Today’s picture shows you what I did yesterday: Packing Lonestar Memories. I am getting better at cellophane wrapping, adjusted the settings and especially my technique in order to get a tighter, less fussy seal of the packaging. You see a packed and sealed box to the left. The ones in the back miss the cellophane, yet and to the right is part of the instrument that provides heat and stuff to seal. Made in the Ukraine.

I am happy that this process goes better and takes less time than initially thought. In a sense, I like doing it. It feels like adding that last little thing, like a cherry on a cupcake.

What I also did yesterday: Thinking about a few experiments, especially a couple of recent trials of my “vanilla centric” fragrance that keeps me busy and unhappy. Although, there is hope, there always is. Actually, vanilla centric sounds a bit cold and I am also thinking about another name to go with the trial phase. But I can’t really come up with something that does not sound like a bad copy of a bad perfume ad. Thus, for the time being: Vanilla centric means “my interpretation, following my ideas and using the stuff that I like”. Once I am done with this post, I will actually move into the other room, where the raw material aluminum bottles are waiting for me. I put a couple of things out of the fridge,  and will mix trial 8.1 following a recipe printed out from Excel. 8.1 means iteration number 2 on idea number 8. Number 8 was a simple approach, and needs a few, finer lines added. The excel is full with iterations, and variations and circles that at some point close again. What I am trying with 8.1 is using the core of 8, and moving forward from there. Thus, for instance, I used “sandalore” in 8. Only. I will move towards natural sandalwood in 8.1 to get extra softness, a bit of a lactonic sweetness. I found that sandalore did not do the job properly.  I Maybe the end result will be something like a mix of sandalore and sandalwood in the base. We will see.

Contrary to what a lot of perfume lovers think: Sandalwood (s. alba, from Mysore) is not THAT expensive. But still, used in the base, and used as relevant compound in maybe 6% concentration: It adds up, but is worth it. It fixes like no other natural and blends into almost every base.

anyhow: The reference that I have in my head, is hard to describe. I guess I want my vanilla to be soft, not loud, close to the skin, spicy, woody, creamy, flowery. well, maybe I just want to much.