Magickal Realism

Every so often I get customers desperately seeking for a natural scent that “lasts.” While there are plenty of natural scents that do last for well over four hours, they are not the scents they are seeking.  And even then, it comes down to expectations formed from mainstream synthetic scents, and the customer not being prepared for the natural  to act differently.

Most commonly, I get requests for a “citrus scent that will last more than fifteen minutes.” If this were chemically possible, it would be interesting, but it would be like one of those creatures in a 1950s movie - the minute the scientist leaves the room it moans and begs, “Kill me!”

Synthetic citrus scents can last that long. Sadly, most that I’ve encountered tend to get cloying at standard strength, and your co-workers will hate you and stop inviting you out to lunch when you come in reeking of it every day.  What a natural citrus does is acts as the emcee: it comes out to the front of the perfume, announces the major players, and then fades to the background to let the other notes do their job. If the other notes are mainly citrus, as they are in L’Orange, it will be a short performance, so you’d best put on some lotion beneath as a backup act.

With natural perfumes, it’s not about the scent remaining the same from the moment of application to the moment of wash-off. The scent, instead, puts on a performance: the smell will change as it evaporates, becoming a different fragrance altogether by the time you’re ready to clean.

If you’re looking for a singular, strong note that will remain on your skin unchanging, you’d best go to a syntheticist. If you’re able to tolerate the short-term just to enjoy a performance, then definitely check out naturals.

I am still cleaning and organizing my studio - it’s one of those long, long projects and I am cringing at my own timing, since I leave for Thanksgiving celebrations with my boyfriend’s family in Iowa in two days. Still, I need to give you more than “not clean yet, no pics!” so I offer you this diy tip for your enjoyment and pyromaniac tendencies:

Sometimes it’s darned hard to figure out the real from the fake in the land of fragrance. No test, not even the much vaunted gas chromotography,((a process by which it is determined whether a substance is pure; the problem is that you might get a perfectly pure something else, and there’s no way to determine what that something else is)) is a fullproof guarantee that you have gotten what you payed for.

¹

Still, if you’re suspicious that your “cherry vanilla essential oil” isn’t exactly essential oil, try this simple test:
Light up some instant light charcoal and drop it in a fireproof dish. Add a drop or two of the oil in question. Stand back, and sniff.

If it smells like rubber, you’ve got a synthetic.

SAFETY TIP: DO NOT just lean over the burning fragrance and inhale. Sit back a little and waft it towards you, taking light, shallow sniffs. Even with essential oils you might get a sinus full of nasty if you take too direct of an inhalation.²

Now, synthetic production is improving all the time - some don’t leave a smell/aftertaste reminiscent of a late night Indiana drag race. If you know for a fact you’ve got a synthetic and you don’t smell rubber, be gratified that you chose a darned good purveyor of artificial goods. Although I choose natural over synthetic, believing complexity more than makes up for variety, I really do appreciate the artistry behind the science of manipulationg molecules. I just prefer to do it in gentler ways.

1. photo by KungPaoCajun [↩]
2. It’s a good idea to do some research on the plant you’re burning, assuming it’s real. I once found out that wormwood really is a hallucinogen - but only when the smoke is inhaled. [↩]