by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
The word “Amber,” tells little of how such a perfume will smell. Sometimes spelled “ambra,” the word means one of three things: ambergris; an accord based on labdanum (which many say smells like ambergris; I fail to see the connection) and various balsams. In...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
I’ve been at a loss to describe Ambergris, my latest eau de parfum. One of my perfume friends could only exclaim, “This stuff is weird.” So, Kate has gotten on me for a more thorough description. The opening has the classic aroma of isopropyl alcohol, which is like...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
One afternoon, last week, I suddenly couldn’t smell anything. It took me awhile to realize that I was surrounded with intense aromas. I had just opened a new vial of Rose C02 and my head was spinning. The next day, my sense of smell was better, but my heart wasn’t...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
When my tinctures started smelling like isopropyl alcohol, panic moved in. My first thought was that tincturing in the light had been a mistake and that I had bleached the ambergris and made it worthless. Desperate, I searched around and landed on Wikipedia. Then I...
by Jim Peterson | Jun 28, 2020 | Uncategorized
Eight years ago, I didn’t know what ambergris was. It all started with a book from the fifteenth century, entitled De Honesta Voluptate translated into English as On Right Pleasure and Good Health, published in Latin with an English translation on the facing page. In...
