Smells like the holidays to me

It's been a while, and my first pre-New Year's resolution is to be a lot more attentive to this blog. I'm thinking of relocating it to a web address I already own, like soapmold.com or aromacrafting.com. I think I like the latter option best. The blog could be renamed to match. I think I'd like the creative freedom a lot more, too, than the options available here at Blogger.

The holidays are upon us, that's for sure. Everywhere you go, Christmas lights are blinking, winking, nodding and generally driving me crazy. The houses that are overloaded with the bounty of Christmas decorations from Target and Walmart are the ones that amaze me most. What drives people to these extremes and how big are their electric bills?

I prefer my holidays a lot more on the subtle and traditional side, which is especially handy when the economy is in the duldrums. Several large companies have already announced trimming the annual holiday party from their budgets, including my old employer, American Express. Let me tell you, those AmEx Christmas parties were legendary. No expense was spared. I'm sure cutting the parties will save the company thousands and thousands of dollars. Like I said, I prefer a low-key celebration. Egg nog and brandy, orange pomanders, Secret Santas...these are a few of my holiday favorite things. This year, to save our company a few dollars, we're having the Snowdrift Farm Christmas Party at the Wallace residence, and I'm excited! I get to help plan and implement a party for the people I work with every day. Carly, my 14 year old daughter and Robyn, my niece and SDF's General Manager and I will have a blast thinking of fun and creative ways to celebrate the season.

Speaking of orange pomanders (nice segue, huh?), I used a 50/50 blend of our Orange Pomander fragrance oil with our minty Eskimo Kisses fragrance oil and believe I have reached holiday scent blend nirvana. Just enough sweet citrus scent to make the mouth water and just enough minty goodness to refresh and rejuvenate the senses and the spirit. The idea came to me as I was dispensing these oils into our 5 mL sample bottles to include with our Goody Bags (free with every order, while they last). We'll have to see what else I come up with. I have a bottle of Holiday Balsam and a bunch of labels sitting on my desk, and Carly seems to need a job to make some spending money for her trip to the mall this weekend...

Smells like the holidays to me

It's been a while, and my first pre-New Year's resolution is to be a lot more attentive to this blog. I'm thinking of relocating it to a web address I already own, like soapmold.com or aromacrafting.com. I think I like the latter option best. The blog could be renamed to match. I thinkI'd like the creative freedom a lot more, too, than the options available here at Blogger.

The holidays are upon us, that's for sure. Everywhere you go, Christmas lights are blinking, winking, nodding and generally driving me crazy. The houses that are overloaded with the bounty of Christmas decorations from Target and Walmart are the ones that amaze me most. What drives people to these extremes and how big are their electric bills?

I prefer my holidays a lot more on the subtle and traditional side, which is especially handy when the economy is in the duldrums. Several large companies have already announced trimming the annual holiday party from their budgets, including my old employer, American Express. Let me tell you, those AmEx Christmas parties were legendary. No expense was spared. I'm sure cutting the parties will save the company thousands and thousands of dollars. Like I said, I prefer a low-key celebration. Egg nog and brandy, orange pomanders, Secret Santas...these are a few of my holiday favorite things. This year, to save our company a few dollars, we're having the Snowdrift Farm Christmas Party at the Wallace residence, and I'm excited! I get to help plan and implement a party for the people I work with every day. Carly, my 14 year old daughter and Robyn, my niece and SDF's General Manager and I will have a blast thinking of fun and creative ways to celebrate the season.

Speaking of orange pomanders (nice segue, huh?), I used a 50/50 blend of our Orange Pomander fragrance oil with our minty Eskimo Kisses fragrance oil and believe I have reached holiday scent blend nirvana. Just enough sweet citrus scent to make the mouth water and just enough minty goodness to refresh and rejuvenate the senses and the spirit. The idea came to me as I was dispensing these oils into our 5 mL sample bottles to include with our Goody Bags (free with every order, while they last). We'll have to see what else I come up with. I have a bottle of Holiday Balsam and a bunch of labels sitting on my desk, and Carly seems to need a job to make some spending money for her trip to the mall this weekend...

New Fragrance Oils for Spring

Spring is in the air -- and that's not all! We've just debuted seven new fragrance oils for soaps, body and hair care and cosmetics at Snowdrift Farm.

Maybe it was the long, hard winter of 2007 that made our customers think of all things green and fragrant, but I have to tell you, we've received dozens of requests for some basic fruity and floral notes. As most of you know, Snowdrift Farm is known for our designer perfume knock-offs. Because we specialize in perfumery products, including perfume grade alcohols, most of our budget for new fragrance oils is spent on duplications of popular perfumes. For instance, we were the first to bring you Stella (MacCartney's signature fragrance), Vera Wang's Princess and so many more. So, this venture into basic notes was something that, well, went by us for a while.

We are pleased to present Cranberry, Green Apple, Strawberry, Pomegranate, Cherry, Honeysuckle and Gardenia fragrances. You can find them, listed in alphabetical order, beginning here. Though we sniffed our way through lots of different versions of these scents, only a few candidates made it through to testing. In making our final selection, we strived for the realistic, true nature of these plant fragrances. Nothing cloying or annoyingly sweet.

And because we know that money doesn't grow on trees, we looked for the most economically convincing fragrances -- without sacrificing quality. I think you'll find we've achieved these goals. Care for a "sniffy sample" of any of our fragrance oils or essential oils? We've got lots. Visit our sample policy page for more information.

Your opinion counts at Snowdrift Farm. Let us know how you used our fragrance oils and what you think of them. And don't forget to tell us what you'd like to see on our fragrance oils menu next!

Back to Central

I love the scent of freshly made soap, especially if it contains essential oils -- or fragrance oils. The right fragrance oils. Even though I am committed to making a batch of soap with each new fragrance oil we bring on at Snowdrift Farm, I am partial to essential oils in cold process soap.

We've had a slew of new fragrance oils lately, so I have to admit that my production of cold process soaps containing essential oils has been wanting. I was reminded this week just how much I miss the essential oils while making private label batches for a local customer I'll call "V".

V's company provides "green housecleaning" services, but she loves the soap, and peddles it at every chance. She just doesn't want to make the soap. That's where I come in. V and I have spent many hours determine exactly what she wants in her soaps, and she wants everything to be natural. The first two batches contain Sencha and Gemaicha Teas, amongst a litany of other yummy ingredients, and have decidedly citrusy essential oil blends in them.

When I formulated these soaps with V, I kind of turned my nose up at her essential oil blend suggestions. After all, they were not the Oriental/Floriental blends of which I am enamored. In the end, V won out. They are her soaps. I just had it in my head that I would not like the smell of them. Boy, was I wrong.

Batch no. 1 contains a preponderance of lemongrass topped off with a splash of Roman Chamomile. Batch No. 2 is scented with a citrus accord of tangerine, pink grapefruit and bergamot with an inference of Chinese ginger in the background. Paired with the teas and a few other natural texturizing and coloring ingredients, they are beautiful. They smell beautifully, too.

This experience has brought me back to central. I like FO's, but I love EO's. And that's just the way it is for me.

Fleurs d'Oranger by Serge Lutens

Serge Lutens is an icon.

For a long time, I had no idea who Serge Lutens was -- if he was alive or dead, or even a fictional character. Turns out he is alive and real and living in Marrakesh, at last report.

Serge Lutens is a French fashionista. A photog by profession, he worked for Vogue and other high profile fashion mags in the early 1960's, and collaborated with Avedon and other notable photographers. By the end of the 60's, Dior commissioned him to create a "revolutionary" line of cosmetics.

Lutens' star as a photographer rose, and by the mid-1970's he was directing "art films", good enough to be judged at Cannes. By the 1980's, Lutens was working for Shiseido, a Japanese cosmetics firm that wanted to improve their international image. And improve they did, under Lutens careful guidance. He created several winning marketing campaigns for them, and began to create make-up and perfume for them, as well.

Since the 1990's, Lutens' train has been gathering steam. He has received numerous awards and citations for his work in perfume, film and cosmetics, including, in 2006, the prestigious title of “Commandeur" in the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government. Though he conceives perfumes on his own, he collaborates closely with Christopher Sheldrake, the R&D man at Chanel. It's good to have friends in high places, don't you think? You can find all of Serge Lutens wonderful perfumes at Salons-Shiseido.

But, like I said, I had no idea who Serge Lutens was until I visited Aedes de Venustras in the West Village during a summer shopping trip several years back. It was just supposed to be a sniffing expedition. Walking around Greenwich Village, you can inhale a huge assortment of odors. Mostly good, some bad. In any case, my niece Robyn and I had just finished a delicious meal at Ray's Famously Original Pizza (yes, I know....), and we decided to walk it off. We noodled around the Village, and by the time we got to Christopher Street, I was ready for some refreshment.

Just entering Aedes is a treat unto itself. The life size peacock (taxodermied, of course) in the display window in front gives you an idea of the splendor of things to come, but I was taken aback by the ancient grandeur of the place. Lots of velvet and leather. Mahogony display cases filled to the brim with the most unique, rare and inspired perfumes from all over the world. And an ever so attentive staff. We had entered Heaven on Christopher Street.

So much to smell, so little time. My niece and I split up. She took one half of the room, and I took the other. We met somewhere in between and after about two hours of non-stop sniffing and sampling, left with three bottles of perfume: Tann Rokka, Ofresia by Diptyque and Fleurs d'Oranger by Serge Lutens. Oh, what a wonderful day!

Now, I am a floriental gal all the way. It literally takes an Act of Congress to convince me to wear anything other than a variant on Valentino or Pink by Nanadebary. Leaving Aedes, though, I knew I had been enchanted by a buttery-citrusy-floral with a wildly ethereal sillage that lasts for hours. I like the Ofresia, but I love the Fleurs d'Oranger. It is still my most favorite perfume. My niece took the Tann Rokka home with her. I have never worn it.

So, what makes Fleurs d'Oranger so different and attractive to me? The scent, the color, the way it smells as soon as it leaves the bottle and how it smells as soon as it touches your skin. It is sexy and clean, buttery and bright, all at once. Such a bundle of contradiction. The heady rush of sweet oranges is masterfully tempered by the most incredible scent of buttery tuberose ever created. I thought it might be massoia bark, so buttery it smells.

Fleurs is addictive. You just have to keep smelling it. You just want to keep smelling it. The drydown is incredible -- lusciously buttery and sweet. It goes on and on. One caution: though tempting, do NOT overuse this fragrance. It can overcome a room.

I love this scent so much, I had to make soap with it. I recently commissioned a fragrance house to dup the scent and we now have a very close version of Fleurs d'Oranger at Snowdrift Farm. I made a large batch of soap for sale to the public, as well. If you're lucky, you can catch the tail end of that batch right here. Or, try the recipe for yourself: Savon de Fleurs d'Oranger.