Natural Perfumery

ABDESSALAAM ATTAR BLOG POSTS

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Composing a natural fragrance

Perfumes with a meaning: "Holy Water" Composing a natural fragrance is a totally different approach from "writing" a synthetic one. It is important to understand that a natural perfume is not constructed by the nose but by the brain, because…
psycho-aromatherapy

Philosophy of Perfume (part four): Healing emotions

Tisserand's psychoaromatherapy chart Perfumetherapy, healing emotions Twenty-five years ago Robert Tisserand expounded the fruits of his research on how our sense of smell could be triggered to activate the release of neurochemical hormones…
subliminal message

Subliminal dose

In a perfume, the ingredients that are not smelled are more important than the ones that are smelled. I once had a customer who loved my perfumes but he could not stand any fragrance containing Rose. Even in those where it was present in…
ambergris fragrance

Sniffapaloozza interview with perfumer AbdesSalaam Attar

RB: Dominique, I must tell you, you have a fascinating website and blog. You have articles on all sorts of fascinating subjects as well as carry many products - I love your website.  Tell us about what you have created.  "Create"…
Timbuktu photography

Thoughts from Timbuktu – fixatives

Our customs evolve as generations pass, but the words of our language endure, often taking on different meanings and becoming misleading. A century ago, perfumes were primarily used on handkerchiefs, scarves, and gloves rather than directly…
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The return of Sandalwood

Good news for sandalwood lovers who have witnessed in the last years the total disappearance of the real Santalum of Mysore caused by years of illegal and excessive logging. While the distillation of local sandalwood in Mysore has stopped,…
aromatherapy perfumery

Philosophy of perfume (part three): Healing molecules

Healing molecules At the origins, the use of perfumes was associated to spirituality and healing. This is so true that the knowledge of their preparation was reserved to priests and healers, and in many cultures these two figures and…
frankincense and myhrr in perfumery

Philosophy of perfume (part 2): The language of scents

There is a language of scents based on olfactory archetypes. A basic, instinctive, deep, and compelling language in which meanings are emotions. How do smells get associated with emotions? Through our olfactory memory. This is the mechanism,…
Olfactory Pyramids: Understanding the Nonlinear Nature of Natural Perfumes

Philosophy of Perfume (part 1): Bases for a revolution

  A philosopher is always a revolutionary because he aims at discovering truth and he does so by uncovering and denouncing falsehood. Philosophy lays the foundations of morals and ethics in whatever field it inquires into, because when…
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Make your own Italian Saffron Perfume

Make your own Italian Saffron Perfume The Abruzzi region of Italy produces some of the finest Saffron in the world. When you buy it from an Italian producer, even with an online purchase, you will get the real quality. Full unbroken pistils…
bimbi

Genesis of perfumes

"You will not be an artist until you make things that children love" The making of custom perfumes is the key to understanding the work of a perfumer. In nearly all cases we compose perfumes for someone or else with someone. The first case…
saffron

Talk with Pheromonetalk

In the Hebrew mystic all senses are considered as giving pleasure to the body, except the sense of smell that was designed to give pleasure to the soul. However, Hebrew mystic is not the only one to consider perfumes as a spiritual affair. The…
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Goat Hair Tincture and Human Pheromones

Time ago I received two samples of goat musk from Gayla of the Always Enough Ranch in California where she breeds goats. She wrote: " I know they have musk glands behind their horns, but I believe they exude musk through their urine too.…
Olfactory Education in Schools

Olfactory Education in Schools

There is a clear parallel between music and perfumery, between olfactory and musical melodies, and we shall use this likeness in order to understand better the "why" and the "how" of olfactory education. Just like music, perfumery is an art…
domestic-civet

Human Sweat: the New Frontier of Perfumery

Civet easily becomes a pet, but keep your nose away from its behind part Whoever smelled pure Civet for the first time has wondered how such an odor could enter into a perfume bottle. My first impression was the smell of rotten tooth. It…
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Tincturing a 150 million years old aromatic raw material

FOSSIL AMBER LET US TINCTURE IT My amber suitcase, all of it is Baltic amber We shall tincture about 5 grams of fossil Amber of Baltic origin. The age of baltic amber is estimated at 150 million years. Can a perfume last over such a lapse…
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Hyraceum, tincturing a 10,000 years old pheromone

The tincture is obtained by infusing the powdered raw material into pure organic non denatured alcohol 96°. Hyraxes seem to be quite average little critters, resembling an over-grown guinea-pig and famous almost solely for being the closest…
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Natural Isolates, the brave stand of the natural perfumers guild

With a press release, the Natural Perfumers Guild (NPG) has defined what is considered a natural isolate by its standards, to which all perfumers endorsed by the guild will have to abide. In the same go, NPG has defined what Guild perfumers…
firstaid aromatherapy kit

Cours aromathérapie de premier secours

Enfin traduit en Français ce cours fondamental qui synthétise 25 ans d'expérience avec l'utilisation quotidienne des huiles essentielles que j'utilise en tant que parfumeur naturel. Je l'ai appelé "cours d'aromathérapie de premier secours"…
oud caravan

What is the Oud Caravan Project?

An interview on Suzanne's perfume journal to explain the Oud Caravan project See also: Oud Caravan N°1 Oud Caravan N°2 Oud Caravan N°3 Oud Caravan Discovery Set
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“Perfume Evolution”, philosophy behind the bottle

Michelyn Camen gave me the occasion to explain the Oud Caravan project and the philosophy behind it in an interview on Cafleurebon. I invite you to discover the explanation on the "Perfume Evolution" that we are living in the present years. Unconventional…
Touchescarre

The natural perfumery trend (third part)

Luca Turin may very well have started the whole process of recognition for Natural Perfumery when in 2006, in his iconic Duffnotes on NZ Folio, he declared to the perfumistas community with an amazing foresight: "There are now officially…
personalized perfume

Niche Perfumery – The natural perfumery trend (part two)

Not many years ago there were just 3 official types of perfumery, Vintage, mainstream, and Niche perfumery, such as Creed or Lutens. The last 20 years have witnessed not only the birth and growth of independent natural perfumers but also…
Pink And Violet Leaves

The natural perfumery trend (part one)

Only 3 years ago natural perfumers were a striving bunch of stubborn idealists who had been brought together by Anya McCoy in the natural perfumers guild. Those who accepted her views stayed in the guild, others left and went ahead on their…
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A NEW ETHICAL STANDARD TOWARDS PERFUME CONSUMERS: THE ECLIP LIST

 ETHICAL COMPLETE LIST OF PERFUME INGREDIENTS IN PERFUMES (ECLIP)   For most people the only factor that determines their purchase a perfume is that they like the smell of it. However more people every year ask to know what is…
animal scents perfume

Invitation from AbdesSalaam Attar

    A practical research about the pheromones traditionally used in perfumery. They are namely Ambergris, Castoreum, Civet and Hyraceum. Visit the Profumo friends club on Basenotes.net. Research material is free.
firstaid aromatherapy kit

Aromatherapy free course by AbdesSalaam Attar

FIRST AID AROMATHERAPY This aromatherapy course synthesizes 25 years of experience in the daily use of the essential oils I have been using as a perfumer. I call it "first aid aromatherapy" because this is a way of using oils that shows immediate…
chocolate amber

Amber Chocolate wins “best natural fragrance 2010” award

www.cafleurebon.com/the-best-and-worst-of-fragrance-2010-tom-ford-takes-two-marc-jacobs-more-the-best-of-draw/
mecca balsam 33 ml.

Mecca Balsam voted one of the “10 best perfumes of 2010”

Mecca Balsam www.scenthive.com Mecca Balsam by La Via del Profumo. Mecca Balsam received rave reviews throughout the blogging world, and they were much deserved. Mecca Balsam revolves around labdanum, frankincense, benzoin and tobacco which…
islamic doctor hakim

Perfumery and aromatherapy

Honoring the guest is much more than a part of the tradition of Islam, it is part of its fundamentals. During my years of traveling in the Muslim world, I have been a guest all the time. This is how I have learned the art of receiving guests. When…
indu kush

Philosophie du parfum naturel

  Composer un parfum naturel est totalement différent  de faire un parfum synthétique. Avec les matières premières naturelles un parfumeur manie des archétypes. L’odeur est une des manifestation de l’archétype dont elles…
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21. Aromaterapy in Timbuktu: ringworms and other

Ringworm is a disease that affects children. It makes them suffer a lot, the itching is so strong that they scratch their heads until they bleed, the sores spread and the pain prevents them from sleeping at night. Ringworm makes children's…
olfactory-pyramid

Perfume notes, mystery of the sense of smell

A mixture of essences has a smell on its own, in perfumery is called an accord. However, the nose retains its capacity to analyze the accord in order to detect each component. This is very strange because the new smell is different from…