My Adventures into the World of Fragrance - Part Two

So as promised in part one here is a list of fragrances that can not be captured naturally (also know as, if you see these fragrances listed on package, RUN!): Lilacs, Lilies, and pretty much any non-citrus fruit, meaning your strawberry, raspberry, passion fruit, guava, papaya, maygo, peach, and blueberry bliss... are not made out of anything that resembles those delectable fruits. 

Sadly I've just realized (as I've typed this out) that some of my favorite lotions and bath products, that are sitting in my bathroom now, have those fragrances advertised on them. Which as we now know, there is no way for them to be made from of natural source. Well crap. This one comes as a bummer to both of us.

So, onto the solution to wanting to smell pretty (or if you are a guy, I guess smell good), natural fragrances! Only this time I mean real natural fragrances like essential oils, absolutes, and CO2 extracts! Okay, so essential oils sound somewhat familiar but what on earth are CO2 extracts!? And absolutes? Isn't that vodka? Well, no. So here is my next phase of what I've learned; what each of these natural methods are ...and what it means in regards to perfume.

I could put an explanation of each of these methods in my own words, but I think that would end up being a bit confusing and unnecessary. Especially unnecessary since Eden Botanicals has done such a great job explaining it all so well. So without further adieu Eden Botanicals wonderful guide to Extraction Methods:
 

Essential Oils: Distillation & Expression

Essential oils are produced in the cells of aromatic plants and are held in specialized glands. They are released from the plant and collected (concentrated) most often through steam distillation (and sometimes hydro or water distillation or a combination thereof). Distillation is a method of separating components based on differences in volatile constituents in a heated mixture. Steam distillation involves bubbling steam through the plant material. The temperature of steam is easy to control, making it ideal for heat-sensitive essential oils. The essential oils contained in plants are immiscible in water and have a higher boiling point, allowing the essential oil to vaporize at a lower temperature than it normally would on its own. Other methods used to create pure essential oils are dry or vacuum distillation, dry/destructive distillation, and expression (for citrus peels). Expression, also referred to as “cold pressed”, is a method where oil is obtained by using high mechanical pressure to literally squeeze the oil from the plant material.

 

Absolutes: Solvent Extraction

Absolutes are highly concentrated aromatic oils extracted from plants using a solvent method. The multi-step process includes first extracting the aromatic oil from the plant material with a solvent such as hexane. After the hexane is removed what is left behind is a waxy substance called a concrete. The aromatic oils are then extracted from the concrete with ethyl alcohol, and after the ethyl alcohol is removed, the remaining substance is an absolute – an oil with an aroma close to the plant from which it came. An absolute is the most concentrated form of fragrance and highly regarded in natural perfumery.
Absolutes differ from essential oils in that they contain not only essential oil, but also a higher density of coloring, waxes and other constituents from the plant. In addition, they usually contain a small percentage of alcohol remaining from the second phase of the extraction process (typically up to 2 or 3 percent).

CO2 Extracts: Solvent Extraction

CO2 extracts display some of the characteristics of both essential oils and absolutes. Like essential oils, they contain many beneficial therapeutic properties. But unlike absolutes, they are not solvent extracted. Instead of using a solvent like hexane, they are extracted using CO2 (carbon dioxide) gas under pressure at ambient temperature. Under normal atmospheric conditions CO2 is a gas, but when highly compressed it becomes supercritical – neither a gas nor a liquid. Supercritical CO2 is an excellent organic solvent that can be used to extract aromatic oils from plants. The beauty of CO2 extraction is that once the oil is extracted from the plant material, the CO2 returns to its gaseous state by lowering its pressure, allowing the gas to quickly and completely dissipate.

Depending on the pressure used, a “select” or “total” extract will result. Select extracts are created at lower pressures, and are more similar to essential oils in that they are usually fully mobile liquids, and essential oil constituents make up the vast majority of the extract. Total extracts are created using higher pressures and contain more constituents of the plant, can be thicker or waxier, and more closely resemble the constituents of the whole plant rather than just the essential oil fraction of the plant.
Because of the purity of CO2 extracts and since they display some very favorable characteristics not found in essential oils, CO2 extracts are primarily used by the food, body care, and herbal industries, yet CO2 extracts are also excellent for aromatherapy and natural perfumery. This extraction technique (more accurately called supercritical CO2 extraction) is a relatively new and expensive technology that is more efficient in some ways than steam distillation, because the process has the ability to capture a broader spectrum of the plant components, giving a fragrance more true to the original plant material without the use of chemical solvents. Other benefits are that the extraction process happens at lower temperatures than steam distillation and that carbon dioxide is nontoxic, odorless, and is easily removed from the extracted oil at the end of the process.

Back to me, I highly recommend checking out their page, and reading further about their own organic extracts, resins, and other plants oils. 


And thus ends Part Two. 

Look for Part Three in the coming days!
Sneak Peek:

• Links to awesome blogs and websites that offer great step by step methods on making perfume!
• Talking a bit about the extracts and their fragrances that are available!  

Just a note, I don't know if you can tell yet or not, but when I take an interest in something, I tend to go a little full bore into it. I'm hoping to be able to keep learning and sharing about all of this fun stuff, but right now it looks like there will be a hiatus after Part Three. 
Mostly because I will need to save a bit more before I can purchase the supplies needed to make these fun little beauties! As I mentioned, Part Three will link you over to some great blogs and websites that walk through the perfume making process perfectly and simply. So maybe, you will be able to get a head start on me!

My Adventure into the World Fragrance - Part One

As the title of this post hints at, this is about my journey in understanding perfumery. I'm not really sure where to start, but I will try the beginning because that is generally the best place to start.

My first real experience with perfumes/fragrances was at Bath and Body Works. This was a couple of years ago and somewhat later in life compared to the average girl, since my mom has always had sensitivity to chemicals, synthetic perfumes, and the likes, which left me using toiletries labeled "fragrance free" most of my life. Anyway,  I went into the store, and browsing through all the beautifully packaged and named fragrances made me exited! I bought a few of the travel sized mists knowing that the only time I would get to wear them would be out of the house with my then boyfriend.

Fast forward a bit to this last month, I had been wearing some of the lighter scents somewhat regularly, once or twice every two weeks or so (don't laugh! As far as perfumes go, still living at home, that was regularly for me!). I noticed that I would experience headaches after I wore the mists, which, since I have chronic migraines meant one thing, the perfume had to go!

So, remember I told you my mom has had chemical sensitivity all through my growing up? Well that means I have been a bit more aware of those aspects of health for most of my life, and yes, it was out of wanting to smell like pretty things, that I ignored most of what I already knew were likely to be bad things for my body.

Cue giving synthetics the axe, and looking for naturals that wouldn't break the bank. First place I thought I had found was a brand called "Pacifica". Pacifica says that their fragrances are made with "...Pacifica's signature perfume blends with essential and natural oils.". Right off the bat I noticed the word "with" having somewhat of an "eye" for BS, that struck me right away, but really wanting this to work I read further into the website for reassurance and found just that, with comforting words like, "...And, they [the perfumes] are free of phthalates, nitro-musks, benzene, and other things you don't want.".

Well I'm sad to say that is a bit of a lie, you see I  don't want synthetic fragrance, and I know many people out there believe Pacifica to be a natural fragrance line with words floating around like "with essential and natural oils" and "free off... other things you don't want." it makes it sound like you are getting the real deal! But sadly that just isn't the truth...

Brooke Harvey Taylor the co-founder of Pacifica did an interview with Kimberly Jordan Allen at Eco-Chick 
where she clearly states " For Pacifica, I never claim that we are 100% natural.". The interview as a whole sounded a bit to me as though she wanted to make it sound like she had the moral high ground in choosing to use synthetics (also know as chemicals!) in her fragrances, which irks me greatly, as synthetic fragrances have been linked to major health issues, and as someone with allergies, allergies which often times can trigger debilitating migraines that can last for days... Ugh! I find the marketing techniques Pacifica employs to be reprehensible at the least, and unethical at worst. 

But, this isn't a post to put down Pacifica (I do think the charity they are involved in is wonderful). But rather, try to shine a bit of a light on what seems to be a murky area of the cosmetics industry and hopefully offer a alternative.

Oh boy... Looking around a bit further I stumbled on an article that featured LAVANILA Laboratories perfumes, well I got excited, once again. This company makes the claim "100% Healthy", well I wasn't fooled by that, but was intrigued to look further. What I found was free and loose claims that are just flat out false. "100% Free of Harsh Chemicals: Our products are free from harsh chemicals that can dry, damage and irritate the skin. NO: Parabens, Petrochemicals, Phthalates, Propylene Glycol, Mineral Oils, Silicone, Synthetic Dyes, Synthetic Fragrances, Chemical Sunscreens, Sulfates or Aluminum." 

Umm, no synthetic fragrances? That is just a lie. A look into the ingredients list yields the term "Botanical fragrance blend". That's quite vague, so over to their ingredients glossary I went and it states "Botanical fragrance blend (100% natural) - LAVANILA’s own blend of pure essential oils, nature identical oils, and botanically derived aromas." 

 First up "pure  essential oils", that one gets a pass, there is any hidden meaning to it ((most of the time)and I'll be covering what that means in a natural context in the next post). 

 Second  "nature identical oils" which basically means the oil has the same build up as essential oil (which are made of raw plant materials) but, was made by man in a lab. So not necessarily harmful, but certainly not natural by most peoples standards.

And the Third one which is a real dousy... "botanically derived aromas", or as many other companies call it "naturally derived aromas". This one is that big fat lie, you know, the one about them not having synthetic fragrances. You see every chemical on this earth could be considered "naturally (or botanically if you prefer) derived" because man is incapable of making something out of nothing. So if you aren't using nothing, you are left with the only option of using a material that came from the earth. The point is, everything came from nature at one point, and man has a knack for processing nature into some pretty nasty stuff (that doesn't end up even remotely resembling nature), so naturally derived means absolutely nothing, it's just jargon.

I really didn't want to put this into part two (and was hesitant to include it here), because I'd like this to be positive (which is why I'm not touching on the fact that LAVANILA lists "Natural Aroma" in their baby products! Eeep!), but I don't think companies should get away with essentially lying to their customers, it just isn't right.





Part Two of the journey to come shortly...
Sneak preview:

1. Fragrances that just can't be captured naturally. "Which means if a perfume claims to be "natural" and lists that as a fragrance note, it ain't natural."
2. Delving into the world of natural fragrance and what I've learned about it so far. "What is steam distilled, CO2, and Absolutes??"
3. And some links so super-cool blogs run by super-cool people about making you own perfume! "Woo! The fun part!!" (Note, this one may end up being part three...)

The Truth about Lipstick

Photo by ShutterStock Footage

I have stopped using lipstick. Sounds harsh right? Well, it wasn't an easy decision and it wasn't sudden either. It was very gradual. I picked up a Burt's Bee's Lip Shimmer in Raisin a couple of years ago tried it liked it fairly well and kind of forgot about it. Well time went on and I started noticing that when I used Wet 'n' Wild lipstick my lips would be dry and cracked the following day... it didn't really seem like a big deal to me at the time, so I started using what in my mind was "nicer" brands such as Maybelline, CoverGirl, Revlon etc...

 The dryness wasn't as bad with these brands but is was still there. So then life started picking up a bit more and makeup took a bit of a backseat and I wasn't using lipstick hardly at all mostly Sundays for church(which meant it wore off right after I got home and had breakfast... so it was on my lips maybe two hours tops). Well when things started settling down I started doing full face makeup again and the dryness was there again but not as bad as WnW days so no big, or so I thought.

As it turns out one day I was talking with my Mom(who is a retired RN) about how I was noting that my jaw would kind of feel "locked up" every now and again and how I was wondering if maybe it could be from the faces I made while applying lipstick and mascara(you know what I mean ...like the picture above)? She thought that unlikely but was concerned about the makeup I was using, as she said that the"locked up" feeling in my jaw was a sign of allergic reaction and that it was quite serious in that the reaction was so close to my airways that if the allergy was to worsen my throat could close! Eeep! That had me pretty freaked out.

So you would think I threw away all my makeup right then and there right? If you thought No Way! you were right. I didn't throw out my lipsticks, and I didn't use them either(and during that time of not using them I stopped having any jaw issues). They just sat there teasing me with all their pretty colors. And that's how it stayed for awhile, until the season switched and I swapped handbags and found that old Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer that I mentioned above. I was ecstatic! I tried it out again, and while it was a little old( I didn't what to go out and buy a new one just to find out it would give me the same trouble as my current lipsticks) it worked just fine. Better than fine even. Since it is formulated with their chapstick there wasn't even any drying issues, let alone what I came to find out was that allergic reaction.

I'm still not sure what it was in those lipsticks that bothered me, but I do know one thing, our bodies are too precious to harm with these harsh chemicals! Even though it can be cheaper and easier to go that route it just isn't worth it.




I recently started looking into what they are putting into cosmetics and found a few interesting articles I'd like to share:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/lipstick-ingredients-020410

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/lipstick-ingredients-what-is-lipstick-made-of.html

http://allnaturalcosmetics.com/article/3

And then there is this neat site that has all cosmetics listed by the amount of harmful ingredients and by how much the companys are unwilling to disclose(which leads one to think they are trying to hide things from us, the consumer).

Go Blue!

 Today is the day of the Michigan . Michigan State game. Truth be told I don't really care that much about football (more of a basketball gal) but I try my very best to muster up some spirit for this game. I myself am a Michigan fan. In the past I was a State fan but my allegiances can be fickle at times, and I ended up back with my boys in blue and maize. Anyway, here is my attempt at showing team spirit:

 I apologize for the crummy cell pics. :( I couldn't find my camera.

Parrot Inspired Eyes

Eyeshadow Colors that will Make Your Eyes Stand Out

Artists have long been using this guy, the color wheel. The color wheel is quite possibly the single best inspiration one could find. It is a great reference for which colors will compliment each other, or what color will bring out what you want to play up.

Today I am going to focus on bringing out the color of the eye.

Let's start with Brown.
Since brown has a base color in the orange color family the color that would bring out the eye the most would be blue since it is on the opposite side. If blue eyeshadow scares you a bit then what the heck are you doing here? Kidding! A nice alternative that would still bring out the richness of a brown eye would be a navy eyeliner.

Blue  is best complimented with bronze, light peach shades or warm brown tones. A copper eyeliner alone can make a pop! Lighter blues look cool and put together in warm taupe shades.

Green eyes are best paired with purples as pink and red eyeshadows (the opposite colors on the color chart) can makes eyes look tired or sickly. A purple mascara can be a fun punch of color to enhance green eyes.

Gray eyes can lean towards blue or green and so the colors mentioned above will look great with gray eyes as well.Cool browns and charcoal colors are also great for gray eyes.

Green eyeshadows bring out Hazel eyes. Gold is a sure way to make these multi-toned beauties pop!





The above colors are sure bets in a extremely broad selection of colors. Sometimes it can get overwhelming and you just want to know what color is going to make you look fresh and vibrant. I do however  recommend trying lots of different colors you never know what one might just be your favorite!

The above images have digitally altered in order to show different iris colors. The make up is all real and applied by me.