Perfume Stories ~ Velvet and Sweet Pea's Purrfumery

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The Story of Velvet & Sweet Pea
Velvet and Sweet Pea are the two kitty perfumers who live with perfumer Laurie Stern. Although Laurie makes perfume for people, not cats, she takes great inspiration from Velvet and Sweet Pea’s philosophy of life.
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A Powerful Cat Goddess to Oversee it All
Perfumery has deep roots in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians incorporated perfume and scent into every aspect of their lives, both religious and secular. Perfume was such an important part of life that the ancient Egyptian pantheon has both a god and a goddess of perfume!
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A World of Scent
Each Velvet and Sweet Pea perfume is a rich, complex blend of essential oils, absolutes, ottos, attars, tinctures and infusions sourced from all over the world. Some of the ingredients Laurie uses to create her magical alchemies of scent come right from her own Perfumer’s Garden, and some come from the far corners of the earth. Velvet and Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery is proud to contribute to sustainable agriculture by seeking out materials grown by small villages and communities who are often entirely supported by the flowers they harvest for distillation.

In the spirit of the Perfumery Adventure, Laurie shares some of her favorite stories about the materials she uses to create her perfumes.

Pink Lotus Absolute -- Each morning just before dawn the villagers outside of Madura in southern India gather to harvest the blossoms of the pink lotus flower. Setting out cross-legged in tiny boats resembling one-man tin washtubs, they navigate across huge ponds covered with the tightly closed six-foot blooms, waiting until the very moment the suns begins to rise. As the rays of the sun hit the lotus flowers, they give a little shiver and begin to open to the light. It is at this moment, on the third day of the flowers; existence, that they fragrant lotus essence within is at its most concentrated. Ethereal and at the same time pungent, this scent is like no other, simultaneously incorporating the elements of earth, water, and sky.

Frankincense Tears -- Deep in the Sahara dessert, the nomadic Bedoin tribespeople harvest "tears" of frankincense from the scraggly red Boswellia trees that thrive there. After having previously scored the trees using a wood and metal toll called a megaff, they return to harvest the tears—amber-colored crystals of resinous sap—that have collected on the bark of the tree, scrape it into shallow baskets, and store it on the floor of dry caves until it has matured enough to be distilled. These crystals of frankincense were in ancient times one of the most, if not the most, precious commodity in the world, and a vast intercontinental trade existed in pursuit of this sacred resin with its rich, spiritual mysterious scent.

Velvet and Sweet Pea's Purrfumery is proud to contribute to sustainable agriculture by sourcing materials grown not on factory farms but by small villages and communities who are often entirely supported by the flowers they harvest for distillation.