Freyja ☽•☾ winter musk and flowers enfleurage perfume (reformulated September 2022)
a l c h e m y ☽•☾
Orris snow falls on her winter furs. They cascade over the runners of her sleigh as it skates over a frozen pond, white flowers trapped inside the ice. Inspired by the Norse goddess, this is a woodland ointment dusted by green and white powder. A beloved kitten wreathed in ice-encrusted paperwhite narcissus. A December beast with sprigs of Norway spruce branchlets and resin caught in her fur. Bitter orange flowers, violets, hyacinth and irises festoon golden lily oolong tea and nag champa incense.
Reformulated in September 2022, Freyja contains my handmade extracts of:
Parma violets (grown and enfleuraged by the perfumer),
Orris root from Iris pallida and germanica (grown and extracted and aged by the perfumer),
Golden lily oolong (tinctured, aged 3 years, and extracted by the perfumer),
Nag champa (hand rolled, tinctured, aged 4 years, and extracted by the perfumer),
Bitter orange flowers (grown and enfleuraged by the perfumer),
Hyacinth orientalis (grown and enfleuraged by the perfumer),
Wild Vermont Balsam Poplar Bud (foraged and extracted by the perfumer),
Wild Northern propolis (foraged and extracted by the perfumer),
Wild Norway spruce boughs and needles (foraged and extracted by the perfumer),
Wild Norway spruce resin (foraged and extracted by the perfumer),
Paperwhite narcissus (grown and enfleuraged by the perfumer).
Skews feminine. Color may vary.
Norse goddess of sexuality, fertility, war, magic, death, and animals. To honor Freyja, I created a heady animalic floral, capturing bodily and ethereal characteristics in a bottle. A beautiful sorceress, Freyja was often represented attended by a boar, or driven in a chariot pulled by two Norwegian forest cats. Her cult was known for its reverence for cats, and the goddess's feline qualities could embody her association with sex, death, and animals. I used an intoxicating frozen pairing of paperwhite narcissus and wild Norway spruce, both enfleuraged and tinctured into absolutes, over erotic musks, to suggest a connection between flora and fauna in the dead of winter.
Suggested fixatives: Amber, Animalic, Botanical Musk, Conifer, Dew, Earthy, Grass, Hay, Meadow, Powdery, Spicy, Tea, Tobacco, Woods, Woolen. Wild Veil's natural perfume fixatives act as primers for the skin. Applied prior to perfumes, they can extend the longevity of your fragrance.
Amber fixative contains classically amber base notes from my handmade resinoids that I extracted from raw, wild resins using organic high proof alcohol. It is warm, powdery, and slightly boozy. Resinous with caramel undertones.
Animalic fixative features stunningly intense musk base notes. If you are looking to enhance the tenacity of your natural perfumes, and to fix volatile florals and top notes, this is a fixative worth investing in. Luxurious and powerful, its sleek fur coat undresses to warm amber powder underneath.
Botanical Musk fixative contains musky base notes. It is slightly dry and earthy, with intimate notes of skin, hair, and smoky roots.
Conifer fixative contains stirring and wintry evergreen base notes from my handmade tinctures and absolutes of wild Vermont conifers, with many boughs collected from wild stands in my old growth forest: blue, red, white, black, and Norway spruces; fir balsam; Northern white cedar; white pine; scotch pine; and Eastern hemlock. The blend is a complex, deep green and balsam thanks to the various tree parts I have extracted: bark, boughs, needles, and resin/sap. In the background is the cool, fresh, early spring of brisk forest air scented with sticky sap and the snap of firewood.
Dew fixative features light, springy, and dewy notes redolent of sunrise on sprouting blades, droplets cradled by meadows, and the brief post-dawn lingering of wet cobwebs in field grasses.
Earthy fixative contains earthy base notes. It is green and smoky, with the comforting aroma of wet musk from the depths of the earth.
Grass fixative, made with a mise en lieu tincture of Vermont wild grasses, clover, sun dried new mown hay, and spring greens, features soft, warm, green notes that conjure fresh cut grass and summer fields.
Hay fixative conjures the scents of sun-dried bales of hay, as well as warm, dry straw stored in a barn.
Meadow fixative evokes yellow fields of prairie grass, wildflowers, drying husks still attached to the earth, and the sun in late August.
Powdery fixative contains powdery base notes. With notes of tonka, sweet myrrh, balsam, and ambrette musk, it tends toward dry and warm and will complement fragrances across a wide variety of scent families.
Spicy fixative contains spicy base notes from my handmade spice tinctures and absolutes: tulsi, ginger root, clove buds, true cinnamon, star anise, aniseed, and cardamom whole and hulled. Green herbs laced with anise, earth, and brown amber.
Tea fixative blends warm, malted, fermented yellow-orange-amber teas with notes of honey, cocoa, dark woods, savory earth, caramel, and Brazil nuts. This fixative includes my tinctured absolutes of Assam Marangi, fermented Mannong Pu-erh, yellow dragon, Oolong Eastern Beauty, and roasted Oolong. This is a mellow fixative that will work well beneath just about any type of fragrance.
Tobacco fixative features my organic handmade absolutes of organic cured leaf: American Virginia Flue, Burley, and Canadian Virginia Flue. I also infused the raw beeswax and propolis (used in the base) with my aged tabacum tinctures to deepen the husky warm qualities of the composition. Sweet, amber, blackberry and mulberry notes with the anticipation of hand rolled smoke. Depending on the season and availability, it may include extractions of my homegrown nicotiana leaves and flowers.
Woods fixative contains classically woody base notes. Dry and warm, white cedar mingles with lactonic, creamy Mysore sandalwood. Simple but exquisite.
Woolen fixative features funky sheep, meadow, and pasture notes from my handmade raw wool absolutes. These I concentrated by cold evaporation method from three types of unwashed sheep fleece that I had tinctured in high proof organic grain alcohol: Romeldale, Icelandic, and Churro. The unwashed Romeldale fleece is unbelievably soft. Romeldale-California Variegated Mutuant is an endangered breed of American sheep that produces high lanolin, very fine, multicolored wool. The resulting absolute has a creamy spring field and pasture scent. It’s sweet and reminds me of candlelight. The unwashed wool from a black Icelandic wether is funky and animalic. It is by far the oiliest and fattiest smelling of the three fleeces. Even with the barnyard leather overtones, it is warm and inviting. From another rare breed, the Navajo Churro wool has alfalfa notes amidst a southwestern desert profile. It's as if the heavy aroma of lanolin has been lightly dusted with sand and sage, and baked by the Arizona sun.
Photos: hyacinth enfleurage; frosty Iris pallida and various Narcissus cultivars in my perfume gardens; my homemade wild Norway spruce absolute; my paperwhite narcissus and enfleurage; wild Siberian propolis prior to tincture; solid perfume in 5ml glass jar, liquid perfume in 5ml amber glass, solid perfume in 5ml and 10ml black violet glass jars, and liquid perfume in 5ml and 10ml black violet glass roller ball bottles.
s i z i n g ☽•☾
Liquid perfumes are available in sizes of 1ml (a sample of approximately 20-25 drops), 5ml, and 10ml. All liquid perfumes are packaged in glass vials or glass bottles. 1ml comes in a sample glass perfume vial with an applicator cap. PLEASE READ: 1ML IS A SAMPLE. 5ml and 10ml sizes come in a brown amber glass bottle with a lovely white cap with orifice reducer. 10ml is also available in a frosted glass roller bottle.
Solid perfumes are available in sizes of 1ml (a sample of approximately 20-25 drops), 5ml and 10ml. 1ml (sample size) comes in a hinge top pod. 5ml comes in a clear glass jar. 10ml is available in a glass jar or a round tin.
Please make your selection from the menu.
r a w ☽•☾ m a t t e r
Wild Veil natural perfumes are composed by me, Abby, using homemade, wildcrafted and organic aromatics in Vermont. These include my handmade enfleurage, tinctures, enfleurage extraits, absolutes, resinoids and concretes, and floral waxes. I spend as much time growing plants and foraging as I do composing perfumes.
l i q u i d ☽•☾
Wild Veil oil perfumes are suspended in an odorless base of organic MCT coconut oil. As they do not contain water, liquid perfumes do not expire, and may improve with age. While the volatile top notes (the ones that hit your nose first) will fade after a year or more, the base and heart notes will deepen and grow more complex.
s o l i d ☽•☾ b e e s w a x
In solid perfumes this silky transparent base (above) mingles beautifully with the earthy, honey musk of organic beeswax. Raw beeswax traps the aroma molecules, releasing them over time for an intimate experience.
h o w ☽•☾ t o ☽•☾ w e a r
The best way to experience a natural perfume is to apply it to well-moisturized skin, without rubbing in (absorption only shortens the wear time of fragrance) and without scrubbing off. Natural perfumes are dynamic and take a minimum of 2 hours to reach their final stage, or dry down. Enjoy the alchemical changes as they unfold from the initial intensity of top notes, to the warmth of the heart, to the depth of lower base notes.
☽•☾ Wild Veil ☽•☾ alchemy between earth and ether ☽•☾
☽•☾ All aesthetic material copyright Abby Hinsman 2018 ☽•☾