2014 Lusty Floral ~ Musky Finish

Perfume Challenge

for the Summer of 2014

This is our tenth challenge!

Sponsored by Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfumes in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Beginning on June 1, 2014 with an end-date of Aug 31, 2014 ie: they have to be in my hot little hands by then. While you’re waiting for your tinctures to mature, go ahead and create your formula.

The Prize to be sent out by the end of Sep 2014 – a Gold Atomizer of Coeur d’Esprit Natural Perfume.

In the summer I think of the thick scent of garden flowers – rose, jasmine, narcissus, carnation, honeysuckle, and broom; and warm musky bodies tending the garden. It’s a heady combination and that’s where we’re going with this challenge. The title reads: “Lusty Floral ~ Musky Finish”.

Today, natural perfumers have an array of ingredients that will give a musky tone to a perfume without using real musk and endangering a species or using a manmade musk. Think – Ambrette seed, agarwood, nutmeg, tobacco, jasmine auriculatum, billy goat hair and hyraceum. Perhaps your nose has detected other eo’s that have a musky note.

Natural Isolates are allowed in this perfume as are tinctures.

Again, there are many ways for Natural Perfumers to go with this theme. And, as always, there are some guidelines to follow:

Guidelines:

o  Please be fair to others and ensure that, when you sign up, you intend to follow through with this project as only the first ten (10) Registrants will be taken then the registration process will be closed.

Anyone who wishes to Register, please do so now and send an email to me with the following information: LynAyre@telus.net

your full name

mailing address

phone number

recent photo

website URL

permission to post your entry on my

blog at http://coeurdespritnaturalperfume.blogspot.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/NaturalPerfumes/244441528913829?skip_nax_wizard=true

website at http://www.scentofnature.net/

permission to add your fragrance entry to the glam-bag give-away

Please ensure you follow all the 'guidelines'. In the first challenge, people 'lost points' for not including a data tag, using an incorrect amount of ingredients, not sending a photo, and so on.

1. No matter if your perfume is based in alcohol or oil, the end product should be clear and free from imperfections. The way to do this is to refrigerate, filter, and/or use a pipette to suck up all but the floating/sunken bits into another container. If your perfume has had a chance to sit for a month or so, and you have shaken it periodically, the more dense particulates will have diluted themselves into the alcohol or oil. Leave it sit again for a few days then draw off the clear part and put it in your final bottle.

Imagine you are doing all of this for a high-end client and really want to impress him or her. This is very good practice for when this happens for you.

Note: your scent needs to have the ‘floral’ category addressed in all phases of the dry down. The musk needs to be present in the dry down.

If you live a considerable distance away, please get your entry to me sooner rather than later. It can do its aging here for a time. I don’t sniff them until the challenge is closed.

2. For the Lusty Floral ~ Musky Finish, you are allowed to use up to 22 ingredients. These must be naturally derived: essential oils, absolutes, concretes, waxes, hydrosols/flower waters, enfleurage, tinctures, and oil. Since it is illegal in Canada to sell a perfume with potable alcohol, one may choose to use ethanol with Bitrex for the solvent (I’ve done a pile of research on this and found it to be, by all accounts, non-toxic though extremely bitter so there’s little chance a child would drink your perfume). If you use animal ingredients, you must know and attest to me that they are ethically obtained.

3. A Data Tag must be attached ie: name of the perfume, list of the ingredients, name the solvent (ie: oil, alcohol), your company information (even if it's simply your name and contact information), the size of the end product ie: 5 ml; precautions, how to use, and the 'best before date'. (See photo for an idea of what a Data Tag looks like).

4. Please follow these directions

Submit the perfume and the following to me by August 31, 2014. Please send it out in time to reach me by that date. Send it earlier, if you like, as I’ve mentioned, it can sit here to mature.

o send two 1 ml sample vials of perfume for evaluation via the postal mail

o let me know if you are up for the Glam Bag Giveaway (see previous page)

o base can be clear alcohol or oil (these do not count as part of the 22)

o If you use a scented tincture or maceration as your base or use some drops of it as part of your formula that will count as an ingredient.
o write 5 sentences that tell me the vision behind your new creation and submit via email
o write 5 sentences about who you are in relation to Natural Perfumery and submit via email

o email me the complete list of the notes in your perfume

o email me your photo

Each perfumer is graded 1-10 on the following categories: how well they followed the above instructions; a short five-sentence about his or her vision of the perfume’s creation; a short five-sentence bio; a recent photo; a Data Tag with pertinent information about their perfume; the balance, character, diffusion, tenacity, and structure of their creation.

A Natural Perfume has the following qualities:

o  Balance – so that no single component can be detected, unless it is a Soliflore. This challenge is not for a Soliflore

o  Character – The twists and turns of a perfume as it evolves on the skin. What kind of a perfume is this? Is it a raunchy riot? Is it soft and gentle? Where does it take you? What’s at the heart of it? Does it have personality? How do the layers unfold? Who would this perfume appeal to?

o  Diffusion – does it surround the wearer with an aura of scent?

o  Structure – Is there harmony in the mix? Have the base, heart, and head notes been properly addressed? Are the proportions correct for these ingredients so that there is balance, character, diffusion, and tenacity? Does it have dimension?

o  Tenacity – staying power is the ability of a perfume to last on the wearer for more than just a couple of hours

We hope that perfumers from all over the world will accept and

participate in this challenge.