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Confessions Of A Fragrance Fanatic
By Lisa Maliga, Thu Dec 8th
My addiction to aromas has haunted me since childhood. Iattended a flower festival at the age of four and my mother wasunable to keep my nose away from all the fresh and fragrantblooms. I used my impressionable sense of smell as a guide todetermine if I liked my mother’s cooking or not. The beef stewalways got a quick unhappy sniff, while anything dessert likewas allowed to linger, appreciated by my fussy sense of smell. A few years ago, my quest for the simplest yet most compellingscent of all, vanilla, led me from the avenue of purearomatherapy grade essential oils into the back alleys ofsynthetic fragrances. I had found a marvelous vanilla absolutefrom Madagascar but when my supplier vanished I was left minusthe sensuous aroma that I knew and adored. Yes readers, I did something desperate: I ordered my firstvanilla fragrance oil [commonly referred to as an f.o.]. When itarrived a week later, I looked at the 1 ounce amber bottle andeven before opening it I just knew it was a sham, animpersonation of the vanilla bean; a mockery of nature.Carefully opening the bottle, I took my first whiff. Surprised,I took another, longer sniff of the vanilla f.o. It smelled likevanilla, no question about that! The cost was kinder on mycredit card, and the amount was larger too. But what happenedwhen it was poured into a batch of soap? Would it hold up in mynew concoction of oils that were blended into whipped sheabutter? In my online research I’d read of scents smelling greatout of the bottle [OOB] but turning into something quitedifferent when added to bath & body products.
The world of aromatherapy is comprised of scents that originatedirectly from plants and their various parts: flowers, roots,fruit, bark, or leaves. If you buy a bottle of lavenderessential oil from a reputable source you will find it has fourattributes listed on the label: country of origin, Latin[botanical] name, part of plant used, and method ofdistillation. [Cold pressed, steam distilled, etc.]. Highlyprincipled suppliers will even provide a fifth element, theprincipal constituents in classifying their essential oils. Iwas accustomed to this type of information readily provided forme. When I saw that plain brown glass container with just thewords “Vanilla fragrance” and the supplier’s name and address, Iknew I had indeed taken my first shaky steps down that shadowyalleyway. Tuberose absolute, $200 per oz., was another favorite aroma thatI wanted to add to my list of favorites. This white flower’spetals were so delicate that their sweet aromas were removed ina process that involved solvents classifying it as an absolute,rather than a pure essential oil. Still, an absolute was farsuperior to a mere fragrance. I decided to try a tuberosefragrance for far less money and
when it arrived, along withsome buddies doing impersonations of rose, jasmine andsandalwood, I was in a state of nasal bliss. The tuberose didresemble those fragrant white buds, and the other florals sung asincere imitation of their live counterparts. Sandalwood fromIndia or even Australia was beyond my means [back then] but thesandalwood f.o. was reputed to contain Indonesian sandalwoode.o. and so it was somewhat natural. Blending became another passion that was easily indulged withless costly fragrances. I made my first sandalwood-rosecombination and spent the next days coming up with more and moreblending ideas, some even including the few citrus essentialoils that I had bought before my vanilla indulgence. I thelibrary and the net to find ideas and soon had pages of notes ofwhat were able to be combined to create layers ofscents. From fleeting top notes such as neroli [orange blossom]and lemon to middle notes that would involve longer lastingscents like lilac and sweet pea to the deeper and sultriestnotes such as vanilla and patchouli. Perfumery was based onmusic and a perfumer was considered the conductor. While I wasn’t a perfumer, I was able to obtain fragranceduplications, usually called dupes. Now dupes were added to myever-expanding lists of must haves. I had soon amassed a supplyof impressive designers to my kitchen cupboard: Chanel, ThierryMugler, Guerlain, Bvlgari, Burberry, and Vera Wang. Also fillingmy shadowy [both essential oils and needed to bestored in a cool, dark place] storeroom were imitations of Bath& Body Works, and Victoria’s Secret scents. Soon my fixation onvarious fruits such as mango, coconut, pineapple, kiwi, andseveral berry scents were being stocked in a careful array ofalphabetically ordered scents. The fruity phase morphed intodesserts and there were several companies who provided variouscalorie-free chocolate, variations of vanilla, brown sugar,pumpkin pie, and cinnamon bun scents. Last week as I searched for a coconut lime verbena, which reallywas a coconut lime as the verbena was undetectable, I took astock of what had happened to that cupboard in the northwestcorner of my kitchen. Inside sat a stockpile of syntheticscents. I went online and found a vanilla absolute that areputable essential oil only supplier carried and purchased asmall amount. It cost more than at least a dozen fragrances, butI felt a sense of relief that I was out of those twisting, dankdark alleyways and back onto the tree-lined roadway that smelledof true nature. About the author:Read and learn at http://www.lisamaliga.com Discover the diversewritings ranging from soap and bath & body recipes to fiction,figure skating, aromatherapy, herbal hints, and helpfulpublishing advice. Boost your own site’s rankings by reading ofweb design and promotion. This is the literary home of LisaMaliga, owner of http://www.EverythingShea.com
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