Guest guest Posted March 6, 2006 Report Share Posted March 6, 2006 Another question: If you are making cologne, ie mixing alcohol and water, what is the ratio, and what would one use to keep it all in suspension? Looking forward to your thoughts. Thanks. HI Theresa, I am afraid I don't have an answer to the first part of your question (refractive index, etc.), but I may be able to help with colognes. First, the ratio can be anywhere from 70% alcohol/30% water to 80% alcohol/20% water (remember that your alcohol may be as much as 10% water already). Second, any time you dilute your alcohol with water, you face the possibility that some of the water-insoluble molecules in the essential oils will not remain in solution. When that happens, the mixture will become cloudy. At lower temperatures, the problem increases. This is why it is normal practice to first freeze and then filter your blends after they have aged. This is pretty easy to do: put the bottle in the freezer for at least 24 hours. Then, pour the liquid through fine filter paper (possibly with charcoal or diatomaceous earth in the filter paper funnel). The resulting liquid will be crystal clear and will remain so even if the liquid is later cooled. Steve Earl Glen Custom Perfumery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 aradisis <aradia@...> wrote: Hello wise perfumers. I have a question about top, middle and base notes. Can a person determine which category an essential oil falls into just by looking at the specs such as flash point, specific gravity, and refractive index? And what exactly is a refractive index? I think this would be good to know for oils you haven't directly smelled as far as deciding to purchase one new oil versus another. Dear , Specifications such as specific gravity and refractive index are quality control tests that measure the purity of your essential oils. They are like the " fingerprint " of an essential oil. These specs are very important to ensure that the materials you bought comply with the standards and are not adulterated. In case of natural product, you don't want it adulterated with synthetic chemicals. Each essential oil has its own specific gravity value and refractive index value. There is no range in the values classifying the top, middle and bottom notes. Flash point determines whether the oils is hazardous or non-hazardous. This is very important in shipment. Shipping hazardous materials for flash point lower than 140 degrees F has regulatory implications. Although, some companies use this as part of their specs. You will not be able to determine whether the oil is top, middle and base note just by looking at the specs. Although top notes are mainly citrus which has very low flash points, there are some non-citrus top notes with high flash point like the spicy top notes. Hope this helps. phine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2006 Report Share Posted March 7, 2006 ________________________________ From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of josephine lam Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 5:02 PM Subject: Re: determining notes Dear , Specifications such as specific gravity and refractive index are quality control tests that measure the purity of your essential oils. They are like the " fingerprint " of an essential oil. These specs are very important to ensure that the materials you bought comply with the standards and are not adulterated. In case of natural product, you don't want it adulterated with synthetic chemicals. Each essential oil has its own specific gravity value and refractive index value. There is no range in the values classifying the top, middle and bottom notes. Flash point determines whether the oils is hazardous or non-hazardous. This is very important in shipment. Shipping hazardous materials for flash point lower than 140 degrees F has regulatory implications. Although, some companies use this as part of their specs. You will not be able to determine whether the oil is top, middle and base note just by looking at the specs. Although top notes are mainly citrus which has very low flash points, there are some non-citrus top notes with high flash point like the spicy top notes. Hope this helps. phine Hi phine, If I might add to clarify just a bit for . Specific gravity has nothing to do with quality or purity and is only a comparison of the weight of a particular essential oil to the weight of water. Refractive index is how much light bends when shining through and again compares to water or glass (standard refractive index). Flash point is the temperature at which an oil is flammable, and yes it does apply to shipping regulations, as well as storage standards. All of this is on a msds (manufacturer's safety data sheet) which should not be confused with a msgc analysis. None of these tests measure purity. Only a msgc can do this, which compares the 'fingerprint' or map of chemical constituents for a known oil to the one being tested. , do a google search for perfume notes, odor classification, 3-note scale, and other phrases that will lead you to websites with simple perfume information. You will find that not everyone agrees; there will be differences of opinion. Whether an odor falls into one or more categories of intensity (evaporation rate-which is simplified in the 3-note scale)is pretty standard, although I am not sure it is free information on the web. In addition to odor intensity, you will want to become familiar with odor classification - floral, fruity, woody, spicy, etc. Most perfumers here have developed their own monographs from experience and perfumery training. As an instance, when examining an oil and making its monograph, here are some of the things I include: plant source/Latin binomial (leaves/green branches of Pelargonium graveolens), geographical source (Reunion, Algeria, Morocco), production technique (steam distillation), appearance (pale yellow to pale green, mobile liquid), storage (no special precautions other than stable room temp. pref. below 67 degrees), chief constituents (Geraniol, Geranyl formate, citronellal, most important constituents for perfumery included in this oil), IFRA or FDA (no restrictions), stability (stable), applications (in rose or other florals, augmenting floral power and depth, list of SB products in which included). In the case of geranium, it is a #4 in odor strength (5-very high, 4-high, 3-moderate, 2-low), with the top note being vegetative, base note rose/minty/green and including dates of periodic odor analysis over drydown period (5 days rose/herbaceous). Others here perhaps add other information. Hope this helps. Be Well, Marcia Elston http://www.wingedseed.com " Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. " Hausa Saying from Nigeria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 8, 2006 Report Share Posted March 8, 2006 (excess quoting snipped) Marcia Elston <samara@...> wrote: ________________________________ , do a google search for perfume notes, odor classification, 3-note scale, and other phrases that will lead you to websites with simple perfume information. You will find that not everyone agrees; there will be differences of opinion. Whether an odor falls into one or more categories of intensity (evaporation rate-which is simplified in the 3-note scale)is pretty standard, although I am not sure it is free information on the web. In addition to odor intensity, you will want to become familiar with odor classification - floral, fruity, woody, spicy, etc. Most perfumers here have developed their own monographs from experience and perfumery training. As an instance, when examining an oil and making its monograph, here are some of the things I include: plant source/Latin binomial (leaves/green branches of Pelargonium graveolens), geographical source (Reunion, Algeria, Morocco), production technique (steam distillation), appearance (pale yellow to pale green, mobile liquid), storage (no special precautions other than stable room temp. pref. below 67 degrees), chief constituents (Geraniol, Geranyl formate, citronellal, most important constituents for perfumery included in this oil), IFRA or FDA (no restrictions), stability (stable), applications (in rose or other florals, augmenting floral power and depth, list of SB products in which included). In the case of geranium, it is a #4 in odor strength (5-very high, 4-high, 3-moderate, 2-low), with the top note being vegetative, base note rose/minty/green and including dates of periodic odor analysis over drydown period (5 days rose/herbaceous). Others here perhaps add other information. Hope this helps. Be Well, Marcia Elston http://www.wingedseed.com " Give thanks for a little and you will find a lot. " Hausa Saying from Nigeria Dear Marcia, Thank you for the clarification. I agree that gc charts are the " exact " fingerprint of an essential. I have a few questions, Should you always request for a gc chart for every essential oil delivery? Would olfactory evaluation, sp. gravity and refractive index values be enough to determine that the sample you got has the same quality (and not adulterated) as your standard? Hopefully this becomes a material buying guideline of sorts. josephine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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