Hey I almost missed this. I heard that White Witch was mentioned in the lifestyle section of The Irish Times on the 9th of December. If anybody has a copy of that edition and wouldn't mind sending it to me, or scanning it and emailing it to me please let me know. Here it is on line, but I think they had some images in the print edition. Here is what they said. "A small Galway-based firm called White Witch makes great natural, ethical and very affordable beauty products and perfumes with great biodegradable packaging. The range includes a facial steam sachet with rose petals for €2.20 and the magical Bridget's Balm for use on everything from nappy rash to joint inflammation, which costs €6. (www.whitewitch.ie)."
There's something about peaches. One of my favourite books as a child was about a giant peach and one of my most vivid romantic memories from childhood is about peaches. I stayed in London with my sister during the summer holidays when I was 12 years old. I used to go to the nearby market stall every morning. The stall attendant was a young male about 17 or 18 years of age. He was tall and tanned with blond hair and blue eyes. I would ask for a peach and I would let him pick one for me. I remember how he would scan the boxes searching for the best, and how he would look it over checking the velvet skin for imperfections. Then he would gently press it with his thumb to make certain that it only just yielded to his touch. After he was satisfied he would hand me the warm fuzzy peach and he would smile and I would melt. Our hands always touched during the exchange. I would bring the soft peach to my nose and breathe in deeply before taking a bite. I'll never forget the taste of those peaches.
Several times since I started learning perfumery I have come across peach notes. Evaluating essences like jasmine grandiflorum and orange blossom water absolute made me think about the possibility of making something peachy using only naturals. I have been working on the idea for well over a year now and on the 10th of August Creme de Peche was born.
What's it like? Imagine the juiciest summer peach, imagine the creamiest ice-cream, imagine warm sun, imagine young love. Imagine actually being delicious.
Creme de Peche has notes of juicy peach and creamy vanilla and it's made from all natural botanical essences. I used essences like boronia, jasmine, osmanthus, chamomile, linden blossom, carnation and blackcurrant to create Creme de Peche.
Creme de Peche is due to be released in the Autumn of 2008! I'll keep you posted.
Phytonic rose extract - South Africa (damascena): Gorgeous toffee caramel sweet rose with spicy green undertones.
Phytonic rose extract from musk rose- South Africa: Deep sultry rose, moody and luscious.
Rose leaf absolute -South Africa: Sweet green hay-like, tobacco leaf undertones. Arctander says about rose leaf absolute, 'When creating a rose perfume or a rose base, the perfumer is often interested in notes that will give him the reproduction of the leaves, the fragrance of the foliage which forms such an important part of the rose gamut; the bouquet of roses is not complete without it.' P.556 Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin by Steffan Arctander.
Jasmine grandiflorum C02 from concrete France: Light fruity floral, fresh sweet smoothness, has candy like notes.
Jasmine auriculatum hydro-distilled essence(distilled from concrete): Spicy heady floral with green undertones.
Jasmine sambac hydro-distilled essence from concrete: Sweet clean floral, with intense ethereal notes.
Jasmine grandiflorum hydro-distilled essence: Super-sweet clean floral, much stronger and more tenacious than either of the other jasmines.
I married an alchemist and that does have it's advantages.
Last week we extracted tuberose absolute using hydro-distillation.
Here is the tuberose concrete just beginning to melt. Tuberose concrete is a solid waxy substance, yellow in color.
Here the water is starting to boil, the tuberose concrete is bubbling over the water. The heating mantle keeps everything at a steady temperature.
You can see the first sign of oil forming on the surface of the water. Very promising!
Look! It's a blob of oil weighing down the surface of the water. Altogether we collected around 7ml of hydro-distillate from the receiving flask. At first I thought the smell had a curious off note, which I discovered was what's called 'the still note'. We off gassed it for a few hours and the tuberose really started to sparkle. I sent a sample to an experienced nose who sent me a sample of some rare hydro-distilled tuberose they had. We were able to compare.
So the experiment was a great success and we have managed to extract this rare exotic absolute using simple hydro-distillation.
We are planning to complete the distillation of the tuberose and will be offering it for sale.
Then we shall attempt to repeat the process with rose, and jasmine
Launched on the 21st of June. We had a few creases to iron out and at last we are READY for you all.
So What's New? Earn 50 points when you register as a customer. Old customers will have to re-register on the website, but will be rewarded with 50 points when they do.
Earn 50 points when you review a product. Rate a product you have bought, your review will help others and will also earn you big bonuses. You get 50 free points when you write a review. These points can be saved until you have lots of them and they can be used like cash in the store.
Earn 100 points when you refer a friend. Referring a friend is a biggie and we are giving a big reward. You get a full 100 points when you refer a friend. All you have to do is tell a friend about White Witch, send them to our website and when they make a purchase they can enter your email address in the space provided and your account will be awarded 100 points.
New product:
We have a brand new product for you. A very beautiful herbal bath sachet, filled with herbs from Ireland. Contains Purple Heather, Garden Daisy and Red Clover.
Attention all perfumers ~ Fast Buy on White Witch Concretes!
BONANZA SALE NOW ON! NB: The price of the item you select will be the normal sale price until you add it to the cart on the shop.
Jasmine Concrete from Jasmine Grandiflorum - Now Half Price ~ Was €34.00 now €17.00 for 10 grams
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Jasmine Concrete from Jasmine Sambac - Now Half Price! ~ Was €36.00 now €18.00 for 10 grams
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Tuberose Concrete - Now Half Price! ~ Was €40.00 now €20.00 for 10 grams
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Bulgarian Rose Concrete - Now Half Price! ~ Was €36.00 now €18.00 for 30 grams
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Beautiful quality materials direct from source
The jasmines and the tuberose are from India, from a very old production plant which is situated close to botanical gardens where various mature trees and shrubs like Champaka, Frangipani, Bakul, Sandalwood grow.
The rose concrete is from rosa damascena and comes directly from the producers in Bulgaria.
White Witch also have for sale lots of other wonderful raw materials for the perfumer.
Artisan Handmade Angelico Incense sticks are made for White Witch by natural perfumer Nathaniel Musselman.
Angelico are heavenly to burn in the home, unlike anything I have ever smelled before from incense.
Containing: A Mediterranean Blend of Lebanon Cedar, Turkish Storax, Rosemary, Sumac, Juniper, Fennel Pollen, and other herbs and resins.
Cedar is burned to ease stress and calm the emotions, Storax is burned for purification purposes and adds the balsamic rich aroma to the smoke. Rosemary is both protective and healing, and is also burned at times of high celebration and in rooms to ward of sickness. Juniper has protective and banishing properties. The experience of burning Angelico is uplifting and clean, they leave a lingering sweet after glow which is remarkable.
Contains 3 long burning sticks. Each stick is best extinguished after one hours burning and re-lit when needed.
Remember that story of "The Emperors New Clothes" by Hans Christian Anderson? The two tailors said about their work, "we are two very good tailors and after many years of research we have invented an extraordinary method to weave a cloth so light and fine that it looks invisible. As a matter of fact it is invisible to anyone who is too stupid and incompetent to appreciate its quality."
When they were finished their work they said, "we're almost finished, but we need a lot more gold thread. Here, Excellency! Admire the colors, feel the softness!"
The Prime Minister was afraid to look stupid so he agreed that the cloth was everything the tailors said. But to himself he thought "I can't see anything, if I see nothing, that means I'm stupid! Or, worse, incompetent!" If the prime minister admitted that he didn't see anything, he would be discharged from his office.
As a novice natural perfumer I fell into that same trap that the Prime Minister fell into.
To cut a long story short, I have a nose, I smell a perfume, I either like it or I don't, but I know if it's a good perfume. Take Mandy Aftel's Perfumes for instance, most of them I adore, they are good perfumes. She is a brilliant perfumer and she is successful because she makes amazing perfumes.
But there is a "certain perfumers" natural blends which made me recoil the first time I smelled them. I let my friends and neighbors smell them, they too recoiled. I let my husband smell them and he warned me never to wear them. One of the perfumes got a unanimous "it smells like the toilet cleaner they use in our school" from a group of teenagers (interestingly they were each of them alone when they smelled it and each one said exactly the same thing- and they all attended the same school! ) They are familiar with what natural perfumes smell like and love most of the ones I have from the Aftelier range (I have over 12 of Mandy's perfumes in samples) and the gorgeous perfumes I have from Strange Invisible Perfumes. One woman I was creating a solid perfume for smelled a bunch of the samples I had. She adored Pink Lotus by Aftelierand Lyric Rain bySIP but she recoiled when she smelled this "certain perfumers" blends, all 4 of of them. She said "they smell as if something is gone off."
I had similar thoughts, but like the Prime Minister in the story I felt that I would look ignorant of real artisan natural perfumes if I said, "hey, these ARE pure shite" so I waffled on about them, ad nauseum. I said how they were SO this and SO that.
I could go back now and write something different about them, taking back what I had originally said (the waffle, the praise, the testimonials). But I think it is far more fitting to call a spade a spade and say, at least I only said they were good, I think I even said I found one of them healing because that's what the 'certain perfumer' told me it was supposed to be, but I never actually wore any out in public, God forbid. Somebody might think I worked as a janitor for a living or that I had been staying with crusty hippies for a few months helping to milk the goats.
So what's the point? Let's smell what we are actually smelling, the bottom line is perfumes are supposed to make you smell good. If they don't then they aren't perfumes. As an old wizard once said "if in doubt follow your nose".
Making rose beads tonight. My finger tips are covered in rose clay. On each finger tip is caked in what probably amounts to four or five pink organic damask rose petals. The clay is light colored. Made from scratch today. It sort of feels like papier mache. It dries dark red, maroon. The room is filled with the smell of damask rose. I made medallions too, made the shapes and then using my special needle I hand pick little designs in the wet clay. I would close my eyes first and see the design then the needle would just pick it's own way along. Each one is different. When they are dry they are as hard as wood. I sand and then oil them with virgin coconut oil infused with vanilla. The scent of roses and vanilla when you wear one against your skin is remarkable. €30.00 for a rose bead medallion threaded on leather.
Everybody here at White Witch was so impressed by the standard of Nathaniel Musselman's Kyphi that we wanted him to make something new especially for us. Kyphi is used to relax and help sleep so we asked for something that was going to stimulate and excite and fire people with enthusiasm. We wanted an incense that could be burned at celebrations, at parties, while doing creative work and while dancing, singing and studying. Our expectations were exceeded by miles as Jaguars Breath suits it all and so much more.
Nathaniel began his investigating and studying for the project. He kept us informed every step of the way. His passion and his attention to detail go hand in hand with his creative genius. Every ingredient used was chosen with care and attention to purity and quality.
Jaguar's Breath is Mesoamerican inspired and heavily influenced by Aztec and Mayan components. Nathaniel began the arduous task of experimenting with different blends and materials. Jaguar's breath has been described as shamanic, and narcotic, the perfume from the smoke is tenacious, evocative and wild. The whole project took six months to complete. There is a wet version and a dry version. The wet version contains vanilla infused honey and mezcal.
A friend, Kathy Robles came up with the idea that we could donate a percentage of our sales to a wildlife conservation program. We became very excited as Nathaniel had expressed his wishes when we were in early stages of product development that some good would come from the whole project. So when Kathy came to us with details of the Northern Jaguar Project we thought it was perfect. Kathy took care of making contact with the conservationists that were working on the program and sent them some samples. They loved the incense and were enthusiastic for us to get going. So here we are and we are happy to announce that 10% of all proceeds from the sale of Jaguar's Breath goes to the Northern Jaguar Project.
Buy the wet version now for €4.00, it comes in a wooden box hand painted with dragons blood resin.
