Absolute: A highly concentrated, entirely alcohol-soluble perfume material.
Absolutes are obtained by alcohol-extraction of concretes, chassis or
pomades. Most
absolutes will contain traces of ethyl alcohol (less than 2%). The final product may be
liquid, solid or semi-solid.
Attar: Extracted through the distillation of flowers.
Balsam: A natural raw material exuded from a tree or plant. Balsams are resinous
masses, semi-solid materials or viscous liquids and are characterized by their high
contents of benzoic acid, benzoates, cinnamic acid or cinnamates.
Concrete: A prepared perfume material extracted from non-resinous or low
resinous natural raw material (almost exclusively of vegetable origin, e.g. bark, flower,
herb, leaf, root, etc.) Concretes are extracted from previously live tissue, while
resinoids are extracted from plant exudations (not tissue). Concretes are usually solid,
waxy, non-crystalline masses. Like absolutes, concretes can come from chassis and
pomades.
Essential Oil: A volatile material derived from odorous plant materials from a
single botanical form. As such, EOs generally constitute the odorous principles of the
plants in which they exist. EOs are either distilled (water, steam or dry) or expressed.
Because EOs are highly concentrated, care should be
used when handling them. We carry hundreds of essential oils, ranging from Agarwood to
Ylang Ylang.
Extract: Prepared materials that can be used for perfume, flavoring, and
medicinal purposes. Extracts are usually concentrated products obtained by treating a
natural raw material with a solvent.
Fixative: (AKA fixed oil) In perfumery, a material that slows down the rate of
evaporation of the more volatile materials in a perfume composition. So-called vegetable
oils fall into this category. Though not the same as a vegetable oil we also carry D.G.P.
for this purpose.
Oleo-resin: A natural or prepared material. Natural oleo-resins are exudations
from tree trunks, bark, etc.; prepared oleo-resins are extracted using solvents.
Pomade: Perfume materials obtained by the Enfleurage method (which is carried
out almost exclusively in the south of France). The Enfleurage process is applied to
flowers that do not yield any appreciable amount of essential oil by steam or water
distillation. Pomade actually refers to the saturated fat created out of the process.
(This process is hardly used anymore.)
Resin: A natural or prepared product. Natural resins are solid or semi-solid,
almost odorless exudations from trees or plants formed in Nature by the oxidation of
terpenes. Prepared resins are Oleo-resins from which the essential oil has been removed.
Resinoid: A perfumery material prepared from natural, resinous substances by
extraction with a hydrocarbon type of solvent. True resinoids contain all the
hydrocarbon-soluble matter from the natural starting material, including the resins, but
they contain no solvent.
Tincture: A prepared perfumery material, flavor material or pharmaceutical
product. Tinctures can be considered alcoholic extracts of natural raw materials; the
solvent is left in the extract as a diluent.
Wild-crafted herbs
- Plants gathered from their natural environment as opposed to
being grown or cloned by commercial growing techniques.
