What A Workshop!!

I had such a great time Saturday!

The Natural Botanical Perfumery workshop was a blast and EXACTLY what I needed to chase away the previous week's woes. I really enjoyed meeting Justine Crane from The Scented Djinn. She put on a really informative class on creating your own scents with natural botanicals and oils. I can't believe how much we learned in such a short time.

Justine locating one of her ingredients

The class was limited to 6 students due to the sheer amount of information that Justine has to share and her desire to offer as much one-on-one with the participants as possible. Rebecca (the other lady in the class) and I really reaped the rewards of the other students failing to show up that morning. We had Justine and her vast knowledge all to ourselves! (Too bad for the other participants, they really missed out on quite an experience.)

The Intermountain Nursery was such a perfect location for the class. We were under a covered porch/potting shed type setting behind their gift shop that had benches and tables. There were grapes and other plants all over the place with hummingbirds flitting in and about - they were probably getting whiffs of the (mostly) wonderful scents we were being introduced to. We all kept mentioning the fact that the weather was unbelievable for the end of August. We had a lovely breeze the entire day and I never did get too warm (which is amazing for me because I am usually boiling this time of year.)

It was a very relaxed environment as we started off just all talking and visiting. We then segued into the meat of the class as we shared why we had signed up for the class and what we were hoping to learn. Justine's daughter Hannah was there and was a real kick. She's got a great eye for photography as well - click here to see some of her photos from the day (loved the kitty).

It was such a perfect atmosphere for learning - very relaxed and low-key. Justine guided us through evaluating scents and making our own notes. Mine were such as "Valerian reeks like stinky feet" and "Pink grapefruit is yummy and sweet". (I really didn't intend that to rhyme, but what can I say. Do take my advice though and don't put your nose close to a bottle of valerian oil - it stinks just like the plant and my husband's work boots. But this is an example of what we learned; even thought it is AWFUL by itself, when blended with another botanical, it can be the most beautiful scent you could imagine.)

Rebecca & Justine doing an evaluation

We chatted and soaked up information while Justine had us create our own scent. It was really fun to note that while Rebecca and I used many of the same ingredients in our own little recipes, the scents smelled nothing alike. Both of our creations smelled great, we were thrilled with our first efforts! The real kicker came when Justine evaluated our scents and told us what thought or first impression they invoked. I started laughing when she said mine was "Purple". Purple and lavender are my absolute favorite colors in the world and my scent creation brought that to her mind! The hubby really enjoyed that. He makes fun of my purple obsession all of the time, he says now I can smell like it too.. I think I'll name it "Amethyst A'Mour".

Be sure to check out Justine's sites: Oh True Apothecary and The Scented Djinn for some great information and to find out about her next classes - they're not to be missed!