Immortal Perfumes

Howdy friends. I've decided to get off this platform. You can find me on Substack, YouTube, and Blue Sky - all under Immortal Perfumes. The best way to stay in touch is my newsletter on my website. Excited to keep connecting with you all

✨Crafting Queen of the Night is a labor of love—and a touch of obsession. Thank you all for your incredible support and enthusiasm for this darkly decadent creation. 🌙🖤 I’m thrilled to share that more bottles will be ready to enchant you in March.

But wait—there’s a whisper of mystery in the air... 🕯️ Stay tuned tomorrow for a big announcement that’s sure to steal your breath away. (No, it’s not a ghost. Probably.)

To be a queen, one must live by the mirror. The Countess de Castiglione knew the power of her reflection—each glance a masterpiece. Channel her allure with Queen of the Night. ✨

Yesterday was a dream. Mandy Aftel, Goddess of Perfume, Collector of Scent Knowledge, has a museum in Berkeley called the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents. I learned to make perfumes from Mandy's book, Essence and Alchemy (which I checked out from the SF public library more than a decade ago). To get to meet was surreal! She was very generous with her time (as was her family! Both her husband and son Devon were on hand to enthusiastically help). The museum houses so many antiques - books, raw materials, tools - my little historical heart was full. I will put together a video soon but for now, here are some snapshots from my morning at the museum. If you are in the Bay Area, this is a must see!

I want to start sharing more of my antique bottles with you! This is a bottle from the late 1890s by an American perfume house called Lazell's.

Lazell's began as a wholesale druggist company in 1839. After changing names several times (Haskell & Bull, Lazell, Marsh, and Gardiner), Lazell's began perfume production in the mid 1850s. In 1891, the perfume division was incorporated and became known as Lazell's Perfumes.

And they were popular! In newspaper advertisements of the time they were included alongside Lubin and Guerlain as America's answer to French perfumery.

This bottle ended up in my hands by way of an estate sale. A woman was clearing out her grandmother's effects and had this mint-condition bottle of Lazell's Concentrated Essence in scent: Coronaria Crabapple Blossoms. Lazell's created almost 70 scents over its years of business and this one came out between 1894 and 1899.

Lazell's had a full line of cosmetics and utilized art nouveau illustration to great effect in their advertising. Ultimately, the company went bankrupt in 1935. Their gorgeous bottles, compacts, and scent cards can still be found at estate sales. Happy antiquing!

Somehow Immortal Perfumes is 12 years old, a pr***en. Thank you so much for your support through the years; without you, I would be hyperventilating in a corner as my high school students ran amok. Thankfully for the sake of the youth and my sanity, I only hyperventilate now when a perfume goes viral, and trust me, that is far more welcome!

To thank you for your patronage, take $12 off full size bottles of perfume through July 12 with code 12YRS. The code is good on my website or on my Etsy shop.

THANK YOU, I APPRECIATE YOU SO MUCH! If I haven’t told you before, I have a strange (creepy?) habit of silently thanking each person as I see their order. So though you can’t hear it, I send my thanks to the universe every day.

Hey everyone, the perfume community has been fundraising for families in Gaza and doing great work. To support the fundraising efforts of my friend , I decided to support as well. I specifically wanted to donate to a family facing cancer and was able to find one through the efforts of . I don't think that we should have to share people's personal details to acknowledge their humanity...but if it helps raise awareness, here's a story.

I am a privileged white lady in Seattle in a stable marriage and I have good, albeit expensive health coverage. In March 2020, Seattle was the first US city to shut down because of COVID. We were literally not allowed to leave our houses unless you were an essential worker. Seattle stayed on lockdown for months. Remember there were no vaccines and we didn't even really know at the time how COVID worked.

I felt a lump in my breast towards the end of March 2020. I was anxious about it, but more anxious about leaving my house and getting exposed to a deadly virus. Other than ERs, doctor's offices stayed closed until the end of May 2020.

As soon as offices reopened, I got checked and was unlucky enough to be positive for stage 2 cancer. I had two affected lymph nodes. If it had been 4, I would have automatically been Stage 3. If I had waited even a few more months, that is what would have happened.

Because I happened to get diagnosed right when you could go to the doctor again, their schedules were clear and I started chemo 2 weeks to the day of diagnosis. I would be in chemo for 20 weeks (16 rounds), then 6 weeks after completing treatment, at my weakest, I had a bilateral mastectomy and 13 lymph nodes were removed (for good measure, just 2 affected). One month after that I had to go for radiation DAILY for 7 weeks.

Continued in comments...

Pt. 2 of my unsolicited Met Gala perfume pairings. Jeff gets gossip night because I just think he's there for the tea.

Pt. 1 No one asked me but here are my Met Gala outfit plus perfume pairings. There were some great looks but overall felt a bit 🥱

For any fans of old Hollywood history, bookmark this thread by the Cultural Tutor. It's delightful.

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Upcoming events at Immortal Perfumes (links in stories)

Mother's Day: Bubbles, Chocolate, and Perfume! All are welcome 🤗

Summer Solstice Scents: Sniff all things celestial!

Bastille Day: Vintage Smells Club Schiaparelli. This one sold out fast but get on the wait-list and if there's enough interest I'll expand it.

See you soon!

I did it, I made it to 39! Take 39% off orders over $20 TODAY ONLY and follow my stories because Jen's Perfect Birthday will be a Taurean journey of bougie delights. Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey. One more year and I get to say CURED 😎

Oh and the code works on immortalperfumes.com and on Etsy!