this is the end, my friend
Happily I realized yesterday that we successfully managed to go beyond the shortest day this year. Well, that’s something!
Then, we will soon have managed to go beyond 2006, a year which was somewhat special. (I am an optimist, hence I don’t expect major disaster the coming days….)
Then, as 2006 is coming to a foreseen but nevertheless abrupt end, so is the L’air du dĂ©sert marocain, which runs out in the Zurich shop. Looking back I feel like I’ve transported an entire Matterhorn to down town Zurich, which is gone, vanished, bang!, just like that…
Thus, this is the end, no more air bottles for my friend Pascal who happily sits in Marrakesh in the sun taking a deep breath of the l’air du dĂ©sert marocain in the real sense ;-)
L’air du dĂ©sert marocain as you know it is gone. The end, for ever, for sure. Some traces are left with some distributors, but soon it will be nothing but a vague memory….
Thus, here’s the official declaration: For various reasons, such as stocks, practicality, money & handling issues, we change the flacon and packaging for the l’air du dĂ©sert marocain: To a 50 ml flacon that you know already from Lonestar Memories, using the same box and packing concept as you have seen it for the Orris. Otherwise, nothing is changed. The fragrance is not touched at all, promised!, even with some ingredients becoming expensive or harder to get: Not touched, promised!
Thus, the perfumer sits in Zurich, under a cover of grey fog that feels like the universe has expanded for 20 bn years, finally reaching its cool state of max entropy; it is somewhat depressing, knowing that above this fog there is the sun shining, like in a parallel universe….it is there, but out of reach, at least for some folks in Zurich right now… these folks sit in the grey zone somewhere, bottling and boxing l’air again, working on another pile to build.
Greetings from below the fog.
(pix: the new 50 ml flacon for the l’air…)
December 27th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Congrats on this new change, Andy - It is great to see the attention to detail and the lack of chances in the formula can only make us, the avid lovers of LdDM, grateful! How is the latest lavender coming out? my aunt recently gave me a large bottle of lavender essential oil of the highest possible quality (she has connections in the world of essential oils in Bulgaria) and it is simply divine (incomparable to the French essential oil that I have).
December 27th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
Dear Konstantin
I would not dare touching this formula. (At least as long as I do not have to because I am forced by IFRA or others….)
The lavender is getting along. Funny enough I landed after quite a few trials close to there were I started a while ago…..I am happy, my guinea pig W. is getting confused and thinks since a while I should stop now. And do something else like a rose/fennel/cumin idea I would like to follow….Do you know Eden Botanical’s lavender selection? I love their France high altitude lavender!
December 27th, 2006 at 7:12 pm
Andy - you might care to do a little post explaining just how expensive and quality your ingredients are - sorta remind the punters as to exactly what they are getting for their money because I am getting some angst about the economics of the 50ml bottle.
Yours sympathetically, and wishing you and yours a very Happy and fragrant new year - and what an excellent soapmaker you have become. Thank you
Heather
December 27th, 2006 at 8:01 pm
I just ordered a bottle of L’air du Daiser Marocain from one of the websites that still have the 100 ml bottles for the usual price :-) proba bly one of the last ones. Can’t wait.
And indeed it will be really thrilling to read about the ingredients. Is it possible to have a description of your other three scents as you did for Orris, Andy? like: this note is made of this and this and this, and that note is made of that that and that.
December 27th, 2006 at 9:19 pm
I will now rush out to buy my last bottle of L’Air du Desert Marocain.
December 27th, 2006 at 9:37 pm
Dear Heather
I think, I will…. Please do not worry about the pricing. I am sure the price of 85 Swiss Francs, 65 $ US is fine. I never changed the price even with the dollar being 10 % lower than it was when we did the initial calculations and some increases in the raw materials prices. So far I did not calculate my work at all as I have a job that allows me to cross-finance this perfume venture in a sense. At least as far as investments for new stuff are concerned.
What I did in terms of reducing the bottle size, I had to do, on one hand in light of my bank account (pre-investments for stocks, less margin due to the lower $US and higher prices for everything, starting with bottles, alcohol and ending with stickers) and on the other hand in light of handling my stocks of bottles and packaging material. And also in light of handling 50 liters of air du dĂ©sert somewhere in my appartment’s basement….Having too many different bottles and packaging materials is a nightmare, a constant fight to make sure to have enough and a lot of pre-investment. You probably know this.
As for the ingredients: Perfumer friends tell me to charge much, much more. In theory I probably should. Looking at what is on the market… I should double or increase three times. But I do not want to. I want my perfumes to be affordable. How about this not complete list…..(covering part of the naturals)
Patchouli from Indonesia
Cedarwood from Texas, rectified
Vetiver from Haiti (a quality that is somewhat hard to get…)
Birchtar
Cistus essential oil and extract (this the water distilled oil together with some of the remaining extract that is left behind)
Ambrein, again a quality that I had to look for a while and that is not that easy to get
Oakmoss, decolorized
Jasmin absolute from Egypt
Geranium
Bergamot, Bergaptene free
Cumin, frum Turkey
Petitgrain from Morocco
Lemongrass from Guatemala
Lemon oil from California
Lavendel, from Bulgari
Corriander, Russian
These are the key components, but there goes more in it, not all of it is cheap, of course, but this remains the perfumers secret …..
Dear Konstantin… difficult to go beyond what I have just said. I hope you understand. For the Maroc pour elle, the calculations look like a nightmare, to be honest… we are talking about Jasmin absolute from Morocco and Egypt, Rose absolute from Morocco and Bulgaria, both the Jasmines and the Roses at conc. higher than 5% in the perfume concentrate mix, sandalwood from Mysore (I still have stock), organic Patchouli, Frankincense in a really good quality and rather expensive and more… Honestly: If I would do it again: I would charge twice. And I think I should, too. ;-)
But again. In the end, I want people to enjoy these fragrances at a reasonable price.
December 27th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
Ah Fred…there is no reason to hurry ;-) It will be the same, just a different bottle…ok: I admit….it will be smaller for the same price. But trust me: A 50 ml bottle still keeps you running for a while
Thank you anyway for ordering!
December 29th, 2006 at 8:41 am
AAIIEE! I finally was ready to buy my L’Air and Luckyscent is SOLD OUT! I hope they get more soon, I have been promising this to myself for a long time! I only wish I had ordered it a couple of weeks ago so I could have a BIG bottle, it is so good! That will teach me to wait too long……At least it will still be around, when I started reading your post I thought you were saying it was going to be discontinued! :-O
December 29th, 2006 at 7:04 pm
Dear Flora
oups. I am sorry. Mr. Luckyscent just mailed about the gold rush…
If I had more BIG bottles…you would get one! But I have only one left, and this one I will keep for nostaligic reasons.
But trust me: The 50 ml will last and last and last, like a Volkswagon.
Greetings and thank you for ordering from Mr. Luckyscent. He will appreciate, I am sure.