Laurie Erickson of Sonoma Scent Studio is a very talented perfumer. Additionally, she offers fast service (the exception has only been when she was working on her line and had disabled her website) and lovely products.
I heard about her first at POL, and I've purchased from her ever since. She ships very fast and you practically have it before you get off the phone/email.
Currently she is redoing her scent line, but if you have a favorite of hers from the past, it is possible that she can make it up for you if she still has the ingredients. At times she has disabled her shopping carts, but all you need to do is email her: info@sonomascentstudio.com and she will get it right out to you.
Also she is generous with her samples. If you purchase from her, you will receive samples of other scents. That is a help in knowing if something fits you or not.
I asked her how she got started making her own fragrances:
I started making fragrances many years ago just using natural absolutes and oils because I loved the scents of flowers in my garden and wanted to have some of those scents year-round. Way back then, before Mandy Aftel's book, we didn't have as many ready-made natural perfume options, so I purchased rose, jasmine, vanilla, sandalwood etc and started blending my own. Later I learned how to incorporate synthetic aroma chemicals into blends because they can extend longevity, add lift, and add notes that are hard to do with naturals. I still avoid strong ozone notes and some other synthetic smells that don't appeal to me, but many chems are beautiful in their own right. Still can't beat mother nature though -- I love the fresh cut roses from my garden all summer and treasure the annual jasmine bloom.
And I asked her to comment on why she has changed the number of scents she offers, if it had to do with the ingredients now allowed or disallowed in fragrances:
I'm going through my scent list to change direction a little bit. I've been dropping some of the sweeter scents and adding things that make use of some wonderful new materials I've sourced. Only one scent was discontinued for ingredient issues: the Chaos dupe is no longer available because I can't get an ingredient anymore. I only offered a few dupes and decided to drop those to focus on my original blends. I'd like to keep the scent list shorter than some online sites to keep it more manageable both for me and for clients, and also to limit the list to specialty items not found elsewhere. I may bring back a few scents in new forms, for example I had a spicy citrus tea scent and I'm currently doing some yummy tea tinctures and will produce some new tea scents with them.
Over the next couple of days I will include fragrance reviews of some of her new fragrances that I have sampled. I find they are long lasting on me (I buy the edp, not the oils, so I can't speak for the oils. I have yet to try any of her lotions. I'm a SSS edp kind of gal.)
Let me know if you've tried any of her lotions and if you prefer the oils over the edp sprays.
More will follow over the next couple of days. Stay tuned.
Karin
Originally posted 2007-07-02 13:18:01.
Related posts:
- Sonoma Scent Studio, part 2 I've been fortunate to try several of Laurie's newer scents. Bois Épicés and Bois Épicés Légère are two of my favorites. Of course, I knew...
- Ayala Moriel parfums, Part 4 Down to my last two to review. I've been wearing these for the past few days. Film Noir and Razala. Ayala chose Razala for me...
