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Home [] Policies [] Shipping. Ordering Info. [] Contact Hand Blended Natural Perfume, Mixed Media, and Custom Perfume Blending All Rights Reserved: Liz Zorn Perfumes LLC, Ohio USA 2006-2007 Zz's Petals Boutique - Info and Directions
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About Liz Liz Zorn is an accomplished mixed media painter, writer, songwriter and perfumer. With biographies in both Who's Who In America and Who's Who of American Women. As a perfumer her main focus is on the creation of fine luxury artisan and natural fragrance. Her approach to perfumery is based on a collection of ideas and practices. From the traditional aspects of French composition, ancient uses of scent and blending, to a progressively modern approach to natural perfumery.
Artist Statement: I began my career as a visual artist in the 1970's, and have been making perfumes for about as long. In those days only a hand full of individuals had any knowledge of perfumery, and the materials were very hard to come by. Over the years I amassed a substantial collection of natural oils and absolutes; creating perfumes for myself and others. I am a very passionate artist. and love the creative process. It is what sustains me. As a perfumer, I have a taste for the unusual. combining unlikely notes, creating new and interesting alliances between various scented materials. Challenging not only myself, but others to take a leap of faith and allow themselves to experience something new and exciting.
Reviews & Interviews
About Our Perfumes
At Liz Zorn Perfumes we specialize in natural and mostly natural (mixed media) perfumes. Our natural perfumes are created using only the finest materials. Including essential oils, absolutes, resins, balsams and natural plant extracts. We also incorporate custom tinctures, particularly when it involves materials that are not readily available to the natural perfumer. Such as fruit tinctures which aid in the creation of unique and interesting head and heart notes. We also create a mostly natural fragrance line that contains just a small percentage of modern perfumery elements. All of our perfumes are set into untreated carriers, such as certified organic grain alcohol, or for our oil perfumes, organic jojoba, and fractionated coconut. To aid in the longevity of our fragrances, we use a natural vegetable glycerine as a humectant. This holds the scent to the skin longer, allowing for a slower release of essence throughout the natural evolution of the perfume.
Through our website: Liz Zorn.Com and our Ohio Boutique, "ZZ's Petals" (see photo to left) we offer several ready to wear collections, as well as custom perfume blending.
More on the boutique - click here
Frequently Asked Questions We are finally getting around to adding a FAQ area to the website. Here are some of the biggies. More To Come.What Is Natural Perfume
Generally speaking natural perfume is a fragrance created from plant (and some animal) based materials. This definition however can change drastically depending on who you talk to. some natural perfumers are quite strict in what they consider appropriate materials and limit their palette to essential oils, and cold pressed oil carriers. They do not use anything that they consider synthesized, such as solvent extracted absolutes, and the highly synthesized ethanol (grain alcohol) that most perfumers use as a carrier.
Mainstream natural perfumers do use solvent extracted plant essences and ethanol. Preferably a non-denatured ethanol, such as the one we use which is a food grade neutral grain organic alcohol. They also use cruelty free animal materials, such as beach harvested Ambergris, Rock Hyrax Tincture and Bee Products.
Modern Natural Perfumers, (which we consider ourselves to be), use all natural materials, including the above mentioned ones as well as natural plant isolates, fractionated plant based oils., and humectants such as vegetable glycerin which helps to hold moisture (and scent) to the skin longer.
What Is Your Background In Perfumery
My interest in perfumery goes back to early childhood, but to be realistic. In my teens I met up with a few key people who created natural perfumes using essential oils, and a wide array of attars and plant based oils from India. I began to put together my own collection of oils, and make simple perfumes for my own use. Eventually I started to create scents for others, but nothing serious. I was a full time visual artist, and always kept my interest in perfumery on the back burner, so to speak. Over the years I continued to study the art of perfumery. Picking up used books here and there, and trying out the techniques mentioned in the books. So in essence I am a self taught perfumer, who has studied the craft by way of hands on experimentation, and from reading and putting into practice many of the things that I have learned. Things such as structure, composition and value. The same things that one learns when becoming a painter. There are a lot of similarities between the art of scent and the art of color. My work as a painter has greatly enhanced my work as a perfumer. After 9/11 (as was true for many) I decided to focus more attention on the things that I loved, like my perfumery. By the year 2003 I had decided to turn it into a business, and began the work to transform some of my personal scents into a ready to wear collection. I had already been creating custom scents for awhile, but wanted to reach a larger audience with my work. I also spent more time on the study of the craft, and to this day continue that study. Perfumery is so vast a field, that even a so called master perfumer would be hard pressed to master it. Where I think I stand out is in the way in which I have studied. Mainstream perfumery focuses little attention on natural perfumery, and natural perfumery techniques. I have studied natural perfumery extensively, and supplemented my study with mainstream practices. I believe in having a full grasp of ones craft. And the craft of perfumery is vast and varied. When something new happens, a new technique, a new process of essence extraction. I want to know about it. I may not apply all of these things in my work. But I surely want to know about it and have an understanding of how it all works.
Why Are Natural Perfumes So Expensive
This is an easy question to answer., and one that people ask me all the time. Natural Perfumes and perfumes created with a high degree of natural materials cost more to make.. Natural materials, particularly precious absolutes such as Rose, Jasmine, Carnation. Boronia, Orange Blossom, Osmanthus, Genet, Cassie, Jonquil, Hyacinth, Lotus, Champaca, etc... Are all very costly. Often, ten to twenty times more costly than their synthetic counterparts.
In my work I create an all natural line of perfumes that have liberal amounts of these precious oils,. I also use a high quality organic alcohol, which is quite expensive to use, compared to the cheap commercial carrier blends. It is also quite costly to stock and maintain a lab of this kind. Even with a small lab like mine, the cost of stocking it can easily run into the six figure range.
It is quite common in the mainstream for people to pay a high price for what amounts to a very cheap perfume (materials wise).. When they could just as easily purchase a finely crafted perfume made from exquisite materials. the mindset here is changing, and there are quite a few knowledgeable perfume buyers today who do have an understanding of materials, and realize that if they are going to be paying real rose oil prices for a bottle of perfume, why not buy a perfume made with real rose oil in it. Very simple really.Do You Add Dyes To Color Your Perfumes.
Interesting that this comes up. The answer is no. The reason that our perfumes are so colorful is because we use a high degree of plant oils. which retain their natural color after processing. Oils such as Hay Absolute, Tobacco, Bergamot, Boronia and Violet Leaf are green to greenish yellow. Rose, Jasmine, Lotus (pink and white) along with Champaca, are reddish orange. Most wood oils are of a neutral color, as are some citrus and herbals such as lavender and Rosemary. Balsams and resins such as Vanilla Absolute, Labdanum and Tolu are dark brown.Do Natural Perfumes Stain Fabric
They can. Any fragrance that contains natural botanical oils can cause staining. Even a clear fragrance can cause staining if a chemical reaction occurs. So it is always best to test a bit on an inside hem or cuff. Fragrance is meant to be worn on the skin, so when applying a fragrance, even one with a high degree of natural color. there should be no problems with staining, once the surface moisture has evaporated or been absorbed. For added effect, perfumes containing high levels of natural elements can also be dabbed to the tips of the hair, or inserted into a scent locket or ring, for a continued release of essence. Personally I never spray fragrance on my clothing. so I would not recommend it. It is a waste really, because the true nature of scent will not evolve on a piece of cloth the same way that it evolves on the skin. All of our perfumes are created to be worn on the skin, and therefore tested on the skin, while in the development stage.
What Do You Mean When You Say Mixed Media Perfume
Mixed media is just that. A mix of materials. With my mixed media perfumes I use a wide range of materials. Mostly natural, with a few complimentary elements from mainstream perfumery. For much of my adult life I was a mixed media artist. I still am, but not actively exhibiting at this time. My process, which is well known in the field, is one that combines acrylics, oils and found objects. For a painting I will create a textured acrylic base, that when dry is painted over with oils. For my oil paints I like to use natural pigmented paints, and like natural perfumery materials they are much more expensive than the synthetic pigments. But at the same time I am fusing elements from synthetic (acrylic) materials with natural materials. Thus the term Mixed Media.
Perfumers, (not just me) work with a mixed media palette all the time. Mine just happens to be mostly natural. and being that the terminology transfers effortlessly from the visual arts to the art of perfumery, it makes perfect sense for me to use it.
Of course, This applies only to our mixed media perfumes. Our natural perfumes are not mixed media, and the labeling on our scents is quite clear on that point.
Do You Make Custom Perfumes
The short answer is yes. I do. But less of it now that the ready to wear collections are becoming so popular. I would love to have the time to work one on one with more people, it is such a rewarding aspect of perfumery. In our boutique we offer gift certificates for custom perfume. It is a gift the men usually purchase for their girlfriends or wives. also for holidays like Mothers Day, women do this for their own mothers. I especially like working with these clients. We do not offer the gift certificates online, because I only work with people that I can see, one on one. There are just too many things that go into creating a perfume, that to do so long distance would (in my opinion) lend to a grossly inferior product. and that is not what I do. I want to know first hand that people are getting it. and that they truly love their perfume.
Do You Teach Perfumery Classes
No, I do not. I am not a teacher. Some people are better suited to teach, and others do it to supplement their income. It is not something that holds any interest for me. and if I did it, I would probably not be doing it for the right reasons. So I stick to what I do best, which is creating perfumes. I do however have plans to hold informal perfumery talks at my boutique in the near future. I would much rather sit down with a small group of interested individuals and talk casually about perfumery. Perhaps over a cup of tea or wine and h'orderves.
