Post: #1

Hey all,

So I've had a heck of a time with New Directions Aromatics a few months back. Many of their synthetics make me sick, and their response to my complaint (when I finally was able to get a reply out of them after multiple calls and emails) was to basically blow me off as if to say I should have expected it if I was buying synthetics. Okay, got it. I've also had issues with their more natural stuff. I bought a nice big order from them maybe three or four years ago (all natural products then) and things were just fine. So I don't know if they've simply gone downhill or what. I've wasted close to $100, and I'm not really willing to go through one at a time and figure out which of their scents make me ill and which don't. I'm going to put their synthetic scents in a bag and maybe in a year or two I'll gather the resolve to throw them out. It takes a pretty good workup to throw away that much cash, and maybe I'll find some use for the junk they sold me.

Granted, I don't do well with a lot of synthetics and perfumes, but they could have handled the matter far better.

So I've been looking for other scent supplier and came across Natures Gift. So far I've ordered

Poplar Balsam 10% Dilution
Cardamom Seed (5 ml)
Benzoin Absolute (15 ml)
Nutmeg CO2 (5 ml)
Clary Sage - Bulgarian

Good stuff interesting selection and no issues so far. I really love the way that CO2 extraction preserves the complexity of many scents, as opposed to steam distillation which often produces scents with a heavier "cooked" aroma.

Not all of Natures Gift's stuff is CO2 extracted, but some is. And much of it is organic which I'm thinking will be very very important for any kind of concentrated oils. And their website seems to indicate they take a lot of care with their scents.

On the downside, their website is filled with 'sold outs' and is generally not very well laid out, with many links to dead pages and such and an overall poor design.

But they're worth checking out if you're looking for a supplier of essential oils.

The cardemom and benzoin are nice scents. Benzoin has a nice, smooth, sweet mellow and foody sort of smell. It's stickier than syrup, though. (though benzoin is a potential skin sensitizer.) Admittedly the Clary sage has been overwhelming so far, but I'm hoping it might be more useful if diluted. From what I've read, there seems to be good evidence that it could potentiate some mones.

The cardemom smells like the essence of chai tea, exactly as it should.

I'm still very much an amateur at mixing scents, but I'm learning.

Juniper seems to have been an ancient cover scent for many animalics. It has a nice, fresh, masculine feel to it and it's one of the few non-foody scents that really works well for me. So right now I'm trying to see what will blend nicely with it.