Hey! Happy Monday, guys!
As so many of you are well aware, there are a few scents that have been missing from the shop lineup for quite awhile now. I've had many, many messages from customers inquiring about them and wondering if they'll return... and I'm thrilled to say that, finally, A Murder of Crows, Myrrhe Cacao, and Artorius have all returned. In addition, I've added a new category to the site, The Vault, where all the seasonal perfumes will reside until their release dates. Many of these have not been available since the fall of 2016.
From time-to-time, production of certain scents halts due to difficulties procuring a particular material, or certain suppliers shutter their businesses and I find myself on the search for a source to replace materials I'd purchased from that supplier. Using materials from different suppliers can greatly affect a finished product, so I try to avoid this when at all possible. The reason for this is because growing conditions, soil types, and specific sub-species of plants that natural materials are extracted from can have a huge effect on scent profile (and therapeutic properties when we're talking aromatherapy). This same premise holds true even for the high quality synthetics out there. Not all materials are created the same!
In the case of naturals, one would think that, for example, Lavender absolute is Lavender absolute or Bergamot is Bergamot, no matter the vendor or distillery, but that's just not the case. High alpine wildcrafted Lavender smells very different to my nose than commercially cultivated versions, even though they're both the same sub-species. By the same token, Greek Lavender can have yet a different aroma (deeper, richer, and almost musky). These variations can have a large impact on the overall scent profile of a finished fragrance.
To further complicate things, some rare natural materials are only available from one specific distiller, and if they discontinue the distillation of that material, it can be game over for certain fragrances. For example, the Tiare absolute I have is produced by a tiny "boutique" distillery in Tahiti and is quite expensive. The vendor I was procuring it from is no longer able to get it, so I'm left stuck with trying to decide whether to hoard the last 5ml of it that I have or simply use it up and when it's gone, it's gone. (By the way - have I ever mentioned that I may be slightly obsessed with rare perfumery materials?). LOL
I have been purchasing a particularly beautiful Bergamot distilled in a tiny Italian village from a supplier for a number of years that I use in The Stately Raven. Unfortunately, this supplier has gone out of business recently, so I'll be on the hunt for a Bergamot of the quality and specific scent profile that they offered. It can sometimes be a tedious and frustrating process, not to mention heartbreaking when this happens.
The good news is that there are some wonderful natural isolates (meaning they're aroma molecules that are derived from natural materials) on the market these days that I've been playing with. These can offer continuity in materials, not to mention the exciting possibilities created by compounding these isolates to mimic natural scents that were previously pretty much out of the realm of creation in natural fragrances. For example, aromas like strawberry, apple, peach, etc.
In any case, enough of my rambling on about the hows and whys of certain scents disappearing. I'm sure some of you are just happy to hear that some of these favorites are back. You can head on over to the site by clicking any of the links up above to be taken directly to those pages or categories.
Thanks for reading, and remember - you can use code MGThanks at checkout through May 29th for 10% off your orders.
XOXO,
Tina
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