc.

I had written my query to CHANEL-France, and my letter was forwarded to the American office. Thus, the answer is still incomplete. We know that in the United States, eau de toilette is the only form in which our beautiful Chanel No 19 is available. HOWEVER, I still have questions as to the availability of the eau de parfum (and parfum) in France. If any of you can shed light on this mystery, please drop me a line! Together, we can figure this out!

images source: french Chanel.com

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