The Language of Smell

  • Lilac enfleurage technique (part 2)

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Lilac enfleurage technique: keeping the panicles in cool water during the process helps the blossoms stay firm while laying them on the pommade. W...

  • Star Jasmine Enfleurage tonight.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Trachelospermum jasminoides flowers picked by grower-perfumer from the blue hour into nightfall, when their scent peaks.Aroma: humid, lush, wet amb...

  • Making Bilberry Absolute.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Packing bilberry absolute, one of my handmade natural perfumery ingredients, the color is that of cooked blueberries, with bumpy fruit leather text...

  • Lilac enfleurage technique: laying blossoms while cleaning the pommade.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Lilac bloom annually for a mere 14-18 days, so getting a saturated pommade is a challenge both practically and in terms of sustained attention. If ...

  • Slash Pine Resin.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Yesterday I visited a semitropical barrier island. I found a number of slash pine stumps coated with bubbling resin in the heat. Using a hardened p...

  • New perfume announcement: Aura Apiana. White Sage Soliflore.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Aura Apiana ☽•☾ White Sage Soliflore (single note Salvia apiana perfume).a l c h e m y ☽•☾ Salvia apiana, bee sage. When, at the lightest touch, th...

  • A Tale of Two Incense.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Lawudo incense from Kathmandu, which I cold extracted with ethanol, makes a seemingly paradoxical absolute of acidic richness. Tangy whiffs of saké...

  • Engelmann Oak, an endangered subtropical wonder

    by Abigail Hinsman
    The bluish-green, glaucous, and ovate leaves of the spectacular Engelmann oak (Quercus engelmannii) resemble Eucalyptus gamophylla or cinerea more...

  • New perfume announcement: Kunja. Himalayan Musk Rose Soliflore. Single note Rosa brunonii perfume with musk rose enfleurage.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Announcing: Kunja ☽•☾ Himalayan Musk Rose Soliflore. Single note Rosa brunonii perfume with musk rose enfleurage.     ☽•☾ a l c h e m y ☽•☾The aro...

  • Fire + Earth

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Collaboration. This is Ryan, my partner in creativity, life and love. He is a gifted yoga teacher with another background from another lifetime in ...

  • Volcanic Bombs

    by Abigail Hinsman
    An 18 cubic foot lava bomb on Wild Veil's new site in De Luz.   Here, undisturbed 9-10 million year old "young," red volcanic basalt (Santa Rosa la...

  • Sage Scrub. Natural perfume fixative from homegrown white, Baja, and black sages and chaparral.

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Shown on a bed of cured Salvia leucophylla, Salvia apiana, Salvia mellifera grown from open pollinated seed in my gardens and responsible for the ...