White Lotus Aromatics Newsletter - Absolutes 3, March 29, 2002
NewsNeNwsNNewsletter Archive ewsl
Absolutes 3
Dear Friends-
Today we will be concluding the 3 part sequence of newsletters dealing with absolutes. Before presenting that information there are a few interesting things I would like to share
Brian the Boxman
Recently I received some beautiful boxes made in UK which are made as carrying cases for essential oils. They are hand-made wooden units that are compartmentalized for storing different sized bottles of essential oils and other aromatic essences. Brian can be contacted at:
brian@theboxman.demon.co.uk
http://www.theboxman.demon.co.uk/
Quality is excellent and prices are reasonable. Everyone who has come over for sniffing oils has loved them. You can even have him personalize your box with a special name plate.
Bottle Supplies
Lavender Lane
Very good wholesale and resale source for cobalt blue bottles, etc
http://www.lavenderlane.com/
SKS Bottles
another good source for bottles
www.sks-bottle.com/
Acme Bottle and Vial Company
http://www.acmevial.com/
wonderful source for small vials and perfumers sampler bottles
Carrier Oils
http://www.snoi.com/
fine wholesale source for carrier oils including organic jojoba
Perfumers Alcohol
Nancy Smith
Marketing Manager /Pharmco
800-243-5360 ext 113
nancy@pharmco-prod.com
You need to buy in 4- 1 gallon quantities and undenatured perfumer's alcohol
is not cheap, but it is wonderful for natural perfumery purposes.
Nancy can also offer organic grain alcohol-190%
Part 3 of the Absolutes Database
Rose Absolute, Centifolia
Physical Description:
Orange yellow to orange-brown viscous liquid
Olfactory Description:
rich sweet, deep rosy, very tenacious odor
Spicy tonalities are usually less pronounced
Honeylike notes similar to those of rosa damascena absolutes
used extensively in high priced and medium priced perfumes
particularly floral bases, chypres, Oriental bases
Blends well with jasmin, cassie, mimos, orange flower and other florals
Excellent tenacity and soft raditation makes it comparatively economical in use
Rose Absolute, Damascena
Physical Description:
orange yellow, orange reddish or slightl olive-yellowish color viscous liquid
Olfactory Description:
extremely rich, warm, spicy floral
very deep rose odor with more or less pronounced honey-like undertone
Diffusive power only realized when absolute is diluted or used at concentration of few percent
Used extensively in high class perfumes
forms important part of conventional rose-jasmin complex
Unusual radiation compesates for high cost to certain degree
Rose Leaf Absolute
Physical Description:
semi liquid mass of dark green color
Olfactory Description:
intensely green leafy
Also sweet, somewhat woody odor
truly reminiscent of the freshly crushed leaves of the rose plant
scarce an irregularly produced perfume material
Rose, White Absolute/Rosa alba
physical description
transparent pourable liquid
olfactory description
White rose absolute is exceptionally sweet and smooth with great clarity,
subtlety and beauty. This light rose possesses less depth and tenacity than
a red rose and in a perfume, will not hold its own against more intense
middle and base notes. The perfumer should take care to preserve its
exceptional qualities of complicated rosiness combined with a lightness and
lift -- the capacity of middle notes in a perfume note being perceptible
in the top note --- that is unusual in rose.
Sage Clary Absolute
Physical Description:
green, solid or paste like and may separate crystals on long storageor under uneven temperature conditions. This is a fine absolute but an incredible challange to work with.
Olfactory Description:
extremely rich, delicate balsamic sweet,
bitter winy, somewhat herbaceous odor of great tenacity
excellent modifier, fixative and natural body for colognes, lavender fougeres, conifer fragrances,forest notes and even floral notes
Blends well with lavandin, labdanum, citrus oils
Tagetes Absolute
This is the absolute that it often confused with Calendula. The true Tagetes absolute is extracted from the flowers of Tagetes glandulifera. It has the odor characteristics described below
Physical Description:
orange freen or dark greenish brown colored semi liquid mass or viscous liquid
Olfactory Description:
Intensely herbaceous-green
sweet fruity undertone
bitter-herby dryout
Some people find odor very pleasant; others highly disagreeable
Perfumery needs to be used in high dilution ot obtain pleasant and useful effects
Blends well with sage clary, flouve, tobacco extracts, bergamot oil and other citrus oil
Useful for fruity herbaceous and tobacco like notes
Tolu Absolute
physical description-
another very thick plastic like material. In the fragrance industry absolutes like frankincense, opoponax, myrrh, etc are offered as pourable liquids but this is in most cases due to the fact that a plastisizer has been added like diethyl pthylate. Arctander gives a very accurate description of how this confusion about pourability of difficult to work with absolutes comes about.
Steffen Arctander-
"A solvent-free resin-absolute of myrrh is not pourable at room temperature. This is a drawback in perfume compounding and handling of the material. It is customary to adujust the amount of liquid phaswe in the extract in the following manner."
Towards the end of the evaporation, a high boiling, odorless solvent is aded which acts not only protectively against 'burning' of the residual extract in the evaporator, but also as a plasticizer so that the Myrrh Absolue becomes pourable at room temperature and more handy in compounding opertations. In this case it is correct to label clearly how much solvent has been added, eg 'Myrrh Absolute 75% with 25% Diethyl Phthalate,' or the like. It is not correct to omit all mention of the diluent..."
In my case I am only offering the pure absolute and it is up to the user to do their own dilution.
Olfactory characteristics
sweet balsamic
cinnamic in type
faintly floral
undertone of vanilla
Perfumery uses
primarily as a fixative in citrus-colognes, Oriental perfumes, chypres and floral bases
Along with Balsam Peru products they are amongst the most interesting modifiers for "exotic" floral fragrances
Thyme Absolute
Physical Description:
very viscous, dark green liquid or semi-solid mass
Olfactory Description:
odor very deep herbaceoous, sweet and somewhat green
rich spicy undertone, faintly medicinal but pleasant body note
Useful in perfumery for peculiar effect which is entirely different than thyme oil
In traces can introduce beautifully natural tones in jasmin, hyacinth, violet, etc
Lends a rich herbaceous note in fougere, chypre, colognes
Blends well with oakmoss, patchouly, lavender, citrus oils
Tobacco Leaf Absolute
Physical Description:
dark brown, semi solid mass
Olfactory Description:
of strong, almost repulsive odor, faintly reminsicent of cigar tobacco
In dilution has a typical cigar-tobacco fragrance
Used not only in 'tabac' type of modern or aldehydic perfumes
Also for dry and masculine effects in fantasy types
Blends well with sandalwood, castoreum, labdanum, clary sage, vetiver, bergamot
Produces effects which are hard to imitate or match
Tonka Absolute
Physical Description:
Semi solid or crystaline mass of pale amber or pale brownish-yellow color. This material has a very heavy fraction which tends to precipitate in solution. It will perfume the alcohol or carrier oil but the heavier fraction will sink to the bottom. It means that chilling and filteration will be part of the process of clarifying the final solution
Olfactory Description:
Very rich, sweet and warm
Distinctly coumarinic-herbaceous
prune like or caramellic sweet undertone
Contains 20-45% coumarin but effect goes far beyond that of coumarin contained in absolute
In this fact lies explanation ofor the continuous use of tonka absolute today
Used as fixative and non floral sweetner
Introduces warm notes in chypres, fougeres, new mown hay, lavender bouquets, oriental bases
Blends very well with lavender, lavandin, clary sage, flouve, bergamot, oakmoss products
Treemoss Absolute
Physical Description:
solid, semi-solid mass or viscous liquid, depending on solvent used
Olfactory Description:
Odor is woody, dry, forest like, or seaweed like
Great tenacity
Yield of absolute from concrete is high so it is cheaper than oakmoss absolute
Significant difference in odor characteristics from oakmoss
absence of powerful yet delicate topnote found in oakmoss
Used extensively in perfumery
One of most important natural fixaties and odorants next to essential oils
Represent the earthy-woody, dry forest-like notes and part of leather like notes of oakmoss.
Has little or no topnote, delicate freshness or elegance
Tuberose Absolute
Physical Description:
orange to brown colored viscous liquid
Olfactory Description:
Heavy floral, somewhat nauseatingly sweet
heavy and somewhat spicy odor
reminiscent of honeysuckle,peru balsam, orange flower absolute, ylang ylang residue fractions
Used in high class perfumes of heaviest and sweetest type
Takes more than aerage experience to pick out a true 100% tuberose absolute
Verbena, Lemon Absolute
physical description
green pourable liquid
olfactory description
delicate,
sweet,
fresh
lemon-herbaceous bouquet
True to the botanical from which extracted
Floral fruity notes develop in the heart note
Softer and rounder in the initial impact than the equally beautiful essential oil which is distilled from the plant
Vanilla Absolute
Physical Description:
very viscous dark brown liquid just about pourable at room temperature. This is a truly remarkable absolute. It is quite soluble in carrier oils which is rare for vanilla extracted products.
Olfactory Description:
very rich and true to nature odor
Lends unsurpassed richeness and depth to many type of sweet floral or heavy ambre bases, oriental perfumes
Blend excellently with sandalwood, vetiver, oppononax, spice oils
In the past couple of years the price of vanilla beans the raw material for Vanilla absolute have increased dramatically, especially for the Madagascar/Bourbon Vanilla beans which are considered of the finest quality. The above absolute is made from Madagascar Vanilla Beans
Violet Leaf Absolute
Physical Description:
Viscous liquid, intensely dark green
Olfactory Description:
powerful and peculiar odor
truly green leaf odor
also indisputable delicate and floral note
immediately recognizable as flowers in a bouquet
Used extensively in perfumery where its tremendous diffusion and delicate naturalness is obtainable at very low concentrations in perfume or base
In certain floral bases, eg. hyacinth, muguet, reseda, violet, in high class chypres, in aldehydic woody-fragrances and in many fantasy types it lends and unsurpassed elegance when skillfully used
Blends excellently with tuberose, narcissus, tea leaf absolute, michelia leaf oil, boronia, clary sage absolute, estragon, cumin, basil
White Ginger Lily Absolute-Hedychium coranarium(extracted from the flowers not the root)
physical description
dark brown to almost black that solidies at room temperature but with slight heat becomes a pourable liquid
olfactory characteristics-
Very very potent absolute with a peculiar rich penetratingwarm spicy top note. In the pure form it is almost overwhelming. Done beneath this rich topnote is the exotic sweet sultry floral notes of the delicate white flowers. Only in the heartnotes does the spiciness come into balance with the floral notes.
This absolute like most absolutes but even more so requires careful dilution to really appreciate the full range of its aromatic bouquet
Ylang Absolute
Physical Description:
pale yellow to straw yellow, oily liquid
Olfactory Description:
intensely sweet floral
very diffusive odor unusual power in its topnote
fragrance fades slowly and elegantly in a long lasting, floral spicy and very sweet note which is truly reminiscent of fragrance of flower
It is a typical balsamic floral note-distinguished from the odor of the oil('extra") by its lightness and uniformity
one of the finest floral materials in high class muguet perfumes where its power and yet very delicate undertone blend excellently with jasmin and rose materials
Used in countless floral bases as well as oriental perfumes
White Lotus Aromatics
www.whitelotusaromatics.com