Perfuming With Natural Isolates

An incredible book if you want to learn to use isolates. She has recipes that are amazing. Highly recommended!

great book

I had the honor of previewing most of the content of this book prior to its publication through the online Natural Perfume Academy, as Shelley's Natural Isolates course was/is one of the course units at the academy. The book, however, takes the coursework a step further and includes a few tidbits not included in class in which I participated. I would recommend this book to anyone studying or working in Natural Botanical Perfumery, regardless of whether or not the choice is made to include natural isolates in your perfume formulation.

Being an natural perfumer, a lot of the information I wanted from a book, just isn't there. It also does not have a very large list of natural isolates with descriptions. As a perfumer, when I buy a book, I want to know how each isolate blends with other essences and isolates and this information is flimsy at best.

The book is informative and contains fun and creative blending exercises. I am currently enrolled in her course on isolates which is furthering my knowledge. Shelley is a delight to study under.

The author gives us a lively and companionable tour into the bewildering world of perfume isolates. Waddington offer bite-sized bits of history, lore, tips and recipes so that we never feel too overwhelmed to follow along. Beautiful images are included to expand our understanding...all in all, I consider this a book to be a 'must' on every perfumer's shelf.

Pros: The book had a low amount of consolidated information on a small number of the available natural isolates. That may be worth the book to some people. It is worth something that the author has a reputation as a talented perfumer, and that she is not selling the materials she is writing about. There are a number of little jewels that saved me from being totally resentful of the money I spent. Cons: This paperback book was low on information overall, especially for the hefty price. Most of what is in this book can be found on the internet. It left me frustrated and well-short of what I was looking for. Despite the subtitle, this book was far from complete.

The book is small, but gives you an entry into the world of natural isolates. No it doesn’t cover all the isolates but the ones that she does are very thorough. She gives you many blending suggestions (I never would have thought of combining raspberry NI with ambrettolide or labdanum. It opens up many avenues for exploration. It also tells you the length of the smell on the mouillette, maximum level of use in a blend, odour type, intensity etc. In a world of perfumery where secrecy seems to reign it gives you at least some direction. Some basic perfume recipes are also included.