making of

like a squirrel finding stuff, or not

Here’s another gardenia picture for you: it is a scanned flower (500 MB, 10500×8000 pixel, 48 bit), optimized by photoshop in lower scale, removing dust particles etc. and once again scaled down to fit in the  featured image section of this blog. Today’s topic: Gardenia, the upcoming first scent in the Tauer line “Sotto la luna” (under the moon) and me finding stuff like a squirrel, and allergens.

Let’s start with the allergens. The EU cosmetics directives make it the law in Europe to label fragrances and other cosmetic goods in a certain way. If you wish to experience the dark side of Europe: the COSMETICS DIRECTIVE  overview page is a starting point . On a side note: Most consumers here in Europe have no clue what the labels mean and what not. Some think  that the allergens declared are actually a perfume’s formula. Others think that the number of allergens declared tells you something about a perfumes complexity. And who knows what this means?

source: Cosmetics Directive. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1976L0768:20100301:en:PDF

So there we go: a lot about nothing. My opinion. The allergens for sotto la luna: Gardenia

are Coumarin, Linalool, Limonene, Benzyl salicylate, 2-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl)propionaldehyde, Geraniol, Cinnamyl alcohol, Farnesol, Benzyl benzoate, Benzyl alcohol, Eugenol, Citronellol, Citral, Isoeugenol, Cinnamaldehyde

In this order of decreasing concentration down to a limit of 0.001% in the diluted fragrance.

How do I know? Every essential oil and other ingredients comes with a certificate that declares the allergens and other stuff. I get almost all my raw materials from Essencia. Based on my experience: I trust them 100%. This time, I did not have to do the calculations of allergens myself. I will get the fragrance concentrate mixed by my supplier of essential oils. Thus, they provide me with the list of allergens of the final fragrance mixture.

Why not mix it myself? Good question! Here we come to the squirrel part of this post. Mixing per se is not a lot of work. It is actually nice, as it feels like a deep, very deep immersion into a fragrance. Pouring rose absolute is fun. Except if you spill it.

So, it is not about the mixing actually. It is about keeping stock and keeping stock under control. I have a large complex excel file that tells me what essential oils and resins and all other goodies I have in stock. I try to keep it up to date. But, to be honest, from time to time I forget to tell the excel file that I got more of something. You get the message: one fine day the squirrel is in the essential oil stock room and finds what it put there, months ago. Happy surprise! But it may also work the other way.

Thus, gardenia from sotto la luna will be mixed by the guys who supply me with the raw materials. And yes, it is not more expensive than doing it myself, but much less hassle. Another miracle.

This fragrance is also going to be  a spring-board into getting organized and getting help a bit more.