Part III on Tincturing Fruits - Sticky Experiments in Natural Perfumes

If you've been following my tincture posts, you'll know I've been at it for more than a month now.  


I removed the sugar from my sticky cherry tincture using bowls, rock, sun, and, most importantly, plastic wrap.  Since the weather has been most foul recently, evaporation and condensation processes have taken a good few weeks.  But I now have about 15 ml of tinctured cherry.  Yes!


I've used a 151 proof Everclear for the tincture.  190 proof food grade alcohol is ideal (e.g., 95% alcohol) yet unattainable in California.  I've been itching to get my hands on the stronger stuff.  If all goes well during these experiments, I intend to buy organic grain or grape alcohol from a farm I'd heard great things about in Portland.  Best to experiment with the cheaper stuff first just to get proportions right, etc.  





Back to the tincture.  Since I used 151 proof, I am wary that any essential oils I add will cloud my solution, i.e., not dissolve properly.  I'm first going to add one drop of peru balsam to a tiny vial.  Peru balsam has a lovely spicy vanilla smell I think will make a good base note to compliment the cherries.   

Cherry tincture with bitter orange and peru balsam

Next I begin adding my tinctured cherries, one drop at a time.  As expected, the mixture clouds as soon as the tincture hits the balsam.  After nine drops however, things clear up (so far we have a 10% dilution).  I add a tenth drop just to keep things simple.  Shake.  Things stay clear.  Whew.  At this point, let me just say how important risk taking is in this business.  One drop can make a difference between sunshine and clouds.  You have to be prepared to lose some to win some.  Not to mention, glass vials can be both tiny and slippery.  One wrong move and you could have a jasmine scented house for the rest of the year.   Not a bad thing, but how easily it could have been oakmoss, which smells like pruney cough syrup in its unblended state.

No, those aren't fingerprints, the perfume is cloudy.

For my top note, I've chosen bitter orange, mostly because I just got a new bottle and it smells wonderful.  Citrusy, bright, more complex than sweet orange.  I add two drops.  Clouds on the horizon.  Chase it with twenty more drops of tincture.  Shake.  Cloudy still.  Add ten more drops.  Shake.  Less cloudy. 


So far we have: 1 drop peru balsam, 2 drops bitter orange, 40 drops tincture.  I'm going to wait a few days to see how things shake out, so to speak.  Hopefully this perfume's future is not clouded, but only time will tell.  Ah yes, and how do things smell at this point, you might ask?  I uncap and inhale.  


Like a walk through a field of orange groves as the first rays of sun turn the air golden.  Stay tuned!


To browse our natural perfumery, please visit Mermaid Lane Perfumes.  

Gardenia Essential Oil - reproducing the scent using natural perfumes (no synthetics)!

Notoriously expensive Gardenia 

My mother recently was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Besides skype, letters, calls, visits, I wondered what we could do to show her more support and care during this time.  I thought, I'll make her one of my natural perfumes.  


She's not a fan of perfumes for typical reasons - 99% of perfumes contain synthetics and poisonous petrols and cause at the very least, headaches and allergies.  When I explained natural perfumes have no yucky stuff, she was game.  


Mind you, pretty much every thing I've made her ilicits the same response: "Interesting."  I don't get much more than that.  Tiger Mom, hear her roar.  So I knew I was setting myself up.  But that's what daughters do for their mothers.


Mom likes flowers, fruits, nothing musky.  That latter part wasn't going to be much of a problem since the word musky for me conjures large sweaty men in hairsuits dragging in buffalo carcasses.  Flowers and fruits was not going to be a problem.  Easy.  Until she mentioned she loves Gardenia.

Frangipani, or Plumeria blossom

So I did my research, and that's when I fell off my stool, sprouting a plum on the side of my knee.  Gardenia essential oil is $6000 U.S. dollars a kilo (roughtly 33 oz).  Come again?  A baking power?
I would need to come up with something that smelled like Gardenia oil but would not cost me a vital organ.  

Jasmine Sambac, or Pikake flower

I thought of Pikake, or jasmine sambac, a small white flower used in Hawaiian leis and known for its lush sweet fragrance, not as deep as Gardenia, but it was a start.  I also had some frangipani (another tropical flower used in making leis) - also known as plumeria.  Together these might produce the floral note I was looking for.  If anyone has any ideas, let me know.   Remember, goal is to cheer Mom up, preferably without her using the word "interesting."   I will report on my progress in a week.






To browse our selection of natural perfumes, please visit Mermaid Lane Perfumes.

Part II on Tincturing Fruits - Sticky Experiments in Natural Perfumes

I’ve been tincturing five aromatics in a base of 151 proof Everclear vodka for the past two weeks: sundried apricots, cherries, and orange peel, freeze dried blueberries, and rooibos tea.  I keep them in separate airproof glass jars in a dark cupboard, taking them out to shake on a daily basis (see past post). 

Progress:

I broke the jar of apricots.  The problem started when I put on my husband’s oversized slippers at two in the morning.  The lights were dim.  I had taken Ambien.  I peered into my apricot tincture, delighted at the honey like smell that rose from the amber liquid.  And then it happened, I tripped over my slippers.   At this point, I should say, my last accident happened whilst wearing men’s socks and running down the stairs holding wrapping paper and tape.  I broke my tailbone then.  You’d think I’d have learned to stick to my own footwear.

My home experiment: cherries tinctured in Everclear 151

So where was I?  Floor tiles, glass jar full of tincture and apricots, me in men’s slippers.   The final insult was cleaning up the sticky pile of glass and apricots in now sticky men’s slippers.  Not to mention the time, expense, the. . . oh forget it.  I’m moving on.

Down to four jars.

Today I’m going to attempt to remove the sugar from one of my tinctures.  I don’t have a centrifuge.  A friend’s idea was to put the strained tincture into a bowl, then put another shallower bowl in the center.  Cover the entire thing with plastic wrap, then place a rock on the middle of the plastic wrap, so that the plastic wrap sinks in the middle from the weight.  Put the contraption in the full sun.  The sun heats the tincture which evaporates, condenses on the plastic wrap, then slides down the plastic wrap to collect in the center bowl, leaving the solute (sugar) behind in the larger bowl.

Two days later, there’s about four ml of oil in the center bowl.  I think it’s working!  On the other hands, this is sure a lot of work for a few tiny ml of tincture.

To peruse my natural perfumes and massage/body oils, please visit:  Mermaid Lane Perfumes

Tinctures - Natural Perfumes - When and why to use alcohol in your DIY homemade perfumes

Natural perfumery typically uses one of two "carriers" - the base into which you add your essential oils.  You can use a carrier oil, or an alcohol based carrier (high proof vodka, for example).    I favor Jojoba oil for its rich, skin friendly qualities.  Alcohol can be drying to the skin, not to mention flammable to work with.  Yet, alcohol based perfumes do have their draws.  For one, you can use an atomizer to dispense a given amount of perfume over a wider area, and for two, alcohol based perfumes "lift" the smell of a given blend.   Oil based perfumes sink deeper and stay longer.  The same blend of essential oils, when mixed into an alcohol versus an oil carrier, transform into something more fleeting and airy.

Not all essential oils or absolutes will blend nicely into an alcohol based carrier depending on the proof  and the particular essence you are trying to dissolve.  Higher proof alcohol has less water in it.   Water doesn't blend with oil so you run the risk of clouding your perfume.  Everclear apparently has a 190 proof alcohol, but this isn't available in California so we must settle for their less potent 151 proof version.  It's about $16.99 for a bottle.

Why tincture?  Tincturing (steeping an aromatic in the alcohol) before adding the essential oils helps to "flavor" the carrier in a deeper and more lasting way than simply adding an essential oil and shaking.  Typically "top" notes like citruses can transform into base notes by extracting the oil through tincturing.  I don't know how the magic works.  However, the longer you let your tincture sit (shaking it every day to remix), the more intense the tincture becomes.  You can also strain your tinctured matter through a coffee filter and retincture by adding more of whatever you're tincturing, resulting in a more concentrated base.  Another important reason to tincture is that certain aromatics aren't easy to extract essential oils from (apples, for example).  To knock the scents out of them, so to speak, you would need to tincture.

I decided to try: freeze dried blueberries (no need to dry them yourself, obviously), rooibos tea leaves, dried cherries, dried apricots, and orange peel which I sundried myself.  I also ordered some dried jasmine blossoms but haven't received them yet.

I took glass jars and filled them with my aromatics, then covered the aromatics with my 151 Everclear.  Shook.  I put them in a dark cupboard, taking them out daily for a shaking.  Seven days have passed.

I opened up the bottles.  All of them are pretty strong on the scent of alcohol.  I dabbed some on my wrist.  After the alcohol evaporated (10 seconds), what remained was a lovely whisper of the aromatic.  They need more time, so I recapped.

One thing I should mention - the fruit tinctures leave a sticky residue.  You could eventually dilute the tincture in order to reduce the stickiness, but of course that would reduce the intensity of the scent.  A friend suggested a centrifuge.  I do not have a centrifuge.  So this is one limitation with fruits.

Even the no-sugar added freeze dried blueberries are somewhat tacky.  Not to mention intensely grape colored.  So here is another limitation on tincturing certain fruits - the colors.  I imagine a very light grape color would be pretty in a perfume bottle, but certainly no one wants to wear something that looks like ink.  Will update on this experiment in a week.

To peruse our line of natural/organic perfumes, please visit Mermaid Lane Perfumes

Rose Geranium Essential Oil - DIY Natural Perfume Recipe for Valentine's Day

Rose Geranium

I just opened my new bottle of Rose Geranium (Pelargonium odorantissimum) essential oil.  It's called "rose" geranium because of the lemony rose smell of its triangular leaves.  The leaves and stalk are steam-distilled for the oil, which aromatherapists user for its antiseptic and antidepressant qualities, balancing the adrenal system and counteracting stress.


Yum!  Describing scent is challenging, but here it goes: buttery.   Seriously, the fragrance of this oil starts with a buttery softness that melds into a grassy rosy smell, less sweet than rose.  Remember Bambi and his friends frisking in the meadow filled with golden sunlight?  RG is what that meadow would smell like.  


I wanted to see how rose geranium smelled mix with rose absolute so I added a drop of each into an amber vial.  Essential oils, when mixed, often transform into a completely new scent that obscures the personality of the individual notes.  This didn't quite happen when I mixed the two, perhaps because the two were so similar to begin with.  I ended up with a rosier version of rose geranium, think of the Bambi meadow now growing with rose vines.  Rose geranium, by itself, makes for a lovely perfume because of the complexity of the fragrance - grassy, green and floral all at once.  With rose absolute, we now have a more intense and brighter perfume it may be hard to keep from sniffing yourself.  


But lest one not aspire to smell like a rose garden, I decided to temper the rose/rose geranium mix a bit by adding a drop of french high-altitude lavender.  This lavender has a sweet, fruity fragrance with an anise like haze.  One drop was a bit overpowering.  Think Bambi rose garden set in France.  The grassy smell I loved faded into the background a bit.   A few more drops of RG later, I had the perfect scent: rosy, but not so rosy that you'd be bursting into song all day long.  Calming.  Soothing.  Clean.  


Now for the finishing touch - sandalwood.  A few drops to help ground the fragrance.  I have some aged sandalwood that I don't use for experimentation - wild sandalwood is endangered species due to deforestation and overharvesting.  I find that organically grown Vanuatu sandalwood (from the island of Vanatu in the South Pacific) is a good alternative to the real deal from India.  It's creamy, balsamic, woodsy, and similar to the Indian variety.  It doesn't intrude on the rest of the perfume, but gives it a heavier, dreamier quality.  


The result is a fresh, romantic fragrance that is perfect for Valentine's Day!  In fact, that's what I will name it: Valentine.  You will need to dilute this fragrance with at least four drops carrier oil for every drop of essential oil you use, more if you use rose absolute.   May you have much love in your heart on this Valentine's Day.


Valentine Perfume
1 drop rose absolute
4 drops rose geranium
1 drop lavender
4 drops sandalwood
50-60 drops jojoba oil
5 drops Vitamin E, optional


If you don't feel like blending it yourself, Valentine Perfume is available by request only through: Mermaid Lane Perfumes.  Your perfume will be hand blended and bottled in a beautiful 5 ml heart glass perfume vial.  Please contact us for details.

Sense of Smell is Underrated - Noses and Natural Perfume

We take our noses for granted.  We know when they’re displeased (i.e., passing the garbage dump along 880/Dixon Landing Road in Milpitas), we know when they’re overjoyed (baking banana bread, anyone?).   Aside from detecting food and foul, how often are you aware of that bump on your face?  If I asked you what you were seeing or hearing right now, you could tell me.  What about smelling?  You might say “nothing.”  Or, “air.”  But think on it further, you might be able to come up with something.  Lemons.  Furniture cleaner.  Dust.  Just being aware of something is the first step towards knowledge.  I learned that in yoga class but it applies here.

Humans can distinguish between 10,000 odors.  The area of the cortex that processes smell is also important for storing memories and processing experiences. That’s why a a smell is particularly good at evoking memories.   Know why food tastes good?  Your inhaling the scent amplifies what’s on your tongue.  Food just doesn’t taste as good when your nose is stuffed up.    It amazes me that for such a complicated sense, we have such few words to describe smells.  We employ the adjectives used to describe taste (citrusy, sweet, sour, etc.), and then there's always the metaphor (smells like a dirty diaper).

Bees smell with their antennae

(Incidentally, has anyone watched Smilla’s Sense of Snow?  Apparently Inuit eskimos have forty something words to describe different types of snow.  I can only think of three: icy, fluffy, powdery.  But I digress.)

As babies our noses are key to survival.  Eyes haven’t focused yet.  Babies follow their nose to the milk supply.  As we get older, we rely less on our noses.  The internet doesn’t smell.   Ipods and TV don’t require your nose.   But so much of life can be enhanced by simply smelling what’s around us.  And the more we smell, the better we smell.  Ha ha.  Seriously, I wonder if we can develop our noses to smell things like fear, sadness.  Someone needs to do a study.

Come smell the love at our natural/organic perfumerie: Mermaid Lane Perfumes.