On the Road to Natural Perfumery

How it began.

My study of perfume began over a decade ago when I journeyed to Australia and discovered essential oils.  Before then, I thought all perfume gave me a headache.  I disliked the cloying cloud that hung over people who wore perfume.   I shied away from department store spritzer people, and held my breath in elevators.  I later learned that most of the perfume in the U.S. is synthetic.  Lab created imitations smell totally different than the real thing (i.e., essential oils) and can give you major headaches and allergies. 

Wise Woman Jurlique EO Blend

In Australia, essential oils were very popular.  I remember going into a store called Jurlique and being fascinated by all the different essential oils, things like Cedarwood, and Calendula, each scent with its own personality.   Jurlique was as common as Bath and Bodyworks here in the U.S.   (Incidentally, a Jurlique opened here at our local mall but closed after only a few years.  Does this make you wonder if Australians are more progressive?  Or do Americans just love their prestige brands too much?)

The first bottle of essential oil I ever bought was called Wise Woman by Jurlique and had lavender, rosewood, patchouli, rose, and basil.  When that ran out, while I would have loved to return to the great Outback for a refill, it was cheaper to purchase the essential oils and blend my own Wise Woman.  As my collection grew, so did my curiosity on how I might blend them into natural perfumes.

Here are my favorite aromatics to work with.  Not only do they smell good, they sugar what's gone sour:

yuzu, clary sage, jasmine sambac, fir absolute, frankincense, lime

The EO’s I find most challenging:

basil, blue lotus, rosewood (if an EO had a face, rosewood would be that long skirt wearing woman with a squint and an arm full of chains), geranium (I like it most days but I swear it can turn on you), cedarwood (reminds me of cherry cough syrup), Indian frankincense (smells very sharp), and oakmoss, which smells and looks like the bottom sticky residue of the Chinese medicine herb pot.  

The magic happens when you get one of the challenging EO's to play well with others.  

To browse our selection of natural perfumes, please visit Mermaid Lane Perfumes