Extracting oils from many plants is done by distilling and requires a fair bit of equipment ad know-how. Please read this post for a quick introduction to the distillation process. http://www.lisaliseblog.com/2011/04/rose-queen-of-skin-care-part-1.html
I have always purchased the essential oils I use, so I'm afraid i can't give you too terribly many tips about doing your own distilling..
Anonymous said…
If I wanted to make a "sample" can anyone break the amts down to possibly # of eye drops (5 or 6) of oils and how many drops of pure alcohol? I am doing this as a project for church.
Hi Anonymous. A rule of thumb with essential oils (note: some are thinner than others) is 20-24 drops pr ml. Alcohol is about 24 drops pr ml. Does this help?
Hi Lise I'm thinking about certifying our perfumes for my business. I just noticed, though, that you mentioned the use of alcohol. Our cosmetic chemist has advised us to apply for a license before we sell any alcohol based perfumes to the public. Also, be sure to use either a perfumers alcohol (which is mainly synthetic) or 100& natural grain alcohol which is used in the CO2 distillation of volatile plants & flower buds. You could also use 100 proof vodka but I wouldn't advise using ethanol as it does have a scent that may over power the precious top, middle & base notes of the essential oils and absolutes used in your blend. Just thought I would add this, hope you don't mind. All the best Anita
Hi Anita, Thanks for this great input. You're right about the alcohol - I just noticed I wasn't very specific in the posting. My perfume attempts were made with straight up isopropyl alcohol. I have as yet to get serious enough about perfume-making to get down and dirty with proper perfumers alcohol... :)
Anonymous said…
hello! thanks for the nice post! I made an attempt to make a parfume today and it stincs! I used rose water, spices and essential oils of ylang ylang, mandarine and cinnamon... Should I have a hope that the perfume will be nicer as it matures? Is it possible that it will change a lot? What can I do to correct it?
Hey there Anon - Thanks for your question! I'm a little concerned that you are using rosewater (or anything water-based). Your base should be perfumers alcohol or isopropyl alcohol. Water will not act with the oils in the same way as alcohol (and will also go rancid without the addition of a broad-based preservative).
You can also try making an oil-based perfume. Choose neutral-smelling oils with a long shelf life (example: jojoba)
I would suggest you start over and use a pure alcohol or pure oil base.
If your first batch is a small amount, it shouldn't be too big of a loss to toss it. Chalk it up as a learning experience and do a new batch.
Do let me know how it goes :)
Tina Rasmussen, CPH said…
Hej Lise, do you know of a company that sells perfumers alcohol in DK or a company that will ship to DK? All teh shops I have found do not ship it to DK. KH Tina
Please send me an email and I will dig this up for you. I seem to remember running across one not too long ago and darned if I can remember offhand. I will find dig around and see if I can't find it for you.. (I seem to remember one in Sweden or the UK)... My info is on the sidebar :)
Wish said…
Hi Lise, I have a lovely feeling you'll be seeing some of me on your blog; I'm quite in love with you and what you do :D I have an intensely silly question and probably haven't gone forth with doing it because it is intensely silly! I am all set to make a solid perfume with EOs but i don't have anything tiny and cute to put it in right now and i need to put it in something tiny and cute, hehe ;D I have a small plastic thing lying around, do you think lining that with tin foil would work??
Hello Wish and thank yo kindly for your lovely words. I wouldn't advise using tin foil in direct contact with the product. Can you use a small lip balm pot?
Anonymous said…
Many thanks for responding :) Yes i was certain it'll have to come down to that :D i had stopped using commercial lip balms ages ago so i don't have such containers but i'm finding that i need more and more of lip balm pots and tins as i'm making stuff. I'll just have to buy a bunch of empty containers finally :D My miser and excitement both are kicking in ;)
Hi Lise, I've been wanting to try this for the longest time but couldn't find a tutorial and didn't have the courage. So thank you so much for sharing your wonderful knowledge! I do have question though, would the proportions be the same when using jojoba oil and would the outcome be as successful as with alcohol? Can you blend jojoba, alcohol and the oils?
HI Gina- Using an oil base makes for different proportions. I recommend looking up Karen Gilbert who teaches perfuming online and has lots of tips to offer on her website. Best of luck with it!
How does the Essential oil dermal limits apply in terms of a perfume? If i were to use Sandalwood oil which is at 2% max dermal limit (reference is Essential oil safety by Tisserand) should it be at 2% or can it be more in a perfume given the amount sprayed on is so little? I am just using Sandalwood oil as an example.
Hello Swetha! Please forgive this tardy reply - your comment seems to have gotten temporarily buried. It's a great question you have there because it does indeed take a bit of calculating. The unknown in the equation is how much perfume people apply at a time. Some are generous and others quite space in their use. A spritz of perfume is a very small amount (not even sure if that has even been measured by anyone). As nobody would be expected it apply an entire bottle of perfume in one application, it would probably be wise to not exceed 2% sandalwood in the entire portion of perfume you make. Here I am also using sandalwood as an example. I hope that made sense. :)
Anonymous said…
Hi Lisa, Awesome post! How do you know when your perfume has reached maturity? Thank you!
Hi Anon — This is going to depend entirely on the essential oil blend — some don’t change very much and other blends will change a whole lot over the same time period. I’d use it as soon as I felt it had ‘settled’ and I’m pretty sure your nose will tell you when that is.
Comments
@Boony- you shall indeed have a chance to sniff the perfumes when you come by next time. :)
Extracting oils from many plants is done by distilling and requires a fair bit of equipment ad know-how. Please read this post for a quick introduction to the distillation process. http://www.lisaliseblog.com/2011/04/rose-queen-of-skin-care-part-1.html
I have always purchased the essential oils I use, so I'm afraid i can't give you too terribly many tips about doing your own distilling..
A rule of thumb with essential oils (note: some are thinner than others) is 20-24 drops pr ml. Alcohol is about 24 drops pr ml. Does this help?
I'm thinking about certifying our perfumes for my business. I just noticed, though, that you mentioned the use of alcohol. Our cosmetic chemist has advised us to apply for a license before we sell any alcohol based perfumes to the public. Also, be sure to use either a perfumers alcohol (which is mainly synthetic) or 100& natural grain alcohol which is used in the CO2 distillation of volatile plants & flower buds.
You could also use 100 proof vodka but I wouldn't advise using ethanol as it does have a scent that may over power the precious top, middle & base notes of the essential oils and absolutes used in your blend.
Just thought I would add this, hope you don't mind.
All the best
Anita
:)
Should I have a hope that the perfume will be nicer as it matures? Is it possible that it will change a lot? What can I do to correct it?
You can also try making an oil-based perfume. Choose neutral-smelling oils with a long shelf life (example: jojoba)
I would suggest you start over and use a pure alcohol or pure oil base.
If your first batch is a small amount, it shouldn't be too big of a loss to toss it. Chalk it up as a learning experience and do a new batch.
Do let me know how it goes :)
do you know of a company that sells perfumers alcohol in DK or a company that will ship to DK? All teh shops I have found do not ship it to DK.
KH Tina
Please send me an email and I will dig this up for you. I seem to remember running across one not too long ago and darned if I can remember offhand. I will find dig around and see if I can't find it for you.. (I seem to remember one in Sweden or the UK)... My info is on the sidebar :)
I have a lovely feeling you'll be seeing some of me on your blog; I'm quite in love with you and what you do :D
I have an intensely silly question and probably haven't gone forth with doing it because it is intensely silly!
I am all set to make a solid perfume with EOs but i don't have anything tiny and cute to put it in right now and i need to put it in something tiny and cute, hehe ;D
I have a small plastic thing lying around, do you think lining that with tin foil would work??
Yes i was certain it'll have to come down to that :D i had stopped using commercial lip balms ages ago so i don't have such containers but i'm finding that i need more and more of lip balm pots and tins as i'm making stuff. I'll just have to buy a bunch of empty containers finally :D My miser and excitement both are kicking in ;)
Have fun and make some fabulous things!
How does the Essential oil dermal limits apply in terms of a perfume? If i were to use Sandalwood oil which is at 2% max dermal limit (reference is Essential oil safety by Tisserand) should it be at 2% or can it be more in a perfume given the amount sprayed on is so little? I am just using Sandalwood oil as an example.
Thanks.
It's a great question you have there because it does indeed take a bit of calculating. The unknown in the equation is how much perfume people apply at a time. Some are generous and others quite space in their use. A spritz of perfume is a very small amount (not even sure if that has even been measured by anyone). As nobody would be expected it apply an entire bottle of perfume in one application, it would probably be wise to not exceed 2% sandalwood in the entire portion of perfume you make. Here I am also using sandalwood as an example. I hope that made sense. :)
Awesome post! How do you know when your perfume has reached maturity? Thank you!
pretty sure your nose will tell you when that is.