Littleflowers' Perfume Theater

Sepia, Part Three

2008-11-07T20:46:00.006-05:00

Same perfume inspiration, six months later - way different perfume. What is hopefully a more reserved, sophisticated blend from the initial caricature-ish sketch that I started out with.

I revamped the base, blending up a much dryer amber with musk ambrette and leather tones, and nary a whisper of labdanum.

A drawer-sachet accord of sweet orange and clove-smelling spices stands in for the bite of petitgrain I'd experimented with initially in the topnotes. Petitgrain (sur fleur orange blossom, in this case) just reads as so juicy and vital - even extremely diluted - an element that couldn't possibly have aged gracefully for six or seven decades, like a stained photograph tucked into a leather-bound book and forgotten - until just now. It didn't jive with the mood of the blend so I booted it. Ahh. Much better.

The heart remains the same.

And here's what we landed on (I never spell out all the ingredients in these lists - my thinking is that it would be too tedious, for one thing. I tend, rather, to stick to the more prominent notes that folks may have some fun picking out):

"Built around a leathery cassie/mimosa theme, this scents holds the rare and beautiful golden champaka flower at its heart.

Key Notes:

Top:

hiba wood
bitter orange
basil
spices

Middle:

golden champaka
rose damask
rose maroc

Base:

cassie
tonka bean
ambrette seed
tobacco

Accessory notes:
mimosa
kewda

Leather/Floral. Nostalgic. Hypnotic.

All scent materials are natural, blended in a base of organic perfumer’s grape alcohol."

Inquiries regarding this perfume can be sent to littleflowersbody@gmail.com

Fox on Pause

2008-07-28T20:47:00.006-04:00

Illustration from Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia/Corbis

This weblog, which has informed me that it has no plans of retiring any time soon, has asked me to let you know that it is currently on hold - on hiatus, if you will.

Scents may be blended, a custom perfume or two may even be taken on (the queue if currently full - though I will certainly give word when I am open to commissioned bespoke work), essences may well be diluted, artifacts may be tinctured, mature perfumes may be filtered and decanted - but these events will take place, for now, behind the scenes, and nary a whisper will appear here during this hiatus.

It seems that this particular blog project has evolved to take on the fox as its mascot. Folklore tells us that foxes can be tricky, and difficult to hold in one place for two long, but they always seem to return in the end. At base - at least, in littleflowers world - they are loyal and dependable creatures.

Depending on how things unfold, Fox and I will most likely be back in regular touch late autumn '08. That is my best guess.

Meanwhile, there is plenty of chatter - and no lack of scent blends, including solid perfumes, infused oils, and perfumed body butters, as well as ways to care for your skin you hadn't even thought of yet and didn't realize that you needed - over at my other blog, which I urge you to consider in place of this one for this next stretch of time.

I hope you enjoy what you find there.

xox.Nicole & company

SOIVOHLE

2008-07-03T19:53:00.010-04:00

Liz Zorn is an artisan perfumer who creates both natural perfume blends as well as "mixed media" scents (which incorporate small amounts of synthetic materials).

I really enjoy reading her blog, not just for the latest news and information on her perfumes and on perfume-making in general, but because she seems like someone who, to put it simply, truly does her own thing. Her life philosophies strike me as gentle and peace-filled, yet fierce.

You can read a new interview with Liz Zorn on perfume critic.com right here. There you'll find a link to the shop(s) where she pedals her magical scent concoctions.

Image courtesy of Liz Zorn/Soivohle

THE OFFICIAL LITTLEFLOWERS SKIN CARE BLOG

2008-05-26T19:46:00.005-04:00

HAS OFFICIALLY MOVED!

At the new site, you'll find info pertaining directly to all goods and services related to the littleflowers natural-skin-care shop: products-in-progress (there are currently 2 new little numbers that I'm particularly excited about!), sales, contests, gossip, shop updates. The works.

This blog, meanwhile, will remain alive and largely focused on, as it says in the moniker, the wilderness and thrill of natural perfume!

the sheer intoxication

2008-05-26T19:02:00.002-04:00

of the sample bottle!

(especially the mini 5 ml one, let's face it.)

2008-05-10T13:51:00.001-04:00

Sepia, Part Two

2008-05-10T12:28:00.013-04:00

It appears that the masked ball was a success, at least if my "ghetto" high-fashion costume has anything to say about it. Man, the little girl in me who begged her mom for jelly shoes back in the 80's because they looked like princess slippers (and because anyone who was anyone was also wearing them, of course) has not changed. Any excuse to get dolled up; I am there. Somewhere lost on my long, scrolling list of text-tattoo ideas - if you squint hard and long enough, and way down toward the bottom - you will find FEMME TILL I DIE.

The costumes were unbelievable; I wish you could have seen them! Before each mystery guest burst through the curtain into the main hall, we were announced through a booming microphone. Jason, my partner in crime, was Death Walks Among You. I was The Scented Lady. And I got to wear my new prototype for Sepia perfume, formulated just for this special night. Sepia is still young; is still in its formative stage and has yet to find its "teeth" - but it boasts a beautiful heart heavy with spicy, incomparable rose de mai melded with a bit of golden champaka. In the head notes you might discern a flutter of petitgrain sur fleur (co-distillation of leaves and blossoms from the bitter orange tree), among other notes . . .

The dirty amber base weighed the composition down a bit, so I will need to work on lightening that aspect and integrating it more seamlessly with the heart. Time will help with this, in part; the rest is for me to (happily) puzzle out. Re: the base, I say "dirty" because I couldn't resist grounding my basic amber blend with a bit of vetiver - ahh, earth - as well as a generous bit of mitti attar, which is literally earth - mud, to be specific - harvested from the banks of the Ganges river and distilled into a receiving vessel of sandalwood.

A back-in-time perfume suspended somewhere in between politically incorrect freak show carnivals and the frothy gowns of debutantes' coming-out balls in the South. Between black-and-white and full color. Sepia is so beautiful to me; so nostalgic, and I will continue to chase it around my studio with a lovely glass flask until it holds still long enough for me to capture it in liquid form, and to clap on the stopper.

But first - sigh - I will wash off my makeup.

thank you

2008-05-05T20:21:00.002-04:00

to the recipients of these packages - and to my husband, J, aka "employee of the month" - for supporting me in doing what i do.

xo.n

hot hot hot!

2008-05-02T13:32:00.022-04:00

For a shot at winning this creamy & dreamy Littleflowers item courtesy of Le Parfumeur Rebelle's May Giveaway, hop on over here, and enter your info ASAP!

Retail price? $25. The thrill of the anticipation once you've entered? PRICELESS.

Sepia

2008-04-24T17:28:00.016-04:00

fashion by Reem Alasadi

Every so often I do dress and step out on the town. For the upcoming masked ball (!), I've been mentally constructing an outfit that I'll soon have to get down to physically constructing. I'm thinking salvaged, shredded white shirts and draped vintage lace, not to mention strings of sea-green glass beads. I covet this latest collection by Reem Alasadi (pictured), and may venture to emulate some of her details - the button-up collar action, the feathers if I'm lucky enough to procure some. Of course, there will be a mask - probably stitched from a strip of plain black chiffon. Also black: the shoes - stilettos or slippers? Slippers, I think. With criss-crossing ribbons snaking up, tied just over the knees. Whatever comes of my crazy costume, pictures will certainly be forthcoming.

For scent, I will shelve the previously mentioned Bal A Versailles (which I wore to the park this afternoon, instead!) in favor of a home-brew that I've been dreaming up. A fragrance that is sepia and tattered, vulnerable with the powdery spread wings of regret, and coy with a false heart of steel. Just a flash: the scent of scorched metal. Then comes softness.

Perhaps I will simply call the brew Sepia. Maybe I'll even mix up a small batch, allow it to age, and then list it here. My bottled wish to gather you all up and take you to the ball with me!

I've got about two weeks to prepare. Wish me luck!

like manna

2008-04-03T11:52:00.011-04:00

A while back I was feeling particularly ill with the vapors (think 19th century aunt tucked away in the back room), when a parcel was borne to my bedside on a tarnished silver tray - as per protocol - along with that day's post. Lo, a package of handcrafted healing from my friend Miz Bella, aka the talented and truly kind Kimberly Ayers of The Queen's Obsession, had arrived!

Kim is both a scent artist and a visual artist in mixed media/repurposed materials. As the lucky owner of several of her very special and distinctly different pieces (two of these plucked from the aforementioned parcel!), I am smitten with Ms. Ayers' work, to say the least. She creates with a deft, inspired hand and her pieces are lush, tactile, sometimes cheerful, sometimes saucy, sometimes brooding Victoriana. Not sure how long it's slated to last, but for now you can snatch up a piece of her artwork in functional form for your very own self.

Ms. Ayers' perfume blends are a magical force all their own:

"Blended with a heavy hand "Pretty Poisons are not created in the traditional way of classical perfumery. I tend to not want to even call them "perfumes" ~ perhaps potion would be a better term to use. Pretty Poisons are not your average lighter than air floral blend nor do they smell like a citrus grove or as an ingredient for Grandma's best cookie recipe.

Miz Bella's Pretty Poisons are scandalous, decadent, sinful and stank.
In other words....These are the types of scents that your mama should have warned you about!"

Finally, See those oils in the photo? Those, along with several others, were also tucked into that very same parcel, and dammit if these therapeutic scent blends didn't help to pull me up and out of what was ailing me! I experimented with my different oils - dabbing a bit of each on a corner of a hanky and raising it to my nose every now and then. The healing bottles were labeled with different names; Calming, Grounding . . . The name on the bottle that helped me the most? Compassion.

Miz Bella, a true alchemist who happens to have studied with the legendary Jeanne Rose ~ and didn't I catch a rumor that Bella has apothecary symbol tattoos somewhere on her pale, pale skin? ~ now offers her healing apothecary blends as convenient balms in little slide tins. Think deep, dark, thickly blended & potent synergies with a kind heart, a mischievous cackle, and a generous breath of otherworldly glitter that does the trick nicely in this one.

Harvesting Fear

2008-03-23T12:13:00.013-04:00

Great Sunday Herald link to an article on bottling the smell of fear.

I've been following buzz about this experiment for a while now, as the topic is a pet interest of mine - here is my gratitude that this research is being done, and that all I have to do is sit back and peruse the findings!

Here is an excerpt from this article on the passionate scent

vintage Veto deodorant ad

scholar Sissel Tolaas, written by Vicky Allan:

"Tolaas herself has not worn perfume for years. Mostly she prefers to use her own sweat, reproduced and concentrated, perhaps modified with one of 20 other molecules she uses to tailor it for specific occasions. If she has a big business meeting, for instance, she might add the smell of money. 'When I reproduce my own sweat and put it back on my own body the intellectual and psychological reaction I have to that, to my self, is just unbelievable. It's fantastic. I rediscover myself as a human being'."

(link culled from perfumer Ayala Moriels's SmellyBlog)

Happy Spring!

Stirring

2008-03-15T11:44:00.013-04:00

For someone on hiatus from active duty in "the scent lab," I've got to say it feels like there's quite a bit going on here at little flowers HQ!

First, I must apologize for forgetting to include my blog readers in a little birthday sale I threw this past week over at my etsy store. To make amends, I will extend it through the end of March if you mention this blog entry in the comments section when you place an order - the premise of the sale is that with each order, you get a free gift of my choosing (though, if you know me, you probably know that hints are perfectly acceptable! No promises, I'm just saying . . . ).

Consider it a spring cleaning to make space for all sorts of new items that I've been dreaming up. Coming soonish: more scent lockets. And scent compacts. When I was in nursery school, I remember what a thrill it was to place two small white squares of paper together and staple them on three sides - a little container! In which I could store all manner of tiny items! I've always had a hot spot for containers - the hushed space inside a vessel of one kind or another, a space that cries out - if you have the ears for it (or perhaps if you have a minor compulsion for tiny containers is what I'm trying to say) to be filled. Now, as an "adult," I'm thinking what better substance with which to fill these little vintage finds - small embellished containers of all shapes, sizes, and sorts - than gorgeous aromatics?

Just placed an order with the ever-reliable White Lotus Aromatics, and acquired some new oils that I've been coveting for a while now. One of them, Geranium Sur Fleur Rose (a codistillation of geranium leaves and rose petals) is destined for a light spring/summer body butter. I can't wait to whip this one up. And spring is almost here!

If you've requested a custom item, and I've put you on hold, take heart: I promise that I will contact you as soon as I'm able to deliver.

There is a lot stirring here at little flowers despite the fact that it is still the dormant season. I predict quite a few more posts - less unevenly spaced! - in the very near future.

(Recreational Reading: I found this woman's recollection of the Jean Desprez perfume Bal A Versailles (which is purported to have a high naturals-to-synths ratio) very moving.)

Free Love

2008-01-29T17:01:00.000-05:00

Scent lover! Do yourself a favor and check out the webite Le Parfumeur Rebelle, a jaw-droppingly useful resource for novice and accomplished natural perfumers alike.

While you're there, why not enter the no-strings-attached LPR February giveaway? The winner rakes in 10 mls of 'Love' fragrance, and 'For Lovers' massage oil presented by perfume designer, Diana Rajchel, of Magickal Realism.

To enter, click here.

Now, friends, back to my Perfumed Hermitage . . . at least, for now . . .

distillation

2007-12-04T03:42:00.000-05:00

The crippled perfumer knows he must dilute his precious essences to reveal their best attributes – blue lotus is not only sweet, but salt, earth, and spice as well. Tincture of ambergris, coughed up from the belly of a whale and spotted on the wild seas like a great sponge, floating, brine-soaked and sun-baked, is buttery and slightly fecal. All good perfumes have a bit of rot to them, he thinks, the ruined leg that led him here. It is the skeletal bones pressing through the face of the beautiful woman – they call it bone structure – which makes us want her more. The skin and the flesh are the florals, the lips are the spices, the hair the wood essences, hands are moss, eyes are pure resin gleaming. He touches the shoulder of his glass apothecary bottle. Blue lotus is a she. Ambergris is the part of she that is slightly fetid, a galloping forecast of her corpse - then act now! - her unwashed parts that draw him nearer to the sweetness they bolster. There is an architecture to perfume, the foundation of which is nested in the deep reptilian memory, from times past when we had slits for eyes and snouts for discerning the sex and species of potential mates. The crippled perfumer lights a candle and lifts a glass dropper. The sound of clinking. He is building us into better versions of ourselves.

you are granted full permission

2007-11-24T03:56:00.000-05:00

Full Moon, by Haleh Bryan

She's restless. Perhaps it's because, like me, she literally has full moon fever. There's a mad virus sweeping through New England, so grab some drugstore homeopathy or something, and stock up on frozen fruit bars and slippery elm lozenges. And prepare to relinquish the lion's share of your sense of smell for a couple of days. Surrender to nature and to the liquids in your body tugged moon-ward. Go limp and lean into it. Smile and be luminous despite your red nose. Wonder what happens to creative potential when it sits inside of you and is not expended. Then let all wondering fizzle off into the full moon's light.

Read All About It

2007-10-23T14:22:00.001-04:00

littleflowers reviewed here, here, here, and (*addendum) here!

(My gratitude to the ladies who took the time to hang with my products and my site!)

cabinet of curiosities

2007-10-02T17:39:00.000-04:00

It's mostly base notes and heart notes, here. A wordless span of possibilities. It's fire from the mouth of a cave that beckons come in. And you do. It's a woman's respectable "hobby." It's an irrational and stupid waste of a person's intellect; sheer frivolity. It is a way in. It's a zone free of judgment. It's where pleasure breeds. It is sheer basking in itself. It's a cast of impatience. It's so lovely. It beckons with it's balsams' sweet undertow, it's resins' sharp tongues. It is where I'm headed.

"bride fox"

2007-09-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

for ten years i lived without scent. like julianne moore's character in the movie Safe, i was hypersensitive to all chemicals, both natural and synthetic. and then, miraculously, it eased up, and i began to have this deep, profound, wordless dialogue with the hot animal intelligence fisted deep inside my brain. it's been wonderful so far . . .

lately, though, i've been noticing that certain smells like car exhaust, and even certain natural perfume ingredients, jump out at me in that familiar, hyper-vivid, all-to-familiar way. and my excitement and fearlessness about my new friend - the luscious, the fearless, the seductive scent - loses its footing for a moment. just for a moment. but i look at old pictures of myself, with a smile on my thin face and a respirator mask in my hand, always at the ready, and, you know. i wonder where this new "hobby" of mine is headed.

some people would tell me to read The Secret, that we're all in control of every aspect of our lives, and i have to laugh. a little. i mean, i didn't just read The Secret, i have it on audio and have let it soothe me to sleep many a night. That doesn't mean that i don't think it's largely oversimplified bullshit.

the so-called "law of attraction," which i believe in, is but one law of the universe. that's what i'm thinking. there are other laws, which it would be presumptuous at best for humans to claim to fully grasp - or even perhaps, in some caes, to touch. i mean, the buddha died of food poisoning, is all i'm saying. many saints have lived lives of suffering. i just think it's ok to allow for some mystery in this very wide space that we abstractly refer to as the universe. i also believe that there's room, within that very large space, for each of us to claim a destiny for ourself. but we don't know it all. i think, at best, we are co-creating our destiny with this thing i keep referring to as "the universe." we are partnered with it. and when your lifelong partner changes his dance step, it's probably a good idea to take note. it might a sign that the two of you are about to pioneer a new dance entirely. or to resume an old, tried-and-true one.

i try to listen, and allow myself to be led where I might be needed, even if it doesn't make sense to me at the time. don't get me wrong - i can be a stubborn bitch, and often i have not gone quietly. but then one night while stargazing i let my eyes blur, and a line connected all the pinpricks of light and drew a map that made sense, and let me know that it is alright, sometimes, to follow the quiet voice wherever it is leading; that this voice might, after all, be quite accurately oriented.

it didn't actually happen like that, "one night." it crept into my consciousness doggedly, tirelessly, against all of my efforts to keep it out, over a period of many years, is the reality. it worked on me. it broke me down. it took years for me to become an i in lowercase and more years after that for me to feel comfortable with the idea of surrender - to realize that it is much easier this way than "playing" control the way some little kids play house. now i mostly let go and just flow with it. finally.

i'm leaving my relationship with scent wide open. i've been sensitized to many things in the past, and those sensitivities have vanished. if they reappear, i won't panic. but i don't want to be an idiot and try to force myself through a tiny alice-in-wonderland door. i think it's always our job to listen for signs. and i heard a twig crack behind me, that's all. who knows - it might just be another stray fox.

meanwhile, i'll be continuing to work on the next LPR perfume challenge - you gotta love it's name - oracle. i'll be working on oracle, perhaps an annointing oil, sage-y and smokey with a bouquet of exotic flowers at its heart. flowers and twigs. and i'll be gathering information from the cues around me like a good seer.

i'll also be revelling in my recent marriage (!) to my long-time partner, J. he's also one to sway with the wind when the wind calls his name, as it has, sometimes brutally, many times over the past 14 years that i've known him. i love him for many reasons, including this one. happiness is definitely afoot, and the calm seed of safety at the center of everything is pulsing and aware: all is, all is, all is well.

Justine Crane: O So Much More Than Le Parfumeur Du Jour!

2007-08-05T23:21:00.000-04:00

I've used one word to describe Justine Crane's products before, and I'll use it again here: sultry. We're talking about someone who is a scent maven, who will get under (and all over) your skin in the best way. Justine hennas her hair bright red and rides loud bikes and writes sort of like Steinbeck (one of her favorites), even if it's just a short, friendly email. She's kind but not cloying; she's fun; she's going to have to hang out with me if I ever do follow through with my threat to move back to California! And when it comes to scents, I haven't found anyone like her. No, I'm going there: I haven't found anyone better.

Justine, the perfumer behind The Scented Djinn Perfume Apothecary (which we will get to shortly) has been making scented soaps and butters and salves and candles and powders for a looong time; long enough to have mastered the perfect bar of soap, I will testify right here, and (for me, at least) it's J's deceptively humble-looking, ccrreeaaaaaammy Patchouli soap:

"Ambrosial, sweet and musky is an apt description of our smooth Patchouli Scented Soap. Pogostemon Cablin of Indonesia origin, and organic Pogostemon Cablin of Madagascar are combined in a soap base of extra virgin olive oil, virgin coconut oil, organic shea butter and organic cocoa butter."

direct from the site. Definitely do visit J's online skincare shop, Sierra
Soapourri, to get a sketch of what she's up to, though to get the special seed-textured, rough-edged, multi-colored, wooden-box-molded artisan soaps and whatnots you might have to write her personally. The soap du jour is often just not advertised online. So you might write to order one thing and perhaps she'll slip you this other mysterious thing in with it, as a little gift, like a sample or a potion, and that's it: the spell is cast, and you are hooked.

I have yet to try my coveted (and mouth-watering) bar of J's legendary Organic Yellow Tomato & Holy Basil Soap, but it is definitely on deck. A girl can only keep so many bars running at once!

It's hard to pick favorites out of J's menagerie of specialties, but I'm going to have to say perfumes. The ones I've sampled (or seen described on her site) are liquid, in a grape alcohol base. From what I've gathered from our conversations about perfumery, her methods are intriguing (though precise). And her aesthetic is definitely old timey and romantic. I remember my delight at ordering my first mini bottle of scent from her (At - ahem - $7 a pop? Is it a mistake? No, J is just quirky and generous and mysterious like that. That must have been the most valuable $7 I have spent. Quite a gift, eh?). The small glass bottle of perfume came with its cork sealed in rosy-red wax with an old-fashioned D stamped into it. Tres Anachronistic. Drool.

But ok, the scents themselves - downright magical. Reviewing perfume makes me nervous, but I can confidently say this: Justine is not afraid to take risks. Try, and you'll see. A fresh melon-green note tendrils up from your wrist when you'd least expect it, yet it WORKS SO GOOD. She uses a bold, glimmering note of ginger to nudge open Eye of the Dawn (which eventually mellows into a hypnotic, almost candyish honeyed floral-wood). And sometimes the surprise is a powdery Victorian stink so addictive you have to keep smelling it; it's frankly narcotic (Here, I'm referring specifically to the alluring Tempest, which opens with notes of tinctured dried fig and tinctured fresh strawberries). If you haven't yet visited The Scented Djinn Perfume Apothecary, please do not pass go.

It's not often that you meet someone who's this talented AND dedicated to their art (o yes, i said ART) at the same time. Who, um, also happens to be generous, funny, and just REAL. I've sampled my share of perfume from the "biggies" in the world of "natural perfume," and J's stuff is, plain and simple, my favorite. And - you have my word - that proclamation holds true even if i didn't like her and hope to be iced-tea neighbors some day. ;)

(Pictured soaps - with scattered perfumes - are, clockwise from the top left, Patchouli, Ylang, Blood Orange, Jasmine & Cocoa Butter Soap; a mystery hunk o' lather that I have yet to decode; and the playing-card molded Amare Mezzanotte, a perfumed glycerin soap with jasmine grandiflorum, styrax, myrrh, frankincense, bergamot, galbanum, tagettes, clove, petit grain, and oak moss - with added jojoba. "Perfumed soap?" I would say so.)

Notes from a Novice Perfumer (and the f-word)

2007-06-22T02:10:00.000-04:00

"leaving fox

so many fuckless days and nights
only the solitary fox
watching my window light
barks her compassion.
i move away from her eyes.
from the pitying brush
of her tail
to a new place and check
for signs. so far
i am the only animal.
i will keep the door unlocked
until something human comes."

-lucille clifton, a dream of foxes, poem 4 of 6

~

I thought I'd hit pretty close to my mangy dog/fox/wolf/coyote scent on the first try. I felt confident. Now I'm wavering. But there is something there . . .

Not sure I'd call it a "perfume." Not too worried about it either way. It is sweet and rank at once, as I'd imagined, and it's all mine! (Though I suppose free samples are available by request for the curious circus-freak seeking type!)

The bones of the scent are labdanum, patchouli, angelica, costus, mysore sandalwood, vanilla, amyris. the flesh and fur are orris, rose otto, oudh, jasmine, cassie, cepes (mushroom), seaweed, tarragon, butter, and some other stuff.

HHmmm. It looks better on paper. It's still missing something. But that's what makes it fun, right? The quest to "trap" it?? The excitement of angling toward an emotion painted in scent, which flits around your perfume lab on its coy, painted wings; realizing that there must be something less obvious, less labored a tool, than your silly butterfly net.

Harlow Farms, Westminster, VT

2007-06-19T23:51:00.000-04:00

I've got nothing, other than the fact that I'm freshly back from a healing (if brief) sojourn to Vermont, and was lucky enough to visit my favorite idyllic farmstand/cafe. I could live at this place. I would curl up inside one of their gourmet key lime pies each night and sleep blissfully. By day, I would lounge on a lily pad by the fountain out back, which looks out on acres of clean organic farmland. And farmboys. Southern Vermont is good times, you heard it here. Just drink in that photo and quell any remaining doubts.

2007-06-17T13:04:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, a friend sent me a BUNCH of killer hydrosols that she'd distilled - mint, comfrey, rosemary, eucalyptus, sage, lemonbalm . . . Now that summer's here, they've been poured into smaller spray bottles and are being used liberally around the house as body/hair sprays, sometimes mixed with aloe, sometimes neat.

I mixed a batch up into a sort of funky rosemary/sage lotion (at the last minute some bizarro impulse prompted me to add vanilla, which is what funked it up, in my opinion. would have been much cleaner just letting the fresh, slightly astringent herbal scents shine through . . .). I poured the stuff into malibu tubes with great big openings, and didn't think much of it, other than to offer some to friends who stopped by.

Recently I got a phonecall from my friend's mom, who has been in a wheelchair with MS for nearly 30 years now. Her husband died a few years ago, and she finally had to move into an assisted living facility which sorta sucks, as, at 60, she's so much younger than all the other biddies. Nothing against them, I'm just saying. Anyway, she told me she's been using the lotion, she loves the scent (which mystifies me), and best of all, the bottle is perfect because she can just pop open the cap with her teeth and the goop flows right out - she doesn't have to press or pump, which would be difficult. What's cool is that I know her, and she's not one to BS or say things just to be polite.

Score.

~

Poem 2 from Lucille Clifton's Fox series:

"the coming of fox

one evening i return
to a red fox
haunched by my door.

i am afraid
although she knows
no enemy comes here.

next night again
then next then next
she sits in her safe shadow

silent as my skin bleeds
into long bright flags
of fur."

~

I'm off to Vermont for a couple of days. 'Twill be so nice to vacate the city.
xox.

Savvy Fox

2007-06-16T00:26:00.000-04:00

Some of us here at
l i t t l e f l o w e r s
headquarters never learn. Yes, I am speaking of yours truly. Why is it my priorities are so focused on nurturing others and on putting on a good face that I often forget the imperative: I must limit my activity; physical, social, and otherwise. It's been this way the past eleven years that I've been living with a pretty darn nasty chronic illness. A slip-up can put me in bed for a period of weeks to months. I recently slipped up. Friends and relatives converged on our apartment for Memorial Day weekend, and one thing led to another. Um, and then another . . .

I generally enjoy life, but I must live it mindfully. And - lesson of lessons! - I must, generally speaking, put my own needs first. If I don't, everyone ultimately suffers (and by suffer, I mean, of course, that they lose out on the pleasure of my company for an indeterminate length of time).

It is back to the day-bed for me, for the moment. The movie Reefer Madness is playing in the background as I type, and the delicate scent of ultra-moisturizing Tiki Butter is wafting up at me from my shoulders, hands, decollete. I had to try this body butter, crafted by a fellow New Englander, Debbie of Debra's Rhapsody. This is my first run-in with Monoi de Tahiti oil, and let's just say I am not disappointed! So, as you see, all is far from lost.

Meanwhile, allow me to present the third installment of Lucille Clifton's Fox series as a reminder to self. And others. (I haven't forgotten about poem two in the series, don't worry).

"dear fox

it is not my habit
to squat in the hungry desert
fingering stones, begging them
to heal, not me but the dry mornings
and bitter nights.
it is not your habit
to watch, none of this
is ours, sister fox.
tell yourself that anytime now
we will rise and walk away
from somebody else's life.
any time."

~

Goodnight moon, et. al.

"There's nothing to trust, there's nothing to forgive"

2007-06-09T23:17:00.000-04:00

RE-PARENTING WITH BALMS, SERUMS, AND SCENTS

photo: "Holding On" (cortney andrews, 2006)

It is divine, the realization that we all deserve to love ourselves and our bodies, and to grasp for pleasure where we can find it and hold on tight. It is ok and perhaps almost necessary for us to lavish ourselves with comfort now and again, even every single day! But what if we take it that noticeable step further and become almost addicted to these services and products? Is it possible that we are following the instincts of the child that's left deserted inside of us, who still wants to be comforted, nourished, and fed? I think yeah, it's possible that this is what some of us are doing. And I don't judge it.

One of my favorite musicians, Cynthia Hopkins (aka Gloria Deluxe) has a lyric in her song Tender Mercies: "There's nothing to trust / there's nothing to forgive / there's only your hands / there's only your skin / and the tender mercies raining down on them."

Peace.

www.gloriadeluxe.com

Fox I

2007-06-01T16:03:00.001-04:00

As long as I've known about her, I've always coveted poet Lucille Clifton's Fox series. It begins:

~

"fox

who
can blame her for hunkering
into the doorwells at night,
the only blaze in the dark
the brush of her hopeful tail,
the only starlight
her little bared teeth?

and when she is not satisfied
who can blame her for refusing to leave,
Master Of The Hunt, why am i
not feeding, not being fed?"

~

For the past year the margins of my consciousness have been teeming with foxes, mangy coyotes overpopulating the suburbs where I grew up, wolves with two different colored eyes.

I have written about these animals, but maybe it's time to approach them from another angle. I'll attempt to construct a botanical perfume (no synthetic chemicals, animal products, etc.) as an homage to undomesticated mangy fur and the sweetness that lies just underneath it - i'm thinking labdanum, costus root, angelica . . . a scent that's challenging, that's right up against the edge. I am such a novice when it comes to this art of natural perfumery. I remember this novice feeling . . . from nearly two decades ago, when I was just getting my feet wet writing poems. It's exciting. Straining up against that semi-transparent membrane that is the mystery of this particular artform, squinting in order to peer through, overly confident. Almost cocky. The humbling, and then, slowly, the real learning and the building oneself back up, through hard work, follow. With all its ups and downs, the whole journey is amazing.

I think a good way to learn is to be seized by inspiration, and temper that wildness with a (somewhat, at least) structured plan. Not a bad way to walk through a life, actually.

*More installments of Lucille's Fox series to follow.

Serums!

2007-06-01T03:21:00.001-04:00

A huge bottle of olive squalene arrived with today's mail! The final puzzle piece.

JUICY SERUM-RELATED DETAILS AHEAD: SKIP IF YOU'RE NOT IN THE MARKET, OTHERWISE, SIT UP STRAIGHT AND SOAK IT IN!

I tinkered quite a bit to get the base-oil blends just right in each of the two different serums - one for dry skin and one for "normal to oily." The serum for dry skin has olive squalene and rosehip seed oil. It also has extra evening primrose and carrot seed oils for repair and hydration, where the normal-to-oily blend incorporates lemon and tea tree to keep skin toned and clear (this is the one for me, and I've been using it on my face, neck, and "decolette" for about a month). Both formulations contain jojoba - gently heat-infused with rose petals and calendula flowers - and meadowfoam seed oil. Maggie from Prairieland Herbs (see links) introduced me to this oil - like jojoba, it's another highly stable gem that sinks in quickly. I like meadowfoam because it's rich yet super light.

Both serums contain healing synergies packed with all sorts of potent herbal, skin-feeding, anti-oxidant goodies: sea buckthorn berry, calendula, helichrysum, rosehip seed extract, blue chamomile, etc. Lots of beta-carotene here! These herbs are C02-extracted (a method that uses carbon dioxide - a "clean" solvent - and no toxics).

The crowning jewel: SCENT. I needed to keep each scent blend compatible with its respective skin type:

-Normal-to-oily is scented with a lovely light patchouli (skin-toning, oil control, anti-acne), floral ylang ylang (sebum balancing), steam-distilled lime (toning), and ginger (warming, invigorating).

-Dry/mature brings in frankincense (superb for skin rejuvinating/regenerating), ylang, and palmarosa (anti-wrinkle, scar-healing). A gentle note of de-stressing bergamot (bergatpine-free) tops this one off.

I think it's fair to say that this project totally consumed me for a while there! But the reports from my guinea pigs (aka posse of product-loving girly-girls) have been super encouraging, and requests for more are already trickling in . . .

~

A point to ponder: the psychology behind "luxury" natural body care: are some of us "re-parenting" ourselves, as it were, with creams, balms, and salves? And if so: good for us! Slather it on, ladies and gents.