Perfumery Botanicals--Ingredients
We offer a well-curated selection of essential oils, absolutes, and enfleurages for perfume formulation.
All of our botanicals are 100% natural, and undiluted except when the nature of the botanical is so solid as to be impossible to work with. This is noted where applicable.
All of our essential oils are potential perfumery ingredients-- and absolutes are of course made for this. Enfleurages, while not as powerful in an olfactory sense, are magnificent and offer a uniquely authentic and realistic interpretation of the flower itself. As Luca Turin described our Gardenia Enfleurage in 2008: "the most stunning gardenia hologram materialized before me, all present and correct, from bouquet de provence via tuberose to the famous mushroom note that makes gardenia so different from other white flowers."
Considering there is no gardenia absolute, and various other modern extractions are interpretive at best, the Gardenia enfleurage presents the trueist, most authentic gardenia smell not involving an actual flower to put your nose in.
Other enfleurages are Tuberose and Jasmine--these are also available as absolutes, but the character, energy scent are very different. All of our Enfleurages are South American.
Essential oils mean distilled oils, using water or steam, ok, using H2O. These are the volatile constituents of the plant; we sometimes call them the soul; they are super strong, highly concentrated, and appreciate awareness when working with them.
Absolutes are generally created for perfumery--as opposed to aromatherapy, although they can be used in aromatherapy as well. Some people disagree. It's up to you!
Please note that we cannot recommend medical or even aromatherapeutic uses for essential oils, due to the current litigious nature of the country. We can give a description of its odor profile, main constituents, and some informational tidbits on traditional uses, and the like, but for aromatherapy, we heartily suggest you peruse some of the excellent and well-researched books and articles out there. We have used two main books in our information for each oil: Arctander's Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin and Salvatore Battaglia's The Complete Guide to Aromatherapy. There are many great books, articles, studies around. We have used Steffan Arctanders descriptions for most oils, as they are a standard, and many people are familiar with his grading and descriptions. Smell is, after all, subjective. By using the Arctander descriptions, you can get a good idea of how oils that you might not be familiar with, smell.