Maybe I know why people do this: avoiding skin allergies. Sidestepping smelling utterly wrong all day. Making it harder for the dogs to find them.

But ultimately, sniffing a perfume out of the bottle doesn’t tell you what you need to know. To fully experience a perfume, you absolutely must try it on your skin. You wouldn’t dream of just buying that tuxedo or frilly pink prom dress only to hang it on the wall and look at it. You most certainly wouldn’t carry a lipstick just to open the canister and look at the color (OK, I probably know people who would, but you know what I mean.)

Sniffing a perfume out of the bottle won’t tell you the whole story about the scent. In the bottle it is contained and captive, and you know nothing of its true essence. The whiffs you take are highly abbreviated inhalations of its possibility – and sometimes, often, I’ve found, that straight-from-bottle whiff isn’t entirely accurate. Consider my own Vampire fragrance:¹ I’m compelled to warn all purchasers of my current batch that it smells exactly like acetone straight from the bottle. But after fifteen minutes on the skin, it becomes something else altogether, darker and muskier. While I’m alarmed by how my current batch really has come to resemble the stored plasma I used to see in my extremely brief try at phlebotomy ²
it’s proven safe enough, and fairly consistent in coming out like acetone and graduating into a much thicker experience. But you can’t know that until you try it on your skin.

The skin test is especially important for all-natural fragrances. The natural materials are chosen for their changeability, and since you are the final note in any fragrance, it’s a must that the wearer experiences how the scent plays out on the skin over the course of hours. It won’t have the same scent from application to wash off, and in a well constructed blend, it won’t even smell like the same perfume afterwards.

So when trying a perfume, wear it – that’s where the truth of its nature lies.

Share on Facebook

1. I still intend to reformulate it, as in prior batches years ago there was no acetone response between the cedar and the wine. [↩]
2. Definition [↩]

I’m writing a monthly column for the Rebel Perfumer. Feel free to ask me questions about natural perfumery; I’d love to include some in future columns!

Share on Facebook

I’ve been on Etsy since October of 2006.  With a memory that predates Internet time perception, under ordinary circumstances I’d likely still refer to myself as a newbie. But the way Etsy is set up, I’m a veteran there. The only thing preventing me from wearing the old-timer label is that the date on my shop opening says 2005 and not 2006. And while I admit it took a little legwork to understand the entire concept of Etsy, I pretty much got it – it was a place to sell the stuff I make myself. It was not the place to sell the weird stuff I found on thrift shop runs that I knew some other nut would want.

You know, the entire handmade thing.

This is why I cringe whenever I see someone write about Etsy saying “It’s like eBay for handmade stuff.” Etsy bears no resemblance to eBay. The only thing these sites have in common is that you can buy stuff at each of them. Beyond that, there is no more similarity between Etsy and eBay than there is between JCPenney and Etsy.

Handmade items are a niche, oft forgotten and neglected since the days of the Industrial Revolution. It’s not that we don’t still benefit daily from handmade items – most of us completely forget that while machines produce our textiles, the majority still need someone physically at a sewing machine, stitching the clothes shapes into wearable clothing. Way back in the day – back, in this case being less than 10 years ago – eBay was actually a decent place for handmade artists to sell. I was off eBay long before it priced cottage industries right off of its pages so I wasn’t around for the sad downfall, but from what I hear, it was ugly.

The people that designed Etsy weren’t old enough to legally have an eBay account when that all happened.  Sure, they all know what eBay is, but they aren’t looking at it as the shining commerce example to emulate that other businesses do – while Etsy as a company may be guilty of reinventing the wheel at times,  all that wheel rolling is a good sign that they’re not looking to eBay as an example.

They’re certainly not inviting eBay philosophy over to their site.

Where eBay’s principle is “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Etsy’s philosophy is “bring your treasures to those who would treasure them.” Etsy, when used in the correct spirit, is about finding genuinely unique items made with care that are made with care and treated as though valued.
Etsy is a place for treasure hunters, not bargain hunters.

So when exploring Etsy, here is the mindset to have in mind:

• Is this something that fits with my household, lifestyle or aesthetic?
• What can I genuinely afford?
• Who will I be supporting?
• Who do I want to support?
• Is this a skill I respect?

Etsy removes both mass marketing and a good chunk of anonymity in a transaction. It’s not about consumption. It’s definitely not about trying to get off as cheaply as possible.

It’s about treasure – by inviting buyers to put their money on exactly what they truly value.

Share on Facebook

There have been a few times when I’ve mentioned using an absolute in some perfume-based conversation, to have the listener tell me later that it was assumed I was talking about tinctures. “Like you were using Absolut vodka or something.”

Aside from my lack of enthusiasm for vodka – not to mention some complications involved with using tinctures¹ – there is my tendency to stick with essential oils and direct herbal infusions.

That said, I do still use absolutes although some are environmentally dubious and suppliers aren’t required to tell me what solvent they used to extract the scent. Absolutes aren’t classified as essential oils because of the way they’re extracted: solvent. Yes, these are really what we’re talking about when we speak of solvent-extracted essential oils. They’re not really essential oils, exactly – usually, they’re thicker, stickier, and they evaporate much more slowly. If you left a bottle of jasmine absolute open and a bottle of lemon essential oil, the lemon would disappear into the air much more quickly.² Not all of them use hexane, which I spoke about before. Some use ethanol, an alcohol solvent based in corn rather than in petroleum.

The theory behind absolute extraction is that it gets out materials that the plant otherwise might not give up – because of delicacy, possibly, since it’s used a lot with florals.

While I would certainly prefer my absolutes to be extracted with ethanol over hexane, it’s not an ideal situation and given time and adequate space I will probably replace everything with C02 extracts or resort to enfleurage.

Share on Facebook

1. there are some who argue that tincturing an herb could create chemicals with unpredictable consequences, which, while quite possible, I think after a few hundred years of such practice someone would have noticed long-term ill effects [↩]
2. Kids, don’t do this at home because it’s EXPENSIVE [↩]

I don’t know how many of you are aware, but I’m also a creative nonfiction and occult writer. If you have an interest in mystical topics or just an urge to read through some old published clips, go on over to DianaRajchel.com.

Share on Facebook

Every so often I get customers desperately seeking for a natural scent that “lasts.” While there are plenty of natural scents that do last for well over four hours, they are not the scents they are seeking.  And even then, it comes down to expectations formed from mainstream synthetic scents, and the customer not being prepared for the natural  to act differently.

Most commonly, I get requests for a “citrus scent that will last more than fifteen minutes.” If this were chemically possible, it would be interesting, but it would be like one of those creatures in a 1950s movie – the minute the scientist leaves the room it moans and begs, “Kill me!”

Synthetic citrus scents can last that long. Sadly, most that I’ve encountered tend to get cloying at standard strength, and your co-workers will hate you and stop inviting you out to lunch when you come in reeking of it every day.  What a natural citrus does is acts as the emcee: it comes out to the front of the perfume, announces the major players, and then fades to the background to let the other notes do their job. If the other notes are mainly citrus, as they are in L’Orange, it will be a short performance, so you’d best put on some lotion beneath as a backup act.

With natural perfumes, it’s not about the scent remaining the same from the moment of application to the moment of wash-off. The scent, instead, puts on a performance: the smell will change as it evaporates, becoming a different fragrance altogether by the time you’re ready to clean.

If you’re looking for a singular, strong note that will remain on your skin unchanging, you’d best go to a syntheticist. If you’re able to tolerate the short-term just to enjoy a performance, then definitely check out naturals.

Share on Facebook

A lot of people ask me if I distill my own essential oils. I think with other perfumers there’s always the hope of stumbling upon a new supplier, since though suppliers appear plentiful, resource distribution and quality is spotty so often certain suppliers will have one specialty over another. Alas, I do not. Just as I do not have the space to make soap in a safe way, I do not have the space necessary to safely and cleanly steam distill essential oils. I certainly do not have the means to squish them into submitting their oil (expression) nor do I have any solvents I’d feel comfortable separating out for that sweet, sweet scent of green. However, because the way my materials are made add up to my own earthly impact, I’ve spent a little time learning the basics. The following is a very brief overview, sourced from Wikipedia and the Illustrated Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils.

The way in which essential oils are processed is a big part of assessing their impact on the environment, their cost and even their safety. Because it’s important to have the whoe picture on the materials used, here’s an overview of each of the main processes:

Distillation
This is the most common way to process essential oil, and more common herbs stand up to this process quite well. The plant is heated over water, and then the steam condenses as essential oil. This is what I consider the second most environmentally friendly method of production, just because the heat may still be generated from a coal or petroleum source. Otherwise, however, it’s a perfect process. The byproduct, hydrosol, is water that still has the fragrance of the plant in it. While this water used to be disposed of (in the ground, most likely) there are now more bath and body makers experimenting with hydrosols for perfumes and other cosmetic ingredients.

Expression
If you happen to have an orange or other citrus fruit on hand, go grab it and try this. Select a small patch of the peel and press down on it. In a moment, a teeny droplet of liquid will appear. Congratulations, you’ve just expressed some essential oil. Expression is done on a larger level in the aromatics industry, usually with a machine that can be hand or electronically powered – it is possible for the process to be completely mechanical. The byproduct, squished plant, can be reused as compost. I consider this the most environmentally friendly form of essential oil production, though highly valid arguments can be made for distillation as the first place winner.

Solvent Extraction
There are some essential oils that just won’t part from their source without sending in a few molecules to pry them loose. Since this usually happens with flowers that would simply wilt under the pressures of extraction and heat distillation, florals are often the most expensive of essential oils and come with the highest environmental cost. The chemical most commonly used in solvent extraction is hexane, which is a petroleum based solvent. While it has a very high danger rating on the Cosmetics Safety Database, exposure to hexane is extremely minimal as a result of using hexane dissolved products. That said, it does have a significant negative environmental impact, and on its International Chemical Safety Card it does state that it is poisonous to aquatic life.

C02 Extracts – Newfangled Sciencey stuff
A new method of solvent extraction, sometimes labeled as “C02″ extract rather than as an essential oil, forces supercritical C02¹ through a plant, and then the plant is sprayed with water at high pressure. The resulting extract may be used as a fragrance compound, and has other uses including decaffeinating coffee. Since the C02 is a byproduct of other industrial processes, it is seen as advantageous to use this because of its low costs. It’s also an excellent alternative to petroleum-based hexane. There isn’t at this point much data about the long-term impact of C02 extracts; any safety information is inconclusive because the technology is so new. Perfumers do report some frustration working with C02 extracts, as the chemicals differ from essential oils and do not always smell or blend the ways their traditionally extracted counterparts would work. On the other hand, plants that did not stand up to even a solvent process did allow extraction in the C02 process, so there is actual significant gain to perfume arts as a result.

When evaluating whether to add an essential oil to my collection, I have to consider:

I’ll let you know when I’m at 100% comfort with all my decisions. That should be any century now, I’m fully confident.

So that’s how we get those scents. The way each scent is made is a considerable factor in how what we make impacts the planet, and how long we’ll be able to keep making that particular pretty scent. Someday, I hope to have a place where I can steam distill and expeller press to my heart’s content. Until then, I have to inspect the listings along with the other perfumers.

Share on Facebook

1. carbon dioxide that is liquid at a temperature where it is normally a gas [↩]