Spotlight on banks botanicals ~ Botanical Perfumes by Suzanne R Banks

Posted on September 28, 2016 by suzannerbanks

Hi scent lovers! In this mini-series I am featuring the perfumers who will exhibiting at the inaugural boutique event – the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney. Lets follow on from Aromatique Essentials to me! Yay! banks botanicals by Suzanne R Banks.

*************************************************************************************************************

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Barnes & Noble Booktopia AU Amazon UK

and many other stores worldwide as an ebook and paperback

**************************************************************************************************************

Who are you? Suzanne R Banks

What’s your business name? banks botanicals

What’s your website? www.suzannerbanks.com.au (shop not ready yet)

What is your first scent memory? a little violet perfume bottle called Devon Violets

What is your favourite botanical ingredient (right now)? organic rose otto

my little cuties

How do you hope your fragrances will make your customers feel?

Overcome with scented delight, connecting them to the fundamental patterns of the universe, feeling completely at one with the world.

Why are botanical ingredients more luxurious than synthetics?

Botanicals extracts including essential oils, absolutes and CO2 extractions have been created by nature, and hold the secrets of the universe within their molecules. They are individually complex as many molecules make up a drop of essential oil. They are warm and rich whereas synthetics are cold and thin. We can improve our senses when using essential oils, improve our intuition and ultimately connect to our purpose in life. They are our scented holistic support system provide by mother nature.

What is your “go-to” scent in nature to make you smile? Murraya

How do you apply fragrance?

I always apply my perfume to the inside of my arms and my hair. I apply small amounts frequently as I am using the perfume to help my state of mind and emotions. I sometimes use a makeup pad with perfume in my bag or in my bra if I’m going to a party – when people hug you – you get a burst of joy! The scent is always about YOU, not THEM.

my logo – I’ve used this mandala for nearly 15 years

How is your business (and your perfumes) different?

My business is me and I know that when I create perfumes, oils blends and other products, I am infusing myself into them. I love using organic where possible although this can make some perfumes very expensive…. but hey, I want to acknowledge and respect the plant, the farmer and the earth when using organics because it is part of my ethos. I also only use oil bases in my perfumes and never use alcohol because it’s a solvent and breaks down the integrity of the scent. I’m all about softness and warmth in my scents.

What is your favourite scent to gift to your friends?

I almost always make a bespoke scent for my friends – considering where they are at and what they like. I always create a a great name for their scent too.

What is an unusual way you scent your home?

I love to put essential oils in cleaning water and often use fresh scented flowers too. It’s the simple things that are wonderful, and let’s face it, you only need to cook something delicious and it scents your space immediately!

Have you always loved scent? (WILD QUESTION)

Yes I have. From that little bottle of Devon Violets, to my grandmother’s gifts of 4711, to the classics of french perfumery, I learned to love perfume. When I was a teenager I bought a bottle of lavender oil and thought I was very progressive. My scent tastes are more refined as I have completely moved away from synthetics – but I credit all my early experiences as making me the aromatherapist and perfumer I am today.

Revelation! Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Come to the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney and experience banks botanicals by Suzanne R Banks. I’m looking forward to meeting you.

Spotlight on Aromatique Essentials ~ Botanical Perfumes by Julie Nelson

Posted on September 21, 2016 by suzannerbanks

Hi scent lovers! In this mini-series I am featuring the perfumers who will exhibiting at the inaugural boutique event – the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney. Lets follow on from Pearl Perfumery to Aromatique Essentials ~ Botanical Perfumes by Julie Nelson.

*************************************************************************************************************

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Barnes & Noble Booktopia AU Amazon UK

and many other stores worldwide as an ebook and paperback

**************************************************************************************************************

Julie Nelson from Aromatique Essentials

Who are you? Julie Nelson

What’s your business name? Aromatique Essentials

What’s your website? aromatiqueessentials.com.au

What is your first scent memory? Mum’s Christmas pudding mix and fresh cut grass

What is your favourite botanical ingredient (right now)? Tiare absolute

A gorgeous botanical logo

How do you hope your fragrances will make your customers feel?

To feel beautiful, connected to self and like they can conquer challenges!

Why are botanical ingredients more luxurious than synthetics?

I have worked with botanicals for so long now, for me they capture the essence of ones soul, they are complex and a beautiful scent within themselves.

What is your “go-to” scent in nature to make you smile?

I don’t have one, I have many…I love heady floral scents with spice! Jasmine for its divine feminine essence.

How do you apply fragrance?

Using a spray I like to spray it above me and let it fall over me, on my heart area and back of neck. Anointing perfume on my heart, throat and shoulders.

Julie’s lovely work desk

How is your business (and your perfumes) different?

I am essentially and educator and natural health and wellbeing consultant, using the power of perfume to strengthen the mindset, improve moods and emotions. My focus is signature perfumes which means that a client’s perfume is the essence of their being – in a bottle. It is their personality, their intentions and desires wrapped up in one.

What is your favourite scent to gift to your friends?

I create signature perfumes for them, nothing can compare! I love to give a perfume from one of my collections when I feel that is what they may need at that time

What is an unusual way you scent your home?

I’m not sure about unusual but I use room sprays, fragrant flowers and beautiful Japanese incense.

What inspired you to work with natural botanicals? (WILD QUESTION)

Having my beautiful daughter who was born with two life threatening conditions, she was my driving force in discovering the power of essential oils and botanical extracts and how they can support us on all levels emotionally, psychologically and physiologically.

Aromatique

Come to the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney and experience Aromatique Essentials. We’re all looking forward to meeting you.

banks botanicals “REVELATION” ~ My New Botanical Perfume Collection

Posted on September 14, 2016 by suzannerbanks

Hello lovely readers. My book has been out for a couple of years now,and its doing really well, which I’m both surprised and happy about of course. While I was writing the book I decided that this would mark my move into botanical perfume. I knew as the book was coming together, the perfumes were on the pages, but I had to extract and create them.

*************************************************************************************************************

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Barnes & Noble Booktopia AU Amazon UK

and many other stores worldwide as an ebook and paperback

**************************************************************************************************************

Me in my dressing room at TVSN

I was scared.

So I put the list of the oils in the book, under my bed, to allow messages to come to me while I was asleep. I think they may have stayed there for a year until I made new lists, which I stuck on my kitchen cupboards

So I had lists, and that was about it.

I was scared.

I felt I didn’t know what I was doing and compared myself to others in the field, who are very successful. I felt limited, and not courageous at all.

Then I found some bottles and made a decision about what form the perfumes would take – oil based perfumes.

I’ve got these gorgeous chamomile flowers in a teapot nest to my bed – sweet dreams!

Then I tried out some recipes on paper. I was still scared but I was moving forward. I always create on paper first. My challenge was that my classic Aromatherapy book has less than 50 oils in it, and I had to make 10 scents.

Then I made 10 samples and left them for a few months, as blends take some time to mature. Some were good. Some were not so good.

I was still scared I’d be found out as a fraud who knew nothing! But I kept going.

The next set of samples was better but I had a realisation – a “Revelation” in fact – that I was making aromatherapy oil blends NOT perfumes. So I started afresh. I started with a new mindset, to approach the blending differently than I would usually.

Dried juniper berries at a spice shop in Sydney

In the meantime fellow Perfumer and Aromatherapist Julie Nelson, of Aromatique Essentials, floated the idea of a botanical perfume event. I had been talking to Julie more and more and looked up to her as a mentor, so a little over a year ago we had a meeting about an event, and now we are almost at the first Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo ~ October 23rd ~ Sydney.

There’s nothing like a deadline to get you going, so I started making more samples. I’d wait a few months, test, make notes, and make new sample again. The more I worked the less fearful I became. Mind you I still freaked out about little things, but had to talk myself into the momentum, and accepting my individuality as a perfumer.

my little cuties

So at the perfume expo I’ll have 10 different perfumes that reflect the 10 active chapters in my book. I have used the “revelation formulas” to create each scent uniquely and really hope to see you there. My perfumes will be for sale in 9ml and 1ml samples.

xoxo

Spotlight on Pearl Perfumery ~ Botanical Perfumes by Candace Gabelish

Posted on September 7, 2016 by suzannerbanks

Hi scent lovers! In this mini-series I am featuring the perfumers who will exhibiting at the inaugural boutique event – the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney. Lets gets started with Candace Gabelish – Pearl Perfumery.

*************************************************************************************************************

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Barnes & Noble Booktopia AU Amazon UK

and many other stores worldwide as an ebook and paperback

**************************************************************************************************************

Candace with a smile, a spotty dress and a gorgeous bottle

Who are you? Dr Candace Gabelish

What’s your business name? Pearl Perfumery

What’s your website? http://www.pearlperfumery.com.au

What is your first scent memory? the sea and Mum’s Arpege

What is your favourite botanical ingredient (right now)? Boronia

What a divine image! Makes my mouth water

How do you hope your fragrances will make your customers feel?

loved, happy, authentic

Why are botanical ingredients more luxurious than synthetics?

Essential oils have a richness and complexity due to the presence of hundreds of components, which each add something significant to the overall scent. So each oil is like a fragrance in itself with, top, heart and base notes. This complexity is difficult to match with a synthetic.

What is your “go-to” scent in nature to make you smile?

lemon-scented eucalyptus

How do you apply fragrance?

Wrists and décolletage if I’m wearing, backs of hands if I’m creating

Candace, hard at work creating her beautiful perfumes

How is your business (and your perfumes) different?

My perfumery focuses on the individual. I want my clients to enjoy the whole experience from initial interview to the finished fragrance with unique name presented in a gorgeous hand-blown black glass bottle. My fragrances, including the exclusive ready-to-wear range, are oil-based, distinctive and long lasting. I also make customized fragrances and room sprays for the corporate sector. I feel a strong connection between colour and fragrance and make art inspired scents for exhibitions

What is your favourite scent to gift to your friends?

I like to give my friends gift vouchers for customised scents, the ultimate in luxury.

What is an unusual way you scent your home?

I have developed a range of room sprays so sometimes use a different scent in each room. Splendour in the Bath for the bathroom, Where the Wildflowers Are for the entrance and hallway, Refresh for my teenager’s bedroom.

What inspires you and what inspired you to become a perfumer?

I am inspired by people and their stories. Each customised perfume I have created was inspired by a unique journey, scent memory and taste in fragrance. I read “The Emperor of Scent” by Chandler Burr, the wonderful true story about Luca Turin, world famous scientist and perfume critic. Reading that book rekindled my passion for perfumery and my need to create.

Candace falling in love with a botanical ingredient

Come to the Australasian Artisan Botanical Perfume Expo on October 23rd in Sydney and experience Pearl Perfumery, by Candace Gabelish.

I’m looking forward to meeting this lovely lady, who has a great sense of style and authentic energy. Are you?

My Jasmine – Spring has Sprung!

Posted on September 6, 2016 by suzannerbanks

Dear lovers of natural scent, the jasmine buds have finally flowered! Spring has sprung with these tiny little flowers packed with the most delightful scent. My last jasmine post was 2 weeks ago and I had predicted I would have had flowers by then, but was disappointed I didn’t. A day after the article, a lone flower popped out….

*************************************************************************************************************

Please check out my new book REVELATION! – Reveal Your Destiny with Essential Oils

Barnes & Noble Booktopia AU Amazon UK

and many other stores worldwide as an ebook and paperback

**************************************************************************************************************

At first there was one