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