Lunar Amulet for November 13, 2012

This batch of solid perfume was made on Halloween, and an appropriate scent inspiration accompanied the festivities; the Caramel Apple. There is no way to derive scent from apples, so the interpretive concoction borrows the sweet fruity notes from a select combination of sweet blossoms to recreate the "apple", and even more sweet, sugary flowers are blended with vanilla, peru balsam, and tonka to recreate the caramel coating.

This is a really strange scent to wear - and if you are a lover of sweets this will suit you. I usually prefer savory scents instead of sweet, so when I wear this one I will be layering it over something darker. This smells AMAZING mixed with the Amber single note, and can also layer well with Rose, Tonka, and Black Forest Cake.

Lunar Amulet for August 17, 2012

The perfume for this month's lunar amulet is Mimosa flower! This year Kansas City got ridiculously hot, and the mimosa tree on my street had very sad, burned up looking stubs instead of it's usual abundance of sweet pink fluffy blossoms.

Even though fruity scents are not usually my thing, I do love and miss the light, sweet perfume of this flower that I'm used to walking under every day. So I made this batch for selfish reasons. Enjoy. ;)

Lunar Amulet - July 18th 2012

I went to visit San Francisco again and -almost- forgot about the lunar amulets this month! Luckily, I have been working hard on some new perfumes for an upcoming line, so I had a new batch of a lovely mountain-inspired scent that I decided to send out instead of keeping it secret. I am in love with evergreens, high altitudes, and the serenity that the mountains have to offer. enjoy, and if you want more, I will have more of this available soon. I would love to have your feedback for my last minute tweaks. (and sorry about the late post)

Lunar Amulet for May 20, 2012

Happy new moon! And to the lunar amulet wearers, happy new perfume.
I was in a floral mood this month, and the theme for this cycle is the sun. A lunar dedication to the sun! oh the contradiction...

The central element of this fragrance is one of my favorites, orange blossom. I added linden (lime) blossom to see how it could enhance the blend and I immediately thought of the sun, so I kept going. Usually I become consumed in earthy, hypnotic, elemental layers filled with challenging base notes, but this was a practice of restraint for me. This scent begins with a light floral, calming into a comforting and delicate sweetness.

Lunar Amulet for April 21, 2012

This month's concoction began with a deep and calming Blue Spruce essence. As I began building around it with other essences, I realized that the scent itself was very BLUE! So I went with it.

Synesthesia is "a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes"

I think I am a synesthete - all my sensory signals are crossed, and I have to say, it's pretty fun. There are approximately 60 identified types of Synesthesia, and I experience several. I think most people with any sense of creativity have experienced it on some level.

(Img: neighbor's goat wearing wig in moonlight on Halloween)

Amulet wearers, I am curious to know if you can smell the "Blue" of this moon cycle's perfume?

March 2012 New Moon - Lunar Amulet Perfume

I am sooo late on posting this! Even though I was early sending out the lunar amulet refills this month. Ok, I have to admit something- for the first time, I did not complete my own lunar ritual. I was supposed to have something very important finished before this new moon on the 22nd, and it simply did not manifest. I have been horribly thrown off-kilter by this, and can only hope that I get back on track with that moon!

So, I hope the amulet wearers are having a better time manifesting your intentions despite my bad example this month.

The perfume for this cycle is a blend with a distinct evolution. It begins with a lovely verveine that my friend Bettina brought back for me from France. I wanted to create a dramatic arc from the fresh verveine, highlighted with grapefruit and lavender, to the heart of spicy kaffir lime. Then after an hour, a new layer of precious woods, balsams, and musky undertones emerge. I explored the depths of botanical musk design this month, and am starting to develop a deeper appreciation for a deeply animalic and sensuous natural musk accord. This one begins sweet and feminine, then escalates to an energy that is quite masculine, then back to the drydown notes of something delicious.... maybe creme brulee.

February 2012 New Moon - Lunar Amulet Perfume

To celebrate the first complete moon cycle in my new place with my new roomie (see last post), this is a scent inspired by Leonor's bright personality, dark expression, and the super strong coffee that she brews in the morning! This lady is a live-wire hailing from Ecuador, so it had to be energetic and exotic. The scent is full of bold tuberose and jasmine, grounded with earthy yerba mate, oakmoss, and coffee bean. Bergamot and pink pepper lift the top of this expressive composition. I hope all of my lunar amulet wearers love it!

photo by Leonor Jurado Laspina

Jan 2012 New Moon - Lunar Amulet Perfume

The way I work with perfume is different than I work with other mediums. I imagine the scent I want to create first, and then I make it happen. A lot of the time I am inspired by the complex bouquet of a place or object in my memory, and often I become excited by hearing friends and customers tell me the scent they have always wanted to capture. This is why I do custom perfumes- some people just have a need to express themselves through a scent that they have in their own imagination.

This lunar cycle, I wanted to capture a familiar and comforting scent. After all the strange and exotic essences I have explored, I realized I have not given enough attention to an amazing natural scent, due to its mainstream use: vanilla. It's just not strange. But I have come to appreciate the possibilities that surround it.

This perfume has sweet vanilla bourbon delicately enhanced by amber and resins. Touches of various woods and ambrette seed finish this subtle, understated, and sheer fragrance that truly melds with the skin. I have been in a quiet mood lately, and this perfume is the perfect expression of how I hope to stay in a low-key, reflective state during this lunar cycle. I hope the amulet wearers enjoy- and look forward to a much louder one in rebellion for the next cycle :)

DIY Spice Jar Labels - A free download to transform your kitchen

I designed this antique-style set of herb and spice labels a couple years ago to use on vintage spice jars or new recycled glass bottles. They include the botanical (latin) name and common name of each plant. These are lovely decor to enhance your kitchen during cooking or witchcraft or making medicine, although I find these all to be one in the same :)
Free to download and print for personal use. Do not print, alter, or redistribute in any other way.

Here are also an herbal medicine series of labels, and a few others as requested

A little rant about marketing schemes

I have had several people ask if I have tried doTERRA's line of essential oils, and besides that they are a multi level marketing company, here are my issues with them:

The claims they make are not even possible, and the "Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade®" claim is in itself misleading. The reason there is an ® at the end of that phrase is because there is no such thing as a certification for pure therapeutic grade. It is possible to have oils tested in a lab to see if they have been adulterated, but a reputable seller would have the gas chromatography analysis available to customers.
 ® means "registered trademark," which means they invented and own the term "certified pure therapeutic grade®" and are using their trademarked phrase in a way to mislead consumers. It also reserves the phrase to be something only THEY are legally allowed to use. If no other essential oil supplier is allowed to use this phrase, even if their oils are 100% purely distilled from organic plants from a biodynamic farm with lab testing to prove it, they still will not be allowed to say they are also "CPTG" because  A. There is no way to actually get this certification   B. It is simply a trademarked phrase owned by a corporate business.


Many distilleries have organic oils available, and doTERRA does not seem to carry any organic oils, a standard that actually exists in the industry. This makes me doubt further that they actually have the best sources for their essential oils. They do not even list the country of origin or botanical name of the oil which is info you want to make sure is always available on essential oils.

Young Living oils encourage their customers to use essential oils recklessly and wastefully; ingesting them (which is ridiculous because essential oils are specifically the smallest, most volatile compounds of the plant that can be inhaled), applying even the irritating ones to skin without dilution, and they make medical claims that are not even remotely true. But the FDA disclaimer at the bottom means that they do not need any evidence to support their claims. Essential oils do have some therapeutic benefits if they are used correctly and for the appropriate applications, but chugging questionably sourced frankincense is not going to cure cancer.

Young Living also claims to oversee the entire production of the oils they sell, but this is not possible in Iowa. There are few essential oils besides lavender, citrus, and mint that are grown and distilled in the United States. There are also small boutique distilleries that specialize in a handful of plants that they grow or wild harvest in their local region (and no; clove, lemon, and rosewood trees do not grow in Iowa). The rest is imported.

If you want to buy essential oils, the ones available at health food stores, such as Auracacia, Windmere etc. are fine and they are more reasonably priced than MLM distributers. I am not fully aware of the sustainability practices of all the commercial brands but I do know what shady claims to look out for, and when I see an outright lie.

the Lunar Amulet

Ever since I began working in tandem with the moon, my self-employed life has become balanced, productive, and focused. I thought it would be perfect to create a new limited edition perfume throughout every moon cycle and then share it with others as a way to induce awareness of the lunar phases in their own life. This also gives me the freedom to share new blends easily.

letterpress

Michelle at Two Tone Press just finished letterpress printing the packaging for my single note solid perfumes last week to add an extra special handmade with freakin love element to them.

More letterpressed embellishments to come in the future~ because now I am addicted.