Beginning to study perfumery has always been a dream of mine.
I grew up in the countryside where you can smell the flowers in the air during the spring and summer. Life had its clock: the one of Nature. It was a simple but fulfilling life. I was a child then and I can only acknowledge that now when I’m looking back. 
Of course, that part of my life and education never abandoned me. I have tried to grow plants, flowers, harvest berries, and wild fruits when it was possible. Botany was and is one of my hobbies.

I did not consider other kinds of perfumery than the natural one. 
With time, studies in philosophy and aesthetics, visual design, and communication I did acquire a taste for perfumes. Not only to use them as an accessory but as a statement or comfort smell. My inquisitive nature and curiosity brought me to want to know more about perfumery, about what was behind a fragrance. I learned, studied, experimented, eventually began making scented candles and soaps for my friends then later for a couple of shops. Here, playing with waxes and essences, I rediscovered the nature of the essential oils, the healing power of plants, resins, and flowers: all things I was thought by my grandmother and mother when I was younger. I did not consider other kinds of perfumery than the natural one. Of course, I am curious, and I tried different aroma chemicals. I wanted to know them, how they smell, what they do, how they behave. But there was nothing like the “living “essence of the plant, the energy still vibrating through the raw material, evolving, changing: no still life photography but a kaleidoscope of power and vibrancy.
 
Studying natural perfumery has given me the possibility to dwell deeper, to discover new notions, to recognize my mistakes and learn from them, learn from others, which have experience and knowledge. 
 
Today, when I smell an essential oil, I do not smell only the aroma, but I can see them live it is bearing, the power of thousands of plants and flowers. I am aware that to know few raw materials is not enough. The studies never end, there is always something new to learn or to share. Be able to extract my own raw material is a rare value. I can get to know the material before extraction by planting, by taking care, by harvesting. Maybe what is more important: I do not only take from Nature, but I give back planting again, giving flowers for the insects, seeds from the plants for the animals…. I do replicate a circle of life and I help sustain it. It may be not much, but it is still something. I like to think that out there are other people which do the same thing. In the end from small thing may come a big change.

Natural raw material for me is like a living creature: it must be conquered, tamed, but never broken or forced. It is a living, shape-shifting being that evolves in every instant of its life. Like a flower, it opens and delivers its beauty. Working with a material I have cared for as a plant, watched it grow and flourish, harvested by my own, transformed into something new (a tincture, an extract) its indescribable feeling. It is not just an essence, but it is much more: in every drop of it, you can see its life force awaken again and again. The tiny drop of home-brewed raw material brings a new level of complexity and originality. Maybe in this case the creation of perfume begins even earlier, when the plant grows from a seed or when the bud opens to a fragrant flower, I imagine how to capture its fragrance to incorporate it in perfume. 
 
There are an incalculable power and satisfaction in being able to work with a raw material extracted by myself. Its strength and its splendor acquire a more personal connotation because it not only contains the essence of a plant or a flower but also a part of my life, of my commitment, of my efforts. The return to the true art of natural perfumery lies precisely in returning to its roots, to relearn how to extract raw materials with traditional methods to enrich the spectrum of the perfumer with dyes, pomades, extracts, etc. These techniques are well suited to productions in small quantities allowing us to create something new and unusual.
 
Using the plants collected in the woods, in the fields, or cultivated in our gardens or terraces the simple processes of these techniques are well suited to be used to extract small amounts of unique fragrance matter. At the same time, this procedure also becomes the way of getting to know the material better. We accompany it from seed with care to maturity when it can reward us with its very essence.
 
Together we will rediscover these techniques and experiment with their applications to our art by taking from nature what it can offer us and at the same time giving back contributing to an almost inexhaustible life cycle.
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April 29 is International Bee Day. Let's add colors to bee’s lives in replanting flowers and plants they like.  If you don’t have a garden, add some plants or flowers on your balcony and a small cup of water for bees.

Why International Bee Day ?
Since April 29 - 2013, the European Commission decided to enforce its wide ban on widely used insecticides linked to serious harm in bees. The landmark suspension was a victory for millions of environment campaigners concerned about dramatic declines in bees who were backed by experts at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Since this day, every year on April 29, we are celebrating International Bee Day to develop awareness about the importance to protect bee work.
  
Protect Honeybees
Latest reports were telling that agricultural plays an important role in the development of the health of honeybees. It was found out that the overall health of honeybees is greatly influenced by production in agriculture.
Many of our native plants require pollination to spread their seeds from plant to plant, and we depend on bees for agricultural production.
They also provide a way to reconnect with nature. By keeping bees in our garden and farms, it's a way for us to engage with our natural environment.
 
Everyone should contribute to the survival of bees
Bees are important not only for their production of honey but also for the survival of our natural foods. Bees and other pollinators are part of our important eco-system allowing us to enjoy fruits and vegetables. 
Since regulators and politicians can play an important role in forbidding pesticides and promoting natural pest controls, then everyone has an important role to play in the protection of bees and pollinators.

The lack of fragrant flower fields on Earth is becoming a real problem for the bees.
Replanting flowers on the planet will also support the bee’s work.
The Perfume Industry should take a huge responsibility in the current decline of bees. Perfume used to be made from flowers and there were thousands of flower fields all over the planet giving work to millions of people. Since the chemical industry took over the cosmetic industry, flower fields have been replaced by synthetics and brands are giving consumers the image of flowers instead of real flowers.
 
Bees have a very powerful sense of smell, 100 times more powerful than a human’s.
Honeybees use their antennae to detect odor. According to research by the National Institutes of Health, published in the "Genome Research" journal, honeybees have 170 odor receptors, or chemoreceptors, in their antennae. This is high for an insect -- fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) have 62 receptors and mosquitos (Anopheles gambiae) have 79. The honeybee’s sense of smell is so sensitive that it can detect the trace of a scent in flight. This ability equips the bee to effectively and efficiently locate pollen-rich flowers. Once the scent is detected on the antennae, the bee’s hypersensitive olfactory path processes the information, enabling the bee to determine the relevance of the scent to their search for pollen. Honeybees use their sense of smell to locate other bees and for finding food as well.
In contrast to their highly developed sense of smell, the bee’s sense of taste is somewhat basic. They use their tongues, which contain taste buds, to detect sour, bitter and sweet -- the same range of taste detection that humans use -- but since they gather lots of information from smell, enabling them to taste before the pollen touches the tongue, they’ve effectively done all of the research necessary before the sustenance reaches their mouths. Since bees provide benefits to plants by means of pollination, plants have not evolved any defense mechanisms against bees. This means that no plants produce distasteful or harmful pollen.
 
In asking for Natural Perfumes, you can help the bees
In asking for Natural Perfumes, you can help change the whole perfume industry distribution chain. Asking for Natural Perfumes is, in effect, asking the perfume industry to return to replanting flowers and plants instead of producing synthetic copies of flowers for perfumes in laboratories.
Look for Certified Natural Perfumers in our directory. 
 
Creating our own little garden could also be a beautiful gift for bees.
Gardens are healing since plants have beneficial effects on human beings. Creating our own gardens in our back yards or on our balconies will help us to reconnect with nature and make a beautiful invitation for bees and other pollinators. Bees can also be thirsty, so add a small cup of water for them. 
As strong thoughts are very powerful too, meditate for the bees and visualize them in their full happiness. 
Join us every year to celebrate International Bee Day. Send us your activities for Bee Day and we will publish them.
 
Join our Facebook Group
To learn more about the important connection with natural foods, natural perfumes, flower fields and bees join our Bee group on Facebook Friends who like International Perfume Foundation like Bees

More links
 
-Climate change is affecting the bees

-Beemapper is a new application to get an handle on how many bees your garden or field could attract

-Agricultural production improves health of honey bees urban activities relate to colony development
 
-Minding your bees
 
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