When sketching down my intentions for creating my nine note perfume, I had two directions. One with a working title ‘Lioness’ that I described as a soft and powerful perfume expressing my personality, a blend of personal development – I am a Leo, hence the name. The other concept I called ‘The Scent of Crete’ using the local herbs and flowers of the island where I live. Finally, I decided to combine the two concepts and came up a with a beautiful synergy for this brief:
Journey, the Perfume
I wanted to create a scent that reflects my journey here on Crete. Something that is composed by the plants and fragrances that are all around the island and part of my life. At the same time, the blend is to express the intention that it is part of a transformational journey. An elixir that, by remembering who we are, encourages personal development, creates harmony, gives clarity, builds trust and inner wisdom to facilitate and enhance creativity in a protected environment. From where you can tune in to your destiny by using the power of plants and find joy, empowerment and renewal.
Choosing the essences
In one way or another, my chosen oils are somehow supporting creativity. Labdanum was something I had to have in this blend, as its sweet wildness expresses the ability of communicating through the soul. Frankincense is grounding, deeply calming as well as protecting thus together with the fresh empowering aroma of juniper creates a strong base to evoke heavenly jasmine as the king of oils and symbol for fertility. I chose sage from the herbs garden to bring wisdom and clarity coupling with rosemary to keep remembering who we are. As a gateway to top notes, rosy floral geranium assists in our attunement and to open up for new potentials. The encouraging citrus scent of bergamot is always there to uplift and cooperate with neroli to reassure us about the freedom of our choices in life in order to transform and transcend beyond imagination.
Formulation of The Journey
I had some sweet restrictions when selecting my oils from the study kit supplied by Eden Botanicals. Each and every oil was amazing, very high quality certified oils, however limited in numbers. There was only 27 scents to choose from, and to be true to my concept, it was quite a process to find the right ones that are present in Crete – either as plants, essential oils, or resins used here. Here is my final choice with my scent evaluation notes for each on the scent strip before start blending:
- Labdanum (Cistus ladaniferus):
Sweet, vanilla-like, resinous, a bit of coffee, viscose. - Frankincense (Boswellia carterii):
The EB version is not as strong and expressive as the one I usually use (from Primavera Life). - Juniper Berry (Juniperus communis L.):
Sweet a bit, spicy, spirit in the bottle, pungent, slow-go power, will go well with labdanum. - Jasmine (Jasminum officinale var. grandiflorum):
Sweet, flowery, flying, strong – powerful. - Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea):
Intriguing, fresh, medicinal, clear, calming. - Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis ct. verbenone):
“Remember you have time”, slow down, fresh, penetrating, Stay!
Middle notes together: Jasmine the queen with the two princess. Fresh and Clear. - Neroli (Citrus aurantium var. amara):
Fresh, citrus, uplifting, pulling, happiness, opening the heart.
- Bergamot (Citrus aurantium var. bergamia):
Sweet, surrounding, hugging, spring & summer, THE Perfume itself. Strong, knows herself and what she wants.
- Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens var. roseum):
Floral, fresh rosé wine, apple pie (clary sage and chamomile together). Equilibrum, tune-in, connecting head and heart.
Top notes together: neroli holds the others.
Perfume oil
As I prefer oil-based perfumes rather than alcohol, I decided to go that way. When the essential oil blend was complete, as a base oil I added my jasmine infused organic cold pressed olive oil to orchestrate the final product. The colour of my perfume is golden yellow carrying the powerful marriage of the Sun and the Moon.
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