perfumes, oils and brews

For a week off from my tutoring obligations, this week has been rather stressful. It’s definitely nowhere near as out of control as they used to get a year ago when I had even more trouble saying ‘no’ to people and didn’t announce my ‘ground rules’ at the beginning of the semester to clearly delineate my role, but I have still spent the last week wrestling with a number of student emails about their assignments. The more sensitive ones (students who are unhappy with the marks I awarded them) take a long time to respond to because you need to respect that they are feeling a little fragile. Then there are tedious questions that pepper my inbox, which I don’t really mind, but many of them were addressed in the lectures, which they skipped, and are now hoping to get the information through other means.

I can’t help but get frazzled with some of the emails and it throws me off my writing. I have resolved to exercise more self-control and only check my email once, at the end of the day, and get them all over and done with in one go!

On to what has been keeping me up late at night!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@helenaliu) would know that a few days ago, I said I was, “wanting to reignite an ambitious idea”. That idea was a sweet but grandiose dream I had almost nine months ago to begin something akin to a romantically quaint trading post business where I would sell all my handmade creations (jewellery, perfumes and bath and body products) under the one roof. I have always had a soft spot for perfumeries like Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, but believed everyone should have the option for all natural, eco-friendly, vegan, and affordable luxuries. It’s harder than it sounds because I have somehow always focussed on one craft at a time and find it hard to switch into ‘jewellery mode’ when I’m blending perfumes and vice versa. But when my friend Andrea reiterated that I should consider turning my latest venture, Faunfare (yet another new craft that has become a cherished obsession), into an emporium of all my handmade goods, I just didn’t think I could cast away such a dream again without giving it a good go. And now that it’s blogged, there’s no backing out! :D

My goal is to spend the next few weeks designing new blends and original recipes for perfume oils, lip balms, and possibly branch into bath salts and sugar scrubs. I have made lip balms and lotions before, particularly for a friend who stayed in hospital last year with eczema, but I followed recipes found online, such as Craftbits. Before I consider selling any of my own products, I want to take the time and to develop my own concoctions from locally-supplied, vegan ingredients, like macadamia wax instead of beeswax for instance.

The area that I’m most worried about is the packaging. That’s really unchartered waters for me and I don’t want crappy, cheap labels to be the thing that sells my lovingly handmade and blended creations short. I will strive to make sure it’s a hurdle I will conquer, and not one that becomes an impasse.  Here is one label I have designed for jewellery and perfume sample boxes: