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 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!
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:
- 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."
- Delving into the world of natural fragrance and what I've learned
about it so far. "What is steam distilled, CO2, and Absolutes??"
- 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...)
