21st October @ 21.25pm : Adam here with the second update: On the subject of orders, we have received an incredible amount of wholesale and retail work across the past several hours today. Once we stop accepting orders tomorrow at 8pm, I will be in a better place to provide lead-times, but as I type, we will possibly need 5 to 6 days before we clear all of the work on our books now. Rest assured we are working throughout the weekend again so if you have an order placed we are here if you have any questions.
Once we close many seem to think we are taking time off! Its not true and we will still be working. Once I am off (so to speak) I am aiming to put in place wholesale pricing for every single product before the end of November and this is a huge job that I need to solely focus on, thus needing to close. You will also now see a new category called Core & Limited. Across the next few weeks we will be working on the sub-categories and all aimed to create a better experience for the many perfumers we work with. On top of this, we have lots of super luxury aromatics in the pipeline and again we both need time away from the day to day, in order to properly evaluate and write about each of the new aromatics.
Finally for now, I do want to draw perfumers attention to the strong possibility that raw materials are going to rise sharply across the next months. Example, the new batch of Pink Lotus Abs (on its way) is costing us 25% more, our possible Sandalwood India Gold 3.0 candidate (grade one heartwood) is going to cost us an extra 50% per kilo. I was in touch with a Chinese supplier today for Aglaia Flower Abs and was told that the cost is up by 30%. Our popular Tobacco Abs are all up by nearly 20% and our new batch of Rose Bourbon Abs will cost us 10% more. Whether you buy from us or others, if you can, I’d encourage all perfumers to start thinking ahead with your buying if you want to secure your materials at the best prices.
21st October @ 12.15pm : This is the first of 2 updates today. For now typing just to say all orders placed up until the 18th will be leaving by tomorrow. Back later this evening with a detailed update. Thanks, Adam : )
LAST ORDER TIME FOR OCTOBER IS THIS FRIDAY at 8pm Italy time. After this time no further orders will be accepted. Once we have dispatched all orders we will close and reopen across late November/early December.
Adam Michael has this to say “Blackcurrant bud absolute is obtained from the buds of the plant, and this material comes from the Burgundy region of France. Harvest time is from December through to early February. Blackcurrant bud absolute is of a thick treacle viscosity and dark green in colour. In dilution I detect a spiced fruit cocktail with a hint of sugar sweetness, a lot of green character throughout and a rainbow of floral wonderment. I also clearly detect a strained, slightly acidic and somewhat cleansing green tea note from the middle stages onwards. If you are familiar with Blackcurrant bud Absolute you’ll know how challenging this material can be to get into a pourable state. For this reason we now offer it diluted at 50% in ethanol.”
Arctander has this to say “The absolute is a viscous liquid of dark green color and powerful spicy-wood odor. There is a slightly phenolic undertone and the tenacity is not outstanding. Quantitatively, the main constituents are monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. These are not responsible for the characteristic odour of the absolute.”
Kostis Pap (verified owner) –
Green is the color here. It reminds of the green leaf of the vine plant but for me is more of a more “urinal” raw green to herbaceous quite similar to urtica plant. In fact I find much similarities to the dried Melissa herb used in boiled water. It’s an almost urinal twist of a herb note. Overall its character is more close to a fresh-herbaceous note rather than green. As with most absolutes, this product captures quite well the full plant odor of the blackcurrant. A difficult but very interesting material in green compositions.
Jarreau bowhay (verified owner) –
Pretty pungent and strong to my nose, not really a fan of black currant even in drink form but this material is needed for some of my formulas.
Ulrike S (verified owner) –
Hands down one of my top five absolutes. Feeling fortunate that Hermitage carries this since I could not live without it ,and by acquiring the pre-diluted ab, it takes the hard work out of making the material ready for use in solid perfume (at 10% dilution) where I like to blend it with raw beeswax. I am a great fan of the fruit as well but the ab has less of a fruity and more of a leafy quality. It’s definitely a “green” note and yet blends well with just about anything, unlike the more typical “greens”. There are, of course, the ammonia notes that need to be tamed but that can be achieved simply by diluting it further. I find that this absolute works best blended with wax or butters.
Carlos silva (verified owner) –
This is veeeeery powerful … opens with an animal tone like urine of some feline, it is really strong and almost sulphurous in the good sense (the complex and beautiful nature) when it dilutes it shows its true face: like guava, has fresh tones and acids. This brings natural fruit tints to any fragrance.