Scentual Artistry Holiday Schedule

I will be extra busy the next few weeks, getting things ready for our holiday season. We will have our usual holiday fare with Lavender gift boxes, including lavender bath salts, shower gel, lavender oatmeal soap and lotion. I will also add a couple of extra bath salt blends, including Lemon Eucalyptus and Rosemary Mint.
Our schedule will include two extra days and a moved up December Open House. For November the dates will be 26th (Friday) 6-10pm, 27th Saturday 11am-3pm.
December will be 17th (Friday) 6-10pm, 18th Saturday 11am-3pm
We will also take appointments for weekdays. On days when I am in the city, I will post them to our twitter account, which can also be seen here on the sidebar.
I will not be taking any appointments for custom work until after the first, and all  Holiday gift certificates purchased for custom scents will be redeemable after February 2011.
All of this info. is in regards to Scentual Artistry only.
Our big opening will be the one in November, which will include the launch of our new Soivohle Parfums.

If you are in the Cincinnati area or region, this is a great time to come for a visit. Many of our customers have made the trip. We are in the city so accommodations are near by.
I have not worked it out yet, but I plan on having an after gathering on Dec. 18th for anyone who wants to attend. More to come.

We will be closed for the month of January.

Wake Up Lizzie

We had a great night last night at the opening, very busy and festive. The pimp the pumpkin event was a lot of fun, and everyone seemed in great spirits. I saw a lot of musicians coming in and out of the building, so someone (s) was/were having live music. With eight floors of artist studios anything can happen, as each artist is having their own opening of sorts.
We left a little after closing, and I am still pooped. I think it is the sustained energy rush that gets me the next day, or maybe it was all that iced tea. Or the sugar, as I had a few cookies. Living large...hehe..
In spite of a few things that are not lining up, we are back in business. The new computer works, the printer works and I can get my mail. NowI can go ahead and finish up the orders that have backed up, and finish the last details for the newsletter and site launch. The newsletter goes out on Monday.
I think I mentioned this before but in regards to the new perfumes and packaging. We will be including in all 15ml parfum boxes 1 empty 5ml bottle and transfer pipette and 1 spray, screw top atomizer. This is for folks who want to spray the parfums, and have a small travel size for purse or pocket. It has gotten to be a big mess of trying to keep track of who wants a spray, who wants an extra empty bottle etc. Half the time I am sending them along later which is not an efficient way to work. We are not adding to the price of the perfumes. It is just our way of making things a bit easier for folks who want the option.
I can not believe how fast this holiday season has rushed in. I know I am prepared (mostly) but still feel like I am running in circles. It is also a time of increased appointments downtown, so there is a bit of sport, keeping all the balls in the air.
Overall I think we have the best customers in the world, everyone is so interesting, and the love of scent is inspiring. Would not change a thing!

Final Friday, New Computer

Tonight is Final Friday at the PAC. Our shop Scentual Artistry will be open from 6-10 pm. We are on the ground floor #108. I will be driving down in a bit.
Am still adjusting the settings on my new computer, some of my migrated settings are not working, so I will need to manually add some things back in. Meaning I have to hunt down my master list of passwords.  And find the driver disk for my printer. Yuk!  As a result our lead time on getting orders out will be another couple of days. So by the first of next week things should be back to normal. Again, always something. Just when we are set to launch our new site look at soivohle. Thankfully I keep all of those files on a different computer.
Looking forward to visiting with a couple of friends tonight, who are coming downtown, as well as family stopping in. Should be a lot of fun, as the building owners have really been talking up the Halloween events scheduled for the evening.

Soivohle Update and Friday Art Walk

I do believe I will make my Nov. 1st launch for the new Soivohle offerings. We sent out a ton of packets this week as well as the giveaway packets to those who provided a mailing address. Thanks everyone who participated.
We have an open house this Friday at Scentual Artistry, but it will not be the launch party for the new Soivohle. That will take place on November 26th. We will be sending out an invitation, and a press release.
This Fridays opening will be all about Halloween, at least that is the vibe from the PAC emails and newsletter. So rather than try and compete with Fright Night, we will have a regular opening, maybe a bit of punch and cookies. Depends on how crazy things are earlier in the day.

On another note, my shop computer is acting a bit schizophrenic. The screen goes black and there is a white vertical line running through the screen. I gather from my search on the subject that this is a glitch with the first wave of Intel mac's. So I am going to upgrade to the latest mac book pro and do away with the desktop model. At least I will be able to work in bed. Like I really need to do that, but I will have the option rather than borrowing MR. Z's notebook with the tiny screen. Hopefully it will not take long to transfer all of my files and be back up and running. .......always something.......

Give Away Winners

Here are the winners of our draw. Sandy I / Elise / Earthly Reality / Fragrant Moments / HJ.  Send you address to me at liz1 at lizzornperfumes dot com or sales at soivohle dot com.
Thanks to every one who entered.

Give Away

Finally have some order here. Will be giving away five sets of our new fall perfumes including:
HONEYSUCKLE BIRD - Limited Edition Absolute. Like the EDP  with a more pronounced honeysuckle note, and more of the moss earthy base.
JOURNEYMAN -Limited Edition Absolute, Oud Leather, similar to the original with an alcohol carrier instead of oil.
MEERSCHAUM - Permanent  Collection Natural Absolute , Tobacco, green aromatic, also with Oud, but not as a dominant player.
NIGHTJAR - Limited Edition, Absolute, Floral with natural accord of Mimosa, Frangipani and Osmanthus.
The limited editions will be in our new Specialty Category. Scents that are made in smaller runs.  If you would like to be in the draw for the new parfums, leave a comment here. Please do not send an email. It is too much work to sort it all out.
Thanks, Liz

Monday Follow Up

I have realized something today. These new blogger sites look different in other browsers. I have been tweaking a wordpress blog to be integrated into our new website updates, and was doing some checking back and forth. On my older version of Seamonkey  and netscape on my old Power Mac down in my office it is (this blogger blog)  almost all purple, even the post body. On my screen here intel imac, new version of seamonkey, the post body is white.
Here is a link to the new blog. I just started working on it. How does it look. Anything out of line... Just curious.

Soivohle Monday

I have been up for awhile, getting all of my orders printed out and now getting ready to fill them. Call me strange, but I love Mondays. The first day of the week all fresh and new. A clean slate, and opportunity to do wonderful things.
I will be adding the shopping cart code for the Accords page later today, and by the end of the week should have everything ready to upload. I will also to be lining the new Absolute boxes with satin, and am waiting for my special order to arrive. Should be here today or tomorrow.
We will also have several new gift options and the Coffret will be available in two pre-selected sets, including the make your own option that is available now. We will be adding a smaller Coffret that holds 16 mini screw top vials, also pre-selected sets, including one of accords. It is my way of adding a little make your own perfume kit, without all the fuss and bother. They will be color coded top, heart, anchor and single notes. With the twenty accords that I will be adding to the website, a 16 pc. mini set, will be perfect for blending impromptu scents. All no brainers as well, since the initial blending has already been done.
On a different note I would like to ask you all to send us some healing energy today. My nephew passed away in his sleep Friday night and my sister-in-law is quite shaken.
We never know when it will be our turn, so living our best life is so vital. Being true to ourselves and being kind and loving to others. Peace ZZ

Follow Up: New Age Wack

Since the post on our SOIVOHLE acronym I have received a couple of interesting emails and posts to the blog that didn't make it to the light of day.
I am not sure why there is such a huff a pooh over new age. First I would like to say that I do not equate New Age with religion. When I think New Age, images of psychic fairs and crystal balls come to mind.

I went through my own curiosity phase with those things, but that was years ago and I think it more in line to parlour tricks or amusing things to do at parties.
Nathan Branch made reference to some of my blog posts in his last segment, Artisan Series Liz Zorn, with a link to the Olfactorama website where the writer had called the Soivohle acronym "new-age'wachadoodle" I had to go back and read this blog post again, because I was not referring to Olfactorama specifically when I used the words whack job in my original post. I say wack job a lot, actually. But I can see where it could be seen that way. I was just fed up with the New Age tag in general. Because it is in no way who I am or what I am about.
For me it is the idea of people making assumptions about my intentions when they do not know me or have every thought to ask first hand. 
And still I am at a loss for understanding how sending out good energy is wack. If this is true, we need a whole lot more wack in the world. But the double standard persists. When a scientist talks about energy and vibrations he/she is a genius. When everyone else does it they are new age nobody's with a loose screw. Give me a break....

Our New Look at Soivohle

Since I have been busy rebuilding our Soivohle website, I thought I would share one of the new images. A collage of our Signature Collection Bottles, along with the poem that you will no doubt recognize from the label on our snap closure boxes.
The new labels do not have the poem, yet I wanted to keep it alive, so am using it here. We are also adding finally, the note cards from my Flowers 2000 Photographic series. And will offer soon after mini, open edition prints of the flowers as well.
We may even offer a series of prints and cards based on the new digital artwork that I am creating for the website and all Soivohle materials, press kits, etc.
This will depend on our pro-printers. They have been stored away for a few years. So it depends on the availability of ink and if I can update the drivers again. After so many years these things become impossible, yet with expensive graphics equipment, it should be easier to obtain what we need.  We'll see.

Change Is Good

I have noticed lately that some natural perfumers have discovered natural isolates and aroma molecules synthesized from natural (plant based) materials. I have been using these materials for years, and can remember a time when many natural perfumers would not have thought to use such materials and considered them synthetic. Well....they are synthetic in regards to processing. They are not, in regards to starting materials.
I spent a lot of time discussing this with folks, but didn't get very far. The mindset was so closed to even the possibility of using these materials that I decided to let it go and move on. Amazing what a few years can do. And no one is more pleased to see this than I am.
In my work I will more often than not choose a plant based synthetic over a crude based synthetic. Not to be confused with nature identical, which (for the most part) are crude based doppelgangers of natural isolates.
Whether one calls these materials synthetic or not is just a matter of personal preference, as there are arguments to support both sides.
The truth is, all perfumery materials are synthesized to some degree.
Choosing the natural aroma chemical over the crude is a great way to stay true to ones craft, but it isn't (as some would believe) the most economical one. Natural aroma chemicals are still way more expensive than their crude based counterparts. For example. Natural Heliotropine is 1,450.00 pr kilo, the synthetic is 113.00 pr kilo. Phenylethyl Acetate Natural is 800.00 pr kilo the synthetic is 54.00 pr. kilo. Yes just 54 bucks. Many synthetic chemicals are dirt cheap like this. It is why the perfume industry chooses to use them.
Pricing was obtained from one of my suppliers Vigon International.
For anyone interested in natural aroma chemicals Vigon has a fair amount, Sigma Aldrich has a better selection and for some of the harder to find in natural, AM Todd has a good selection. A M Todd bought out Moore Organics, moorelab.com. so if you try to google them you will get a redirect. They are located just thirty minutes from me so I can pick up supplies from them directly. Hopefully the buy out has not prompted them to close down their facility here.
Unlike a rose oil that will have subtle changes from year to year due to climate and soil conditions, aroma chemicals are standardized to always be the same, so sharing the info. isn't such a big thing.
I am not so quick to share the source of small batch distillations of special oils. (smile)
Change is good in this regard because it not only adds to the possibilities in the formulation of natural perfumes, but also peels away the layers of fear and ignorance when it comes to perfumery materials.
I am all for expanding the mind, and know from years of experience that the best way is with education. It's one thing to be fearful of something with just cause, it is insanity to be fearful of shadows and imaginary threats. Or worse to let ignorant ill-informed people yank us around by the nose.

Autumn Wind

This time of year always finds me in a state of flux, a mood mostly. Instead of spring cleaning I always clean in the fall. Change things up and realign whatever is out of whack. This does not include the changes with Soivohle, as I had been waiting for months for the new boxes to arrive. Knowing since spring that we would be making a change. The fact that things take so long is well, just that and nothing can be done about it.
As you can see I have spruced up the look of the blog. I am such a black white and red person, that I needed to do something different. Our Acousticjus colors are dominated by shades of purple, so this is a nice look for now. I also adore the hummingbirds, and have flowers planted just outside my windows to attract them. We enjoy them all summer just by looking out the window. They are so used to us though that we can be right next to them outdoors and they will not fly off. Hummingbirds are a reminder to be light, and not let the heaviness of gravity weigh us down. That we too in our own way can flit and dart around, we too can move through the world with ethereal grace.

Soivohle Studio & Accords

With all the talk about the new look for Soivohle, I have not mentioned the Studio Collection. Not much will change here. We will continue to offer the Studio Collection with the same packaging, with an emphasis on our retail partners who carry these scents. We will continue to offer them online for awhile, but may at a future date move them from the Soivohle Brand to simply Liz Zorn Studio.
These scents are all about the studio anyway. Primarily influenced by customers and custom scents. The latest ideas coming form customers are for Amber's, Musk, Vanilla (more vanilla)  Ocean (clean, linen, fresh air, rain) Tea and Bamboo scents.
To my nose Transcendental Musk is a very clean scent, but it doesn't have a very pronounced ocean/aquatic note. At our studio in the city, TM is very popular with men.

Women tend to like their clean scents with a citrus opening and vanilla musk base. This is based on what people choose from our accords blending station. Vanille OTR is a clean scent as well, clean green vanilla. I am not sure which direction I will go in for the next installment to the Studio Collection. Maybe a White Tea and Bamboo, or an incense laden Amber.  I will be adding (finally) a selection of my own accords to the Soivohle website when we do the update in a few weeks. These will be available in the 10ml spray, and can be layered to create custom scents. They are fairly complex accords and bases, (aside from a few single note blends) which takes the guess work out of layering, or blending them. This is how I usually wear scent. I dab on a layer or two from my accords and create a custom scent for the day. I can have a custom scent for each day of the year, and when I get all of the accords uploaded to the website so can everyone else. I may also offer them as a blending kit later on with a few more single notes. All diluted to the correct strength for blending, taking the guess work out of the process for people who just want to do it for fun, without the hassle of worrying about usage guidelines etc.
I am about 1/4 through the process of updating the website. Taking photos of the new bottles, and replacing all of the other imagery. I got six or seven pages finished today, and need to take more photos. The new pouches for our absolutes will be here tomorrow, so I can finish up the photos. Will be glad to finally put the light box away and check photos off my list.
If I can stay focused, keeping up with orders and appointments to the city, I should have everything ready to go by the end of the month. We are also changing things downtown, so I am pacing myself and trying not to let it get to me.

Mistakes

The past couple of weeks have been a bear. Never before have my Autumnal allergies been so relentless. Can't smell a thing, and apparently can't read a formula either, as I made a mistake in batching Waterflower. Even with a stuffy nose I can tell there is something very off with it. Now I have to wait for a new batch of Pink Lotus Concrete to tincture out. I am thinking I used the wrong carrier, which would make a huge difference. So many variables.
It is amazing how fragile reality can be when the head feels like a giant cotton ball. So I will retreat to my work room to bottle and box.
 Double checking everything, of course.