I am so excited and anxious to reveal my latest project to you all...
I know I said that I wasn't going to release anything new for the rest of the year, but I can't help it - I am a crazy person and I am obsessed with fragrance!
I literally cannot stop thinking-about-slash making perfume.
I've had this dream of making a line of fancier, more complex perfumes with more exotic, higher-end ingredients for a long time now, but I kept putting it on the back burner as a "someday" goal. I thought I needed a bigger budget, fancy custom bottles, more experience under my belt, a PR firm to generate some buzz, a separate website, maybe even a whole different brand... like, I don't know, I thought I'd have to do a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds or go study perfumery in France to see if my ideas were even any good or something.
But eventually (as always) my ideas ended up outweighing my doubts and fears, and here we are. I recently realized that I already have everything I need to make my dreams a reality; and it's all thanks to you, my wonderful customers, who have been loving and supporting my creations and keeping me in business for almost two years now - even without the fancy packaging, marketing budget, or formal experience. The beauty of having an established e-commerce business and running it single-handedly is that I can totally do this in my own way, which is by the bootstraps, apparently. Perhaps someday I will have a budget for some super cool bottles and a PR firm to get me in the pages of Vogue magazine, but until then, I will focus on what I can/have to do, which is making some super good smells. One step (and fragrance) at a time.
After all, some of my favorite fragrances are made by brands that most people haven't heard of, while I (and probably most of you reading this) wouldn't be caught dead wearing the popular fragrances that are available in any department store!
(Perhaps I am also more of an artist than a businesswoman... and for the record, I'm totally okay with that!)
So without further ado, I'd like to introduce:
The asterisk (*) symbol is the "twinkle star" in the twinkle*apothecary logo, but it's also a writing device which symbolizes an omission or an annotation, so I think it's the perfect way to describe this nameless, label-less, genderless, basically brand-less line of fine fragrances which will be released in no particular order on no specific timeline, from now until I run out of ideas, which will probably be never...
Still completely natural, made with essential oils, absolutes, and co2s without any additives. Same transparent ingredient list. Always vegan and cruelty free. Still designed and handcrafted by yours truly.
They're just a little more... *extra.
Think, fancier. More ingredients. More expensive ingredients. More complex.
While I think my Twinkle Apothecary signature fragrances are completely lovely and perfect for casual, everyday wear in addition to dressing up;
the asterisk collection scents are something you'd be more likely to save for a special occasion. (Or not - life is short, after all!)
To be honest, they're a lot more expensive. (Never outrageously so, because that's not what I do, obviously.) They just have much more (and more expensive) ingredients and more labor intensive production methods.
But I hope you'll find that they're worth every penny.
I don't have a specific timeline in mind for when I'll be releasing new fragrances to the asterisk collection. They'll just come out whenever they're ready. It could be every 6 weeks, could be every 6 months... I really don't know. When I feel I have my next scent right and ready to go, I'll just... let you know, I guess?! This isn't something that I want or need to rush.
Perfume is really just for fun anyway, right?
I do plan to make the samples available for pre-order about two weeks before they're officially released. This will allow me to gauge interest in the fragrance, plan how much to make, and generate some cash flow to purchase more ingredients if necessary.
And, I should mention that my "all sales final" policy still applies to the asterisk collection fragrances. I know $14 sounds like a lot for a perfume sample, but when you realize that it's about 1/3 of a 5 ml bottle, it's an appropriate price. I'm providing you with all of the ingredient details so there shouldn't be any surprises - hopefully you'll only be surprised by how much better it smells in person than it did in your head!
So, all of that being said, let's talk about edition *01.
Available 10/1/17 - sample pre-orders are live now!
(YAY)
I'll give you my story behind it, but I actually love the idea of letting these scents speak for themselves, so it's really up to you to wear it and turn it into something personal.
Edition *01 is loosely based on an idea that I had been working on in my head for a Twinkle Apothecary fall fragrance which I was planning to call "Witch House." (LOL)
I was thinking something mysterious - amber-y and spicy and a little woodsy, but I realized that I was getting carried away - it was turning out to be a much more complicated scent than I would normally make at the $15 price point and I already had Cardigan ready to go, so I decided to hold off on the idea.
Then, one day I got out my goodie bag of essential oil/absolute samples that I can't afford but keep on hand just for fun, and I accidentally got a little bit of oakmoss absolute on my hands. Bingo!
I knew exactly what I wanted to make.
Play up the forest, woodsy vibes at the top, add a touch of mysterious jasmine with sweet spices in the heart, with that enchanted earthy oakmoss scent at the base.
It's a sexy scent. An autumnal scent. A unisex scent (don't fear the jasmine - it's actually a bit masculine!) It's mysterious, powerful, somewhat heady, and much more perfume-y than you're used to if you've been wearing some of my most popular Twinkle Apothecary fragrances. Let's just say it's definitely not something I'd ever make into a deodorant or douse myself in before heading to a hot yoga class... à la Goddess or Nasty Woman.
The top, fresh, green notes go on powerfully but dissipate quickly, while the sweet, spicy, powdery heart notes linger for ages, and the earthy, mossy base notes are well worth the wait. Wearing it is a bit of a journey... through an enchanted forest... at night... in October...
At least, that's what it is to me. The crazy (and wonderful) thing about perfume is that it is so subjective. You may smell it and think it's a masterpiece. You may be completely underwhelmed. You may hate it, or, you may have just found your favorite new scent. I may have broken all of the rules, or I may have made something that "the experts" would consider tired and mundane. Regardless, I feel I've made something beautiful, which I'm proud of, and once it's released, I will continue on to my next idea, edition *02, which I will share with the world again, thanks to this glorious thing called THE INTERNET.
And so on, and so on.
Isn't life grand?!
I can't wait to hear what you think...
-XO-
