MATERIALS WEDNESDAY: TOMATO LEAF ABSOLUTE

In considering raw materials, I have no plan for how I go about choosing topics. So far I’ve written about newer materials that I’m in the process of evaluating, so here’s another one in the same category. The last one was palo santo, and this one is also a green note, so I guess I could start with a series of “green” materials.

Anyone who has encountered a real live tomato plant probably knows what tomato leaves smell like. It’s a unique scent that epitomizes summer. Apparently it’s a love-it-or-hate-it scent, but for those of us who love it, wouldn’t it be nice to capture it as a perfume note? That was my hope when I got a batch of Robertet’s tomato leaf absolute, but it was only partially realized. The absolute is a viscous yellow-green liquid that smells more like generic green leaves than tomato. It’s not too sticky, so is relatively easy to work with. It's definitely green, somewhat grassy and leafy, with only a remote hint of tomato. In reality, it’s more like a milder version of violet leaf absolute than tomato.

I suppose it’s not surprising that the scent of fresh tomato leaves is hard to capture in a natural, extracted product. The scent actually comes from bulbous structures on the tips of the hair-like structures (trichomes) that cover the leaves and stems, and is secreted as an insect repellant. This secretion is what we smell when we gently rub a tomato leaf to release the fragrance.

When tomato leaves are harvested, I imagine there’s no way to separate the trichome secretion from the leaves and stems, so everything gets extracted together and the green, leafy components end up predominating. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if you’re expecting a strong and authentic freshly-rubbed tomato leaf smell, you won’t get it.

What you do get is a very strong, dark green, pungent scent at first that gradually becomes lighter and more herbal, with a hint of something almost perfumey. It’s lovely and fresh, but not all that tomato-y. I don’t detect any “off”-notes that would need to be masked, so it’s versatile and could participate in any aspect of a fragrance. It’s not even bad as a solo act. Longevity is not great, two days on paper and a few hours on skin. It would function as a top- to early middle note in a blend.

I think tomato leaf absolute could be a good starting point for reconstructing a true-to-life tomato scent, but it would take a lot of tinkering to get it right. As is, it could be used in any composition that needs a light green note, but it would not be explicitly recognizable as "tomato leaf". 

[Tomato leaf trichome image from UC Davis website; other images from Wikimedia]

SPRING EQUINOX AND NEW BEGINNINGS

The camellias, hellebores, crocuses, and daffodils have finished blooming and now it’s the turn of the tulips, hyacinths, and roses. Days are noticeably longer, we went through the silly government-mandated change from Pacific to Mountain time, the sky was pure blue yesterday and today, the sun as been shining, and the birds and frogs are singing.

In step with nature, winter quarter at the university finished, my grades are turned in, and I have a small break before spring quarter starts. After three trips during winter quarter, I’ve somewhat finished catching up on things that had been neglected, and am catching my breath before going on another day-job related trip, this time to DC, leaving very early Sunday morning. So much for my break.

I wanted to post something (anything!) here before my next trip to let everyone know that I’m still alive and potentially writing, and that I will be back to regular blogging soon. I will also deal with any draws that are pending. 

In the meantime, I’ve just removed all of the spam comments L that accumulated while I wasn’t looking. It seems like one spam comment attracts a whole herd of others that pounce of the blog like a pack of hyenas. Curses on spammers, especially those whose comments make so little sense that they obviously didn’t even look at the post before pasting their irrelevant sentence with a link into the box!

I’ll be back soon with some actual content, and wish everyone a happy spring. 

[Photos are mine]

FROM SAN DIEGO TO SAN FRANCISCO

Normally yesterday would have been Mass-Market Monday, but I’ve been recovering from the post-effects of a trip to San Diego to a scientific conference (my other life), and the pre-effects of preparing for the Taste TV Artisan Fragrance Salon in San Francisco (this life). Without Stacey to assist me, I’m not sure how I could have managed such a fast turnaround.

The backlog of shipping is more or less caught up for now, and yesterday the big boxes of items for the trunk show at Tigerlily on Friday and the Salon on Saturday were dropped off at FedEx. What a lot of stress it is to get things ready in advance to allow for shipping time, and what a relief it always is when those boxes are on their way! I’ve gotten much more efficient at preparing for shows, having generated a comprehensive checklist and stored infrastructure items in places that are reasonably accessible and easy to remember. However, there’s always a different set of stock to bring to shows, and this is now the biggest challenge to prepare.

Looking back on San Diego, it doesn’t have the strong jasmine scent that I associate with San Francisco and LA. Maybe it wasn’t the right season, but I don’t think I saw jasmine growing there. The few flowers that were growing were not fragrant. What I did smell in San Diego was mass-market perfume everywhere on the streets. It was of two distinct types, which, as you might have guessed, were the women’s and men’s versions.

All of the women’s perfumes were saturated with the “scratchy green tea” note that I dislike so much. It would have been hard to pin it down to specific fragrances, or even brands, because that note is so ubiquitous in mass-market perfumes and produces so much sillage that everything else is left behind on, or very close to, the wearer. 

The men’s perfumes were all heavy on the sharp “woody-amber” notes, which I don’t mind as long as they are not mixed with aquatics. Thankfully, San Diego men did not seem to go for aquatics. Every perfume that I smelled on the street belonged to one of these two classes. I don’t know if that’s the case elsewhere (it's not on the UW campus), but it certainly was in San Diego.

My other interesting discovery was "Mexican" food made with French fries. My first introduction to this genre was a “cheeseburger taco”, which was a bit of meat with cheese, fresh salsa, and … you guessed it … French fries, all rolled up in a soft taco. It’s not as bad as it sounds! In fact, it was pretty good. Later, at another venue I saw people eating carnitas (barbecued meat) topped with French fries, cheese, and salsa.

My biggest achievement while in San Diego was eating two fish tacos. This probably doesn’t sound like much of an achievement, but years ago I suffered a bad case of food poisoning after eating a fish taco at a chain Mexican restaurant in Irvine, California. That experience resulted in an intense conditioned taste aversion to fish tacos that only now is reaching the point where I can think about putting a fish taco anywhere near my mouth. I have to say that the fish tacos I ate on two separate occasions, from two different establishments, were excellent, and I suffered no ill effects. It felt good to know that I can finally enjoy this specialty again!

On Friday I leave for San Francisco, so there will probably be some more down time on the blog. 

[All photos are mine, taken with my trusty phone and un-Photoshopped]

EXPLORING PALO SANTO

In my Wednesday series exploring perfume materials I have to start somewhere, so will begin by considering a new essential oil that I recently acquired but have yet to use in a formula.

Palo santo, aka Bursera graveolens,  is a deciduous tree that grows throughout Central America and parts of South America. It is in the same family as frankincense and myrrh, so the wood is resinous and aromatic. The trees are attractive, with chunky trunks and branches, compound leaves with broad leaflets, small yellow-white flowers, and small round fruits. 

A long time ago I had bought a small bottle of palo santo essential oil, but didn’t like the smell, so never used it. However, late last year I bought some palo santo wood chips for burning and was immediately wowed by the fresh, clean, green smell of the wood, both in its raw state and when burning. I suddenly understood why palo santo wood was used by the Incas in purifying rituals and is still used for similar purposes in aromatherapy.  It really does smell exceptionally clean and uplifting. I decided to give palo santo essential oil another try.

I bought a good-sized bottle of palo santo oil from a reputable supplier, and after smelling two different versions have learned that there seems to be a lot of variation in palo santo oil from different sources. The new oil has many of same the fresh, green notes that the wood has, but I do detect a small amount of “off”-notes similar to those in the original bottle that I got.  I would characterize these contaminating notes as “greasy moth balls and pea soup”.  This seems to be something that is generated when the wood is distilled, not something that is in the raw wood itself.

I really want to use palo santo in a fragrance, but will need to find a workaround to mask the “off”-notes and enhance its unique suite of clean, green notes. 

I will be traveling this weekend through next Thursday, so may miss next Wednesday's materials post. If you would like to be entered in a drawing for a sample of palo santo oil diluted to 25% so that you can apply it as a perfume and experience the material by itself, leave a comment relevant to this post. Unfortunately, due to exorbitant international postage costs for small packages, this is a US and Canada only drawing. There will be a few international giveaways in future, so keep watching for them. 

[Images are from Wikimedia or a retailer's website] 

WINNER OF LUNA ROSSA EXTREME, AN ADDED GIVEAWAY, AND GIVEAWAY PARAMETERS

The drawing, such as it was, has taken place and the winner has emerged.

The winner is JAMES WEAVER. To claim your prize, please provide your mailing address by sending an e-mail to olympicorchids at gmail dot com or leave a PM on Facebook. 

Just to clarify the parameters of our giveaway system, any drawing with less than two entrants will be extended so that that prize is offered along with the next one. Any unclaimed prizes will be accumulated so that each giveaway's winner will receive whatever the total accumulation is. It works sort of like the real lottery where the pot keeps getting bigger if no one claims it.

Don't forget there's a great drawing for two different Harajuku Lovers perfumes this week, including a 100 ml bottle of Wicked Baby! All you have to do is leave a comment.

Because the cost of international shipping has now become truly outrageous, some drawings will be US only. Any shipping limitations will be made explicit in each post.

[Photoshopped moon photo is mine]

SATURDAY SAMPLES: THREE MASCARAS

I have a lot of sample mascaras, but will only report on the three that I’ve been testing for the past 6 months or so. One of them is as awesome as they come, and I can’t say enough good things about it. One is OK, and the other is a miserable mess. I’ll go from the good to the bad.

Buxom Lash Mascara (black). 

This is the champ - probably the best mascara I’ve ever tried. It doesn’t clump at all, it colors each lash separately instead of making them stick together, it stays put all day until I remove it, and the little sample tube lasts and lasts. I have literally been using the small sample size several times a week for the past 6 months and it’s still going strong. The brush looks a little strange because it’s long, thin, and seems to be covered with tiny, slick plastic spikes instead of bristles, but it works like a charm. I love this mascara and would certainly buy a full size if I ever ran out of samples.

Lancome Hypnose Drama (black). 

This works after a fashion, but I find that it is excessively goopy and tends to make my lashes stick together. It also tends to clump, but that can be mitigated if I frequently wipe the brush off with a tissue to remove excess buildup and recharge it with fresh mascara from the tube. The brush is a weird twisted shape that makes it hard to apply the mascara evenly, so there’s a definite learning curve if you want to use it. The mascara seems reasonably secure once it’s on, staying put until it’s removed. It’s OK, but I wouldn’t buy a full size because there are much cheaper ones that are as good or better.

Josie Maran Argan Black Oil Mascara (black). 

It seems that everything is wrong with this mascara. It’s extremely thick and would be goopy if it were not so dry. It has generated nothing but clumps and crumbs from day one. It even clumps on the brush. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and tried it several times, but obtained the same clumpy, ugly result every time. Even though it seems dry, once it's on, it tends to smear. The brush is weird, with bristles of all different lengths. It looks like it has a bad case of mange that's made its bristles come out in tufts here and there. The photo at the right doesn't show the half of it. The uneven brush makes it impossible to apply the stuff properly. I cannot even use my sample, let alone think about buying a full size. This one is a no-go and will be headed to the garbage. 

[Photos from retailers’ websites]