Introducing Shy Saliana

What's Shy Saliana all about, you ask?

 Christian Meyn http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Simply put, this is really all about is curiosity. When I first started making solid perfumes in 2012, it was purely for myself, to see if I could and to see if I'd enjoy it. I could and I did, and I was quickly gripped by an obsession. Even so, I never imagined perfume-making would become such a huge part of my life. Yet it has. Maybe, just maybe, the most important part of my life (don't tell my cat). In 2013, it was important enough to me that I opened Common Brimstone. More than that, it was exciting enough to me to open a shop and offer my creations to the world. That was a big step. I'm not a natural self-promoter and the idea of saying, "hey, I think this thing I made is worth your money," is still a really alien idea to me.

How does that lead us here, you ask? Curiosity again. I'd answered some question for myself: Yes, I can make perfume; yes, I can do it well; and yes, other people like them. The next question was simple - what else can I do? How can I push this - and myself - further?

And the answer was simple too: try more. I'd shied away from perfumer's alcohol when I first started as a hobbyist, because it seemed so...professional. Something experts worked with. And something that, honestly, was a step away from the natural-as-possible ethos that is part of Common Brimstone. But it was also pretty damn tantalising. New possibilities appear on the horizon! New questions are raised. How different are the results? What materials can I use that I can't now? A prime example, green tea absolute is the consistency of old chewing gum and about as pleasant to work with. It's also insoluble in carrier oils like sweet almond oil, which means it's pretty much useless for my Common Brimstone projects.

But with perfumer's alcohol and di-propylene glycol?* Different story! Suddenly I've got a whole new range of materials to play with. And that is just an irresistible lure.

So this is my journey. I don't like to think of it as "the next level" in my perfuming endeavours, because frankly I think Common Brimstone is already a pretty huge accomplishment, and nothing is going to dwarf my pride in it. So this is more a journey to a parallel place. The goals are the same: beautiful, unique, handcrafted perfumes inspired by the things I'm passionate about. The methods are different, but I hope you'll enjoy it all just the same. So stick with me - I'll share plenty more about Shy Saliana and where it's going soon.

In the mean time, you can track my (rather slow) progress on social media - Twitter, Facebook, and on the blog, and you can visit the (currently empty) Shy Saliana shop.

*I'll explain later!