ANNE'S BLOG
Over to Main Blog Page
CUSTOM BLENDING CLASS AT OJAI VALLEY RESORT & SPA OFFERS A LITTLE ART THERAPY
January 14, 2011
When visiting resorts and spas I always look for the points of distinction and here at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa - along with the location in the peaceful and lovely town of Ojai, California - it’s the Artist Cottage & Apothecary. Public relations manager Veronica Cole says the resort introduced the program to offer “spa therapy through art.” She says art is just another way to find a sense of well-being. “It’s playful,” she says, “but can also be introspective and provide an opportunity for personal learning and growth.”
One of the programs offered is a Custom Blending class led by aromatherapist and massage therapist Sherri Dawkins.
Today, there are three of us in the class: myself plus a mother and her teenage daughter visiting from Montreal. We begin by each deciding on a personal goal for the custom blend – mine is to relax, energize and elevate the moment.
As Sherrie passes around little bottles of essential oils one-by-one, we breath in the scent giving each a number from one to five – based on how much we like or don’t like it. In between, we smell coffee beans to clear the olfactory palate.
In total, we each sniff 30 different scents from Amber and Bergamot to Neroli and Sandalwood then select those we like best. From that paired down selection, a second round of sniffing helps us eliminate the scents we like least. Sherrie explains that to the basic recipe for our blend should be a combination of a base scent, a middle scent and a top scent, a perfumers technique to get the right effect and balance.
My first blend smells a little like Vicks Vapour Rub (I remember it well from my childhood days.) Thankfully, Sherrie is there to review our choices and make suggestions for helping us create a scent that is closer to what we are trying to achieve.
“Take your scent for a walk,” she tells us when the process becomes a bit overwhelming. The fresh air will give us a new perspective and help our noses decide what the creation still needs.
This is much more difficult then I thought it would be, and I have infinitely more respect and admiration for the perfumer “noses” that create those marvelous scents - Chanel No. 5, for instance - that have stood the test of time and fashion.
“A scent works at its highest level when it’s barely perceptible,” says Sherrie. With her guidance, the smell of Vicks is soon replaced by something less medicinal. With Sandalwood as the base scent, Bergamot in the middle and Rose of Damascus as the top note (and a few drops of other scents mixed in) Sherrie tells me to wear the final product with caution since – quite by accident - is has an aphrodisiac quality.
She pours it in a miniature cobalt blue perfume bottle and I christen it The Pink Moment is honour of Ojai’s famed moment during sunset when the eastern hills are cast in a reflective pink glow.
Cost for the 90-minute class is $120 per person and you walk away with a small perfume bottle filled with your custome blend. Individual recipes are kept on file at the spa allowing guests to order a refill of their custom blended scent or have it made into products such as bath salts, lotion and soaps, anytime they want. As for my own Pink Moment scent – I’m wearing it with pride and a lingering memento of this delightful artistic experience.
More on Ojai Resort
Top of Custom Blending Class at Ojai Valley Resort & Spa
