“We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.”

voraorn

Kahlil Gibran

A fun fact you might not know about me: I write werewolf novels. I love werewolves! Anything to do with the folklore, mythology, history and fantasy of shapeshifting and werewolves, I'm all over it. You'll see it creeping into my perfume-making as well as my writing - it's an endless font of inspiration for me.

One side effect of this (aside from owning an awful lot of terrible films), is that I've spent a lot of time learning about the moon. A few years ago I noted in a vague sort of way that each full moon of the year has it's own name in American folklore, and I filed that away as something that might be cool to work into a story some day. I haven't managed that yet but I am making those names into perfumes this year!

In January I launched Wolf Moon and next week I'll be added February's full moon fragrance, Snow Moon, to the shop. And then you'll have Crow Moon, Pink Moon, Blood Moon...I'm particularly looking forward to Strawberry Moon, myself. The beauty of this project is the challenge of trying to tie several themes together: each fragrance corresponds to a particular time of year that may or may not be reflected in the full moon name (one of March's full moon names, for example is the Worm Moon). Figuring what combination of scents will capture not only the moon name but also the time of year and the month itself has been both fun and frustrating (I'm still not 100% settled on the notes for Red Moon, but luckily that's months away!). 

I knew for Wolf Moon I wanted something evocative of late winter and wilderness, so it was easy to pick a base of cedar wood, pine, and violet leaf - fresh, woody, green notes. Because of the wolf connection I added in a good pinch of musk for that feral, animalistic hint. I originally chose to finish with blue tansy because it lent a very foggy, misty depth to the blend, but once I got to the test stage, I realised it needed something extra to bolster the green and wood notes. A smidge of dark patchouli did the job perfectly.

February's Snow Moon was more of a challenge. What scents evoke the feel of snow and the slow approach of Spring? I could have gone minty for a clean, fresh feeling - and initially I planned to make Snow Moon very spearmint-orientated - but it didn't feel quite right to me. I started instead with chamomile essential oil and a "fresh air" fragrance oil that made for a very brisk but somewhat bland scent. I added in Peru balsam to give it a rich, almost nutty note to conjure up a sense of fresh-turned forest loam - something deep and earthy and ready for new growth. And to give it that green feel I think an "it's almost Spring" perfume needs, I dropped in some bay and rosemary. Finally, because I was still feeling Snow Moon needed something a tiny bit minty, I added in wintergreen (also known as teaberry), which really boosts the balsam and herb notes. Perfection! I can't wait to share this one with you - I've used a lot of oils you haven't seen in my collection yet and I think Snow Moon is pretty unique in its overall mood.

Arvind Balaraman

And that's just January and February! I've still got ten more full moon fragrances to introduce to you and, better yet, all these moons have more than one name, so if this idea proves popular there are still plenty more themes to explore.

So keep an eye out for future full moon fragrances, launching (naturally) on the full moon of each month of 2014! Hope you enjoy them as much as I do :)