Where I've Been and What I've Discovered
1) Those of you who also inhabit my regular LJ know I've been collecting up things on Celtic trees and plants. I'm also combining all the notes into ONE book where I can look in single sections and find everything stated about any particular tree or plant. Score!
2) The book I found on ancient Egyptian and Greek perfumery hasn't been a secret, although no one asked me what it was until this week. This is it: SACRED LUXURIES; Fragrance, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt by Lisa Manniche, photographs by Werner Forman. It was printed in Italy (it has a lot of full colour plates and photographs alongside the information), but its publishing information is: Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY; c1999. LC# 99-27112. There was no ISBN# on the book, which seems strange to me. [Can you tell I spent most of my childhood in libraries and I was a Library of Congress cataloguer for about two years.] When I first found it at Half Price Books, I could not find it anywhere on Amazon.com, but it's there now:
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Luxuries-Fragrance-Aromatherapy-Cosmetics/dp/0801437202/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219068097&sr=8-1
The same author has also put out an Egyptian Herbal that I'll be ordering this week:
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Egyptian-Herbal-Lise-Manniche/dp/0714119741/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219068097&sr=8-2
I'll also reply back to the comments on flameelf with the book information.
3) I've been working on a general lung/sinus/immune system aromatherapy blend for both myself and a few others that end up sick all the time. I had all kinds of input with this as far as information goes, and I went ahead and threw in most of the suggested oils.
I ended up with something made of all-vegetable and resin materials that smelled like DEAD FISH. Having let it sit for a few weeks, the dead fish smell has gone away and I learned several things (other than I have the Gift of the Stynkii) I think you'll be interested in knowing:
--> Remember how many of us wondered why the BPAL Salons tended to fade quickly? I had a hunch it had to do with them having so many more individual notes than the regular General Catalogue scents. I think this is now fact, because having used about twelve different notes to mix this aromatherapy blend, I see they tend to negate or reduce the effectiveness of one another when it comes to the perception of "strength". Most of the EOs I used were piney/resiny, balsamic, or things like mint or lavender...but when I finished, it seemed rather weak overall instead of the 'overwhelming' I expected. Just for the hell of it, I'm going to mix a 'perfume' in the same way and then see if it fades quickly like the Salons did. The fewer the notes, the STRONGER the scent truly is.
I don't know if the blend is any use or not, but I'm going to test it on myself in oil burners. Just so long as it does not make the house smell like dead fish.
--> By the way, that 'dead fish' scent happened when the rather herbal Hyssop hit the piney aromatics. Ew.
4) Flaming Gay Guys rock! Turns out at least one of them in the local antique mall has been purchasing tonnes of test tubes for alcoholic shooters and he sells the used ones off for pennies in his booth at the Midwest Art & Antique Mall. I don't have to try to track down some with cheap shipping on the internet!
5) I may have accidentally figured out the Cocoa Absolute problem. I finally posited the problem on the Natural Perfumery listserv, knowing most of them are alcohol-based perfumers and I explained what I was doing. Several of them had had the same problem, but discovered that after the heating and blending into a carrier oil, they left the mixture to SIT for several months and then syphoned off the clear carrier oil on top...which had become utterly infused with the dark chocolate scent. I left my various 'experiments' sitting and had planned on testing the clear carrier that had separated later on down the line, so I was on the right track after all. That's why some of you are purchasing a lightly-tinged oil that smells of chocolate and I have a thick, blackish-brown chocolate ooze with the absolute.
6) There is NO number six.
I thought I had another point on the "Stinky Fish" experiment that opened my eyes, but I've totally forgotten it if I did. If I recall it, I'll come back and re-edit the post.
Love you,
Nechtan :)
2) The book I found on ancient Egyptian and Greek perfumery hasn't been a secret, although no one asked me what it was until this week. This is it: SACRED LUXURIES; Fragrance, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics in Ancient Egypt by Lisa Manniche, photographs by Werner Forman. It was printed in Italy (it has a lot of full colour plates and photographs alongside the information), but its publishing information is: Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY; c1999. LC# 99-27112. There was no ISBN# on the book, which seems strange to me. [Can you tell I spent most of my childhood in libraries and I was a Library of Congress cataloguer for about two years.] When I first found it at Half Price Books, I could not find it anywhere on Amazon.com, but it's there now:
http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Luxuries-Fragrance-Aromatherapy-Cosmetics/dp/0801437202/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219068097&sr=8-1
The same author has also put out an Egyptian Herbal that I'll be ordering this week:
http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Egyptian-Herbal-Lise-Manniche/dp/0714119741/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219068097&sr=8-2
I'll also reply back to the comments on flameelf with the book information.
3) I've been working on a general lung/sinus/immune system aromatherapy blend for both myself and a few others that end up sick all the time. I had all kinds of input with this as far as information goes, and I went ahead and threw in most of the suggested oils.
I ended up with something made of all-vegetable and resin materials that smelled like DEAD FISH. Having let it sit for a few weeks, the dead fish smell has gone away and I learned several things (other than I have the Gift of the Stynkii) I think you'll be interested in knowing:
--> Remember how many of us wondered why the BPAL Salons tended to fade quickly? I had a hunch it had to do with them having so many more individual notes than the regular General Catalogue scents. I think this is now fact, because having used about twelve different notes to mix this aromatherapy blend, I see they tend to negate or reduce the effectiveness of one another when it comes to the perception of "strength". Most of the EOs I used were piney/resiny, balsamic, or things like mint or lavender...but when I finished, it seemed rather weak overall instead of the 'overwhelming' I expected. Just for the hell of it, I'm going to mix a 'perfume' in the same way and then see if it fades quickly like the Salons did. The fewer the notes, the STRONGER the scent truly is.
I don't know if the blend is any use or not, but I'm going to test it on myself in oil burners. Just so long as it does not make the house smell like dead fish.
--> By the way, that 'dead fish' scent happened when the rather herbal Hyssop hit the piney aromatics. Ew.
4) Flaming Gay Guys rock! Turns out at least one of them in the local antique mall has been purchasing tonnes of test tubes for alcoholic shooters and he sells the used ones off for pennies in his booth at the Midwest Art & Antique Mall. I don't have to try to track down some with cheap shipping on the internet!
5) I may have accidentally figured out the Cocoa Absolute problem. I finally posited the problem on the Natural Perfumery listserv, knowing most of them are alcohol-based perfumers and I explained what I was doing. Several of them had had the same problem, but discovered that after the heating and blending into a carrier oil, they left the mixture to SIT for several months and then syphoned off the clear carrier oil on top...which had become utterly infused with the dark chocolate scent. I left my various 'experiments' sitting and had planned on testing the clear carrier that had separated later on down the line, so I was on the right track after all. That's why some of you are purchasing a lightly-tinged oil that smells of chocolate and I have a thick, blackish-brown chocolate ooze with the absolute.
6) There is NO number six.
I thought I had another point on the "Stinky Fish" experiment that opened my eyes, but I've totally forgotten it if I did. If I recall it, I'll come back and re-edit the post.
Love you,
Nechtan :)