Gaia’s Garden Herbals offers unique, hand-crafted, all-natural perfumes inspired by places, dreams, and visions, as well as a limited (and seasonal) selection of face/body creams and facial serums, body butters, massage oils, salves, and pain balms. Everything is made in small batches using the best ingredients. Herbs that I don’t grow or wild-harvest, are certified organic or ethically wild-harvested and sourced from reliable suppliers. Other ingredients are obtained from reliable suppliers and are mostly organic.
I grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and my fondest childhood memories are early spring days seeking out the first wildflowers in the woods behind my home: Mayflowers (trailing arbutus); purple and white violet; painted trillium and the big red ones too; pink, white, and yellow lady slipper orchids; and wild lily of the valley (maianthemum canadense). I loved the musky fragrance of the spring damp earth, the softness of deep green mosses under my bare feet, and the comfort of being surrounded by tall white pine trees.
When my mother gave me a small plot for my own garden, I had a hard time weeding. Those little unwanted plants intrigued me. Little did I know that those weeds – like purslane, chickweed, plantain, lamb’s quarters, and cleavers would one day be welcome herbs in my yard – and even in the garden!
I started learning about and using herbs in my 20s, first in teas, then salves and tinctures. I read, took classes and workshops, gardened when I had the space, and generally increased my knowledge through practice and experience. I also took an extensive home study course offered by Rosemary Gladstar.
When I moved to Fryeburg, Maine about 35 years ago (with views of the mountains of my childhood from my backyard), I started a large garden – for veggies, certainly, but my main goal was to grow as many of the herbs I use for healing and cooking as possible. This was when I started making creams and salves in greater variety for friends and family, and eventually I got very good at it. I started Gaia’s Garden Herbals in 2010, and for a few years sold locally in health food stores and gift shops. After moving the NY in 2018, leaving my garden behind, I transitioned to selling through Etsy.
About my perfumes
My perfume making journey started about 15 years ago. I was already using essential oils for their skin loving qualities and beautiful scents in my creams and serums. As my collection of essential oils grew, so did my curiosity about perfume. I loved the heavy base note fragrances that don’t find their way in skin care: oakmoss, cedarmoss, labdanum, ambers, dark, aged patchouli, beautiful sultry attars. . .
Very few natural perfumes were available in the early 2000s, and I felt they had very little subtlety or nuance, like a bunch of oils dumped together, screaming at each other. And they didn’t smell like “real” perfume to me at all. Could I possibly create actual perfume that I would love, and that people would want to buy and wear? Then I had a dream that was sensuous, dark, erotic. I was in an open market, (much like one I experienced in Athens) when, in the way of dreams, I found myself in a small room that reminded me of a Parisian opium den. The space was close, the air slightly smoky, reddish, and dense. I could smell the odors of sex and roses and narcotic florals, and mosses and musk and woods. It was intoxicatingly beautiful and almost unbearably erotic. My whole body absorbed it, vibrated with it, and exuded it like all the others in the room with me – sweat, sex, heady perfume, smoke . . . I touched and was touched, dancing and loving and just feeling with every cell of my body. And when I woke up, still drunk with the experience, I knew that I had to create a perfume of that dream. It was the first perfume I made, called Dreamscape, and I still make it today.
What you smell when you first open a bottle or uncork a tiny vial, will be different than the scent on your skin. Natural perfumes shift and change during what is called the “drydown” as the more volatile ingredients (citrus, herbs, some flowers) reveal themselves first. Then the middle or “heart” notes appear, supported by the heavier base notes that last the longest. The heart, to me, is the story of the perfume; it’s the reason the perfume exists. The base supports it with fragrance, yes, and also with longevity. The top – the lighter notes – are the intro. I tend to play with the boundaries, adding top notes to the heart and/or base, or the other way around. There are no hard and fast rules, just guidelines.
I make both oil-based and alcohol-based (EDP) perfumes. EDPs are diffusive and tend to last longer. Oil-based wear closer to the skin, almost more for you than anyone else – until they get close. They also tend to fade quicker (though most of mine last several hours, changing over time). Each perfume formula is different. Fractionated coconut oil (FCO) is the base oil I use in my oil-based perfumes. It’s clear, odorless, and does not go rancid. It also mixes with all the other ingredients I use including alcohol tinctures so there is no separation. Jojoba is another option, but it has a distinct color and even fragrance I can detect. And though it has an excellent shelf life, it’s not as long as FCO.
Most of the EDPs I sell are between 30% and 50% extrait (pure ingredients), the rest alcohol. The oil-based, with a couple of exceptions, are mostly pure extrait.
I only use ingredients from trusted suppliers, many of whom I’ve know for years. These include pure essential oils, absolutes, thick, luscious resinoids, infused oils (fractionated coconut oil), and my own alcohol tinctures made from resins, roots, herbs, flowers, tree needles and bark, even dried honey comb from my son’s bee hives. I’m constantly experimenting, curious about how this or that will give its scent to the alcohol.
I’m aware that my perfumes are not cheap, and that spending upwards of $15 for 1 ml of fragrance, or $65 and up for 5 ml is a lot. However, the ingredients I use are not only the highest quality, as previously mentioned, I also seek out suppliers who have personal relationships with the harvesters (of resins like Frankincense and Myrrh and woods like Sandalwood), sourcing these rare ingredients from traditional peoples who still harvest the way they always have. Thus supporting the community as well as ensuring the sustainability of the resins/woods. In the case of sandalwood, and Mysore in particular, which is a favorite of mine, I only trust 3 suppliers, each of whom I have known for years. I’ve been fortunate to purchase Mysore distilled from bead waste. In addition, I know many of the distillers of the essential oils I purchase. These artisanal distillations cost more than from a mass manufacturer, but their quality is beyond compare, and I like supporting people I know, who are artists.
Which brings me to another issue I often face – and that you, a purchaser of natural perfumes, need to be aware of. Every time I reorder more of an ingredient, I take a chance that it might have a slightly different scent profile from the one I just used. There are several reasons for this. Sometimes a supplier is out and I need to find it elsewhere. Sometimes it may be from a different batch than the previous bottle even from the same supplier. Sometimes a species of tree or resin is no longer available. This happens especially with small distillers. So I find a substitute as close as possible. Thus a bottle of perfume you purchase today, may smell a bit different than the same perfume, made from the same formula, that you purchase a year from now.
Age makes a huge difference in perfume. In most cases (up to a point), age is a perfume’s best friend. I have several perfumes that age very, very well. So if there’s one you find you love, consider purchasing an extra bottle and setting it aside for a few months or even a year or two. You will be amazed!
Please note: I do not accept returns due to the nature of my products. I won’t be able to sell a returned item, even if you don’t use it. If you have any problems with your order, please contact me immediately and I will do everything possible to make it right.
Please feel free to contact me with questions, or if you’re interested in a special order, and I’ll do my best to help.
I grew up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and my fondest childhood memories are early spring days seeking out the first wildflowers in the woods behind my home: Mayflowers (trailing arbutus); purple and white violet; painted trillium and the big red ones too; pink, white, and yellow lady slipper orchids; and wild lily of the valley (maianthemum canadense). I loved the musky fragrance of the spring damp earth, the softness of deep green mosses under my bare feet, and the comfort of being surrounded by tall white pine trees.
When my mother gave me a small plot for my own garden, I had a hard time weeding. Those little unwanted plants intrigued me. Little did I know that those weeds – like purslane, chickweed, plantain, lamb’s quarters, and cleavers would one day be welcome herbs in my yard – and even in the garden!
I started learning about and using herbs in my 20s, first in teas, then salves and tinctures. I read, took classes and workshops, gardened when I had the space, and generally increased my knowledge through practice and experience. I also took an extensive home study course offered by Rosemary Gladstar.
When I moved to Fryeburg, Maine about 35 years ago (with views of the mountains of my childhood from my backyard), I started a large garden – for veggies, certainly, but my main goal was to grow as many of the herbs I use for healing and cooking as possible. This was when I started making creams and salves in greater variety for friends and family, and eventually I got very good at it. I started Gaia’s Garden Herbals in 2010, and for a few years sold locally in health food stores and gift shops. After moving the NY in 2018, leaving my garden behind, I transitioned to selling through Etsy.
About my perfumes
My perfume making journey started about 15 years ago. I was already using essential oils for their skin loving qualities and beautiful scents in my creams and serums. As my collection of essential oils grew, so did my curiosity about perfume. I loved the heavy base note fragrances that don’t find their way in skin care: oakmoss, cedarmoss, labdanum, ambers, dark, aged patchouli, beautiful sultry attars. . .
Very few natural perfumes were available in the early 2000s, and I felt they had very little subtlety or nuance, like a bunch of oils dumped together, screaming at each other. And they didn’t smell like “real” perfume to me at all. Could I possibly create actual perfume that I would love, and that people would want to buy and wear? Then I had a dream that was sensuous, dark, erotic. I was in an open market, (much like one I experienced in Athens) when, in the way of dreams, I found myself in a small room that reminded me of a Parisian opium den. The space was close, the air slightly smoky, reddish, and dense. I could smell the odors of sex and roses and narcotic florals, and mosses and musk and woods. It was intoxicatingly beautiful and almost unbearably erotic. My whole body absorbed it, vibrated with it, and exuded it like all the others in the room with me – sweat, sex, heady perfume, smoke . . . I touched and was touched, dancing and loving and just feeling with every cell of my body. And when I woke up, still drunk with the experience, I knew that I had to create a perfume of that dream. It was the first perfume I made, called Dreamscape, and I still make it today.
What you smell when you first open a bottle or uncork a tiny vial, will be different than the scent on your skin. Natural perfumes shift and change during what is called the “drydown” as the more volatile ingredients (citrus, herbs, some flowers) reveal themselves first. Then the middle or “heart” notes appear, supported by the heavier base notes that last the longest. The heart, to me, is the story of the perfume; it’s the reason the perfume exists. The base supports it with fragrance, yes, and also with longevity. The top – the lighter notes – are the intro. I tend to play with the boundaries, adding top notes to the heart and/or base, or the other way around. There are no hard and fast rules, just guidelines.
I make both oil-based and alcohol-based (EDP) perfumes. EDPs are diffusive and tend to last longer. Oil-based wear closer to the skin, almost more for you than anyone else – until they get close. They also tend to fade quicker (though most of mine last several hours, changing over time). Each perfume formula is different. Fractionated coconut oil (FCO) is the base oil I use in my oil-based perfumes. It’s clear, odorless, and does not go rancid. It also mixes with all the other ingredients I use including alcohol tinctures so there is no separation. Jojoba is another option, but it has a distinct color and even fragrance I can detect. And though it has an excellent shelf life, it’s not as long as FCO.
Most of the EDPs I sell are between 30% and 50% extrait (pure ingredients), the rest alcohol. The oil-based, with a couple of exceptions, are mostly pure extrait.
I only use ingredients from trusted suppliers, many of whom I’ve know for years. These include pure essential oils, absolutes, thick, luscious resinoids, infused oils (fractionated coconut oil), and my own alcohol tinctures made from resins, roots, herbs, flowers, tree needles and bark, even dried honey comb from my son’s bee hives. I’m constantly experimenting, curious about how this or that will give its scent to the alcohol.
I’m aware that my perfumes are not cheap, and that spending upwards of $15 for 1 ml of fragrance, or $65 and up for 5 ml is a lot. However, the ingredients I use are not only the highest quality, as previously mentioned, I also seek out suppliers who have personal relationships with the harvesters (of resins like Frankincense and Myrrh and woods like Sandalwood), sourcing these rare ingredients from traditional peoples who still harvest the way they always have. Thus supporting the community as well as ensuring the sustainability of the resins/woods. In the case of sandalwood, and Mysore in particular, which is a favorite of mine, I only trust 3 suppliers, each of whom I have known for years. I’ve been fortunate to purchase Mysore distilled from bead waste. In addition, I know many of the distillers of the essential oils I purchase. These artisanal distillations cost more than from a mass manufacturer, but their quality is beyond compare, and I like supporting people I know, who are artists.
Which brings me to another issue I often face – and that you, a purchaser of natural perfumes, need to be aware of. Every time I reorder more of an ingredient, I take a chance that it might have a slightly different scent profile from the one I just used. There are several reasons for this. Sometimes a supplier is out and I need to find it elsewhere. Sometimes it may be from a different batch than the previous bottle even from the same supplier. Sometimes a species of tree or resin is no longer available. This happens especially with small distillers. So I find a substitute as close as possible. Thus a bottle of perfume you purchase today, may smell a bit different than the same perfume, made from the same formula, that you purchase a year from now.
Age makes a huge difference in perfume. In most cases (up to a point), age is a perfume’s best friend. I have several perfumes that age very, very well. So if there’s one you find you love, consider purchasing an extra bottle and setting it aside for a few months or even a year or two. You will be amazed!
Please note: I do not accept returns due to the nature of my products. I won’t be able to sell a returned item, even if you don’t use it. If you have any problems with your order, please contact me immediately and I will do everything possible to make it right.
Please feel free to contact me with questions, or if you’re interested in a special order, and I’ll do my best to help.