Guest guest Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I'm reposting this again, because a later post came thru, but not this one... Hewitt wrote: > Hello my name is and I am a new member to your group. I am new to > aromatherapy and will be doing a cert. 1V in aromatherapy next year. > I have been dabbling with Essential Oils during this last year and now > would like to learn more, hence the cert 1V and also joining this group. > I have made my own body lotions using E Oils and other beautiful oils > and extracts, also a very basic perfume in a Jojoba oil base, which I > use myself. I have read a few books on aromatherapy and can't wait > to start my course next year.. > I was wondering, apart from an oil base for perfume what else can > be used? I have read that you can use vodka. Is there a more superior > base which can be used? > > Hi, ..... Welcome to the Natural Perfumery List. While Aromatherapyand Natural Perfumery (NP) are related, this list is focused on NP, primarily.... You will find, for example, that many of the essences used in NP are *unacceptable* for use in AT....at least as many people teach AT.... While related, AT and NP are a different Way....... As far as a perfume base, ethanol is used more than fixed oil bases in NP........ Ethanol = Ethyl Alcohol = C2H5OH = Booze <G>..... Vodka is ethanol, but as usually sold, its water content is too high for successful dilution of many of the essences. You need at least 150 proof (which is 75%).... 190 proof (95%) is better... I'm not sure how readily that's available to you in Oz..... Anyway....NP concerns the principles of perfumery, under the auspices of *natural* essences, hence the designation 'Natural Perfumery'.... You'd be surprised, but there's a number of folks out there that think for some reason they're doing NP, even though they incorporate synthetic fragrance oils here and there in their work.... I can't figure out whether it's ignorance or deceit..... Anyway, for an NP'er, created or nature-as or any of the other bogus labels for those synthetic essences, by definition, are not Natural Perfumery...or AT,for that matter... I think the differences of NP/AT will clear up for you, when you take your Cert IV in AT.... You will find that aspects of AT and NP coincide....Folks are opinionated about this....some feel they coincide more, and others less... Again...welcome to the NP List.....! -- W. Bourbonais L'Hermite Aromatique A.J.P. (GIA) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 > > Also, is there anyone in the group from Australia, as I would like to know how to buy 190 proof alcohol here. I have also read if you freeze vodka the water content freezes but the alcohol doesn't and you can remove the ice thus getting rid of the water content, does anyone know if this works? > Thanks Hi Margi in Brisbane ... Ahimsa here in QLD [ a supplier of eoils, abs, and many base products for perfume and aromatherapy ] has an alcohol they sell specifically for making perfumes. My only other 'perfume-grade' alcohol came from The Perfect Potion. Both these companies routinely incorporate a little benzoin into the alcohol, as a fragrance fixative. I think the alcohol in these is ethanol from sugar cane. As for freezing vodka, my young [adult] offspring upon discovering such a thing in our freezer, would turn it immediately into a slurpee with blackcurrant cordial. Seriously. Other Aussies out there - where are you sourcing your alcohol for NP use, not slurpees? Blessings for the season everyone. M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Hewitt wrote: > > Hi , > Thankyou for your welcome. > I am sure I will learn these things as I learn Aromatherapy. > I do understand that in aromatherapy -absolutes, concretes etc > are usually not used because of their method of extraction e.g. > alcohol. Hi Again... When I was keeping up with AT thought, it wasn't acohol so much as hexane, often used in absolute production.... >But, even though I like the therapuetic side of aromatherapy, >I will also enjoy learning to use essential oils for pleasure >through the art of making perfume. Aromatherapy concerns itslf with the theraputic side of natural essences. When you talk NP, you include esences other than EOs. For example animal extracts, CO2 extracts, again absolutes... > Is synthetic counted as wrong because they are not a complete, > perfect, natural oil or is it because they contain rubbish > chemicals which are bad for you? Synthetic is not considered because it's man-made, rather than derived from a natural source...Natural stuff can be as hard on you as any synthetic item can be ..... Isolates are acceptable, as long as they are from a natural source (not part of my philosophy....but as far as NP goes, they're OK.)... > I have been trying to search out ethanol or the like to find > out more about it and how to get it here in Australia. There are >some sites saying that tests show that ethanol is very bad for > your skin. Probably true for a lot of people...However, you are not using perfume in the same kind of way, say, as massage oil.. Much of the World's perfumes, syn or natural or morphodite, is alcohol based. All of what we think of as alcohol ...methanol, iso propyl, ethanol, etc.is toxic to the human organism. Ethanol is the least.... >This is why I was wondering about synthetics. (don't > get me wrong I am NOT pro synthetics). I would just like to get > a clearer understanding. Don't get the idea that because something is natural, it is safe.... There are sythetics that are safer than natural essences... Synthetics are not used in NP, nor in AT for that matter, becase they are not of a natural source...because they are man made, by definition...... Hope this helps.. -- W. Bourbonais L'Hermite Aromatique A.J.P. (GIA) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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