The Language of Smell

  • 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 ...

  • Balsam Fir sap vs. needles: an olfactory comparison of the different parts of the tree Abies balsamea

    by Abigail Hinsman
    SAP: caramelized roses; high fruity note like broken fresh white pine needles without the harsh edge, combined with green apple, and the straw, abs...

  • Coffee flower enfleurage

    by Abigail Hinsman
    Coffee blossoms (Coffea arabica) this morning. I've heard coffee flower described as aromatically similar to jasmine and orange blossom, but I don...