Solid Perfume Locket

Over the last two days, I have been updating the storefront with my new line of products. I hope you find them to your liking. I’m absolutely thrilled to be sharing them with you! You can now find all six of my fragrances available for sale in the shop, including two perfume oils, a cologne, and three solid perfumes inspired by wicked plants to kick start a new range called The Poisoner’s Garden. Solid perfumes are also available to purchase set in a gorgeous brass locket featuring Alphonse Mucha’s ‘Flower’ (1897) on the front. These are made-to-order so you can choose which of my solid perfumes to have inside your locket.

Solid Perfume Locket (Open)

In addition to the six perfumes and cologne, I have also branched into other concoctions, such as a duo set of lip butters (they’re creamier versions of lip balms) poured into convenient slide-top tins. Some of you who have been around with me a little longer will also recognise my Night Owl Eye Serum in the Elixirs section, which is a new formulation of an old favourite, now packed with many more wonderful ingredients and soothing aromatic oils.

I think it’s pretty hard to ignore that my packaging has seen the most noticeable improvement. My old 5ml amber bottles had their charm, but I think my new roll-on bottles and ground glass stopper bottles showcase the precious essences more fittingly. The square PET jars I used for my solid perfumes are now reserved for samples only, with metal tins that hold a generous 15ml of the crèmes.

My goal for the next season is to not let myself become too overwhelmed by the everyday processes of running a business, make time for my creative endeavours and continue to blend new scents. I hope to see The Poisoner’s Garden become a sprawling collection (my copy of ‘Wicked Plants’ by Amy Stewart is currently overflowing with post-it notes to mark the plants, flowers, and fungi that have captured my imagination!) I’m also flirting with the idea of producing a few seasonal scents, starting with (Australian) summer that will only be available for the three months. Stay tuned!

Since the beginning of this year, I’ve felt as though my life has been swept up into a tornado and thrown back down, a little worse for wear but still intact. The last entry in this blog (posted a startling 11 months ago) was to celebrate the launch of my new line, Hyde, but the reality of attempting to juggle two distinct lines of perfume (each with their own set of ingredients, packaging, suppliers, bottling area in my studio) along with full-time study and work that has intensified exponentially since, has really hit me hard. Aside from fulfilling a few regular orders each month, I’ve not possessed the energy nor the inspiration to blend new perfumes and my essences laid dormant.

About a month ago, something changed. It was like the storm finally passed, as did my creative stupor, and I was plopped right back down to earth. I also had the marvelous opportunity to spend three days on a camping trip and being closer to nature reawakened my senses, reignited my creative flame, and restored my will to live. Gradually, I’ve wobbled my way back into perfumery and have been inspired to blend some new scents.

So it seems less than a year later, I have found myself doing a 360º and returning right back to the crossroads that got me thinking about my perfumery. If you can recall my second last blog entry, I revealed that my ‘business plan’ to stay sane and happy was not working out so well for me. I wanted to keep my perfumes very affordable, but at the same I wanted to continue developing my skills as a perfumer, which involved playing with new aromatic materials that were significantly more expensive than what I have previously used. I began collecting, experimenting with, and swooning over fragrances with tuberose, orris root butter, and Damascus rose, but there was no way I could use them in perfumes that cost only $15 for a 5ml bottle. So I concluded last year in November that I would divide my creative energy up between two lines: Faunfare for the affordable perfume and Hyde for the higher quality fragrances.

However, I regretfully acknowledge that in the light of the absolute and utter exhaustion that resulted in my creative paralysis this past year is testament enough that my plan did not work. It was like trying to cram 4 lives (2 perfumers, 1 PhD student, 1 tutor) into the one, so my strategy desperately needs some changes.

First, I’ll be discontinuing my Hyde line and closing that side of my business down. This is a decision I have made with some sadness as it’s presence fulfilled a great part of myself that really cherished being expressed. They’ve been slow sellers compared to Faunfare as I think they’re less accessible and wearable. I also believe I missed the mark with the pricing as I was still reluctant to charge a lot more for my Hyde perfumes but as a result, had to compromise by making the perfumes less concentrated. The result is that they’re lighter-smelling, smaller bottles, yet more expensive.

I’ll continue to hold on to Hyde‘s legacy, and that’s a growing sense of who I am as a perfumer. I look back on some of the fragrances of my current Faunfare line and I have to confess they don’t really reflect me anymore. ‘Artemis’ was my attempt to recapture the commercial success of my previous citrus-based perfumes, but it is far too complex to evoke the sense of spirit and freedom I had hoped to achieve. Similarly, ‘Mnemosyne’ is crowded and chaotic, a cacophony of flowers. Others like ‘Prometheus’ is too generic and doesn’t offer a unique perspective.

Samples from the Upcoming Line

I’ve decided to wipe the slate clean once more and replace my current line at Faunfare with new work. One notable exception is the revival of one of my all-time favourites from my first ever line, the original night-blooming fragrance of ‘Nyctanthous’. The only difference is that it’s been reformulated to be longer-lasting. I’ve waited until I was sure I had a new range of scents I’m truly happy with before I shared with you this decision. My works-in-progress include three perfume oils (two perfumes and one cologne), three solid perfumes, two lip balms, and all new packaging. I’m also pleased to say samples I have finally found decent glass vials so samples will at last be coming back to my store and you will have the opportunity to try these scents before committing to a full bottle purchase. I hope loyal customers of both my Faunfare and Hyde ranges will understand these decisions and continue to support this next chapter of my journey as a perfumer, as you have all the chapters before this.

I’m absolutely thrilled to share with you the début of my new line:

Hyde is my new luxury line of avant-garde fragrances devoted to a hedonistic way of life. The début line includes the intensely popular Jack the Ripper, which now returns as a permanent addition to Hyde, as well as four new scents—Initiation (a lush floral of Turkish rose and Egyptian jasmine), de Sade (a lusty leather of tobacco and cognac), Opium (of narcotic tuberose by popular request), and Sorcery (a bright chypre of golden champaca).

In the last few months, many of you have expressed the desire for my perfumes to also be available in other forms of bath and body products so you can layer the scent as a part of your bathing and beauty regime. I’ve taken your fantastic suggestions on board and will very soon be following the line-up with bath salts, sugar scrubs, and reed diffusers. In the meantime, my perfumes are available for you to try in order to find which scents you like the best before its accompanying products are launched.

Every order is finished with signature black wrapping, which makes it perfect for gifting for the upcoming holidays.

From now until 30th November, find a unique, handmade gift or just indulge yourself with anything from both Faunfare and Hyde, with free shipping worldwide when you use the coupon code “blackfriday” at checkout.

This entry has been sitting half-written in my Evernote files for the last month.  The constant ebb and flow of my circumstances and frame of mind this last month made it impossible for me to pen anything down for certain.  My previous entry was about the launch of a new liquid perfume, ‘Circe’. According to some myths, Circe was the daughter of Hecate, to whom crossroads were sacred. It seems fitting now that after blending ‘Circe’, I found myself at the crossroads with my business. I have cycled through many resolutions in the last few weeks and it’s about time I shared with you a slice of the chaos happening behind the scenes.

When I launched Faunfare, my one and only objective for this project was to stay sane and be happy. That’s definitely not what you’d call an adequate business plan, but I didn’t think of this as a business. My perfumery has, since the very first day, been my art. The literature, music, experiences and stories that inspire me are translated through scent in every one of my perfumes and before I knew it, customers (patrons) fuelled my pursuit to keep creating and allowed me to earn back the criminal sums of money I was putting into my art with purchases of perfumery equipment, bottles, and raw essences.  The natural ingredients used in my perfumes are considerably more expensive than synthetic aroma chemicals used in commercial perfumes. Unlike molecules produced in laboratories, flowers are living things that only bloom in certain climates, conditions and seasons in a year. The most prized essences such as jasmine, tuberose, and rose need to be picked by hand and undergo extensive treatments before it becomes the rich, concentrated oils and absolutes I purchase. For example, 750kg of jasmine blossoms are required to produce only 1kg of the absolute, which recently cost me $94 to obtain 15ml (½oz.). A frequently requested ingredient, tuberose, was $80, and an exquisite Turkish rose set me back $103 for the same amount. You can see why I don’t collect shoes or handbags.

Tuberose

Those of you who have been with me since the beginning know that keeping my prices low has always been a priority for me. In fact, it became somewhat of a rabidly zealous mission. Last month, my sales reached an all-time high, but I realised that my mission was not serving well when I learnt that it took me a painfully tedious hour to bottle and package just one full perfume sample set (currently retailing at $20) and it hit me that my one simple goal to stay sane and happy was not even being met. This last month, I have struggled between the decisions to increase my prices, decrease the quality/cost of my perfumes, or just crawl into bed with chocolate while nursing the killer RSI from bottling. My current prices are reasonable for full bottles, but they are currently driving me crazy with samples, and they’ve also been way too limiting to consider integrating more beautiful packaging or blending with those divine ingredients (at profane costs) I mentioned before.

As the weather warms and we approach summer here in Sydney, my mood and outlook shifts to something colder, deeper and darker in attempts to find equilibrium. My partner says my Mr Hyde side is coming out, which unexpectedly struck me with a tempting idea. Rather than drive up prices or compromise on the quality of my perfumes at Faunfare, I can cultivate a new line, another facet to Faunfare that will give me the freedom to create hedonistic perfumes and bath and body products with luxurious ingredients, presented in exquisite packaging that will make you proud to present my creations as gifts to those you most adore, as well as offer a custom fragrance creation service.

'Jack the Ripper' perfume

And for those of you wondering, my most coveted creation to date, ‘Jack the Ripper’, will be returning as a permanent addition to the new line as an even more irresistible figure of beguiling jasmine, crimson roses, and crushed clove, with a glass of cold absinthe.

Faunfare will remain as the frolicsome creature that she is, delivering her spirited liquid and solid perfumes at affordable prices. On the other hand, I will be excited to introduce you to her more sinister counterpart, come 26th November, on Black Friday.