Nov
I am still cleaning and organizing my studio - it’s one of those long, long projects and I am cringing at my own timing, since I leave for Thanksgiving celebrations with my boyfriend’s family in Iowa in two days. Still, I need to give you more than “not clean yet, no pics!” so I offer you this diy tip for your enjoyment and pyromaniac tendencies:
Sometimes it’s darned hard to figure out the real from the fake in the land of fragrance. No test, not even the much vaunted gas chromotography,((a process by which it is determined whether a substance is pure; the problem is that you might get a perfectly pure something else, and there’s no way to determine what that something else is)) is a fullproof guarantee that you have gotten what you payed for.
Still, if you’re suspicious that your “cherry vanilla essential oil” isn’t exactly essential oil, try this simple test:
Light up some instant light charcoal and drop it in a fireproof dish. Add a drop or two of the oil in question. Stand back, and sniff.
If it smells like rubber, you’ve got a synthetic.
SAFETY TIP: DO NOT just lean over the burning fragrance and inhale. Sit back a little and waft it towards you, taking light, shallow sniffs. Even with essential oils you might get a sinus full of nasty if you take too direct of an inhalation.2
Now, synthetic production is improving all the time - some don’t leave a smell/aftertaste reminiscent of a late night Indiana drag race. If you know for a fact you’ve got a synthetic and you don’t smell rubber, be gratified that you chose a darned good purveyor of artificial goods. Although I choose natural over synthetic, believing complexity more than makes up for variety, I really do appreciate the artistry behind the science of manipulationg molecules. I just prefer to do it in gentler ways.
References- photo by KungPaoCajun [↩]
- It’s a good idea to do some research on the plant you’re burning, assuming it’s real. I once found out that wormwood really is a hallucinogen - but only when the smoke is inhaled. [↩]
