Hey Crew, Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies thinking about ambient scent. It takes so many forms and we hardly even notice loads of them because they’ve become so usual in our daily lives. The shampoo, soap, dishwashing liquid, moisturiser, deodorant, EVERYTHING has a fragrance and sometimes I feel my house is just a mess of smells.
Incense
Photo stolen Pixabay
I have a theory, that has nothing scientific to back it up, that all those smells become olfactory pollution and that they drown out the things I really want to smell. My ways to clear the air are to burn a non or very quietly scented candle, roll a piece of newspaper up tight and light it till it’s a huge smoky thing and wander through the house or burn incense. Yes, there is a ridiculous collection of incense here from all over the world. My current favourite is a beautiful one that Jin’s Mum bought for me in one of the oldest temples in South Korea, it has a soft, pure, sweet woods and resins scent that seems to cut through everything else and completely take over. When the scent leaves though it’s as if the air is cleared, the bad energy gone and those olfactory pollutions have flown out the window.
Tonight I’m burning a Sandalwood one that my mate Clayton from What Men Should Smell Like blog bought me at the Indian Sandalwood plantations, it’s a beautiful scent but also a happy memory of him.
Photo Stolen Flickr
LuckyScent has some beautiful incense packs at the moment, beautifully presented and so luxe
Do you use incense? Which ones? Maybe you have a cleansing ritual in your home to clear the air?
What are your favourite Incense scents? I love the CdG Incense series, especially Avignon, the original brown GUCCI Pour Homme and Serge Lutens Chergui also wears very incense for me.
Portia xx
I just wore a bit of avignon yesterday – i had forgotten how calming it cqn be. My fave from the series used to be kyoto..
My absolute favorite candle is Astier de Villatte’s Delhi candle which has beautiful incensey notes. I got it on sale ( it is expensive!!) so i’m not looking forward to it getting over.
I salvaged a great Danish Modern desk my former boss had discarded. As soon as it came into my house I smudged sage all around it to remove any trace of negative energy. I love incense and would burn it often if my husband were not so sensitive to it. Thanks to Modern Fumie for that Science Daily link!
Interesting Elizabeth,
I will use the sage idea for all second hand purchases from now on.
Thanks,
Portia xx
Howdy, Portia — great post! I love incense scents in general; for my house, I have been enjoying the Papier d’Armenie line of incense papers in booklet form, especially the scent by Francis Kurkdjian. His own line of incense papers are lovely, too, but somewhat more $$$. Also got some lovely incense cones from a perfume buddy for the holidays and they are so nice!
Hey Ann,
YAY! I love those incense cones too, so much less mess and fuss.
I think it is Papier d’Armenie papers that I have somewhere. I need to find them
Portia x
Though y’all might be interested in this link from science daily: Burning incense has (positive!) psychoactive properties. 🙂
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520110415.htm
Thanks That link is very interesting.
Totally cool. I like it when science catches up with me.
Portia xx
I cook often but hate the smell of food in the house, so I regularly burn incense and candles. I like variety, but my go-to favorite is a rather inexpensive one called “India Temple Incense”, which is very strong and leaves a nice lingering scent in the home for a day or so. I’m also a fan of “Fred Soll’s Resin on a Stick”. He hand dips every stick and adds various dry ingredients to the resin. They are all natural, fairly priced and he ships everywhere. You can see them here: http://www.fredsoll.com/
PS: Fred Soll’s Nag Champa with Amber & Vanilla and the Sweet Frankencense Incense are my favorites.
Just had a look. thanks for the tip Diana.
When I am cashed up I will definitely go splurge there.
Portia xx
Incense is so deliciously calming. The Japanese ones are nice I think, also the Arabian bakhoors…my most recent is full of agarwood.
WOW! Was the agarwood expensive JackieB?
Portia xx
I do burn sage to clear the air but have to be very careful with incense because of my wonky sinuses. Instead I use a Lampe Berger and essential oils (rather than their premade scents). xoxoxoxoA
ps. you still there? You didn’t get pulled out of the water by that wallaby-eating snake, didja? Stay safe, darlin’.
HA HA HA! Musette, you are hilarious. When you live in Australia you are aware of the dangers from birth and try and be sensible. My Uncle and Aunty live in Queensland and when they first moved there they had to deal with all sorts of snakes. Here in urban Sydney it’s mainly the spiders that are deadly. In Pymble we had Funnel Webs, Red Backs and White Tails and became pretty proficient in keeping clear.
I like an essential oil burner too.
Portia xx
I love incense. I use them regularly to clear the accumulated energies in the house and on me. I do have a great collection but one of my favourites are the ones from Japan and India. Once I bought some “blank” incense sticks and loaded them with my favourite perfumes. When I used them right away, it kind of worked but the ones I didn’t use for a few weeks lost its scent. I might try again with perfume oils.
Aha! What a great fun idea to add frag oils, is that how they do it ThinkingMagpie? I’ve never thought about the process.
Portia xx
Yep, normally you add essential oils or fragrance oils. It’s fun to make your own (easy) custom incenses! x
Hi Portia,
I don’t have any incense but I’m positively intrigued by the incense you got from Jin’s mother. Is there any way you could find out which temple it was from? I’d love to visit it on my next trip to Korea.
l just sampled and loved Chergui, so I’ll have to think about if it resonates as incense-y on my next wear!
Hey SunMi,
Un Munsa is the name of the temple, it’s a temple complex in easy driving distance of Busan on a hill and very peaceful. We were the only visitors there on the morning we were there and it was lovely. Apparently later in the day it gets very busy.
Can’t wait to hear how Chergui incenses you
Portia xx
I haven’t burned incense since high school (graduated 14 years ago). It was usually that somewhat cheap stuff that I thought was great but was really horrible but haven’t burned it since. Now I stick to CdG Kyoto and Zagorsk and eventually will get to Avignon.
Hi there Eldarwen22,
Always lovely to see you here.
Kyoto is wonderful, mmmmmmm. I have an incense from a temple in Japan that smells nothing like the CdG but very nice anyway.
Portia xx
I love incense and have many I’ve collected over the years. Most of them are pretty standard fare, as in easy to find, mainstram brands, etc. I do like to make my own incense (the loose kind you burn on charcoal disks, burning trail) and like making ones that “clear the air”. Sometimes if I overdo it I will have a haze of smoke lingering around the ceilings for a bit and then I’m reminded of being in an opium den or a Grateful Dead concert 🙂
HA HA HA!! I have never been to a Grateful Dead concert or an Opium den TaleOfAHare but you make me want to.
Portia xx
Burning sage is a great way to clear the air and the energy of a place. However it will leave your home smelling like pot, so I always follow the sage with incense. It’s nice to light the incense with an intention to fill the fresh space with whatever qualities you want for you home, peace, love, etc. My all time favorite incense is Nag Champa, but I have several that I like. I also love incense in perfume but have yet to find my perfect one. Interesting blog post – thanks!
Hi the Kandice, thanks for the praise. Big chuffed smile here.
Nag Champa, so good. As it was the initial incense I smelled the word instantly gives me the picture of the blue & white stripes and a fuzzy smellovision of the scent.
Happy memories.
Portia xx
I have some incense papers that were sent to me in a swap – not sure what kind they are but they smell great. Incense perfumes are one of my favorite categories: Encens et Lavande, CdG Incense Series, CdG 2, Bond 9 Silver Factory, Messe di Minuit, Nicolai Vanille Tonka, Nu edp and many others!
Hey there Rosarita,
Michael and I were given some incense papers on our European travels last year but I can’;t remember where I put mine. All this moving about has muddled everything.
Love Vanille Tonka, mmmmmm
Portia xx
I love just about all incense, but currently I’ve been burning this Nag Champa and others, that I buy from some Indian, Eastern market close to me. They have the best stuff! It’s all pretty mystrious in there and as hard as I try to decipher the products, I don’t, because I just don’t stay I there too long…..it’s the kind of place where the TV set behind the register is blaring something really loud, and sounds like something that’s gonna cause the black SUV’s to pull in any minute….. Great incense and oils is NOT worth getting hauled off by the ” eff. Bee eye “. Good stuff though!
Hi there JulieL,
I LOVE those stores. We have a couple of them here in Sydney too.
Yes, I also gran oodles of stuff and then run.
Portia xx