If you’ve ever been tempted to start mixing your own scents, Anya McCoy’s story will be instructive. Anya started collecting essences, then started selling, then started blending, and eventually founded the Natural Perfumery discussion group on Yahoo. Recently, Anya has launched naturalperfumery.com, a clearinghouse for information on this expanding field. She plans to launch her own line of perfumes early next year.
How and when did you first become interested in perfume?
My first scent memories involve the lush perfumes that my mother and her friends wore. They gave me the almost-empty bottles so I could play with the bits left. I was only two or three, yet I could differentiate the varied perfumes by name. I connected them with the real world, like the roses and irises and crisp green succulent leaves of the hedges that grew in our garden. I found that picking and rubbing the flowers or leaves on my skin didn't produce a fine perfume, so I thought there was something magical about how the scent went from the plant to the bottle — and there is! I knew I would be fascinated with perfumes for the rest of my life, and the natural world of plants and perfumes has always been intertwined in my heart and soul.
And how did you become interested specifically in natural as opposed to synthetic perfumes?
In the hippie days, I discovered that "headshops" carried single note essential oils, like frankincense, sandalwood and patchouli. I noticed that the natural oils didn't "turn" on my skin. They were lovely in their simplicity and there was no sour stench after a few hours, as sometimes occurred with mainstream perfumes. I began to seriously collect essential oils in my 20s, and soon had over 200. I would pull out my stash of oils at parties, and offer everyone a sniff or dab of, say, chameli, vetiver, or lavender.
I got an undergraduate degree in Economic Botany, and a Masters in Landscape Architecture, specializing in fragrant gardens of the tropics to further my understanding of the source of perfume plants and how to incorporate them into everyday life. I didn’t know of any perfumery schools, or I would have opted for that, instead. I delved deeply into the physiology, history, botany and use of fragrant plants, and that was the next best thing to me. That education has been a wonderful foundation for me in perfumery.
And eventually, you began mixing and selling your own fragrances, right?
I was encouraged to begin blending by two cologne recipes in Jeanne Rose’s book Herbs and Things. I had never seen a cologne or perfume recipe before that. Later, I studied other books such as William Kaufman’s Perfume, and Roy Genders’ Perfume Through the Ages for technique. I’m bold enough now to construct a perfume with no top notes, if I want to, producing a blend meant to be hypnotic. It insinuates itself upon you like a dream. Experimentation and intuition, built upon learning, is the key to any art or science.
I started selling single note oils in bottles I hand-poured and labeled in the early 90s in South Beach under the name Anya’s Tropical Essences. Several stores and hotels carried the oils, which were popular among tourists and young service workers. Many of the musical artists who recorded at the studio at The Marlin Hotel knew they could find me in the lobby or at the bar with my stash of oils most afternoons. I have to laugh about it now: how naive, and probably illegal, that was! Later, some hotel owners asked me to blend simple, fun scents for private line body care products. They also referred perfume clients to me, and so my bespoke perfume business was born.
And later, you founded the Natural Perfumery discussion group on Yahoo...
Mandy Aftel’s book Essence and Alchemy, which was released in 2001, created a groundswell of interest in natural perfumery and many aromatherapists and soapers began blending in earnest. Aftel’s book clearly laid out techniques, descriptions, and history and offered lots of encouragement for natural perfumers. For a time, Mandy hosted a group on Yahoo but she closed it down to open her Guild, so I started the Natural Perfumery group in June 2002.
The passion and love of natural raw ingredients, and the desire to create perfumes united the members. In three years I have witnessed the level of sophistication increase tremendously; there are some very talented and serious perfumers that are now going commercial. The group has grown to more than 500 members, and the archives, in the form of past posts, are a fabulous source of information on raw materials, blending tips, and other creative issues. Additionally, the Files section holds information on safety data, government regulations and all kinds of pertinent business-related details — the stuff that can trip you up if you aren’t aware.
We’ve stimulated each other to try new things — many on the group have taken up infusing and tincturing our own botanicals to obtain rare fragrances that are not available commercially. Currently I have six varieties of jasmine tincturing, along with rare tropical flowers, cardamom leaves and other fragrant materials, including peaches. These are all unique items that add a personal touch and fun lagniappe to a blend.
What will naturalperfumery.com accomplish that you couldn’t do through the Yahoo group?
Based on my experience with the Yahoo group, I sensed that natural perfumery needed a better public presence on the internet. Naturalperfumery.com had its soft launch on June 14, 2005, the third anniversary of the Yahoo group. The website will be an educational and marketing tool for the new industry, and will help to raise awareness of natural perfumes.
There are links to natural perfumer's websites, where the public can order samples and purchase perfumes. There are also articles, and soon there will be a newsletter, a magazine, and information on the raw materials that are the basis for our creations. Since it is basically a one-woman show at this time, things are being added slowly, but a visitor even at this early stage will, I hope, come away with a good feel of what natural perfumery is all about.
For those of us who insist on wearing synthetics, can you list 3 or 4 of your favorite mainstream perfumes?
My favorite mainstream perfumes are Cologne by Thierry Mugler, Byzance and Mystere from Rochas, and my first love, Chanel No. 5.
What an interesting person! I've been reading Anya's comments across the fume blogs and wondering who she was. She knows quite a lot about naturals.
The thing I find most interesting about the natural perfumery movement isn't actually the naturalness of it. It's the sense that everyone is in this craftsman type environment, sharing recipes and information. Do people share recipes?
And if so, suppose you could buy a natural essential oil, say of musk ambrette, which can't be sold in perfume. Would it be possible for a perfumer to offer a shareware model of the recipe for the scent, asking for a voluntary donation for anyone who thinks it's worth it, so that people could blend it at home?
Then it would be like open-source scent, and I find that fascinating.
And P.S., I love TM Cologne, Byzance, and Mystere! From reading Anya's posts, I assumed we wouldn't like the same things, but I was totally wrong. (And my only reason for not liking Chanel No. 5 is that its uber-femme personality doesn't fit me, not because of any fault in the fragrance.)
Great interview! I really admire what Anya is doing, and her yahoo group is excellent. I have been a member of it for some time now, even though I mostly read and learn. It is such a great friendly environment.
To clarify, I meant about the open-source fragrance idea that it would allow people to “sell” a scent with a verboten ingredient by using the DIY approach, so long as people could buy the ingredients themselves.
Fantastic interview dear R! Anya sounds lovely and is obviously a very talented perfumer. Hope she launches her perfumes soon.
Hugs!
T, hoping Anya will check in later and answer your questions!
Thanks V. The Yahoo group is a great resource, although most of what is posted is way over my head 🙂
Thank you N!
The image of Anya as a “pusher” of her perfume oils made me smile. Ah, what wouldn't I give to be able to create perfumes, not just admire them…Great interview!
It does sound funny, M!
I don't know why, but creating my own has never really appealed to me. I'd rather someone else do all the work 😉
Darn, I stick my nose shyly into the comments (it's really weird to read an interview with oneself!), compose a long response, and the server eats it!
Second go: Tania, thanks for bringing up two great points, close to my heart.
1. The natural musk ambrette seeds are safe and wonderful, the synthetic musk ambrette chemical is the one that is prohibited. We natural perfumers use the natural ambrette absolute, attar, tincture, or infusion all the time. I adore it. I do not believe any perfume houses use the synthetic anymore, but the damage was done — it gave the good seeds a bad rep.
2. We do share ideas on doppelganger accords. Terry of Dragonfly makes an incredible lilac accord with readily-available materials. Not all share, of course, we're as proprietary in nature at times as the big houses, but there are lots of formulas in the group archives.
Also, we use lemon myrtle instead of the sensitizing lemon verbena and melissa, and so on….
R, have to say, that's why we're here — to make the fumes so you don't have to. 😉
Colombina
How silly was I? LOL
I still remember the day, in 92, I looked up from the Marlin Hotel bar area, about 6 in the afternoon, in that brightly-lit space, and saw Gianni Versace standing by the rail in the lobby looking down. I almost fainted, and, realizing the juvenile nature of my retail endeavor, I giggled, instead.
Thanks for answering, Anya!
Ah, I certainly got confused about the seeds and the synthetic! Of course, I'm allergic to lots and lots of natural substances (my hay fever is in high gear right now), so my own feeling about naturals vs. synthetics isn't black and white, especially since some beautiful naturals come from limited natural resources (like Mysore sandalwood). Anyway, there are probably tons of weird Chinese companies churning out vats of verboten stuff and releasing it into international markets under who knows what label. How do you know whether a source for a natural ingredient is telling you the truth or not?
One of the reasons I wonder is that everything claims to have Mysore sandalwood in it, but with the limitations on harvest, Mysore sandalwood is starting to seem like those countless fragments of the True Cross in reliquaries all over that seem to indicate that the crucifixion happened on a giant sequoia.
I know: questions, questions. 😉
Hi Tania:
Sorry about my late reply! You brought up a lot of questions, let's see if I can answer them, since I'm not an expert on some of them, but I have seen a lot (especially in my group) about them.
Your allergies. If you don't have problems with regular perfumes, no reason you would with naturals, since regular perfumes are just naturals with synthetics added 😉 Heck, the only stuff I'm allergic to are the *harsh* synthetics added to fumes starting in the 80s and 90s. Those have a tendency to feel like a sandblaster on the inside of my nose, causing me to sneeze, they can close up my throat, and cause other nasal congestion. Never got that from a natural!
Chinese companies. Agree. Might suspect of some of their stuff, but they do have a long history of being the only source for some concretes and absolutes, like aglaia flower/seed, yummy stuff. India also has a centuries-old adulteration rep, *especially* with Mysore sandalwood!
Mysore sandalwood is still produced, under government supervisition/licensing. I'm sure much is adulterated. Many now use sandalwoods from Australia and other places, and there are production and environmental issues there, too.
I've just started to source some from Vanuautu, and will report more on that later.
We are very skeptical, and have to challenge each supplier. We've formed co-ops, and when necessary, can spread the cost of a GC/MS amongst ourselves and get an independent lab to tell us what is real and what is tampered with. Even the most experienced noses can be fooled, and even Luca Turin GC's stuff! For him it's more about seeing what's in a blend, for us, it's all about the true nature of an oil or absolute.
I wish there were more questions! I'm no way the spokesperson for natural perfumery, I'm just pushing it 😉
Luca has a red hot thread on his blog today, and it's a shame how I perceive (and I may be wrong) that many who love regular perfumes believe that we natural folks
1. Look down at the regular fumes, and those who wear them. Heck, NO. Most NPers have a good collection of regular fumes. We do not like the uber-harsh ones like I decribed, and turned to in response to them.
2. They believe that NPs are weak or naive fumes. I have sampled many, and they can be as well-made as the finest France has to offer. True, sillage and persistance may not be as pronounced as with regular fumes, but that is not a big deal to many.
Uh oh. Went on too much. Well, I hope I answered you question, and that you sample some of the NPs that are out there, they're absolutely beautiful.
Ah, fascinating! It's so cool you all band together to get the information out. One of the things I love about looking at online communities is the way economies of information and goods and services are created on them that would never be possible (or would be extremely difficult) otherwise.
No doubt, naturals are the heart of the perfume lover's love. This is probably because the “naturals” we know—flowers, fruit, trees—are in themselves already perfumes. They're already complex, already blended, already engineered to tug at us (or maybe we're engineered to be so tugged). Synthetics can take ideas from naturals and push them further, into abstraction—add a snowy brightness or a comforting creaminess, or highlight the lemon in a rose, color a jasmine note pinker, or lend a blend a sparkle or hum that throws the whole thing into relief, the way a final splash of vinegar on a dish can make all the flavors come alive.
I know totally what you mean about the harsh loudness of fumes in the '80s and '90s. When I was a kid, I thought I hated perfume, but it turns out I just hated the ones everyone was wearing! Once I found out that not everything smells like Giorgio and Poison, life got better.
I'm allergic to a lot of weird things, so yes, many perfumes are stay-away for me. (I got huge red rashes with some scents, blinding knock-you-down headaches with certain florals, wheezing asthmatic attacks with other scents.) Which makes me a weird fume collector, for sure.
I guess I just haven't smelled any NPs because I'd heard so much about what they're made of and not much else. I hadn't heard anyone gush about an NP just for the smell of it, in other words. I would certainly be willing to try one with a reputation for gorgeousness. Gorgeousness trumps all.
BTW, I find it fascinating that the people making NPs and Chris Brosius of CB I Hate Perfume have such similar feelings about a certain type of mainstream perfume, but such dissimilar ways of approaching the problem!
Tania, yes — it is wonderful how we can all meet on the internet, instead of the previous “isolation” of making do on our own.
Synthetics do take a scent and “push” it, as you say, it's just we're taking a different tact, perhaps leaving the push to others, and delving deeper into the reworkings of the naturals. For instance, the tinctured sheerness and crispness of the jasmines and michaela alba I have produced cannot be found in mainstream perfumes (to my knowledge.) We just going in a different direction 😉
Since natural perfumery is so new, and distribution of the perfumes so limited, I'm wondering really, how many have sampled them! The perfumers on the .com have a sample policy in place, and that is crucial. In the six months or so I've been visiting blogs and forums, I've only seen three major natural perfumers mentioned. We're just at the doorstep of trying to get publicity and distribution, so hopefully, you'll find that gorgeous natural soon.
Thanks for your wonderful comments and observations, and get your blog going again soon, I love it.
Oh, and the CB comparison re: rebellion against trite, harsh fumes was brilliant!