How to: Easy homemade spice fragrance and flavor oleoresin collection with Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals.

 I’ve come across a novel concept, in extending the use case scenario, in my studies and observations regarding chaparral plants of California, in the case of implementing Wisesorb’s Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals - not only as a desiccant, yet I’ve found that it seems to bind spice | herb oleoresins to the structure of the silica particles.

Wisesorb Flower Drying Silica Gel Crystals, image courtesy of Amazon and Wisesorbent Technologies.

What does this mean, in particular?

Within the world of spices, I imagine that I would update this blog article, in days and weeks to come (I started on this project idea at the end of February, 2023) with exciting developments in detailing a rather simple and relatively labor and machinery-free method of processing fresh plant material in to an accessible pure oleoresin, which can be observed as in the image below:

A closeup of Wisesorb Silica Gel crystals with some fresh spice herb material and bits of oleoresin.

What an exciting thing to observe, for a fragrance and flavor enthusiast, perhaps with the added feature of bearing an artisanal crafting aspiration, in manufacturing ingredient concentrates from scratch. Imaginably, from this point, I could keep loading the silica gel crystals up with fresh spice herb materials until a satisfactory amount of oleoresin had built up in the crystals, at which point, I could perform a simple solvent extraction, of my choosing, of such, dependent, perhaps, upon the plant’s best reputed solvent, determined per species of harvested plant. In this instance, I came across a fresh, minty, mesquite-smelling chaparral plant in my local commonplace whereabouts.

Update: my backpack with this project, started, in it, had been stolen from me, so I can not currently continue this blog article. Hopefully, some day, I’ll be able to come back to it.

Product Review - Maison Margiela “Replica:” Jazz Club - Eau de Toilette.

This time, I tried out an unexpected “newcomer” fragrance. 

I hadn’t heard of Maison Margiela, prior to showing up at Nordstrom, out at the Del Amo Fashion Center, where I’d intended to show up to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka - Cologne Intense (currently $160-$220 USD), as a departure from men’s fragrances I’d already tried, and loved, such as Dior Homme ($95-$175 USD - 1.7-6.7 oz.) or Viktor and Rolf Spicebomb ($134, 3.04 oz.). Prior to showing up, I’d tried to pore over exactly what I was trying to get at, here and there, in maintaining a fragranced personal profile, for people (not really) - the thought had come up, in my mind, as a suggestion, after all. Sure, Myrrh and Tonka smells great, but was it beyond something I could reasonably mix up, myself, somewhat, if I’d just purchased various component ingredients, myself? On one hand, Tonka bean is a bit of a contentious ingredient, being that it is potentially toxic. After the fact (of my purchase), I got some feedback on things. Supposedly, the toxins had been painstakingly researched and studied, as far as the end product fragrance composition, in question, and they’d duly been removed, from the consumer fragrance product - not all that far-fetched, to suppose. 

Then, at the men’s fragrance rack, at Nordstrom, the merchandising display winds up being a different story. I chose to do retail, at a department store, for one thing, for the sake of the fact that they have an on-site testing and auditioning space and capability, as far as product offerings, in fragrance - it’s something that e-commerce solutions, as far as branching out, in to something new, can - at times, be lacking in, resulting in purchases that lead to buyer’s remorse, perhaps, or a lack of diversification, which can wear down on things; concepts such as innovation. On the bottom of the fragrance rack, there were these products, named Replica, as a brand, which I had never heard of, before. I figured - “hmm… Replica? As though they might, somewhat, be fairly high-end aiming, (somewhat) bargain alternatives (at $150 USD, for 3.4 fl. oz.) to the more high-end and more well-established luxury lines, such as Jo Malone - in this case, I’d say that this brand is a bit of a newcomer, at Nordstrom, out here, whereas Creed products, far more expensive, which were placed at the top of the same section, on the same part of the fragrance rack, Jo Malone, right below, and some other brand, next one down, with Replica products seated at the bottom of the rack. My analytical mind had me supposing that perhaps these ones were a viable knock-off sort of thing, or otherwise cheaper alternative product, leading me astray from fulfilling my initial intention, in procuring a new fragrance for myself - so I don’t smell, while I’m out and about, in public, feeding the birds, and such. I do routinely become sweaty, and oh - what a travesty, if I end up smelling bad, as a known pigeon-feeding bum.

This is the product, similarly, as I’d encountered it, as a sample bottle, in-store, at Nordstrom. Maison Margiela’s Replica fragrance line touts itself as a rendition, if you would, upon a notable theme, or experience, per se. I found “Jazz Club” to be a suitable attention-grabbing alternative, given my initial intention to purchase Jo Malone’s Myrrh and Tonka cologne, for a fair sum of money more, on this instance of purchasing a bottle of cologne.

As it turns out, the general field of relevance, contextually - in a sensory sort of consideration, given the two top competitors, here - Myrrh and Tonka versus Jazz Club, I found my choice to wind up being reasonably within a similar olfactory ballpark, with Myrrh and Tonka’s lavender top notes becoming a citrusy and floral theme, with primofiore lemon and neroli, in Jazz Club. In addition, I’d also recently - by turn of fate, been interested in Rum, as a fragrance ingredient - quite expensive, as it turns out, and I feel that it’s a sophisticated ode to myrrh, on one hand, with its complexity and breadth, in a fragrance composition. The unifying features, between either one of them, were the sweet base notes of either one - Tonka bean versus vanilla bean: similar, in an olfactory sense, yet, upon sampling both fragrances in the store, I found Myrrh and Tonka to have a bit, perhaps, too much richness, in the bottom notes, and I felt that I would, at some point, measuring out a use-case scenario, of me being out and about, and sweating, and stuff - of that I’d develop a viciously rich musk about myself - easily offensive, if I ever got lazy, and I’d wind up “not realizing,” so to speak, how I smell, to other people, whereas I found Jazz Club’s features to accommodate the same general aesthetic, while remaining a bit bright, I’d say, as far as the overall effect, of the fragrance, whereas I could layer it with some still-there citrus and woodsy fragrances I have, in small amounts - Eau d’orange verte, by Hermes, and Dior Homme. Together, the trio of the three fragrances is deliciously elegant, like a luxuriantly-enveloped citrus rind, upon close examination, with the middle and base notes becoming more evident, with diffusion, starting at a slight distance, perhaps, with a slighter sniff of the nose. In my fragrance-wearing oeuvre and repertoire, of purchases-past, I’d enjoyed having what I’d say, would amount to a similar citrus-led layering of colognes, such as that the Hermes botanicals line of products would be most suitable - for instance: Eau de Citron Noir had been a recent favorite, with Dior Homme and Spicebomb as my layering choices - quite complex, in that instance. 

After purchasing, I tried on some of my choice, in purchasing, and I found it to have a delightful olfactory sense of that the fragrance imparted a notion of having taken a shower - ostensibly due to an addition of C-12 (I’d sensed - both Lauric Alcohol, as well as Aldehyde C-12; fairly bitter), with Alcohol C-12 (Lauric Alcohol) being the characteristic “just-showered” scent, of all scents, I’d say, and C-12 Aldehyde being a bit controversial for me, since I’m allergic to drinking alcohol, and overall, I found that this fragrance easily affects me with a notable depressive and sedated effect. It was my choice, though, in trying this one out, and perhaps it’s not all that much, to my detriment, overall. I’m trying to do life as representatively (as much as possible) not overly, or obviously, stimulated - it’s simply too cheaply and easily a topic of controversy, and I strive to be an honest role model of sustainability in my enterprise model, so I don’t get thrown out of town - quite literally, that, which could wind up, being the case, for me. I figure - if I take the bottle out, with me, on a walk, and with my ionic mineral carry-along profile, and with my travels equating to some form of milling, further, of the product, the fragrance would, ostensibly, mill out the aldehyde, or I could throw some other stuff in there, since the bottle actually allows for the entire spray top, and “cap” of the bottle, to be removed - allowing for additions, or refills, for example, another ingredient, or entire fragrance, could be put in to this bottle of Jazz Club, thus transforming the presence of this contentious (for me, being allergic to “drinking” alcohol) Aldehyde C-12 ingredient in to something altogether unexpected, and far-removed, sensory-wise, in the fragrance composition, in my experience with aldehyde C-12.

A nice touch, that the bottle’s top is removable, allowing for refills. 

I’ll leave this review, at that, for the time being. Thanks for reading :)

Sticker Time Giveaway! (Active) - mophie charger (found - USC)

I found this mophie charger, while out and about

yesterday. I hear various theories, such as that ditching this charger was a clever marketing student’s ploy, to get the USB-powered Christmas lights giveaway to happen, of my Twitter account’s fabled lore. Actually, that was the only theory I heard. Prior to that, I assumed that someone somehow lost or dropped the thing, in between the time in which it was raining, in the early morning, until the time in which I found it, which was around noon, or so. I guess I ought to return the thing, since I feel like I should frequent the local Target, there, for their cheap bread prices, easily accessible, for me, while racking up Target Circle rewards, at the same time (bread has recently been marked up about $1.00, or so, at different locations). I just started this routine, yesterday. 

  

Product Review: Liberty Natural - Licorice “anise” Air Freshener.

 Recently, I’ve been having a significant hankering for the scent of licorice, and for designing fragrances around a licorice fragrance. That being the case, and being that licorice, in and of itself, is not all that much thought, per se, in perfumery - I came up against some challenges, during the course of my inquiries in to what “stuff” available there could possibly be, on the internet, as far as licorice extracts, etc., of various sorts, for example. I was searching for a licorice absolute, which apparently had been made available, at some point, in the past, at a very small number of suppliers, I’d discovered, after fairly rigorous extents made, of “search,” as it were. At this point, however, I did not discover any supplier for a licorice absolute. 

After discovering Liberty Naturals’ Licorice “anise” Air Freshener, I’d put a small amount of thought into it, and I figured, “hey; they do fragrance extract products fairly well, I’d suppose that this product is fairly well enough, if they say it is an air freshener.” On one hand, that was a fairly well enough thing to suppose, as it turns out, since I purchased the bottle, and it says that it contains 100% essential oil. In some sense, on the matter, getting one or another fragrance extraction, per specimen or per species of plant, will give the creator of a fragrance ingredient, isolate, or extraction product - various options, on one hand, various outcomes, on the other, with variable desirability, with cases in which a particular “this or that” sort of solution that works for one type of plant, winds up not being desirable or ideal, for a different type of plant. In this instance, perhaps a licorice absolute isn’t quite desirable, in industry-informed “types,” such that there could be, upon the topic of licorice, as a fragrance. 

LibertyNatural.com’s product, Licorice “anise” Air Freshener.

I get it. A person finds themselves significantly hooked - fetishistically, even, in a sense, when it comes to some sort of purist decree, or something like that, on a licorice search, of all things. Sure, there’s star anise, fennel, and maybe one or two other things (in short), that smell “like” licorice, and on the other hand, this product ☝🏼 “is” fairly much licorice, and it says that it is licorice essential oil, for that matter. I suppose that star anise and fennel might be slightly distinct, but perhaps not. I’ll have to look in to that matter, at some point in the future. 

The company isn’t quite the quickest to ship things, but they are, as a basis, a farm, as a business, and I’d suppose that the people who work and manage the operation make a slim taking, on a sale, and that much of the time and attentions paid to things, of their business dailies, for example, end up being tending to the farm. But if you end up purchasing from them, please don’t give them a hassle about anything - they do ship their stuff they have listed, and it’s standardized and pure as any other decent supplier. They do also offer other licorice-like fragrance products, in their online offerings. Perhaps I’ll look in to experiencing those, as well, at some point, and I’ll report back on this topic. 

Just buy it from the site I told you to purchase it from, not some other place - you’re reading this, and I know how it is - having that feeling as though good enough isn’t good enough, when it comes to a licorice fragrance. This one is perfectly good and fine licorice fragrance, and perhaps there couldn’t be better, for that matter. 

Discovering the fragrance of the Carnation flower, through various USA suppliers. (Product Reviews)

 In a sense, it’s a strange notion, for aspiring botanists, with some experience in having visited botanical gardens, for example - the thought of that carnation flowers could have a fragrance made, of them. 

People who have been around carnations in bloom - and at that, if you happen to be reading this article timely enough, you’d be able to visit a local botanical garden to discover this for yourself: carnations do not particularly seem to have a smell to them - they would seem to be a simply ornamental flowering plant, yet they bloom in May. It’s a perfect time to get in to having the experience of visiting a botanical garden. The carnations flower’s attractiveness and similarity to the rose, visually, would invoke the thought of that they smell strongly, such as the rose flower does.

From Wikipedia:

The put-off slight home exhibition, of the iPigeon.institute art effects and fragrance-making collection: the stand-off days.

 Days and night, on end. 

No regard, whatsoever, for typical formalities, I’m becoming aware of, of the casual “village idiot” for the crumbs and knickknacks offer of playing around in my closet; this notion-deprecation had instilled itself as permeably “aught could be” more respectable, of a generalized notion, in that the general public might also appreciate patronizing the art collection and collected documents and transcripts of the early days of establishment of my iPigeon.institute pigeon-feeding enterprise, of a story based upon a travails anecdote of a guy who “made it work” in Los Angeles, through dedicating time to taking care of others (the pigeons), while making his (or her) way out of homelessness, and the pitfalls and shortcomings incurred, in establishing sociable currency and relevance, amongst the common people, and their good graces, in the land of fables, of greater Los Angeles, turn of the 3rd millennium. 

Yesterday ended up being a strange standoff kind of day, where I was stuck on pwsshh… fwipp - smashhhhing people with the iPad Pro, busy with it sort of thing that I’d established, while the stranger next door was completely keeping to himself, sort of thing, although I must say, of on pissless shift he must have been pulling, of some sort. There was this notion of a constant threat, of my room’s security being defiled, on consequence of enforcing an of on pissless - the identity and embodiment, thereof - the guy. It’s typically mostly always a guy, except that the bwipsies eccentric girl had murmured some unintelligible notions, of that she finds herself cute, and then - some other stuff, of an intimation of that there’s something that needs to be done out somewhere else, such as at some place that I couldn’t really hear her say, as her defining traits. I figured that she just can’t compose herself as formatively congenial enough, of an impetuous sub-superficial need to be shameless and un-humble towards me; I figure it’s because she’s discovered things about me online, and she doesn’t care to admit it. She’s never give, me her name. She’s kind of borderline like that, and she was framed, towards me, recently, of that she had shown up to play with my fragrance ingredients collections, as the village idiot, for the crumbs and knickknacks notion that I had flouted, although these people constantly flout the rules as dismissible, of that there be some tacit agreement and supervision involved in the village idiot indulging themselves around aerosol-industry sort of slight manufacturing environment, that it is. 

Could they possibly seem just simply better, for skirting the premise of speaking to me about it, whatsoever, for … I dunno. I just see worse of them, and for that matter, it’s not everyone who appears to have been framed in this particular manner, leverages upon this fragrance ingredients thing. It implies  a gross notion of childishness and entitlement, and worser things tend to come snowballing out of that establishment, quite easily.

Sweating it out, after having been a stark schizotypal paranoid one, in a mid-day’s hot water and medicinal oils-infused bath tub.

Product Review: Alpha Ionone (Natural), from Perfumer’s Apprentice.

 Dedicated botanists, as for backdrop to a fragrance-making and mixing enthusiast “hobbyist” sort of pseudo-professional profile of perfume-maker - not quite a lab chemist, ever, foreseeably, yet not quite an elementary-level “essential oils only” type of fragrance mixer, by moonlight, as it were… would not quite classify the Iris as a notably fragrant flower. No, by it’s formative traits, it is a perennial tuberous root-replicating crop; a rhizome, that is. The flowers? Classic, via our Art History lessons, as Jean Claude Van Damme, though… man, he could kick some ass. 

I’m still on, like, my last blog post’s lingering persona and effects, and attitude. 

Sorry about that. It’s Claude Monet, who did the famous landscapes of the folk-ish peasant pastorale, he, himself, a master of observation, and an indulgent one, when it came to large strokes, and goop, with his impasto technique, with the tube of acrylic, forming some of the characteristic primary favorites of art lovers, of the Early Modern Period; here, Impressionism, as it’s known, along with Van Gogh, who did similar work, stylistically.

Botany enthusiasts ex art lovers-slash-historians would instantly draw a connection, between Claude Monet and his Irises. 

Frangipani Absolute - Pure Aroma Ingredients from iPigeon Aroma Ingredients

 A richly fragrant deep, indole | narcotic floral aroma absolute; this product is 100% undiluted extract from freshly-picked plumeria blossoms, otherwise known as Frangipani. The fragrance is loved all the world around, for its powerful and diffuse fragrance.

Product Review: New Haul of fragrance ingredients from PerfumersWorld.com.

 It's only been two months since I started doing this stuff (again). (I'd previously, back from around 2008-2012 had the budget to do fragrancing, with essential oils from Whole Foods, mostly). This time around, though, it was serious. I'd discovered online retail and wholesale suppliers of fragrance compounds and aroma ingredients (essential oils and absolutes), and I finally had my living situation and circumstances such that I could muster pulling off some mail order purchases, and develop my fragrance-making hobby successfully. My latest haul was for over $1250 and it got me over 70+ quality ingredients, of my choosing, priced by the gram, as the website www.perfumersworld.com does, as their retail fragrance supply basis, as an e-commerce website and organization, based out of Thailand. 

My summer of 2021 Perfumer's World fragrance ingredients haul - over 70 ingredients of my choice, given 2 months of experience and shopping around, at this point; I had my picks, and I got what I wanted, good and all, for the most part. 

This time around, I was interested in procuring mostly highly-prized standards and classics, such as rose de mai, I got jasmine absolute, jasmine flowers, methyl jasmonate, jasmine sambac absolute, frangipani absolute, indole crystals, for reconstituting these flowers, artificially (by design), and many other classics of fragrances beloved, and the well-known plants, herbs, flowers, and trees that provide these lovely fragrances, as well as some fragrance industry insider tricks ingredients, such as Schiff's Base, which is also used to reconstitute flower absolutes. I also dived richly in to the world of classic musks, of the global fragrance research and design houses; a history of musks, that I'd procured, as you would see, from my listed purchases, below. I also decided to experiment, slightly, with hormonal and mood-altering pheromone compounds, such as truffle concentrate, to see how they would affect the fragrance-wearing experience. 

I made a neat-o fresh, minty, cool, phenolic and narcotic rich floral essences composition out of this, after I had spent some time protecting the shipment, once it had gotten in to my possession, delivered by Fed-Ex. The shipment from www.perfumersworld.com took about a week, or so, to arrive, and I had security concerns over receiving it, since I go out, in to town, to feed the birds, during the day, and there were some delays, aside from that, in various stops that the shipment had gone through, such as being held up in Taiwan, and then the package went to Alaska, and Tennessee, even, before it got squared away in the Los Angeles area, finally. I decided to have the package held at a Fed-Ex location, for me to pick up, at my leisure. I didn't play with the ingredients much, during the initial receipt phase, because I was more interested in protecting it, and keeping the bottles sealed. Opening up a haul of fragrance ingredients produces a vastly diffuse aroma experience that spreads in to the extent of neighboring households, and it draws attention to the fragrance maker, and the goings-on of making a fragrance, which is easily an enviable position to be in, given a standard neighborhood, around town. 

All things considered, and that being said, I came up with an appreciably fine(-ish), or notably novel, and "good" fragrance composition, with the inspiration behind mixing which of these purchased new ingredients ought be, being an indole cornmint (I was big on cornmint and hay absolute coming to me), floral fresh narcotic standards of perfumery history-"easy," such as rose de mai, jasmine sambac, and frangipani absolutes being the main fragrance feature components, chamomile, included,  along with a full array of several or more musks, which, this time around, with this purchase, brought a veritable selection of poignant, delicate, nuanced, clean, fresh, and beautiful musks, of the musks of standards established, throughout history, in perfumery - muscone, Macrolide, Helvetolide, Cosmone, Celestolide, Amberfix, and Velvione; I added some Vitamin E, and solubizer, some patchouli, heavy on the pink pepper, and Sugandha Kokila, an Indian fragrance, for some classic and exotic appeal. There was raspberry ketone, ethylene brassylate, phenylacetic acid, lyral, coriander, marjoram, and plenty of oud to it. All in all, I was generally reserved, about how much of each I had put in, and extra-careful, on some of the inclusions. It turned out fabulous. I highly recommend this purchasing list, as a first-resort reference for beginners and aspirants in fragrance composition mixing, and I highly recommend www.perfumersworld.com, for the ingredients purchase. They sell by the gram, and are therefore as economical as need be, while maintaining a high standard of ingredient purity and shipment delivery handling, and customer service. 

A New Era in Designer Fragrance Aesthetics - Trading Luxury for Good Health.

 On the surface, a hobby involving fragrance ingredients, for the purpose of creating cologne, perfume, or room sprays, might seem superficially indulgent. 

Plants at Grand Park, in Downtown Los Angeles, CA, 90012, USA.

My take on the subject, being a fragrance-making enthusiast, myself, is that the hobby, itself, embodies some of the finest things we have, in society, as far as considering things from the botanical perspective. Perfumery is a vast and diverse field, whereas, the common person could not conceivably rise to the achievement of well-established and well-educated fine perfumers who come up with fragrances for designer labels. It's a pursuit that is steeped in industry standards of intellectual property and secrets, necessary to maintain integrity and sustainability for their enterprise. 

Fair enough. So what can the modern day and typical layperson enthusiast of fragrance manufacturing, as a hobby, aspire to, of a respectable and redeemable outcome of having this hobby? 

A look in to the subject, with some insight in to the field, going on my third month, now, in which I had been occupied with fulfilling an ingredients collection, is that the products themselves, simple, or complex, that they might be - « could » lend themselves well enough, for the layperson, in establishing a wellness and therapeutic practice, of a sort, along the lines of a homeopathic and natural products, designed for healing - as a primary goal, of what the fragrance hobby has, of something of meaning, and merit, as for a justification for what might otherwise be considered indulgent and foolish about having a hobby based in aesthetics, such that a fragrance ingredients hobby could be, whereas a sound and grounded mind ought to win out, for the enthusiast. 

Indeed, fragrance components, of the natural end of the spectrum, given the expanse of choices, from essential oils, absolutes, and extracts, on one hand, to synthetic ingredients on the other side of the spectrum, which are used to reconstitute and imitate naturally-derived fragrance components, or extracts, using chemistry techniques, to mimic the originally-desired substance, as closely as possible. Attaining mastery over such a premise is largely out of the reach of the layperson. The good news is that natural ingredients are, by no means, inferior to synthetic ingredients; rather, they are typically easier to work with; the disposition of that lab-made ingredients ought be used, in perfumery, is based on a demand which arises from cost considerations, rather than technique and aesthetic of the composition of fragrances, in general, being at stake. 

Fine fragrance extracts are of primary importance, as the central subject at hand, first of all. In this day and age, in homeopathic medicines that are produced, in my experience, simply contain plant matter, with perhaps a menial extraction that had been done on the product, whereas fragrance absolutes and essential oils are far more powerful and superior; in many cases, the simple act of spraying the fragrance composition on to the body is enough to provide therapeutic relief, to the wearer. It is important to not overdo things, though, and to not sacrifice organic manufacture for cheaper products, in many cases, as the composition may decrease in quality or integrity, for having a wild chemical component thrown in to the mix. 

Given that, the topic of botany, in being the basis of what constitutes the perfume-making industry, is a rich science that imbues the student of plant life with the knowledge of the therapeutic components that make up the fragrance ingredients that are available to individuals. Some of these components are found in relatively micro-amounts, in unprocessed plant material, whereas the extractions involved, in obtaining essential oils and absolutes, are sufficient to produce true therapeutic effect in the user, with the added benefit of potentially smelling good, as well, if the composition is made properly, and in good balance.

We live in an era in which perfumery ingredients can sometimes be had for a bargain, relatively, and with global competition for our consumer dollars at stake, for ingredients suppliers. I'll follow up, at some point, in regards to specific online suppliers and buyers' deals that companies offer, for the retail buyer of fragrance ingredients. In the meantime, please feel free to message me, or leave a comment, detailing your questions or issues pertaining to establishing a collection of ingredients of your own.  

Here are a few articles I pulled up via Google Scholar that go in to the scientific detail, basis, and study of specific natural perfume and aroma ingredients, along the lines of their innate healing and therapeutic potential.

Bibliography and reference:

Essential Oils and Bioactive Components against Arthritis: A Novel Perspective on Their Therapeutic Potential

Mariangela Marrelli, Valentina Amodeo, Maria Rosaria Perri, Filomena Conforti, Giancarlo Statti

Plants 9 (10), 1252, 2020

Online: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/9/10/1252/pdf

Phytochemical and Pharmacological activity of Genus Plumeria: An updated review

Manjusha Choudhary, V Kumar, S Singh

International Journal of Biomedical and Advance Research 5 (6), 266-271, 2014

Online: https://www.academia.edu/download/34597640/pLumeria_generos.pdf

Indole as a core anti-inflammatory agent-a mini review

K Hemalatha, G Madhumitha, Selvaraj Mohana Roopan

Chem. Sci. Rev. Lett 2 (1), 287-292, 2013

Online: https://www.academia.edu/download/34996040/2013-chemical_science_reviews_and_letters.pdf

The iPigeon.institute online store (preview launch).

 I'm launching a private preview to my new online store, which will be offering essential oil and fragrance absolute personal misting bottle aromatherapy and personal care products, such as natural soaps, and other toiletry products, to come, in the near future. 

Here is the temporary (private) link to preview the online launch of my e-commerce store:

https://ipigeoninstitute.mybigcommerce.com/?guestTkn=8cihzrus4z

The store aims to provide direct-to-consumer deals on personal and home aesthetics and care products, with iPigeon.institute-unique flair and artisan | boutique exclusivity. Consumers benefit from my constant efforts in sourcing quality ingredients and from my dedications to research and online publishing, in which I discover online resources which have led me to be able to provide affordable luxury products, with all-natural ingredients, of high quality and purity, hand-made with care and with attention to the utmost standards in manufacturing.

The At-Home Parfumerie - How to mix like a semi-pro.

 After procuring a shelf-rack, or so, of fragrance ingredients of your choice and specialty, it’s time to employ “interval-mixing” in to the creative and manufacturing process.

The iPigeon.institute slight return shelf rack of perfumer’s ingredients, essential oils, and aroma molecules.

Making a simple “natural” smelling fragrance is not difficult - just purchase expensive and high-quality ingredients. But, in order to attain the scent profile of a higher-end cologne for men, for example, it requires some ingenuity in the logistics of “what’s going on | in” the fragrance. 

My mixing palette | my working process. I tried out what I would call “interval mixing,” which capitalizes on the notions of the deeper underlying chemistry behind the individual ingredients.

On one hand, the fragrance ought never quite completely fall out, from the bottom, itself, in to a poor-smelling thing. If you’d done this, don’t dump it - it’s largely against the law, internationally, and it’s poor morals. Instead, just save the fragmented artifact of manufacture, as a token partial that could be returned to, that might slightly fulfill some future need, even it it’s just drops of the stuff.

On my most current excursion and creation, however, I managed to deftly control the flow of creating a fragrance, with a collection number of ingredients totaling about 100, or so, give or take, without having created a poor-smelling product, which had been how many of my attempts to create a distinctly masculine-smelling fragrance product had turned out. I’d been getting some tips, through nightly searches about the facets and characteristics of ingredients, their expected percentage fill, of the entirety of a composition (fragrance or parfum base - which, in and of itself, take up perhaps 15-30% of the bottle, and the rest is water and alcohol (40-50%) and perhaps the rest of the fill is made up of quick notes, nuances, clean-ups, and touch-ups with essential oils, terpenes, crystals, musks, colors, etc.).

I wanted to do a men’s fragrance that was light-feeling, syrupy sweet, yet rich in savory background, such as that it would entice the olfactory sense’s relationship with the visceral and primal urges of hunger, upon encountering it. Easily gourmand, yet imagining a rich and eloquent debouter of enterprise and establishment to follow - picture a starving population, for example; yet many people refuse to eat, when offered food, or when found asking for charity. What could spark and inspire their neglected self-care better than a timely happenstance passersby encounter, on the street? What better disposition could there be, alongside the context being well-fed, in the American way? (or French, in nature, as I sometimes refer to). 

The secret to my creative process, in this instance, was to come up with a decent enough floral base - I chose Narcissus, in this instance, with 3-4 or so full and generous squirts from the dropper, although just 1, to begin with, in a pool of perfumer’s alcohol, in the bottle. 

Then I started to work my way around the fragrance’s underlying inspiration, which would be a light, crisp, and refreshing citrus assertion, for which I used some terpene ingredients, such as Limonene D. There was kumquat oil, as well. After this stage, I went back to tradition and rounded off the composition, as it was, with Lavandin Grosso. Then I grabbed my powders and crystals, to musky up the scent, and ground it, with concentrated force. I employed Ambroxan to ground out this first stage. 

The next phase I went in to was to add the primary natural characteristics that would shape the quality facets and natural appeal factor of the fragrance, using primarily essential oils, at this stage. I used Ginger CO2 (don’t ever get a ginger that’s not at least a CO2 extraction - my lesson learned), myrrh oil, tonka bean absolute (lots), jasmine tea perfume extract, citron oil, ylang ylang, cedarwood (atlas), and teak (just a little). Here, in this stage, I found that I wasn’t ruining the fragrance, by this point, so I decided to test out employing my crystals, which smell good, in and of themselves, but I’d read up on their common usage recommendations in a fragrance composition, and it’s typically at the 1%, or 0.1% or less. I have Exaltone, by Firmenich, and Ambrocenide, by Symrise, which I used, in this stage. 

Then, my inner animal 🦔 perhaps, started to perk up, and I thought about the ingredients, and their place in fragrance-making, which is largely based on descriptions of the properties, chemical name, and organoleptic properties of the material. I thought about ketones, which I’d read, are sometimes characterizable as metabolite products of the body. (Wikipedia). Oh, yeah. And just prior, I’d put some stuff in to the mix, like anisaldehyde and oud base, one of which had been touted as “the smell of the bathroom, toilet included” sort of thing. I figured, “well, these things have some basis in how they are created, as by-products of microbial, fungal, or plant life (even animals, in the past mostly), 

but, continuing forward, though, given that the ingredients had an appeal, on top of that I was creating this composition, as my main aspiration, and meanwhile, the fragrance base hadn’t turned bad on me, just yet, I figured that it was time for me to try and encapsulate the essence as it was, in this stage, so I added some musk ketone powder, for the sake of the fact that it (ketones) affect biological processes; I imagined that the oud base, or the dimethyl anthranilate, or pyralone (it was all of these, perhaps, in the end, to be honest; a modest amount of each of them) - these components, and the bacterial sorts of processes of interaction, reaction, or metabolism, of the energy products available, based on the richness of the ingredients, in and of themselves, much different, and more natural-smelling, since I was employing essential oils, mostly, at this stage, (some farnesol, also), and I’d formerly tried to employ these ingredients, of the [toilette] - means to an end (like, eau de toilette), and the mixture would end up getting worse and worse, the more I added to it, from here. 

Now, I didn’t actually add orange flower absolute, but I did do an ad-hoc Schiffs base, although I added the hydroxycitronellol in an equal amount to the iso butyl quinoline (pyralone), because I wanted to emphasize the citrusy character of the composition, and because the source and main composition was so rich in material, to begin with. All in all, at this phase, I threw in a small (mini) scoop spoon’s worth of musk ketone, in to the mix, because I figured that the ketone element, added in to the composition, would detract any ongoing (and eventual) free-radical occurrences from proliferating, and, in turn, I end up with a garbage composition. The musk ketones would keep the developing energetic processes distracted, and meanwhile, I have the buffer of these expensive crystals as the basis of what the mixture [could] eventually smell like, if needed; although it still hadn’t turned bad on me, which is important. 

Then I threw in some Iso E Super, after gently gyroscope-rotating the mixture around, and making sure that the crystals became well-incorporated in to the existing mix - 

Oh yeah! I forgot, at first, I started out with some very primary facet components of many to any type of fragrance composition - rose petals, jasmine sambac absolute, neroli oil, from Morocco, (at some point, in the composition; perhaps later on), and santalol, in modest amounts, each of them, yet somewhat only at the time being, of how small my beginnings were, in creating this mixture, and these ingredients, for having been expensive. (They still are expensive, for that matter, yet they’re quite essential in a fragrance composition, for how the smell’s purpose and character become modulated in to a new olfactory experience, at the command of the hand of the perfumer.

Some small vials of expensive essential oils and rich absolutes.

Having taken on this new, and progressively (intervals-bounded) methodology in manufacturing a fragrance composition, which I’d found somewhat difficult to do, for men’s sorts of fragrances, in the past, I now felt more at ease, in applying more ingredients, such as gurjun balsam, rhodinol, lauryl acetate C-12, para cresyl isobutyrate, nectaryl (to peach sweeten things up), beeswax absolute (for even more, and long-lasting sweetness), as well as two scoops of ethyl vanillin (with the small flat scoop).

Every invested gourmand would understand, as well, the fascinating combination and compelling novel effect (which I called “mooshy-moo”) that black pepper oil has upon a richly-established vanilla, as the “latest thing.” It’s a quite comforting and warming sensory experience. 

I didn’t want to leave any trails unmapped, so to speak. In intervals, I had planned to do the dump of crystals, such as Nerolin bromelia, as last-stand additions to the mix, yet I ended up tossing some in, a bit before I finished, since the perfumer’s alcohol works fast, yet I gyroscope-rotate the mixture, at this stage, to speed the musk ketone reactions up.

Then I thought, 

Hey, I have some celery ketone, as well! How about that, for the gourmand floral fragrant citrus (petitgrain got it’s own intervallic development ketone-assisted cycle in on it).

That’s about all, for now. 

Except for the onion skeet skeet - just 4 drops, (not of pure onion oil - significantly diluted, a few drops to 2 or so fl. oz.) - for the acrylates (thanks, Calvin Klein, for that tip off [context]).

Oh, yeah, there was Cetalox, as well. Benzyl Benzoate, and I topped off the composition, once I was fairly satisfied with it, with benzyl alcohol, to have a solvent base to incorporate the insoluble oils and water (also added at the end) together in to a miscible solution. I put some Yellow (Lake) and Basic Fuschia (2 drops), for color. There was trans-2 decanol, a tiny bit of humulene, and several drops of cinnamon bark oil. I put a drop of Geosmin into it, as well.

I started my Parfumerie Hobby at www.perfumersworld.com [Product Review]

Being in the business of public relations, at times, keeping up appearances is of the upmost importance. It takes presence, of many shapes, ways, and forms, in order to make a lasting good first impression upon the general public. 

For me, in coming from a background of having been an introverted person, by nature (and I still am), I’ve learned, from my former uplifting relationships, from my past lives, various skills in which they’d been brought up more suitably for the sake of pleasing the crowds, and putting on a public face. I was raised of a different sort; my mother, being Cantonese Chinese, and both my parents conservative, at that: they had a disdain for superficiality and frivolity, and I was commonly reprimanded for trying to put on a colorful ruse, for the public, although my impetuous self sometimes won through, and I indulged various facets of persona marketing staked upon impressive physical features, which I felt would assist me in my business ventures, and bolster my professional identity. 

Over time, I developed various niche hobbies that I pursued for the advancement and development of my aesthetic environment, such as interior design, topiary decorations, cultural effects, and parfumerie creations (aromatherapy). Being that we live in a time of scaling-back, of luxuries, living in smaller spaces causes the aesthetics pursuer to find creative and neat-fitted manners in which we can entertain our public. Social media is one of the ways in which we can communicate our online and internet presence identities to others, and significant advancements in decentralizing and distributing the facets of cultural attainments and establishments have become vast foray for the interested, and, for the ones who are seeking to develop their aesthetic pursuits, using all available resources, the modern digital day and age, in what social media affords us; we are presented with an unprecedented set of opportunities and resource for learning what others have gained, through achievements in aesthetics and design. 

Parfumerie, and aromatherapy, in general, is one of the subtler finery attainments to pursue. Offering gifts of fragrance is one of the ancient and biblically historic rituals and gestures of praise and worship:

Psalm 141:2 NIRV- May my prayer come to You like the sweet smell of incense. When I lift up my hands in prayer, may it be like the evening sacrifice.

A well-intentioned and virtuous resource of fragrant offering, of ourselves, is one of the simplest ways in which we can impress upon others, and gain sociable merit and supply in which we can more easily and effectively strike up a conversation with others, when we are out and about - meeting our peers, out in public, for example. 

I personally carry around four different fragrances, currently: Spicebomb, by Victor & Rolf, Dior Homme, Tom Ford’s Tobacco Vanille, and Miss Dior Absolutely Blooming perfume. I like strong and spicy scents. My latest fascination is with Hermès Citron Noir, and I’m planning on buying it as soon as possible. 

I decided to have

a multi-faceted approach to my own perfumes cottage industry production - partially, and to begin, as an invested experiment, in seeking to imitate, or replicate, somewhat, my favorite fragrances, from scratch. Discovering online resources for procuring fragrance and aroma ingredients is a bit of a challenge, at first, or for the uninitiated. I happened upon (much more easily so) chemistry lab suppliers who carried the ingredients, and curiousities of organic and other sorts of chemistry supplies, of which, for me, was all part of a learning experience. As it turns out, the layperson is able to browse and view chemical suppliers’ web sites, yet upon completing the online checkout process, we (as the layperson) would encounter a barrier in the transaction, as the requirements are that the receiver of the products would have to be some sort of established, certified, and licensed laboratory. 

Www.perfumersworld.com is a great compromise to that barrier from establishing a beginner’s collection of fragrance resource materials. I was able to order sizable amounts of fragrance ingredients (they measure their product prices by gram measurements), suitable enough for me to prepare a variety of sorts of fragrances. I’m somewhat intent on just sitting on, and casually observing, via the olfactory sense, the character and nature of the ingredients, as I read up on the individual substances, and familiarize myself with their properties, as individual components of mixed fragrance compositions, which I will eventually get in to.  

Fragrances fresh from the supplier have some of the manufacturing process’ byproducts upon them, still, as the various products are manufactured via differing methods of extraction and production. I’m planning on letting the products cure, and mature, so to speak, and eventually, the solvent smells will be less prevalent, upon opening and smelling the individual bottles and containers that the ingredients came in. 

The purchasing process with perfumersworld.com was a quick breeze, and quite efficiently managed. I was able to purchase 20 ingredients for under $450, which was my allocated budget for the project. I ordered the package on Friday afternoon, and they were gone for the weekend, but they responded to me on Sunday night, in regards to the shipment. I wanted to add an ingredient, and the customers service representative answered me quickly, and I had my shipment sent out to me on the 11th. Quite quick service, it was. 

As you can see, the shipment moved very quickly, through DHL Express, and I received my shipment within a few short days, which was great on me, for how eager I was to receive the package. 

The supplies smell great (most of them), and I can’t wait to familiarize myself with the individual ingredients, and start creating some fragrance products on my own.