Story Time
Being busy helps cut through the mundane bore of the daily grind, and I've always managed to find things to occupy my time, which is how I fell into soapmaking, and subsequently, natural botanical perfumery. I learned most of what I know about busy-ness while living in the wilds of Northern California, with ske

Butters, Butters 'n More Butters!
Been blending up butters like a crazed fiend over here ~ adding them to the Etsy site at the rate of about one per day. I love this new formula I've come up with -- it makes the perfect massage butter, not to mention it feels really nice and doesn't leave you greasy or sticky feeling.Yeah, I'm gonna make some more patchouli butters, but in bigger tins. The patch stuff goes fast.I'm having so much fun :)

Sweet Leaf
Yeah, I know what some of you old Sabbath heads are thinking, and you'd better stop. The sweet leaf I'm talking about is patchouli. Just finished distilling up a batch of hydrosol, and surprisingly, got a lot of essential oil. I'm not sure I'm going to separate the oil from the hydro, kind'a like the way the little greyish blobs float around in the water, like a stinky lava lamp doing its thing. It's so cold (that's California cold, not REAL cold, like Montana or North Dakota cold) that most of the oil produced during distillation is sticking like glue to the inside of the receiver. I may have to run the receiver under warm water to release the oil back into the hydro . . . thinkin

Crushed Velvet & Roses Perfumes
You can find 'em here! Made by long-time aromatherapist, a former student of the Grande Dame, Jeanne Rose, and editor of the Jeanne Rose newsletter, Ms. Bella Ayers, there is sure to be something amongst her well-planned and well-executed wares to fulfill your olfactory needs.How can you go wrong with a perfume named Lulu Honeyvamp? Or a collection called Pretty Poisons? Or a lovely aromatherapy remedy called Bitch Balm? Really?Head on over and take a look. And buy some balm for your mother in law. Ha!

Cost of Smelling Beautiful
Marketing in this economy is tough. Everyone is holding onto their money with a tighter fist than in years past. Economists have predicted that the way people shop is changing, customers are looking for more value-added products rather than just reaching for what's readily available, but not always the best or least expensive. Luxury items are becoming even more of a luxury with fewer people spending the kind of money that they have in the past -- luxury items are shrinking, along with the price, making those extravagant purchases even more precious. Estee Lauder knew what she was doing back in the 50's when she introduced Youth Dew in bath oil form as a means of luring cash conscious house