Handmade Monday 2014

Wednesday 19 November 2014



If you were with me last year, you may already know about Handmade Monday. If you're new to the blog, I can best describe it thuslythe handmade alternative to Black Friday, a day to buy handmade, artisan products and show your support for small businesses, artists, and crafters of all kinds. This year it falls on November 24th and I'll be running a sale that day, as I did last year.

Now, being very firmly British, I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but I've had plenty of reasons to be thankful this year. Common Brimstone has grown in leaps and bounds and I've been able to financially support my little family (two snakes, one cat, one man) as well as keep indulging my love of perfume-making by investing in rare and unusual materials. I've been able to raise money for charitable causes close to my heart. And that wouldn't have happened with the support, reviews, tweets, and general word-of-mouth that you guys have given me. You've all also been incredibly patient and supportive whilst we dealt with some pretty tough family matters over the past few weeks. So I want to give back.

So for Handmade Monday 2014, I'm offering 15% off everything in the shop. That's perfume oils in both 5ml and 10ml, the Raw Brimstone line, all sample sets, and all solid perfumes. Whether you want to get cracking on Christmas shopping, you're looking to treat yourself (you deserve it!), or you're just a massive perfume junkie like me, Monday 24th is the time to indulge.

I have three new perfume oils I'll be adding to the shop on Sunday, too. They should have been part of my autumn collection, but...life happened, and I like to think it is always autumn somewhere in the world, so they still count. Look out for Spindrift, The Autumn Queen, and Penny Dreadful this weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!



"O river, I see drifting deep in your flux of silver those great goddesses of peace."

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Lorelei - Sylvia Plath

Through dangers untold* and hardships unnumbered**, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City  blog to take back the child that you have stolen finally tell you about the new Raw Brimstone collection.

Can you believe I thought I'd be launching this back in August? I can't imagine what I was thinking. But perhaps November is a better month for this particular collection anyway, inspired as it is by the goddesses of death, darkness, and the underworld.

I'm a folklore and mythology buff, and I'm never happier than when working myth and legend into my creative projects. For this Raw Brimstone collection, I knew I wanted the focus to be goddesses, but that really was too broad a scope by itself. From the Greeks to the Celts, from Hinduism to Vodun...sometimes there's such a thing as too much choice. So why go for goddesses associated with death? Bit morbid, right?

Right, but also fascinating. Each goddess represented in the collection is not simply a goddess of death, but has numerous other associations and roles within their respective mythology. Kerbechet, for example, is a deification of embalming fluid in Egyptian mythology, and gave water to the spirits of the dead while they waited for their mummification. Marzanna, a Polish goddess, was tied to seasonal rites linked to death and rebirth, wherein an effigy of the goddess is drowned or burned to symbolise the end of winter. Maman Brigitte is a death loa who protects graveyards and drinks rum infused with hot peppers...Once I started researching, I was struck by how every culture's take on death and the underworld varied so wildly, and I knew I'd found my theme.

Serket
The challenge of the Raw Brimstone line is creating beautiful, unique perfumes using all-natural materials. It would have been great to make a Maman Brigitte perfume with rum fragrance oil, for example, but it would also have been cheating. One of the reasons this collection is coming so late in the year is that I've spent a lot of time this year sourcing some of the weird and wild essential oils featured in these perfumes. That itself has lead to some failed experiments...I had planned to include a perfume using green tea absolute in this line, but it turns out green tea absolute is the consistency of dried chewing gum and...well...I made a real mess of a perfectly good mug and several spoons before I decided that perfume wasn't going anywhere...

What I have ended up with is nine dark and delicious all-natural perfumes that are absolutely perfect for heading into the long, cold winter months. Whether your inner goddess is tempestuous Kali or ancient Ereshkigal, I've got something for you. 

Want a sneak preview?

Belet-Seri - A Babylonian goddess of the underworld known as The Scribe of the Earth and the Queen of the Desert. Her scent is a rich, Oriental-type with warm spices, luxurious flowers, and just a hint of desert heat.

Dea Tacita - A Roman goddess of death, Dea Tacita was known as the silent goddess. She was the personification of the terror of obscurity. Her scent is a calm, still blend of greenery and soft florals inspired by the Italian wilderness.

Ereshkigal - The Mesopotamian Great Lady Under Earth, ruler of the land of the dead. Her scent is earthy and deep, infused with sweet exotic fruits and flowers.

Kali - Surely a goddess who needs no introduction. She is the goddess of time and change, ferocious, destructive, and frenzied. Her scent is a hot, wild blend of spices and deep, dark incenses, with a hint of a blazing fire.

Kebechet - The Egyptian goddess of embalming, daughter of Anubis. Her scent combines the traditional ingredients of the embalming liquid, coupled with a touch of fragrant flowers.

Maman Brigitte - Wife of Baron Samedi, a loa who is today equated with Mary Magdalene and Saint Brighid. Her scent combines fiery peppers and spices with sharp fruit and elegant florals.

Marzanna - Polish goddess of death, winter, and nightmares, tied to the change of seasons. Her scent is that of a winter forest awaiting spring, woods and trees with a hint of cool rose.

Santa Muerte - A folk saint associated with not just death, but healing and protection, Santa Muerte is venerated in Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Her scent comprises some of her favourite offerings - tobacco and fruits.

Serket - An Egyptian goddess of venomous stings, once a deification of the scorpion. She is a protector of the dead and patron of the Pharaohs. Her scent combines sticky-sweet honey with sharper resins and extravagant florals.

Sound good? Excited? Can't wait to try them? Don't worry! I will be taking a short break in the first week of November to stock-take and catch up on some custom requests, but after that, this line will be launched and available for sale. Keep an eye out on the week starting November 10th. In the mean time, I'm off to research the next line...

*Family stuff
** A sinus infection

Pefume Destash!

Sunday 5 October 2014

So as I mentioned recently, I'm moving house soon and as part of the cleaning up/packing up/moving out process, I'm looking for new homes for some of my early perfume creations.

The rules!

1. First come, first served - these are all one-of-a-kind perfumes, and when they're gone, they're gone.

2. I will ask you to pay postage costs, but otherwise there's no charge. Postage charges are as follows:

UK - £2.60
Europe - £3.80
USA/Canada/Rest of the world - £4.00

Additional £1 for each extra perfume.

Payments can be made via Paypal

3. All solid perfumes are made with beeswax unless otherwise stated.

4. The list of perfumes on offer is below. Just leave me a comment to let me know which you want and we'll take it from there!

Crossed-out perfumes have been claimed!

Perfume Oils

The Dark Wife - approx 3ml - sweet orange, pomegranate, hyacinth, black musk and a couple of other things I can't remember as I've lost the formula!

Kitsune - approx 4ml. The original version of Fox Maiden! Plum, mandarin, cedar wood, and spices.

Summer of '99 - approx 3.5ml - peach blossom, fresh cut grass, cypress, geranium.

Solid Perfumes

Mystery floral blend made with soy wax. Smells like rose and white musk, primarily, so probably an early version of The White Lady.

Vanilla/coffee/clementine - smells quite toffee-ish!

Dragon's blood/spice/ginger/vanilla made with soy wax - kind of a milder version of Mongolian Deathworm, more warm than spicy.

Mystery fruit blend made with soy wax. Probably peach and pear.

Oatmeal/honey/peach/almond - smells like flapjack!

Orange/rosewood/cedarwood - I love this combination! Warm, woodsy, and spicy.

Nutmeg/jasmine/fig - quite sweet and fruity.

Mystery chocolate blend with soy wax - could be an early version of Chocolate Chai.

Cranberry/dark chocolate. 'Nuff said.

Rose/rosewood/hazelnut - basically the now discontinued Haunted Heart.

Ginger/ylang ylang/black pepper - spicy floral.

Clove/lavender/marjoram - not dissimilar to Black Agnes.

Lavender/honey - very calming and soothing.

Clary sage/petitgrain/sweet orange - surprisingly woodsy.

Rose/clove - spicy floral

Chocolate/vanilla/red wine/honey - an early version of Midnight Wine.

Ginger/rose - more ginger than rose.

Chocolate/absinthe - umf. YUM.

Rose/vanilla/cinnamon - an early version of First Kiss.

Pumpkin/mulberry/cranberry/black currant - this is pure Autumn fruit. It's also a little "wetter" than the rest of the bunch, and is more like a lotion than a solid perfume.

Lime/lavender - so zingy and refreshing!

Sweet orange/ylang ylang/myrrh/vanilla - an early version of the now-discontinued King in Yellow.

Bergamot/marjoram/cypress - quite unisex and subtle.

Benzoin/lavender/palmarosa - this smells quite like sweets - very candy-like.

Black pepper/sweet orange - spiced fruit, good and warm.

Vanilla/grapefruit/lavender - lovely and uplifting.

Lime/vanilla - another really refreshing, uplifting scent.

Black pepper/black cherry/red cherry/pomegranate - a pure fruity explosion.

Bergamot/grapefruit/ylang ylang - a blend of pure essential oils meant to inspire happiness and peace of mind.

Grapefruit/vetiver/bergamot - nice and unisex, with a citrus twist.

Peppermint/sugar/sweet rum - very minty, but with a good sugary kick.

Ginger/nutmeg/sandalwood/lemon - very light and summery.

Vanilla/benzoin/clementine - another quite toffee-ish scent.

Palmarosa/black pepper/lemon - Despite the floral palmarosa, I'd say this is a more masculine than feminine combination.

Coconut/lime/pink sugar/watermelon - an early version of Strange Bright Fruit.

Lime/gardenia/benzoin - I actually think this smells like some kind of vodka cocktail.

Baby powder/blueberry/strawberry/watermelon - very fresh and girly.

Sugar/aniseed/absinthe - quite a strong absinthe scent, with just a touch of sweetness from the sugar.

Rose/strawberry/baby powder - a simplified version of Pin-Up.

Coconut/jasmine/lily of the valley - lots of coconut. Very fresh.

Vanilla/honey/mandarin - this one doesn't really smell of much in the tin, but on the skin it slowly blooms and is lovely and warm.

Black pepper/rosewood - supposedly this is an aphrodisiac combination...can't comment on that, but it does smell good!

Grapefruit/chocolate/sweet orange - chocolate and citrus fruit! Can't go wrong.

Mango/rainforest - if you liked The Lotus Eaters, this is similar, but without the floral note.

Plum/mandarin - another Fox Maiden-esque scent - really cheerful.

Mystery blend - some floral and fruit notes, but beyond that I have no idea!

Frankincense/almond/cinnamon/vanilla - also quite reminiscent of Mongolian Deathworm, but not quite as bold.

Sandalwood/jasmine/palmarosa - lovely and calming.

Amber/ylang ylang - a nice, powdery floral.

Lily/Chinese musk/white amber - an early version of Marici.

Patchouli/honey/sweet orange - I adore this combination - not too heavy on the patchouli.

Vanilla musk/pear - a lovely Spring scent, slightly "wet" (too much shea butter!).


"A good home must be made, not bought"

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Joyce Maynard

Good news! (For me anyway). We're moving house! We've found an adorable, pet-friendly cottage just around the corner from where we are now, and we're moving in early October. Why am I sharing this with you? Well, firstly because I'm excited and I'm telling everyone, but also because there may be an impact for you guys.

1. Depending on how busy the shop gets in the run-up to the moving date, I may have to extend my shipping times. I do my absolute best to get every order shipped out on or before its due date, but moving house (even just round the corner), is chaotic and stressful (especially with two snakes and a cat in the mix) and may affect how much I can do. I'm hopeful it won't impact things too much, but I'll keep you updated and note any relevant changes in the shop and wherever else I can.

2. I'm going to be destashing some perfume. It probably won't surprise anyone to know I have a HUGE perfume collection, and moving house seems like a good time to clear away a few things and make room for new things. I have a ton of solid perfumes from when I first started perfume-making and a few perfume oils that are either prototypes (the original incarnation of Fox Maiden, for example) or recently discontinued items.

If people are interested, I would love to send these on to new homes and will make a master list here of what's available to claim. I would ask you to cover postage costs, but won't charge anything else. All the solid perfumes are made with beeswax rather than soy wax, so they aren't vegan, and are in 10ml tins rather than tubes.

Let me know if you'd like to see what's on offer!



"“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.”

Friday 19 September 2014

Sylvia Plath - The Bell Jar

With the Halloween limited editions now available, I thought this might be a good time to bring you another installment of the infrequent series on some of the weirder and rarer oils in my collection. And since Vampire Hunter contains two of those oils, how about a double feature?

Let's start with styrax. Specifically, let's start with styrax resinoid, which is a product of the beautifully-named liquidamber orientalis tree. The sap of the tree is harvested through gradual stripping of the tree bark, after which it is placed in boiling water to soften it, and diluted with water to keep it soft and preserve the aroma. The finished product has a variety of medicinal uses, including for anxiety and bronchitis.

When it comes to perfumery, styrax resinoid has a beautiful oriental scent, subtly honeyed and slightly syrupy. It's main purpose in Vampire Hunter is as a fixative - an oil that increases the tenacity of the other materials and slows down the dispersion of the scent. So if you pay close attention, or your skin chemistry really loves this material, you will notice a faint "golden" note to the warm, woodsy mixture, but this is not an "in-your-face" material.

What might be considered a bit more "in-your-face" is nagarmotha, also known as cypriol, but personally I prefer the Hindi term for it. Nagarmotha is a plant that grows wild in certain regions of India and is prized for its uses in aromatherapy. Like styrax, it has plenty of medicinal uses, from treating fevers to pain reduction to digestive system disorders. It's also used an insect repellent, and it's rumoured to bring success in love affairs to boot.

That's all fascinating, but what I love nagarmotha for is it's dirty, musky, leathery notes. There's something wickedly masculine about this oil, and as soon as I knew I wanted a Vampire Hunter fragrance for Halloween, I knew I had to work nagarmotha into it. I've used a leather fragrance oil in some of my other scents, most notable in Duskblade, but that's very much a "new leather" scent. For Vampire Hunter I wanted the smell of a worn, battered, much-loved leather duster, one you've owned for years and really should throw away but can't stand to give up. Nagarmotha, with its warm and earthy nuances captures that feeling perfectly for me. And like styrax, it's a fixative, so it really helps hold the spice and nut notes together and keep them bold and strong.

These are two materials I can see being really valuable, especially as I develop more all-natural blends and work on my Secret Project (coming soon, probably!). I adore my millions of fragrance oils, but there's a real buzz to be had from creating something from purely natural ingredients, and the more diverse oils I can add to my collection, the more unique perfumes I can offer you. Enjoy!



"When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, I kind of wanted to be a vampire."

Wednesday 27 August 2014

- Angelina Jolie

Summer is nearly over (although I have one more summery scent to offer you) and I don't know about your part of the world, but here in Cambridge the weather has turned distinctly autumnal. The skies are grey, the evenings are darker, and my cat is spending less time sleeping in the bushes and more time trying to sit on my lap (he's really far too big to sit there comfortably, but it never stops him trying). All this can only mean one thing:


Yes! Halloween is coming! Last year I created five limited edition fragrances inspired by B-Movies, and offered them for sale throughout October, with all the profits going to the British Heart Foundation. This was in memory of my dad, who passed away in October 2012.

This year I'm going a little bigger. I'm still going to offer limited edition scents, and I'm still going to donate the proceeds to the BHF. But this year I'm offering six new perfumes, and they'll be available from mid-September. This is to give people a better chance of snapping them up in time for Halloween itself, and hopefully to raise as much money as possible.

But what's the theme this year, you ask? Why, it can only be vampires.

They're the archetypal monster. Undead but so very vital. Blood-sucking, immortal, beautiful, alluring as sin, and as monstrous as any werewolf, zombie, goblin, or ghoul. They're just a little more glamorous. And they've fascinated us poor mortals since the days of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and long, long before that. Almost every culture in the world has some variant of the vampire myth and pop culture is still overflowing with them. As a writer, I hear every single year that the vampire bubble has burst, but still we see them going strong in books, on TV, in the cinema, and just about everywhere else. Vampires have staying power.

So where better to turn for inspiration? There are so many myths and legends around vampires, I could have made a dozen or more perfumes. And I probably will at some point...But for this year, I narrowed it down to six and picked a specific vampire-centric theme to play with.

Halloween 2014 is the year of the Vampire Hunter's Survival Kit. I'm not going to give away the exact notes of each scent yet, but just to tantalize your senses a tiny bit, here's a little sneak preview.

Vampire Hunter - world-weary and worn down, loaded with protective plants and a shot of Dutch courage.

Wooden Stake - no sensible vampire hunter leaves home without it. Strong woods and dark spices.

Holy Water - blessed by only the most devout of priests. Clean waters and gentle florals.

Vampire's Kiss - beguiling, bewitching, and utterly deadly.

Vampire's Bride - innocence tainted. A rotting wedding gown and a decaying bridal bouquet.

Nosferatu - as cold as the grave, but dangerously irresistible.

So stock up on garlic (or, if you'd rather be the vampire, sharpen your teeth), and get ready for some long, cold, dark nights...






"You've painted up your lips and rolled and curled your tinted hair...

Thursday 7 August 2014

Ruby are you contemplating going out somewhere?" - Ruby, Kenny Rodgers

So last night I posted this picture to the Common Brimstone Facebook page. Are you curious about that distinctive pinky liquid in that there pipette? Wondering what I've been doing to turn a perfume pink? Desperate to know what such a concoction might smell like?

Well, let me tell you about ruby gromwell essential oil.

This is by a long shot the most unusual oil in my collection. It actually comes from a plant called purple gromwell, which is commonly used in Chinese medicine and looks like this:


Not particularly red or purple, really. But the essential oil itself comes from the plant's dried roots, and that looks like this:


Yes, it really is that colour. I know because I managed to stain a bookcase with it whilst opening the bottle for the first time. It's very pretty.

Now the smell! The smell is something else. The thought that sprang to mind when I sniffed this for the first time was beetroot and balsamic vinegar. Okay. I know what you're thinking. Nobody wants to smell like beetroot and balsamic vinegar (probably. If you do, that's fine by me and I support your right to smell like a fancy salad with all my heart). So you may now be wondering what on earth I'd do with such an oil to convince you to try it out.

Two things:

1. I mixed it with pomegranate fragrance oil.
2. I used very little of it.

Some oils are not meant to be the star attraction. They're meant to be the supporting act. Quietly working away to enhance the show without stealing it. Ruby gromwell is that kind of oil. For August's full moon fragrance, Red Moon, I've taken the tiniest touch of ruby gromwell and combined it with pomegranate, calla lily, and white rose fragrance oils. The result is a knockout. Sultry. Simmering. Earthy. The ruby gromwell takes that light, sweet pomegranate and turns it into a hot explosion worthy of the deepest, darkest summer night. The lily and rose make for a silky lining wrapped around this frankly sexy heart of fruit and roots. There's something about the blend that makes me think of crushed berries, sticky sweet and a little messy. When I got my fiance to give it a sniff, he thought of plums. We're both agreed it's completely unique among my creations. And it's pink! (Don't worry, I've tested it extensively and it won't turn you pink).

I've made a habit of launching my full moon fragrances on the full moon of each month, and in August that means this Sunday, the 10th. Now, a while back I had planned to close the shop between 11th and 15th August because my brother's first child was due to be born. Well, like the soldier's granddaughter she is, she arrived early (congratulations, David and Laura!). And it seems a shame to launch a new perfume and then promptly close the shop, so I've decided to stay open and continue business as usual. Red Moon will launch on Sunday August 11th, and it'll be joined by some of the other perfumes I've road tested recently - Speakeasy, Bastet, and Lavender Praline. I'm always excited about sharing new creations with you all, but I'm especially excited about Red Moon. 

The transformation from beetroot to roll me around in this is rather magical, and one of the things I love most about natural perfumes - you just never know when you're going to stumble on something incredible. I'll admit this won't be a fragrance to everyone's tastes - it's quite strong and maybe too heavy for daytime wear - but I can promise you you'll have to go far to find anything else quite like it.




"The body is a marvelous machine...a chemical laboratory, a power-house. Every movement, voluntary or involuntary, full of secrets and marvels!"

Friday 18 July 2014

ponsuwan
Theodor Herzl

Well. I have been rather neglectful here lately. *dusts off blog* I do have a valid reason, and really I shouldn't be blogging here now, but I have a couple of things to tell you, so!

First of all, the reason I've been a bit quiet here and generally online is (to cut a very long and not very interesting story short) that I'm dealing with a recurring injury in my right arm. Initially it was diagnosed as repetitive strain injury and treated as such. As a result of this injury, I've always favoured my left arm for computer work/carrying, etc. As a result of that I now have the same problems in my left arm. At the moment it's really severe. We're talking cramps, pins and needles, aches, strains, the works. Waking up in the night with both arms completely numb. Stress headaches at work because the pain is so intense. Neck and back ache because my posture is going to hell as I try to sit comfortably at my work desk for seven hours a day. So I went to my GP to see if she could recommend anything for the pain.

Instead, she's sending me for blood tests.

Now, this injury/problem goes back about eight years, and in eight years not a single doctor has ever suggested it's the result of anything other than repetitive strain. This is the first time anyone has suggested an alternative cause. This lovely GP listened to me describe my symptoms and said, "it could be RSI. It could also be a neuropathic condition, a vitamin deficiency, or a thyroid problem. So let's test you for those and then discuss management depending on the results."

My goodness! I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to hear that your chronic pain might have a treatable cause! I'm so used to hearing, "we can't do anything, just try to avoid computer work," that I can't quite believe there's a possible alternative answer.

But in the mean time, I'm still in pain and I still have to do my day job. And I have a short story and a novel coming out in the next few weeks, so I'm going to be editing quite a lot in the near future /o\ In light of that, I'm trying to restrict my "non-essential" internet/computer time as much as possible, so I may be a little quiet on social media for a while. But I am about and I will answer any questions/emails/Etsy convos I get, so get in touch if you need to!

Now, second point of business. I did mention this briefly on Facebook earlier in the week, but for those who might have missed it: the supplier I used to buy my tobacco flower fragrance oil from no longer carries it, and I can't find a new supplier for it. Currently I use tobacco flower in Absinthe with Faust and Jazz Hands, and once my current stock runs out, I'll be temporarily discontinuing those two scents to re-work them. So if you like them as they are, buy now!

Third point of business. I'm going to be taking a week off from August 11th - August 15th. My sister-in-law is due to give birth sometime then and I want to be on hand to take a look at my first niece! In addition, I'll be working on loads of new stuff for the shop and a Secret Project that I hope to unveil towards the end of this year!

So that's me at the moment! Hopefully I'll get some answers from my GP soon and I can get back to more regular blogging and general internet use!

“Sweet, sweet burn of sun and summer wind, and you my friend, my new fun thing, my summer fling.”

Thursday 12 June 2014

Summer Fling - k.d lang

Gather round, dear readers, for I am going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time there was a girl who worked in an office without windows. It was a dreary grey office in a dreary grey building, and all day long she filed dreary invoices and answered dreary phone calls. And the girl knew this was not the life for her, or for anyone. She knew, deep down in her bones, that the world was not dreary and grey. She knew the world was gentle sunshine and the whisper of salt winds through sand dunes. She knew the world was the scent of brine in the air and the sticky-sweet taste of candy floss melting on the tongue. She knew the world was the lights of the fairground at dusk, the music of the carousel and the rush of water on sand. 

So in her head, while she filed her invoices and answered her phone calls, she ran down to the ocean and pushed her bare toes in the wet sand. She picked up glistening seashells and watched crabs pick their way through tangles of seaweed. She watched gulls wheel over the waters, soaring off to places far away and dream-filled. She imagined mermaids and krakens and underwater cities bejewelled with coral and pearls. And she knew this was the life for her. So she wrote poems and stories and made perfumes, and she filled them all with the sea and its treasures. And she dreamed and she hoped and she waited. Because one day she was going to walk out of that dreary grey office and run down to the sea for real.

Seven|ElevenStudios

And I'm still waiting. It's been my life's dream to live by the sea. I love the British coastline - from the wild mountains and crashing grey waves of Northumberland to the long sandy stretches of Norfolk's beaches. The scents, the sounds, the scenery...it's just the most perfect combination for me. I love to sit and watch the ocean. I love walking along the shore barefoot, picking up seashells, trying (and failing) to skim stones. I love paddling in rock pools and finding strange fish and sea glass. I love sitting at the end of the pier, ice cream in hand, watching people come and go, inhaling the smells of sun tan lotion and frying donuts. That, for me, is the only thing to strive for. A life at the edge of the ocean.

All through my childhood, and still today, my grandparents have had a holiday home or caravan on the Norfolk coast. My summer memories are full of the fairground at Hunstanton - the safe scares of the ghost train, the stomach-churning thrill of the waltzer, the sticks of rock, and the endless flavours of ice cream. The cool haven of the sealife centre, filled with starfish and sharks. Tacky tourist gifts like sea lion keyrings and novelty sunhats. The long walk down the pier with the sea on one side and row after row of tiny, inviting gift shops offering everything from tumbled amethyst to bags of jelly beans.

When I go back there as an adult, I feel joyous and content, and I still want to do all the things I did there as a child. Splash in the waves, scoop up the starfish for just a brief moment, try that rum and raisin ice cream, collect those seashells. There's nowhere as magical as the seaside for me, nowhere I feel more at home. And one day, I will have my house by the sea.

In the mean time, I write stories about selkies and make perfumes filled with the scents of my childhood summers. I'm going to give you the ocean and the fairground, all that sugar-rich confectionery, all that briney tang and golden sunshine. I'm working on a collection of summer scents right now that are really helping lift that sense of dreary greyness that's sometimes so hard to see past. I hope, when they're released in the very near future, you'll get a glimpse of that magical seaside summer I love so much. And if you want to share your own summer memories - please do! Tell your own story :)

Chris Miles




"Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards...

Tuesday 3 June 2014

...I got a full house and four people died." - Steven Wright.

When I decided I was going to open an Etsy shop I knew two things would hold me back: labels for my perfumes and photos for my products. Luckily I have a talented artist friend who took care of the former for me; unluckily the latter was all in my hands. And I'm not a photographer. Oh no. I spent hours trying to figure out how to make the most of my limited resources, hours reading advice forums for Etsy sellers. Props! No props! White backgrounds! Grain wood backgrounds! Clip art! Stock images! Nothing was right, though. None of the traditional ideas and tips worked for me, not just because my skills as a photographer/photo editor are limited, but because those styles of presentation didn't speak to me. I didn't feel like my personality and voice would shine through.

And then I had a brainwave: Aleister Crowley. Well, his Thoth Tarot deck, to be precise:


So let's go back a bit. I started reading Tarot cards when I was a first-year student at University in Liverpool. It was something I'd wanted to learn to do for...forever...but for various reasons I never had. But early on in my student days I found an amazing little indie bookshop that sold (along with various text books I needed) a small selection of Tarot decks. And there was me with my student loan and no sense of responsibility! I bought my first deck - the Tarot of a Moon Garden - and I taught myself to read the cards. 

Over the years I've done less and less Tarot reading, but more and more Tarot collecting. I just love how many different spins you can put on the traditional symbols - I've got everything from the Necronomicon Tarot to the Unicorn Tarot, and for the most part nowadays, they're all just gathered in a drawer under the snake tanks, hidden away from the world unless I feel a need to pull them out and admire them.

So, the Crowley Thoth Tarot! This was an early addition to my collection, both because of the unusual artwork and the historical context of the deck. Crowley's aim was to update the traditional Rider-Waite symbolism of the Tarot by incorporating imagery from science and philosophy, as well as his own personal take on the occult. He renamed many of the major arcana (Justice became Adjustment, Strength became Lust), as well as subtly adjusting the meanings of some of the minor arcana. The result is a very unique and often difficult to interpret deck, but if you're a student of the Tarot or the occult, it's worth picking up.



But none of that is why I jumped to the Crowley Thoth deck when I decided to use Tarot cards in my photos. My initial reasoning was much more mundane: they're big cards. Like, too big for me to ever get the hang of shuffling them elegantly. So that makes a great backdrop for my perfume bottles - a simple and straightforward solution for a very amateur photographer. The added bonus for me is that I really feel the use of the cards conveys that sense of "me" that I wanted. Tarot cards have been a big part of my life in one form or another for a decade now - it felt right to incorporate that love into a new one. I didn't want a homogeneous, big-brand look for my shop, either. Common Brimstone is a personal passion and I like it to have a personal touch. The cards help with that, I think.


Where I can, I've tried to use cards that can be symbolically linked to the perfume - the Death card with Grave Digger, for example - but otherwise I've chosen cards that evoke the same mood or feeling in me that the perfume does, as with Druid. When I started running out of Crowley Thoth cards that I felt were fitting, I dug back into my collection for some back-up decks. At the moment I'm slowly reworking all my photos, and the other "main" deck I'm using as backdrops now is the Tarot of the Secret Forest:


I love this deck! It manages to be both whimsical and slightly creepy, and whilst the artwork is in stark contrast to that of the Thoth deck, it has also turned out to lend itself surprisingly well to certain perfumes. This was a deck I bought purely for the art style, and like the Crowley Thoth, it subtly re-imagines the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot symbolism. I love a deck that puts a unique spin on Tarot reading - it forces you as a reader to focus harder and look deeper.

I've also got two more "backup decks" in hand for future photos - the Crystal Tarot and the Quantum Tarot. Now, the Crystal Tarot is just irresistible to me: the art work is elegant and beautiful, and it's lovely to read as well. You might recognise this image from my Lady of the Lake perfume - it's just a perfect fit!


The Quantum Tarot deck I could rave about all day (I won't, don't worry). I was a kid who hated science in school; I've grown up to be an adult (most of the time) who is fascinated by it. The Quantum Tarot is maybe the most unique deck in my collection, combining the principles of Tarot with the intricacies and mysteries of quantum physics, and throwing in some very stylish artwork as a bonus.


And if I burn through all four of these decks, you can keep an eye out for the dragon Tarot, the Sante Fe Tarot, the vampire Tarot, the Deviant Moon Tarot, the Dark Angels Tarot, and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head...

I'll admit that I was terrified that my shoddy photos were going to kill my shop before it even got started, but I do actually get quite a lot of compliments on them, even the older, crappy ones. I can only assume this is down to Aleister Crowley.


"The two basic items necessary to sustain life are sunshine and coconut milk."

Thursday 8 May 2014

Suat Eman
Dustin Hoffman

A quick glance through my collection of essential and fragrance oils will reveal I have a bit of a thing for coconut. There's regular coconut fragrance oil, black coconut, coconut ice, coconut milk, and coconut cream pie. I love coconut! What's not to love? It tastes great, it smells delicious, and coconut oil has about a million uses from cooking to make-up removal.

So when I found a supplier offering coconut CO2 I impulse-bought a bottle immediately without really bothering to read the material information. Hey, it's coconut! It's already perfect! Why inform yourself further? And let me tell you, it is pretty perfect. It has an amazing coconut flesh smell - bright, sweet, tropical, nutty, and fresh. Honestly, I love all my coconut oils, but the difference between a coconut fragrance oil and this stuff is light years. It smells good enough to eat.

There is one, tiny, problem with coconut CO2. It's solid at room temperature. The texture is buttery/fatty and although it will become liquid with some gentle heat, it re-solidifies back to a butter once it cools. So obviously this is not a material for perfume oils. Disappointing, but that's what solid perfumes are for, right?

Having recently stocked up on some great fragrance oils from the US that will lend themselves perfectly to bright, exotic perfumes, I'm brainstorming some ideas for more solids. I've got a particularly lovely puakenikeni oil that should be heavenly with coconut CO2. I'd love to know what scents you guys think coconut should be paired with too - this is the kind of material you really want to experiment and go crazy with! I can see it working with brazil nuts or pistachio, cherry or chocolate, marshmallow...maybe even some deep spices like clove. What do you reckon? What's your perfect coconut combination?

winnond


"Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Sattva
Douglas Adams

This is a mish-mash post, so be prepared for rambling.

Firstly I just wanted to thank you all again for your support and purchases during last week's Earth Day Sale. With all your tweeting, Facebooking, Redditting and buying, I was able to donate £100 to International Wildlife Rescue, which is just awesome, so thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

Secondly, you might have noticed that I've put the shop in vacation mode today to catch up on orders. Some of these are orders placed last Tuesday, and the reason they are late going out is that I had a package of 5ml bottles stolen from outside my house last week :/ The delivery company and supplier have been great in helping me fix this problem, and I will have a new supply by tomorrow so I can catch up on these outstanding orders. I hate sending perfumes out late, but I'd rather have the shop closed for a few days to stop orders piling up that I can't send out on time. So that's why I'm currently closed! I'll be back on top by this Saturday and the shop will reopen asap. I'm sorry if you are waiting; please do get in touch with me if you have any questions.

So, with that straight, I thought it might be fun to chat a bit about what's coming up for Common Brimstone.
It's already been an amazing year and I'm really excited about what the rest of 2014 might hold. One thing I know it definitely holds is the next full moon fragrance - May's Flower Moon. I'm not giving away the notes, but if you're a fan of deep, velvety greens, you'll want to keep an eye out for this one.

I'm also nearly ready to start working on the next Raw Brimstone line (just waiting for one last essential oil to be delivered!), and if you're curious as to the theme for this one, take a look here. I've been brainstorming this for months and I can't wait to get started with the experimentation! My aim is to have the line ready to launch by August/September, and I'll be blogging more extensively about the theme and inspirations in the near future.

The other thing I'm going to be working on for the shop (time allowing!) is tidying up the photography. My phone camera isn't bad for a phone camera, but it is still just a phone camera, and some of my older photos are pretty awful. Hopefully I can give them a bit of a makeover over the coming months.

And outside of the shop, I just purchased myself a bottle of Di-Propylene Glycol. What's that, you ask? Well, it's a colourless, nearly odorless liquid used as a solvent in the beauty industry. Its solvent properties make it ideal for working with heavy resins and absolutes, as well as some CO2 extractions that won't blend in carrier oils. I use a lot of resins and absolutes in my work and I'm intrigued to see how they work in this material. At the moment this is all personal curiosity and self-education; I'm only interested in selling natural perfumes and Di-Propylene Glycol is not a natural product. But it should be fun to play with and I'm looking forward to sharing the results with you all (whether you want it or not).

Earth Day Flash Sale!

Friday 18 April 2014

So something pretty spectacular happened in the shop this week. I had my 600th sale! Cue the fireworks:

foto76
This is ridiculous to me! Ridiculously exciting and just...ridiculous. I'm so grateful to everyone who's been along for the ride with me in the past fourteen months and has tweeted, blogged, reviewed, shared and talked about Common Brimstone and got me to this point. There is really nothing like discovering a passion and then being able to share it with people all over the world. It's inspiring and invigorating.

And I need to celebrate this somehow! So two things are happening next week that marked an ideal point for a celebration and a "thank you" to you all. April 22nd is my 31st birthday. It's also Earth Day. It's also going to be a flash sale day.

I'm offering 15% off all 5ml or 10ml oils in my regular catalogue and I'll be donating all the profits to International Wildlife Rescue. Their projects range from public education, working with other organisations to help stop animal cruelty and neglect, caring for dancing bears in India, to sterilising and vaccinating stray dogs and cats across the globe. I think it's a great cause to support and I'll be happy and proud to do so come Earth Day.

Ahead of the Earth Day Flash Sale, I'll be added five new perfumes to the shop, which will of course be included in the sale. I'm not telling you what they are, but keep an eye on Monday 21st for those!

Thanks again and here's to the next celebration!

"Here’s your sweet lavender, sixteen sprigs a penny...

Monday 14 April 2014

franky242
...that you’ll find my ladies will smell as sweet as any." Lavender Sellers’s Cry, London England CA 1900

Welcome to another installment of my becoming-slightly-more-regular-blogs about some of the more unusual essential oils I'm using in my perfumes these days! Now, I know what you're thinking: lavender isn't weird or unusual. In fact, it's probably one of the most commonly used essential oils around. And rightly so; it's good for everything - insomnia, insect bites, minor burns, sunburn, menstrual cramps, anxiety...The list goes on. If there's one product I insist on having in the bathroom cabinet at home, it's a bottle of lavender essential oil.

So it's not unusual, right? It's not zanthoxylum or ruby gromwell (don't worry, I'll get to those). It's just lavender.

But there are so many different varieties of lavender, and when it comes to perfume-making, those variations can make a huge difference to a scent. I'm a long-time lavender lover so I've been slowly collecting different types of oil since I started this whole wacky perfume journey. So let me tell you a little about my current crop...

French Lavender

This is a Mediterranean variety with that classic herbaceous scent people tend to associate with lavender. To me, there's a briney tint to lavender and I notice that especially with this variant. I love that, because I love the sea and anything that reminds me of it makes me happy. But it makes me understand why some people don't like lavender - it's a strong, lingering scent and it's not as mellow or sweet as other floral oils. It is extremely versatile, blending well with everything from rose to clary sage (take Black Agnes as an example), and lending something different to every blend. If you visit my shop and see simply "lavender" listed in a perfume, I always mean French lavender.

Honey Lavender Absolute

Another French-origin material, but very different to your standard French lavender. Honey lavender absolute is produced from honey taken from hives planted near lavender fields, resulting in a syrupy honey absolute with a beautiful lavender tang. It's mellow, golden, and ever-so-slightly foodie. To me it's a pure autumnal scent and works perfectly with woodsy oils. This is one of those materials I just want to shove in everyone's faces and make them smell it, but the thick viscosity of the absolute means it's a little tricky to work with, which is probably the only reason there aren't a million honey lavender-based perfumes in the shop right now...There is September Bride, however, which showcases it perfectly, mixing it with gentle notes of hay and peach, amongst others. This is definitely an oil to convince doubters that lavender isn't just for old ladies.

Bulgarian Lavender

More floral and fresh than French lavender, this just feels like a luxury oil. Bulgaria is actually the world's biggest lavender producer - the climate and soil conditions just lend themselves perfectly to good growth for the plant. Like French lavender, Bulgarian lends itself to most perfume combinations you can imagine, and I've got a couple of works-in-progress that involve chocolate, apple blossom, and water, among other things. At the moment you can find it in Vespertine.

Sweetie Dalmation Lavender

This is a new one for me and, according to some sources, not a true lavender plant but a hybrid. It grows along the Dalmation coast and, "true" or not, it's beautiful! Lavender oils can have a slightly camphorous edge, which is definitely not present here. It's all uplifting, sunny, sweet and intense. I haven't got round to trying it in a perfume yet (that's how new it is to my), but I had to snap it up when it became available and I really think it will offer a different dimension to lavender-based blends, as it leans away from herbal. I can see it going really well with citrus oils, grapefruit especially.

I'm really just scratching the surface here too - there are numerous varieties of lavender essential oil available - Kashmir, Russian, English, Stoechas, spike...Personally I can't get enough of the stuff, so you can probably expect to see all these varieties appear in my perfume catalogue at some point. So no, it's not that weird, but it's definitely interesting and I hope, if you're not already a fan, you might be tempted to try some lavender perfumes in the future.

And if not, maybe some lavender chocolate truffles instead?

Evgeni Dinev

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous"

Thursday 3 April 2014

Aristotle

Welcome back to my...um...very irregular series of blogs on some of the more weird and wonderful essential oils I'm using in my perfumes! Today I'm introducing you to sweet gale, mostly because it's a component of the perfume I'm road testing right now, Mellona. I'd never heard of sweet gale before my favourite UK oil supplier started stocking it, so before I took the plunge and bought some, I did some snooping around online to find out something about the plant. And it turned out I actually had heard of it already...just by another name. Bog myrtle.

Yeah. Bog myrtle. It doesn't exactly conjure up images of fragrant oils and perfumed beauties, does it? Historically, sweet gale has been used as a remedy for everything from stomach aches to liver problems, and is a key ingredient in many traditional creole folk remedies. In Scotland it's traditionally used to ward off midges, and in the Middle Ages it was used in North-Western Europe as a flavouring in beer. And it's still used to make schnaps in places like Denmark and Sweden today. All very interesting, and clearly great if I want to make moonshine or insect repellent but I don't do either of those things at the moment.

So the real question is, what's its perfume pedigree? Well, apparently sweet gale is a common component of Royal Wedding bouquets, so there's got to be more to the scent than beer and bugs, right? The most basic description I could find of the scent was "resinous and sweet," which was encouraging if not totally inspiring. But the description on my supplier's site was far more poetic and when the chance came up to buy a bottle at a discount, I decided to snap some up and see for myself.

And I fell in love instantly.

This is a bright, clean scent with a herbaceous hint here and there. There's a purity to it that reminds me of citrus, but it lacks the sugary-sweetness of orange essential oil and has a lighter body than lemon or grapefruit. It just screams out for fresh, green oils to enhance that lightness, and some sweet notes to complement its own herbaceous qualities. When I was brainstorming ideas for Spring perfumes and read up on Mellona, the Roman goddess of honey, I knew sweet gale had to be part of her perfume - the idea of sweet gale and honey together seemed perfect.

Going for a light, luscious mix, I took sweet gale and honey as my starting point and added in nectarine, sweet grass, lemon blossom, and a touch of earthy hop (which, incidentally, supplanted sweet gale as a beer ingredient in the sixteenth century). And they play off each other beautifully. Honey can be a very heavy and pervasive fragrance oil, but paired with the sweet gale and rounded off with the hop, it's less in-your-face and much lighter. The fresh grass and juicy nectarine notes are brightened by the sweet gale, and the lemon blossom is just drifting about there, adding a lovely, soft note to the proceedings. I love that this is a Spring scent that isn't floral-based, and I think it's going to make a great addition to my catalogue.

Since my supplier also recommends pairing sweet gale with a few other oils I own but haven't experimented with yet, I foresee it popping up in future perfumes too. I don't really get the resinous note others have mentioned, but I can see it working well with earthy, incensey oils like frankincense or peru balsam. In the mean time, I can't wait to share Mellona with you and see if you love bog myrtle as much as I do!

Flash Sale on now!

Thursday 20 March 2014

I was tagged to do a make-up free selfie for breast cancer awareness, but that…that just isn’t going to happen. Instead I’m having a FLASH SALE! 15% off all 5ml and 10ml perfumes in my regular catalogue, with all the proceeds going to Cancer Research UK. It’s on now! Follow the link.

Sample sets and vials - updates!

Wednesday 12 March 2014

So if you've been with me since the beginning (back in those dark, long-ago days of February 2013), you might know that packaging sample vials has been the bane of my existence. My bĂȘte noire if you will. I started out with wand caps because they were highly affordable and fairly standard for perfume samples, and quickly discovered they were messy, leaky, hard to open and generally not terribly user-friendly.

After some digging around, I found some great little rollerball vials that seemed ideal for samples: less prone to leaking and much easier to store and use. Unfortunately it's come to my attention lately that leaks still happen and sometimes the rollerballs get stuck, making the perfume application difficult. Obviously this is no good. I want you to have the best possible experience when you try one of my perfumes and a big part of that is presentation. If you can't actually use and enjoy the perfume, I'm letting you down.

So I've shopped around again and I've found something that I hope solves the problem once and for all:


How cute are these little bottles? They're 2ml amber vials and here's my top 5 reasons they beat out wand caps and rollerballs:

1. They're bigger! You get double the sample to play with.

2. No messy wands to fiddle with. I always find I can never apply as much perfume as I want with a wand; these little bottles will let you slather to your heart's content.

3. No sticky rollerballs. I'll admit it, I love those rollerballs, but they just don't work! The bottles mean there's no fuss and muss in applying your perfume.

4. They're adorable! Like little baby perfumes.

5. They're easy on my fingernails. Alright, that doesn't really benefit anyone but me, but believe me - it's hard to get the tops on those rollerball vials!

So as of today, all sample sets and single samples will be packaged in these bottles. As these bottles are a little costlier than the previous vials, I have raised the prices just a tiny bit (50p/$0.80 per set) to cover the cost, but you're getting twice the amount of perfume so I reckon we all come out even! 

So I think this will tackle the problems we've been encountering with sample vials. As always, I thrive on feedback, so I hope you'll let me know how you find them :)


"Three nights I sat up all night drinking absinthe, and thinking that I was singularly clear-headed and sane."

Tuesday 25 February 2014

The waiter came in and began watering the sawdust.The most wonderful flowers, tulips, lilies and roses, sprang up, and made a garden in the cafe. “Don’t you see them?” I said to him. “Mais non, monsieur, il n’y a rien.” - Oscar Wilde

I've been collecting a lot of unusual essential oils recently and it occurred to me that whilst everyone is going to see notes like "rose, jasmine, nutmeg" and have a good idea of what a perfume will smell like, not everyone is going to be quite so sure when they see "sweet gale, zanthoxylum, styrax." So I've decided to start doing a regular blog to chat about these more uncommon scents and what you can expect from them. And since I'm road testing a wormwood perfume today, that seemed the perfect oil to start with!

Although, actually, you're probably already familiar with artemisia absinthium - it's an ornamental plant used in absinthe and a few other spirits like bitters and vermouth. Absinthe, of course, was the darling drink of the 18th century Parisian arts scene, reputed to be dangerously addictive due to one of the chemical compounds in the plant, thujone. This wicked reputation lead to the drink being banned in America and parts of Europe. During the temperance movement, one critic claimed that:

Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country.

Since then it's been proved that the so-called psychoactive properties of absinthe were greatly exaggerated, but it's fair to say absinthe has retained its mystique.

But back to the essential oil. For me, there's definitely some truth to the idea of this being addictive. The smell is so unusual - clear, bold, with hints of aniseed and fennel - I can't help sniffing it over and over. Although it's primarily herbaceous, there's just something very...dessert-like about it to my nose, a certain syrupy quality that tempers the bitterness. It really is utterly unique among my herbal essential oils, and is surprisingly versatile despite it's strong, distinct scent. Generally speaking, herbaceous/medicinal oils go well with other herbaceous oils, as well as earthy, woodsy notes. Wormwood definitely loves its fellow herbs and can play well with certain floralsWormwood with beeswax and woodsy notes? A dream. I haven't tried it with chocolate yet, but I'm pretty sure it would create the most amazing gourmand experience (maybe that's because wormwood was once believed to be an appetite stimulant?).

So what can you expect from a perfume with wormwood notes? Well, I'll start by saying that I only use a minimum of wormwood in the perfumes I've made with it so far. Despite the fact that the dangers of thujone were overstated, it is true that prolonged inhalation of wormwood oil can cause headaches and nobody wants that from a perfume oil. So if you want a real "absinthe" perfume that truly captures the licorice-like fragrance of the drink, I'd actually advise trying one of my absinthe fragrance oil blends. But in The Expert Dreamer, you'll find the smidge of wormwood gives a tangy, musty note to the incense and floral notes of the perfume, and when Merricat becomes available, you'll see the combination of wormwood and tea rose turns a regular floral into something much darker and more intriguing. This is the magic of wormwood: you don't need a lot of it. Certain oils just work best when they're invisible - lending depth and edge to other notes, rather than standing out on their own.