Re: Herbs and making perfumes

[Guest guest]

Can I gather aromatic plants I like and do the enfleurage thing with like lemon

balm, sassafras root, apple bloosoms, Rue, Wormwood etc. 

Then once it is a pomade then use the pure grain alcohol to extract out the

scent? 

Thank you

Willow

Hi Willow -

I talked a bit about enfleurage in my blog back in September here: 

http://bellyflowers.blogspot.com/2011/09/tinctures-and-enfleurages-from-honey-to\

..html

You need something that will continue to give off scent after it's been picked

so that the scent goes into the fat. It's also important not to have too much

moisture on your material.  Don't leave flowers in the fat for more than a day

or two because they go bad quickly. 

Good luck and have fun experimenting.

Elise

[Guest guest]

> I know that many people prefer steam distilled or cold processed herbal

essential oils.

>

> I get this I really do. I don't have the equipment to do that though or the

money to purchase such.

>

Hi Willow.....

I must admit....I don't get this, I really don't....What is a cold

processed herbal essential oil.....? Think we have a terminology gap

here, or......?

Is there something recently new in the field of the essences.....?

--

W. Bourbonais

L'Hermite Aromatique

A.J.P. (GIA)

[Guest guest]

Hi Willow.....

I must admit....I don't get this, I really don't....What is a cold

processed herbal essential oil.....? Think we have a terminology gap

here, or......?

************

 

If I am not mistaken, I believe she meant cold-pressed, for the citrus oils and

such.

 

 

In response to Willow's question:

 

" Can I gather aromatic plants I like and do the enfleurage thing with like lemon

balm, sassafras root, apple bloosoms, Rue, Wormwood etc.

Then once it is a pomade then use the pure grain alcohol to extract out the

scent? "

 

**********************

 

You certainly can gather plants and extract their scent through enfleurage or

tincturing.  I would suggest doing some research in the archived messages when

you have specific plants in mind, or check reference books, as some plants will

extract better with tincturing directly into the 190 proof alcohol and some will

yield better results with enfleurage. 

 

Be aware that many times you are going to have to " recharge: your tinctures,

putting new plant material in the same alcohol or fat several times in order to

get a really strong scent so that it will stand out in your perfumes.

 

With the tinctures and alcohol extracts of your pommades, you are largely

limiting yourself to alcohol-based perfumes.  The alcohol won't mix in to most

carrier oils for oil-based or solid perfumes.

 

While I enjoy both enfleurage and tincturing, I will say that sometimes you may

be spending more on these two processes than buying the essential oil or

absolute from a supplier.  When you add up the costs for the plant material

(unless you have it growing locally), the fat or alcohol, and the time you put

in to them, it can be pricey.  Usually I see tinctures being used as complements

to essential oils or absoluted mixed in a perfume, not the only source of

scents.

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Willow

As Elise said, only flowers that fills the air with their scent are good

candidates for enfleurage, or flowers that keep their scent for at least 24

hours. I agree with that enfleurage and tincturing is a complementary

source of aromatics, unless there isn't an alternative extraction available of

the particular plant. As I am sure you know different forms of extraction will

also give you different scent dimensions of the same aromatic.

A while back I made a post on the basics of enfleurage. I am often asked how

long before you replace the flowers; for most flowers 24 hours. Jasmine and Noem

Noem can be left for 48 hours.

http://africanaromatics.com/wordpress/enfleurage-101/enfleurage-101/

Sophia