Minyama Musk
Scented Letter Series & experimental Art Project: ‘ON HOLIDAY ‘
DESTINATION: MINYAMA, Sunshine Coast, Australia.
HOLIDAY DATE: December 2019
SMELL NAME: Minyama Musk
Inspiration: literal - Australian Musk Lollies (Candy) from my childhood
Inspiration: actual - Spending Christmas with my husband’s family back home in the country where I was born and grew up.
Contents of scented letter: Minyama Musk
Transcript of letter with entertaining links:
Nostalgia by the bucketloads.
Treasured baked goods.
Pink plastic fantastic glittery Poopsicorn poop.
Trip to the local shops with the smallest to get an ice cream.
Grandma kisses and Mum’s pink frosted lipstick.
Jet lagged hunting musk lollies and whisky
First priority. Feet in the sand.
Almost too hot!
I have to walk fast.
Smooth, light powdery squeakiness with each step.
Dustin’s Parents took us to the beach for an early morning swim. Before it gets too hot!
26°41'02.0"S 153°07'57.0"E
Morning Tea on fancy plates.
Buttery crumbly floaty home baked shortbreads alongside garden frangipani.
Nan’s popped by for a cuppa.
Dustin, “I know the smell exactly, but I don’t know how to describe it.
Soft, flowery… kinda sweet smelling?”
Christmas! Playing Aunty and Uncle.
Learning how to toilet this modern pink plastic princess.
MINYAMA MUSK: the perfume
Type: Powdery Sweet Gourmand
Cotton candy floss Chanel number five without the soap. Australian Musk lolly inspired scent.
Notes:
TOP: Japanese Hinoki Wood EO (Fresh, breezy, musk candy, Sherbet Fizzy)
MID: Aldehyde C-16 (Powdered crystallised sugar/ hard candy, Childhood: strawberry eraser) + Geranyl acetate (Musky Rosy) + Milk lactone (creamy, artificially flavoured strawberry milk memories)+ Heliotropin (soft, powder puff, warm & fuzzy, cuddly)
BASE: Orris tincture resinoid (Light chocolate sponge cake with mock cream)+ Rhodinol 70 + Isobutavan (Rose Milk tea I had in a Japanese tea house in Sydney once) Methyl anthranilate (happy grapey fruity american candy) + Ethyl vanillin (creamy pastel sweet gourmand) + Indonesian Dark Patchouli EO (syrup sweet,free loving friends, intimacy) + Tonquitone (licked fingers, grandmas’s cheek, family pets)
MUSIC:
Spotify Playlist: MINYAMA MUSK_Donna Lipowitz
(Perfume blending music)
1984 Madonna’s ‘Holiday’ on the radio in the little arcade across from Kelvin Grove Primary School, Brisbane.
Stopping in at Mrs K’s using my emergency phone money to buy a 40cent lolly bag. Walking home extra slow, savouring the musk sticks till last.
Watching ‘Happy Days’ on the TV when I get home.
UPDATES & FEEDBACK
Hello friends!
If you have received one of my physical letters, I welcome any feedback!
If it’s practical, write me a physical letter back!
This is an experimental art project, meant to entertain and inspire.
My aim is to get you thinking about your scent memory. Can you remember what your last holiday smelt like?
If anyone would like to receive one of these letters, email me your postal address.
*mailing is from a USPS post box in Los Angeles, USA. Allow time. I will try to send the letters to anywhere in the world.
Stay safe, be smart. Make Art.
Cheers,
Donna
OF FURTHER INTEREST:
Minyama name research:
Minyama: Meaning many or plentiful.
The name is also believed to be an Aboriginal word meaning wildflowers. (Paraphrased)... however this may not be correct (see next part of research)
“Originally named as a town by Queensland Place Names Board 1 September 1967 (QGG 1 July 1967, p.1040). Suburb named and bounded by Governor in Council 8 July 1989. Reportedly an Aboriginal word, suggested by Alfred Grant Pty Ltd., developers, taken from Justine Kenyon. The Aboriginal word book. Melbourne, 1930 (1960 reprint), p.13. There is no evidence that the word has any association with languages spoken in south east Queensland. Named and bounded by the Minister for Natural Resources and Water and Minister Assisting the Premier in North Queensland, 26 October 2007. Regazetted by the Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy and Minister for Trade on the 19 November 2010 due to the council amalgamations under the Local Government Reform Implementation Act 2007. Re-gazetted on the 10 January 2014 due to council de-amalgamations under the Local Government (De-amalgamation Implementation) Regulation 2013.”