Nose in a Book or the Scented Word.

It all started here. Childhood sunny moments in flower filled gardens. Daisy chains, rose petals and secret jam jars of potions distilling quietly in the shade.

                                               


                                                 


                                              

I have graduated through the years to more sophisticated scents and jam jars become perfume bottles that adorn my dressing table with names such as Chanel No5 and my Penhaligon collection that I have already shared in previous photographs.
My olfactory adventures are now taking on a new dimension and last weekend I attended a perfume making course with Karen Gilbert http://www.karengilbert.co.uk/
After a brief history of fragrance and a consideration of classification we had our hands and noses on the essential oils and absolutes themselves. Bliss absolute bliss. Our smelling strips were dipped in citrus, floral, oriental, chypre and fougere materials. Like a musical composition we blended together top, middle and base notes and created our own individual bespoke perfumes.

I have created something that is unique, no-one else has it or will ever have it again, even myself , as I will never be able to create it again as I accidentally dropped some of my concoction onto my records and smudged the equation. But for the record I included top notes of mimosa, grapefruit, bergamot and petit grain. Middle notes of geranium, rose absolute and violet leaf. Base notes of vanilla, benzoin, sandalwood and labdanum. I was looking for a balsamic, woody fragrance with overtones of amber .
Now I have another use for my book plates as a perfume label, and I am musing on a name as my perfume is evolving in the fridge.

And the book, because there always has to be a book, a book to write, and a book to buy .Whilst I was adding titles to my Amazon wish list  I couldn't resist so beautiful a title all in the cause of a further education.




                                                 

And a book to re-read 'Perfume' by Patrick Suskind.


                                                      


It blew me away the first time I read it , and the second. I was enthralled and captivated by this disturbing  murder story of the quest for the perfect scent. I can't wait to re read it and visit the odorous eighteenth-century Paris and the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille.

Like Jean-Baptiste, I am addicted to perfume, it speaks to me on so many levels, memories, feelings, emotions, time and place and mood. This perfume course has revived my passion, my reference library and my future as it is a world I need to explore more and I will share some of that journey on these pages over time.