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Scents & Sensibility

The nose knows what it knows

Recipes from the Vault

4/3/2017

 
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Essense wishes to share various perfume recipes culled from 4 decades of Essense history. The names of the customers have been omitted to protect privacy. Each month 4 more "secret" recipes will be revealed!
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This Dennisport, MA customer created a perfume we could call “ARABIAN ROSE-VANILLA.”  Some customers don’t name their perfumes, but I recommend that you do!  It’s a bonding aspect of creating the “signature” in your signature scent.  Of the various ROSE perfume oils available at Essense, the ARABIAN ROSE used here is the lightest and most delicate. Some people have difficulty smelling it because it is so light, but for those who can smell it, it’s nearly ethereal. 
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In the late 1990’s, a woman from Shrewsbury, MA decided to name her new perfume “STARDUST.” This was a magical and busy time for Essense of Edgartown, on Martha’s Vineyard.  The FRENCH VANILLA used in this blend has a creamier, sweeter, smoother but perhaps smokier scent than the regular VANILLA. This CHINA MUSK is the original, now classic version, created and trademarked way back in 1960’s Berkeley, CA by a successful perfumer. It’s called CHINA MUSK because MUSK was originally extracted from the scent glands of cute little deer that lived in China. Today these deer are protected and this extraction is illegal. All MUSK used legally in the United States today is created synthetically in perfume laboratories. MUSK is one of the most common and essential “base notes” used in world-wide perfumery.
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This Bloomfield, CT customer came to the newly built Essense in Oak Bluffs, between 2001-2011. She mixed-up a perfume named “SWEET MUSK,” a simple 2-oil blend using snappy green floral SWEET PEA and exotic but fresh EGYPTIAN MUSK. Some health food stores sell a popular roll-on perfume oil called “Egyptian Goddess,” which uses EGYPTIAN MUSK along with some flowery notes.
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After Essense reopened just outside Meredith Village, alongside Lake Waukewan and Lake Winnipesaukee, customers have traded their Atlantic ferry rides with the Steamship Authority for scenic drives among the lakes and mountains of central NH. Here is a custom-blended perfume dubbed   “VELVET  BULLDOZER!” This customer lives nearby and she asked me to name her new perfume. VELVET BULLDOZER is what an old Chicago Bluesman nicknamed me “back in the day,” when I still lived in Chicago; so I’ve played it forward. It denotes an “iron lady” concept; akin to Theodore Roosevelt’s idea of  "speak softly and carry a big stick.” For this perfume, the imported EGYPTIAN TUBEROSE offers mysterious floral intrigue, while CHINA RAIN adds the trademarked blend of both CHINA MUSK and additional pleasing flowers, all universally desired in classic perfumes.
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    Tamsan & Ruggles

    Tamsan is a practicing perfumer of 34 years. She graduated with a triple-major, interdisciplinary Master's Degree from the prestigious Behavioral Science and Human Development Department at The University of Chicago. Tamsan developed original ideas about creativity, solitude, and "flow" activities while studying under the mentorship of the late, beloved Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of the seminal work: "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience." Dr. Csikszentmihalyi was the world's leading researcher on on Positive Psychology. Tamsan believes that making perfume is science, art, and magic, because the creation of a new scent is a "flow" experience. Because the sense of smell is closely linked to both memory and emotion, the art and science of perfume is very psychological, sociological, and anthropological. A life time member of the High IQ Societies American Mensa; and Mensa International; Tamsan is a 2024 inductee of "Who's Who." Ruggles is a sidewalk social scientist as well; a rescue-poodle with enigmatic urban, feral origins. Abandoned on city streets and left to starve, Ruggles has a Master's Degree from The School of Life, but he's a philosophical-poodle who's maintained a very good sense of humor. Both are relocated from major urban centers. For  50+ years, Tamsan lived in the cities of: Chicago, St. Paul, Manhattan, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Providence, and San Diego. Together, they now blog about life's sensory and fragrant spectacles from more bucolic surroundings in NH. More specifically, Tamsan blogs about olfactory mysteries and miracles; Ruggles prefers to comment on anything edible or odoriferous. Addendum: RIP Ruggles (2008-June 29, 2024) Tamsan, Essense, and many Essense customers will miss you forever. 💔💜💔

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    Recipes from the Vault

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 "I love that you take the ancient and the spiritual and put it in a bottle. That is way too cool!
I just love these rare and magic things, it doesn’t get better than this. Tamsan is a divine alchemist."

—Gretchen B., Bisbee, AZ


ESSENSE PARFUMERIE at Rock Ridge Farm is located a 6 minute drive from Meredith Village on the OTHER side of Lake Waukewan​ along the far end of scenic Waukewan Road bordering The Snake River, just over The Snake River Bridge. ​
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The Snake River in Summer and Winter.

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The "Essense Barn," early 1900's

ESSENSE PARFUMERIE
           at Rock Ridge Farm          
is

OPEN FOR APPOINTMENTS,
                   beginning April 1, 2025.                                      
Tuesday ~ Saturday,
​within the hours
Noon ~ 6 pm.

Closed Sunday, Monday.
Year-round mail-orders, deliveries,
and farm-side pick-ups.
Text or call 603-409-2799
Email: [email protected]​

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The memory is the perfume of the heart.      ~George Sand

©2025 Tamsan Lee Beattie, MAPSS • Essense Parfumerie • Skunkadelic ™ • Sea Witch Perfumes™ • All Rights Reserved
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