Are you choosing a fragrance oil and will it be an essential, infused, absolute or perhaps a floral water? Find out what are the most commonly used types of fragrance essences and what makes them different? A comprehensive guide to choosing the right essence is here.
Essence is the pure scent of nature
Fragrant flowers, fruits, woody plants, well, natural substances can become the basis for creating essences. These are extracted from nature's gifts through a specific process. In terms of meaning, then, the term essence corresponds to the word essence, and if we look even further back into ancient philosophy, it is the definition of being. "That which is realized in being.", Thomas Aquinas wrote about essence .
Shakespeare would also agree that the essence of a flower is to smell and without smell it would not be what it is. For, as Juliet cried to Romeo... "What's in a name? What roses invite, called differently, would smell the same." When we extract the fragrance from a flower, we have thus extracted from it its essence or essence, which is in the form of a concentrated floral oil or floral water.
Fruits, vegetables and woody plants, for example, are favoured with a pleasant fragrance. Therefore, too, essences need not be only floral. Sandalwood, birch, juniper, pine, fir or even frankincense and myrrh, i.e. the fragrant resin from the Boswellia (frankincense tree) or Commiphora (myrrh tree).
Types of oils from natural essences
Beautifully scented oils in glass bottles may seem similar to you. Except for their different scents, of course. The way in which the oil was made can be different, and they often differ in how they are used.
As a result, these aromatic oils can be defined as:
- essential
- absolutes
- carrier
- infused
- ayurvedic
Essential oils
These are purely natural concentrated extracts of essences from flowers, leaves, bark and other parts of plants. From these natural sources, they are obtained by the process of distillation. Because an extract distilled in this way is a highly concentrated substance, essential oils should be approached with caution. They are usually mixed with a so-called carrier oil before use. They have been popular for centuries, especially for their aromatherapeutic effects. However, can be used in many different ways, for example in diffusers or in the production of homemade soaps and cosmetics.
Carrier oils
Again, this is a 100% natural product. What makes it different from the essential oil mentioned above is that its scent is not strong and the oil can be directly applied to the body. Therefore, it also usually serves as a transport component carrying the essential oil. This resulting oil mixture can then be used, for example, in massages, since the strong essential oil is safely diluted by the carrier oil. Carrier oil is most often produced by a pressing process from the seeds and kernels of plants and nuts.
Absolute oils
Oils made fromnatural essences extracted with a solvent are absolute oils. Some essential sources do not lend themselves well to distillation or pressing as is the case with essential and carrier oils. Therefore, a natural hydrocarbon-based solvent and ethanol are used to extract the aromatic oil. Absolute oils are highly concentrated with an intense aroma and their use is mainly inperfumery and aromatherapy.
Ayurvedic herbal oils
Originating from India Ayurveda is a traditional holistic method of health care. Ayurvedic philosophy is based on the ancient knowledge of the effects of natural substances on humans, which is recorded in several Sanskrit texts. One of the texts is the Charak Samhita, where the first mention of a mixture of plant oils and herbs. The oils created in this concept are then Ayurvedic herbal oils and their use is in accordance with this teaching, i.e. as therapeutic or massage remedies.
Infused oils
Similar to Ayurvedic herbal oils, these are a blend of plant oil.Certain parts of the plant are thenmacerated for a long time. In addition to the aroma , the oil can also take in other substances from theplants that have been used for the infusion. Infused oils are used in cosmetics, especially for skin care, as therapeutic oils and also in gastronomy.
Essential oil flower waters
In addition to oils, floral waters are also highly beneficial for body care. These are hydrolates or hydrosols that are by-products of the distillation process of essential oils. The distillation of an essential oil involves heating the source of the essence with water. The water vapor, enriched with the volatile compounds of the distilled material, then condenses and separates from the essential oil. The recondensed water is then hydrolysed with the essence of the distilled material or flower or is flower water. These aromatic waters are gentle and light, thus ideal for direct skin, body and hair care or for aromatherapy.
