Outlaw Perfumes- Light and Amberess by Anya's Garden

The last installment of the Outlaw Perfume Project (well, second to last, since I hope to write some kind of conclusion over the weekend) brings to us two outlaw creations by Anya McCoy of Anya's Garden. They represent two kind-of-sort-of opposite sides of the perfume spectrum- a citrusy cologne and an ambery floriental. Both genres are popular outside of the natural and niche perfume circle and it's a fascinating sensual experience to be able to smell and wear them in their true and raw form. And if you're even a little familiar with Ms. McCoy's work, you know it's never wishy-washy.

Light starts with a burst of a 3D citrus- full of fruit, juice and rind. It's so yellow and kelly green you can see the light and taste it on your tongue. The first couple of minutes seem like a sister fragrance to the beautiful Kaffir, but just when I thought I got it all figured out, the floral heart came alive. Rich, buttery and yellow- for a second there it reminded me of tuberose but not quite. A look at the cheat sheet revealed the floral heart is Aglaia, aka Chinese Rice Flower, which is apparently related to mahogany and smells divine. While many typical colognes combine citrus with their relative neroli (steam distilled orange blossoms) and often some kind of anemic blanched wood, the perfumer has chosen a resinous base of frankincense. It is surprisingly mild but does an amazing job anchoring the other notes and making them last for long hours. Next time I hear how citrus notes are always very fleeting so one shouldn't expect any lasting power, I'm sending whoever says that to have a chat with Anya.

Amberess is a true outlaw. Where Light only has the citrus and aglaia as its restricted ingredients, this diva is obviously trying to make the IFRA bureaucrats cry. This is copied straight from Anya's blog:

Top notes: none, in the true Oriental style
Middle notes: Zambian  Princesse de Nassau Rosa Moschata African musk rose otto and Musk rose absolute, Madagascan ylang ylang, South African rose geranium sur fleurs
Base notes: Indonesian patchouli, Himalayan amber oil, Turkish styrax, Greek labdanum, Peruvian tonka bean, Salvadorean balsam tolu, Balsam of Peru, Chinese benzoin, Madagascan vanilla

*red denotes untested or prohibited/limited aromatic

To me, Amberess is a creamy and feminine rose over a sweet amber base. It has an almost Turkish delight quality (for a second I can almost smell coconut, though it's obviously not there, just the nutty fullness). Amberess never goes sour on my skin, not even for a second. There's nothing green there, nothing fresh, just pure sensuality. This princess lounges in her velvet-lined boudoir, wearing layers of silk chiffon and indulging in  candy and men as she sees fit. I'll take a job as a lady-in-waiting for her. Or a full bottle.

Amberess ($125, 15ml EDP) and Light ($100, 15ml) are available online at anyasgarden.com. There's also a parfum extrait version and a sampling program. The samples for this review were supplied by the perfumer.

Art: Abstraction of the Bird Of Paradise by Marcia Baldwin.

Anya's Garden Kewdra- Giveaway and Review- Mystery Of Musk Part 4

***The giveaway in now closed. The Winner is tmp00***

My first thought upon smelling the bold, curvy and spicy opening of Anya's Garden Kewdra was "oh no, she didn't". But of course, she did. I should have known she would go there.

If musk is the sexiest of substances, Anya McCoy went right to the heart of it and created the Kama Sutra in a bottle. I haven't read Jitterbug Perfume, the Tom Robbins novel that inspired McCoy, so I can't add any insight into that aspect. I can only speak of the things I smell, the depths and the emotions Kewdra evokes.

The opening sweeps you away and carries you to India. There's no question about it- the spices and colors are all there, and even I, who hasn't been to India yet can hear the music, the jingling of jewelry on henna-painted hands and feel the hot air and silk. Red, orange, hot pink and saffron, a blend of Garam Masala that didn't come from the spice rack in Whole Foods,exotic flowers worn in one's hair and woven into long chains hanging everywhere. And the heat... you can't escape the heat that rises from bodies and from the earth itself and mixes all those scents and sensations into a thick substance that goes right to your head.

(Did the little red Ganesh statue my sister brought me from India just wink at me?)

And that was just the beginning.

When things calm down a little you're left with a sweet musk. The vanilla, angelica and patchouli stand out to me most, but it's the honeyed feel of the skin at night  that is so haunting and tempting in Kewdra. It's incredibly daring and sexual and not just because after the first hour you must be almost at skin level to smell it (and it lasts and last for hours, all through the night if I apply it before bed). It's the extremely animalic scent of the beeswax and ambrette seed that takes residence on the body. I never want it to stop.

One very lucky reader is going to win the fabulous bottle you see in this picture. It contains half an ounce (15ml) of the magical Kewdra from Anya's Garden (the rest of us can buy it in the regular bottles and sample vials from Anya's website. It's already available for sale). To enter the giveaway please leave a comment and tell us:

1. Have you been following the Mystery Of Musk project across the blogs?
2. Which perfumes and/or perfumers have captured your interest the most?
3. What musky perfumes have you been using so far (commercial, natural, niche, mainstream, etc.)?

Photo at the top from the 1996 movie Kama Sutra, featuring the young Naveen Andrews.
Photo of Kewdra bottle by Anya McCoy

Anya's Garden- MoonDance and StarFlower

Natural perfumer Anya McCoy is a Miami, Florida resident, and it might be just my imagination, but I see her perfumes as wild and lush as the Florida of my dreams (I admit that all but one of my visits down there had something to do with the Mouse and his world). Her two newest creations, Moondance and StarFlower take this idea to new heights.

MoonDance is pairs tuberose and violet in a way that seems to me both utterly new and oddly familiar. It feels like a place I knew long ago but can't quite remember, and it makes me think of the house where I lived when I was about six or seven, playing in dark green yards that were full of promise and mystery. Rich floral perfumes can be a hit or miss for me, and MoonDance is most definitely a hit.




StarFlower would make you forget everything you thought about botanical perfumes. A floral gourmand sounds like a really bad idea-

A candy for seduction, sweet almond and lemon cherry radiate over tempting tuberose - who can resist? The deep and delicious drydown of chocolate, maple, nutmeg and vanilla

It could have been crazy and cloying, but instead Anya's promise is fully kept. The almond-cherry in the opening is fully there when I approach the sample, but is fully transformed on skin to a tuberose praline. If you're familiar with creative artisan chocolatiers such as Max Brenner, Bespoke Chocolates or MarieBelle, you could easily imagine a tuberose truffle. It would smell like StarFlower.

Both MoonDance and Starflower are strong and long lasting. They are deeply satisfying and come fully alive on skin.

Bottom line: Love. Want. Need.


MoonDance and StarFlower are available as a parfum extrait ($75 and $60, respectively for 3.5 ml) and an EDP ($125 and $100 for 15 ml). You can also order a sample set (highly recommended). The samples I tested were sent to me for review by Anya.

Art by Brandi Milne.

A Walk Through Anya's Garden

Natural perfumes (when done right) have a raw, three-dimensional quality that makes them come alive on the wearer's skin. At their worst, natural perfumes are nothing but a crudely mixed essential oils you can buy at your local Whole Foods. But we're not talking about those. Anya McCoy, the perfumer behind the Anya's Garden brand knows what she's doing and has definitely got it right.

None of the five perfumes in the current line (two more, Starflower and Moondance, are about to be released soon) smells anything like what passes for perfumes at your typical department store. They don't smell freshly showered or clean laundry-like and you won't found a cotton candy accord to save your life. Instead, you are confronted by a bracing opening that leads the way to the scents' unfolding which reveals their true character, of which Anya's Garden perfumes have plenty.

Fairchild smells sweet out of the vial. On skin, you discover immediately that this is a larger-than-life lush floral with multiple personalities. Just when you think you've got it figured out and it's a salty citrus scent, you realize you've seen nothing yet: Congratulations, it's a chypre.

Temple is spicy cinnamon that turns into a mellow wood with a hint of medicinal smelling oud. It's the one scent in the range that feels less personal and more aromatherapeutic. I'd like to have my house smells of this. I have a feeling one can retain sanity through Temple.

Kaffir is a perfect example of Anya's artistry. It starts like the creamiest kaffir lime Thai curry (not to be confused with the Indian version), as true to life as I can tell from buying kaffir leaves at the supermarket. But it's not a light lime-like cologne, as you soon discover. Instead, the drydown is a leather scent, as elegant as they come. It's gorgeous.

Rivercali starts fresh. Probably too fresh for my taste. But the aggressive green florals fade away into a creamy vanilla-musk-sandalwood base that's as easy to wear as it sounds. Rivercali is probably the most modern in the bunch and can serve as a good introduction to the genre.

Pan is a dirty, dirty musk. If you like the more famous beasts in this category: MKK, Ferme Tes Yeux and CB Musk you need to smell this one. And probably own it. It will drive away unwanted guests, the evil eye and the occasional small animal. Anya Lists billy goat hair in the base notes and I fully believe her.

The samples I received are of the EDP concentration. I dabbed them, which is probably not the best way to assess sillage and longevity (unlike the case of a pure perfume), but still got a decent couple of hours wear even with the tiny amount I used each time. The packaging is adorable. True to Anya's sensibilities, the box has flower seeds embedded in it, which you're supposes to plant under a 1/2" layer of soil. I'm going to try it with mine, now that the weather has improved.

Anya's Garden perfumes ($95 for 15 ml of EDP, $60-75 for 3.5 ml of extrait, $30 for a collection of five samples) are available from the website under the same name (you can also read Anya's blog here). I received the samples as freebies for review.

Art: Garden Bulbs by Marcia Baldwin