Soap of the Month
It all begins with an idea.
Fragrance is an extension of my relationship with plants. Scents transport and recall places and people like no other sense. I began my relationship with scent as a young girl when my grandpa used to tell me “come over here and put your nose in this rose”. After becoming a mom, those words literally came out of my mouth to my son one day and our rose smelling journey began. We became rose smelling aficionados and would smell every rose in a rose garden comparing and trying to pick the best smelling one. Who knew that every rose smells slightly different? I wanted to play in the fragrance, like I could play with flowers, but I needed to learn the language of scent first. My scent journey took me to different perfume shops and a fantastic place in Berkeley called the Aftel Archive of Curious scents. I began a solid collection of fragrances from Santa Maria Novella when I was part owner of Crimson and then branched out when I found my all time favorite perfume shop in SF called Tigerlily. As I started gathering information about the different types of fragrance oils and the basics of blending, I slowly started gathering the materials for my own scent “organ” with top notes, middle notes and base notes. Since this obsession was a hobby, I didn’t want to go too deep and try to be an actual perfumer, so I decided to start making soap where I could use fragrance in a simple way and start practicing. No one was going to hate using soap that wasn’t a perfect blend, so it was fun and my family got a lot of great organic goat milk soap for Christmas.
Over time, my blending skills got better and I came to understand more about the layering the “notes”. I wanted to make soap, but I didn’t want to get stuck making the same scent over and over because I wanted to keep practicing and pushing myself to get better. One January day in the shower, I thought of the idea of soap of the month. It was the start of the year, so that was perfect and I could use each month as inspiration. Since I’m so used to being in the garden and designing gardens year round, I think a lot in terms of what’s happening with plants at various times of the year and this gave me tons of ideas. It could be plants that were in flower, foods that were in season, or colors that were in the garden. This became Soap of the Month and I started with January soap that was Anise, Cardamom, and Vanilla, a perfect warm blend of spices that make a winter feel cozy.
January and February Soap of the Month
The following months were:
February - Rose, Clove, Cinnamon
March - Oakmoss, Narcissus, Petitgrain
April - Patchouli, Osmanthus, Lime
May - Opoponax, Rose, Ylang-Ylang
June - Guiacwood, Lavender, Citrus
July - Tobacco, Basil, Ginger
August- Choya Raal, Carnation, Pink Pepper
September - Hay, Styrax, Chamomile
October - Sandalwood, Geranium, Lime
November - Vetiver, Honeybush, Black Pepper
December - Vanilla, Jasmine, Fir Balsam
Thus far, the Soap of the Month has created a little following and I have thoroughly enjoyed coming up with a scent palette for every month. Who knows how long it will go on, but it’s a fun, fragrant journey and who can really hate on a nice smelling soap?