The Outlaw perfume Project and a giveaway

By Beth It’s no secret that I adore the outlaws. Watching cowboy movies as a child I was always rooting for the Indians or longing to ride with the mavericks…They were passionately following their hearts and that made a huge impression on me. Even now I’m not one to go with the flock. Loving perfume as I do, I have my old loves, my favorites of the old tried and true fragrances but in the last few years I began to notice that something had changed. My Magie Noire was no longer as magical, my Joy a little less joyful and my Bellodgia which used to make me smile instead began to make me sneeze. It was all a mystery and I was saddened when I began to discover that all across the board essential oils that had been beloved in perfumery for centuries were being abandoned because of supposed issues with their safety. Never mind the fact that the synthetics that are used in commercial perfumery can be far more caustic and devastating to our bodies and what …we’re not to be trusted at all to have the brains to determine what’s best for us? It saddens me to find out that my beautiful and trusted old friends carnation and ylang ylang are being treated with less respect than a pharmaceutical that’s been undertested, prematurely released and comes with a side effect warning list that’s impossibly huge and completely dangerous. The list of these outlawed oils and absolutes is astonishing and makes me sad. The ridiculous guidelines of the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and the laws of the European Union (EU) have been a death sentence to many a perfume that I have loved. Oakmoss, one of my absolute favorites is only allowed in my beloved Magie in trace amounts. Rose, Jasmine, Bergamot and Bay? These important mainstays of perfumery art are not immune to these incredibly shortsighted regulations. For your complete and total bewilderment, here is the list of IFRA banned ingredients. Warning: This is not ready for the faint of heart or easily terrified…… Ambrette seed oil Angelica root oil Bakul absolute Basil absolute Basil oil (estragole CT) Basil oil (holy) Basil oil (linalool CT) Bay oil (West Indian) Bergamot leaf oil Bergamot peel oil (distilled) Betel leaf oil Birch tar oil Black tea tree oil Boldo leaf oil Broom absolute Cabreuva oil Cade oil Calamus oil Cananga oil Cangerana oil Cardamon oil Carnation absolute Carrot seed oil Cascarilla oil Cassia oil Cassie absolute Cinnamon bark oil Cinnamon leaf oil Cistus oil Citronella oil Clary sage oil Clove oil Costus oil Cumin oil Davana oil Elecampane oil Elemi oil Fenugreek oil Fig leaf absolute Galangal oil Geranium oil Ginger oil Ginger lily absolute Grapefruit peel oil Ho leaf oil Honey myrtle oil Horseradish oil Horsemint oil Huon pine oil Hyssop oil Jasmine grandiflorum absolute Jasmine sambac absolute Karo karoundé absolute Laurel leaf oil Lemon balm oil (Australian) Lemongrass oil Lemon basil oil Lemon leaf oil Lemon myrtle oil Lemon tea tree oil Lemon peel oils Lemon thyme oil Lemon verbena oil Lemon verbena absolute Lime peel oil (expressed) Lovage leaf oil Mace oil Mandarin leaf oil Marjoram oil (sweet) Massoia bark oil May chang oil Melissa oil Mustard oil Myrtle oil Narcissus absolute Nasturtium absolute Nutmeg oil Oakmoss absolute Opoponax oil Orange blossom oil Orange blossom absolute Orange leaf oil Orange peel oil (bitter) Orange peel oil (sweet) Oregano oil Palmarosa oil Peppermint oil Perilla oil Peru balsam oil Phoebe oil Pimento berry oil Pimento leaf oil Pteronia oil Rose absolute Rose oil Rue oil Sandalwood oil (Australian) Santolina oil Sassafras oil Savin oil Savory oil (winter) Snakeroot oil Spearmint oil Spike lavender oil Styrax oil Sugandha oil Taget oil Taget absolute Tarragon oil Tea leaf absolute Tejpat oil Thyme oil (thymol CT) Tolu balsam extract Treemoss absolute Tuberose absolute Vassoura oil Violet leaf absolute Wormseed oil Ylang-ylang absolute Ylang-ylang oils Daunting isn’t it? All of these beautiful scents that have been used for centuries to provoke, inspire and enchant have now been either severely limited or completely banned by IFRA and the EU. Here in America Independent perfumers are not members of IFRA, but if they are in the EU, they have to abide by these incredibly restrictive rules. Enter the outlaws! Thankfully for us all there are a group of perfumers in the world who are creating fabulous perfumes using all natural and botanical accords and absolutes. They are quickly becoming my favorites, because more and more when I use a perfume made by one of them it smells to me like perfume should. Real perfume is sensual and provocative creating a soul impression almost instantly for whomever is lucky enough to be within range. These perfumes bewitch me with their high quality and charm me with the intensity of their authenticity. I love these maverick perfumers who are brave enough to stand their ground and fight hard for a craft that they believe in. I’m honored to call them my friends and stand with them as they continue to create perfumes with real integrity. Every time I get a package from one of them I am enchanted. These men and women are the real deal. They persevere in the middle of the endless sea of million dollar campaigns designed to drown out the small unique voices available to us as consumers. They succeed in making gorgeous perfume! There’s no mass marketing found here although many of them are becoming very well known simply because their products are just clearly so much better than what is available. The care with which they craft not just their perfumes but their packaging is gorgeous. They are artists in their own rights, creative and truly originals. With the issues that we know about today where more and more we are seeing environmental allergies due to pollution and synthetic fragrances of all types, these perfumes are more welcome now than ever before. Their creations are labeled with the simple and responsible warnings about photo sensitization, allergy and irritation that we all need to be able make up our own minds about whether or not to use such things. These perfumers don’t need to use ingredients that cost a fortune to test and distribute and consequently that’s why they are the Outlaws. My father always said to “follow the trail and you’ll always find the money”. There is a huge fortune to be made in testing (yes , this includes animal testing) and creating synthetic alternatives that can be patented for the multibillion dollar beauty industry and our beloved perfumes are the casualties of that science. When I was asked to write about this topic by Anya McCoy, head of the Natural Perfumers Guild I was intrigued. I was in California and I came home to find 8 mysterious envelopes, all filled with samples of some of the most complex and gorgeous perfumes that I’d ever smelled all lovingly and illegally (according to IFRA and EU guidelines!) crafted for our pleasures! These are not the folksy, hippie patchouli laden oils of my frolicksome youth although some of them do indeed include Patchouli! These are more the perfumes of my mothers youth….rich, deep and sexy with the promise of illicit pleasure and no rashes! It’s hard to do them all justice in just this one article but you’ll have to trust me. Try them all and I promise that one will definitely become your lover. “Mata Hari “by Dawn Spencer Hurwitz is intriguing not just in name but in spirit. When I was a child and all the other girls were pretending to be Snow White I was the one out with the boys doing reconnaissance work. I loved the story of Mata Hari and I adore this perfume. Mata Hari by DSH begins with a cocktail of juicy ripe peaches and succulent mango but quickly begins to smolder with a pomander of spice , but slowly and seductively finishing with the musky leather and oakmoss that will haunt you for more than a few hours. “Rose of Cimarron” by Bellyflowers Perfumes really caught me off guard and quite delightfully. It was the Pink Pepper that did it, blended beautifully with all kinds of naughty Roses, Jasmine and Blond tobacco among other delicious things. I loved it and so did my husband who was a bit overwhelmed by it’s playful sexiness. Rose of Cimmaron is exotic and edible a bit like a sweet, floral curry… did I say edible? I don’t need to say more. Rose of Cimmaron is gorgeous! “Amazing” by JoAnne Bassett is simply that. Amazing is a incredibly wonderful eau de parfum that reminds me of a fragrance that I would love to imagine having worn many lifetimes ago in the courts of one of the French Kings. It’s absolutely gorgeous and contains 32 of the Outlawed ingredients! Jasmine, rose cinnamon ,ginger and Bergamot to name a few. Amazing is refreshing, lovely and as tantalizing as Verbena scented Macaron and those of you who know of my endless addiction to sweets understand what that means to me! All I needed was a tin of violette pastilles, a gorgeous push up corset and a fan….. Jane Cate of a Wing and a Prayer Perfumes created a wonderful fragrance for this project called “Notoriety”. Now you know that I would love that, Notorious being one of my all time favorite words and descriptions! Lots of oakmoss and amber here and my beloved carnation too! Notoriety is really sexy in a very subtle way. It creeps up on you and then you get hit between the eyes with its wantonness. The geranium softens it a bit and tries to make it a bit more lady like but fortunately for us all it fails. I’d wear this one when I deliberately needed to disarm a boardroom of really difficult men! “Daphne” by the Lords Jester himself , Adam Gottschalk is a very sexy femme fatale fragrance that is surprising too..not at all what you’d expect from a perfume that includes such lovelies as grapefruit, jasmine, rose and frangipani. When I put it on the scent was immediately lovely and then I found myself completely intrigued. I couldn’t escape the leathery sweet and subtlely smoky base and I was reminded immediately of one of the men in my past. He was devilish , he always smelled of opium (not the perfume!) and he was sexy as hell. I think that Daphne could be worn well by a man and in some cases could be as physically arresting to the senses as Johnny Depp’s masterful gypsy in Chocolat. I enjoy wearing Daphne myself, but if my husband wore it I’d be continuously distracted so I’ve hid the sample! Speaking of Opium, one of the delights that I returned home to find was a beautifully crafted perfume called simply “Cannabis”. I love the smell of marijuana and always have. I find it completely ridiculous that a simple plant with so much potential for doing so much good in the world was outlawed in a most ridiculous fashion by business interests so many years ago. Alfredo Dupetit-Bernardi has created a perfume that is amazingly pretty and delightfully seductive. I loved it because yes, the cannabis is very present but it’s not your average merry hempsters cannabis…it’s unbelievably sophisticated with a wide ranging bouquet featuring loads of juicy citrus, rose, bay, bergamot and cool birch. “Cannabis” makes me happy with it’s abundantly effervescent and generous nature . It’s a brilliant option for someone like me whose heart remains true to her bohemian nature. Bravo! Anya McCoy , President of the Natural Perfumers Guild created two perfumes for this occasion, “Amberess”and “Light”. “Amberess”, billed as The Princess Outlaw is a yummy floriental featuring musky roses, ylang ylang, patchouli and benzoin among many other smokily seductive notes. I adore the tonka bean but am completely intrigued by the Himalayan amber. On my skin Amberess turns sweetly smoky and exotic. It’s a warm scent that’s keeping me very cozy this winter, but I can’t wait to take it to Arizona next month. I’ve got the feeling that the amber will become even more captivating than it already is when exposed to the dry heat of the Sonoran desert on my sun warmed skin. I can’t wait to find out. “Light “ features a plant that I’d never heard of , a little Chinese flower called “Aglaia”. The Aglaia absolute has a stunning supporting cast featuring Cedrat, Grapefruit and Juniper berry which gives a sparkle, but there is also more than enough Frankincense and Ambergris to warm your soul. “Light” reminds me both of a beautiful incense and a icy lemon presse’ on a sunny summer’s day. Absolutely delicious and ripe for the picking…. The last of my outlaws is a wonderful perfume called Gypsy, created by Charna owner of the Providence Perfume Company. To say that I love Gypsy would be such a vast understatement that I couldn’t live with myself! Gypsy is simply one of the most remarkably sensual natural perfumes that I’ve ever smelled. Gypsy is a classic fougere or as Charna calls it a sweet amber fougere or a fougere light. It is wonderful…a sexy tango of a perfume that is completely surprising, green and delicious. Because Charna is a bit of a gypsy and I’m a bit of a witch you’d know that this one would knock me straight off of my broom. Galangal and Lavender, Petitgrain and Cardamon begin the magical spell and are followed by more lavender, Pink Lotus and jiocy , fleshy green Violet leaf. The base of Tonka, Oakmoss, Vetiver , Patchouli , Costus and Vanilla is perfect and lasts for hours. Gypsy is a smoky, shadowy seductive bombshell of a perfume and is more than a little dangerous. This witchy woman knows her power and is not afraid to wield it. She is gorgeous and luckily for you, Charna will be giving away a 5ml . bottle of it to one of you. But be careful and make sure before you beg me for this sample (and you should be begging!) that you’re up for it. If you come to the conclusion that you’re ready to meet the Gypsy face to face let me know in your comments. Please take the time to get to know some of these fabulous perfumers: http://lordsjester.com/, http://www.bioscent.info/, http://anyasgarden.com/, http://www.providenceperfume.com/, http://www.dshperfumes.com/, http://tambela.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/wingandprayerperfume, http://www.joannebassett.com/, http://artemisiaperfume.com/