Magickal Realism

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.

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.

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

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.

¹

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.

1. photo by KungPaoCajun [↩]
2. 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. [↩]