It is time for mixing a new batch of Lonestar Memories. Actually, it is more than time. I mentioned it a while ago that I shifted my stocking rhythm slightly towards a touch lower stock of everything. The reason: Cash flow, and instead of having money sitting on the shelves in the form of fragrance, I rather have money going in new ideas and being invested.  Of course, the world is not black and white,  and hence we still have a lot of stock, of a lot of things. How much exactly, we will find out next week when I do the mid year counting of all I have. The moment of truth.

In order to mix a new Lonestar batch, I needed to order a few goodies. Like rose absolute, jasmine absolute, geranium absolute, iso butyl quinoline, a molecule that smells like leather, fine leather, a bit earthy, woody, animalic, mossy. It is one of the ingredients in Lonestar that bring about the leather. Other ingredients that add to the rich and rough leather aspects are: Birch tar (think smoke, animalic, dark), oakmoss, vetiver, cistus ladaniferus, myrrh.

The birch tar is actually over dosed. Bravely overdosed.

When I am preparing a new mixture, I have to write it down first in Excel, preparing the table, like a check list for later mixing. Then I check this file with the Excel of all raw materials that sit in the cellar or the fridge to check what I have in stock and what needs to be reordered. Today, I had a closer look at the formula and did some checks. Actually, looking at the formula: It is rather rich and heavy on the base notes side.  32 ingredients, 17 are naturals, 1/3 of the weight in the perfume is natural, 2/3 is synthetic. Compared to industry standards, this is a lot. It adds to the price of the fragrance mix. The synthetics: Almost 50% alone is vanillin, lilial and sandalore. Then things get complex (a bit of this and a bit of that) on the synthetics side, too.

I mention these numbers to raise the awareness for the complexity on one hand and on the other hand, for the simplicity. 32 ingredients is not very complex compared to industry standards. The complexity comes through and in the naturals.

Anyhow, I am running low now in Lonestar Memories. Lonestar Memories, the somewhat rough smoky woody leather with a soft spot in its base, is actually a constant seller. A fact that I find amazing, in light of the rough and serious leather note.  It has its fans and it was my third creation, created in 2005/2006, launched in 2006, together with a picture of a cowboy . A detail of this guy you see on today’s photo: And no, this for sure is not a box with snuff in his left shirt pocket. My guess is: Cherry flavored sweet and sour drops.  Your guess?