Tessa Essentials Index

Tessa Essentials Scents

Blue Moon

Every once in a blue moon, divergent scents will stumble upon each other and -against all expectations or common wisdom - fall in love.

In this case, the earthiness of Vetiver, the clean sweetness of Lavender, and the floral citrus of Bergamot met, exchanged bouquets, and co-mingled shamelessly. What emerged is a fragrance that is none of the above, but an elixir all it's own - clean, androgynous, and sexy, like a white cotton dress shirt worn over faded jeans.

Django

Django was a gypsy jazz guitarist who began playing in Parisian dance halls at 12, was spared by the Nazis during the occupation of Paris because a German kommandant liked his playing, and became a national hero when one of his compositions, "Nuages," became the unofficial anthem of occupied France. He married often, spent his money as fast as he made it, and created a mixture of gypsy and swing music that still echoes across Paris's cafe-jazz nightlife.

Like Django the musician, Django the scent is charismatic and slightly unpredictable. Musk, Amber, and Vanilla lay down a strong, sweet rhythm , cinnamon, clove and pepper strum some gypsy counterpoint, while tangerine and grapefruit hum suble harmony at the edge of your senses. In Romani, Django means "I awaken."

GingerLilly

This scent is summer in a bottle. It's thin cotton dresses and bare legs, bicycles and baseball and hot days that fade into warm nights, with laughter and music drifting out into the street through open windows. It starts with Stargazer Lilly, a hot house flower swept up in the tangy jitterbug that happens when Ginger and Bergamot come together, and ends in a blissful blend of sweet and zesty with soft citrus undertones. A sure cure for the winter blues.

Green Maid

The summer garden is the feel of earth between your fingers, the background hum of bumble bees, the sweet/savory aroma of herbs warmed by the sun and carried on the barest whisper of a breeze... To capture its essence, we blend Lavender and Rosemary for a green herbaceous aroma warmed and softened by sunny Bergamot. This we dedicate to the Green Maid, spirit of herb and flower and all green growing life.

India

India is vibrant, sprawling, colorful, and mysterious. No scent could possibly capture the sounds, scents, and energy of what may be the oldest culture in the world.

So we didn't try.

What we've done instead is marry the deep, complex aroma of Jasmine with the warm woods and spice of Sandalwood, in a fragrance that is romantic, exotic, and enchanting, like India itself.

Karavan

Through shimmering heat waves and swirls of dust, the caravan slowly makes its way across the desert, laden with silk and spices from Samarkand, Persia, the Far East. Often, the soft jingling of bells and the creak of leather are the only sounds heard as the road winds into the distance and the day fades gradually into darkness. The moon is fully risen, a silver crescent in the velvet sky, when at last the the camels are unburdened for the night and the travelers gather wearily around the smoky comfort of their campfires.

Like that Caravan, our Karavan is a call to your inner sojourner. The sweet, smoky ambience of Sandalwood and Vetiver, embraced by Bergamot's green citrus, creates an exotic fragrance that lingers in the imagination long after the scent has faded.

Lavender Haze

This is not your average Lavender. This is a Lavender with a dark side and a mysterious past. This Lavender loved passionately and left its heart in San Francisco, joined the French Foreign Legion, and ran with the bulls at Pamplona. This Lavender caught a tramp steamer to India, went to a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun, wrote beat poetry in smoky cafes, and saw Jimi Hendricks at Woodstock. Really.

This is a clean, fresh Lavender enhanced and grounded by an earthy, intriguing undercurrent of Patchouli. If you're a Lavender lover, you have to try this one. Who knows where it might take you?

Midnight at the Oasis

This scent calls you to the caravanserai, a welcoming oasis where weary travelers, pilgrim and trader alike, rest their camels and wash the dust from their throats. Today, a caravan arrived bearing precious woods and spices for the markets in Cathay, filling the air with the scents of Sandalwood, Amber, and Cedar.

But now it is midnight and the caravanserai slumbers. Water from a fountain splashes softly, musically. The date trees stand silhouetted against the full moon that bathes the courtyard in silver. Someone moves through the shadows, leaving a lingering trace of Patchouli behind them. It mingles with the scent of jasmine spilling over the wall, there, in that secluded corner, away from the lamps, where two shadows meet, embrace...

Mint Moxie

This is not a scent for the timid. This scent started as the mint next door, then fell in with Rosemary and Basil, discovered boogie woogie and became the mint your mother always warned you about. It'll grab you, pull you to your feet, and take you dancing all over town, all night long.

Energizing, invigorating, revitalizing, this scent is the one you take into the shower with you the morning after the night you stayed out way past curfew. Or, it's the one you take into the shower with you before the night before the morning after... you get the idea.

Moonshadow

In the movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird," Gregory Peck plays Atticus Finch, a lawyer, a father, and an absolutely stellar human being. If you've seen the movie, you'll understand when we tell you that this is a scent that Atticus Finch could have worn.

Like Gregory Peck, this scent is a classic. Patchouli and Musk are paired, layered over woodsy middle notes of cedar and cypress, rounded out with Bergamot's fresh citrus, and completed with a touch of bay for a little zing. Like most of our scents, this one is popular across genders, but we still feel that it has a comfortable, thinking man's warmth. We named it Moonshadow because naming it Gregory Peck seemed kind of creepy.

Rose Noir

This is not your grandmother's Rose. This Rose is standing under a street lamp late at night, looking both vulnerable and tough in a man's fedora, with a pistol hidden in the pocket of her trench-coat. Or leaning against the piano in some seedy, smoky nightclub in a foreign city, singing love songs in a language you don't need to speak to understand.

This Rose is a little more complex, a little deeper and earthier than most roses. Together with Sandalwood and Patchouli, it creates a blend that is sweet and smoky, a seductive scent that lingers in empty rooms and darkened doorways, elusive, alluring, beckoning to the cabaret singer lurking in all of us.

Sandalwood

Sandalwood. Treasured for centuries. Used for religious ceremonies throughout the East, carved into temple gates and delicate hand-held fans, used as an aid in meditation, as an aphrodisiac, as medicine, incense, perfume. Buddha is believed to have been born holding a piece of sandalwood. The oil is believed to transform one's desires. Civilizations have risen, fallen, crumbled into dust, while Sandalwood endures.

Our Sandalwood is a blend of high-quality fragrance oils, natural aromatics, and Sandalwood essential oils from India, Indonesia, Australia and Africa. It's a well traveled Sandalwood with a deep, woodsy, sweet and sexy warmth and very subtle spicy undertones that will gently but steadily embrace and seduce you.

A note about Mysore Sandalwood Essential Oil: True Sandalwood essential oil develops in the roots and heartwood of the Sandal Tree. The process requires at least 15 to 20 years, and full maturity is not reached until after 60 to 80 years. Indian Sandalwood, also known as Mysore Sandalwood, has become a threatened species. In recent years, the Indian government has taken strict control over its production and harvesting. Consequently it has become rare and very expensive. We want you to know that all our oils come from ethical sources, and that the Indian Sandalwood in our blend specifically comes from Indian state sponsored auctions.

Serenity

Twilight, the sky fades gradually from a vibrant sunset into a calming blue as the heat of the day dissipates, leaving the air mild and balmy. The only sounds are the lapping of waves against the beach, the soft rustle of palms above your head. You have nowhere to go and nothing to do but listen to the quiet, feel the soft island breeze caress your skin, watch the moon rise round and full, casting its shimmer across the gentle swell of the waves. Peaceful, sensual, romantic...

This is Serenity, where Lavender, Chamomile, Bergamot, and Sandalwood, chosen for their calming qualities, are blended to create a sweet and surprisingly sophisticated perfume that delights the senses while it soothes the soul, providing a small island of tranquility in a sometimes stormy world.

Shahrzad

Tales of flying carpets, magic lamps, flashing swords, genies, sultans, merchants and poets... the legends of Aladdin, Sinbad, Ali Baba... for a thousand and one nights, Shahrzad spun her stories of Arabia, and captured the heart of a king.

Imagine that you too are in that room, listening to those stories. Her voice is melodic, hypnotic. The very room is hushed, hanging on her words. She draws you in until all you hear is her voice, all you see are the pictures she paints in the air, and all you smell is her scent, lush Jasmine infused with Orange and Lime, underlaid with the seductive warmth of Cinnamon. This is the romance and magic of Arabia. This is the scent of Shahrzad.

*This scent contains some cinnamon oil so those with sensitive skin should probably avoid it. Jasmine lovers might try India or Midnight at the Oasis instead.

Sierra

Leaving the dry chapparel, you begin to climb the low foothills. Yucca and parched grass gradually give way to open stands of fir, pine, and incense cedar. Climbing higher, you enter open forests, until finally you reach the top to stand among gnarled, centuries-old limber pines. Here, the air is clear and thin. Distant mountains loom close, in sharp relief against endless sky. You can hear the wind in the canyon and the calls of small birds. You can hear yourself breathe.

This is Sierra. Close your eyes. Let the mix of fir and spruce, juniper, cypress and oak moss send you to the forest. Let the undercurrents of ginger, rosewood and petitgrain summon ferns and wildflowers at your feet. Breathe in... Breathe out... Breathe...

Sunshine

Sunshine on your shoulders makes you happy. Sunshine in your eyes will make you cry (but then again, so will almost anything else). Sunshine is delicious. When dawn erupts with sunshine, it fills our heart with warmth, hope, and happiness. Far away there in the sunshine are your highest aspirations. Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves. Our scent is a blend of Lemon, lemongrass, and grapefruit -- sunshine in a bottle. The perfect gift. Buy two and keep one for yourself.

Voudon

New Orleans. The Blues. The Big Easy. Jazz pulsing out of the bars along Bourbon street. Mardi Gras. The French Quarter. Walled courtyards and secret gardens. Iron-lace balconies overhanging narrow avenues. Funeral processions led by brass bands.

You enter an old house on a back street, climb the narrow stairs and, at the end of a dim hallway, discover a shop filled with herbs and incense, amulets, and candles. Apothecary bottles line the shelves, filled with strange powders, potions, unguents. It smells mysterious. It smells forbidden. It smells like the New Orleans that whispers its stories to you from the shadows.

Voudon is the Creole word for Voodoo. Our Voudon is Frankincense and Myrhh overlaid with Gardenia and Lilly of the Valley, then kissed by sweet citrus with Lime and Bergamot. It's a complex scent, lush, intriguing, intensely sensual, and guaranteed to cast a spell on you.