Heidi Norton
Lilacs are a popular scent for perfumes, candles, and skincare products. Their scent is described as soft, romantic, and nostalgic. If you want to capture the fragrance of lilacs, there are several methods you can try at home. One of the oldest methods for fragrance extraction and preservation of flower essences is enfleurage, which involves pressing flowers into lard or oil. Alternatively, you can create a lilac-infused oil by steeping crushed lilac flowers in boiling water or a quality oil, such as almond, jojoba, or olive oil. Another option is to use vodka or rubbing alcohol as a base for your perfume and add lilac essential oil.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Method | Enfleurage, steeping, or tincturing |
| Ingredients | Lilac flowers, oil (lard, organic cocoa butter, jojoba, almond, olive, avocado, grapeseed, or coconut), ethanol, vodka, or rubbing alcohol |
| Equipment | Pan, double boiler, cheesecloth, funnel, spray bottle, heat-resistant container, plastic pipette, perfume bottle, mason jar |
| Time | A few minutes to several days |
| Preservation | Refrigeration or addition of lilac absolute |
Explore related products
What You'll Learn
DIY lilac perfume using enfleurage
Lilacs are spring flowers symbolic of early love. Their scent is intoxicating, and their fragrance is extremely delicate. The traditional method of enfleurage is the best option to capture and retain the fragrance of lilac flowers. This method involves pressing the flowers into some type of lard or oil. Enfleurage is a very old art and is the oldest-known method for fragrance extraction and preservation of flower essences. It is ideal for delicate flowers like lilacs, whose scent cannot be preserved well using typical methods such as tincturing or distillation.
To make DIY lilac perfume using enfleurage, you will need to pick the lilac flowers early in the morning right after the dew has dried. Remove the individual flowers from the main branch and put them into a pan. Remove as much of the stem as possible. You can use coconut oil, cocoa butter, or even raw beef fat (suet) for the enfleurage process. If you are using coconut oil, make sure it is deodorized, as coconut oil typically has a strong coconut scent that can overpower the fragrance of the lilac flowers.
If you are using raw beef fat, ask your butcher to put the suet through a meat grinder to get tiny pieces that are easier to melt. Place the suet in a pot over low heat and melt it into a clear oily liquid. Remove any impurities first with a slotted spoon, then strain the liquid through a fine strainer and then through cheesecloth to ensure the fat is pure and scent-free. Pour the melted fat into a glass casserole dish and allow it to harden overnight. Before it is completely solid, score the surface in a diamond pattern, which will help the fragrance absorb throughout the fat.
Now, collect your lilac flowers and submerge them in ethyl alcohol for several days, ensuring they remain submerged. Remove the flowers by straining the liquid through cheesecloth. Be gentle and do not squeeze the cheesecloth, allowing the liquid to drain out slowly. The alcohol will evaporate over time, leaving behind an absolute that can be used as a base for your perfume.
The final step is to combine your enfleurage fat and lilac absolute. You can experiment with the ratio to achieve the desired scent concentration. Pour the mixture into a sealed container and store it in a cool, dark place. Your DIY lilac perfume using enfleurage is now ready! You can dab it on your pulse points and enjoy the soft and subtle scent of lilacs throughout the day.
Chanel Perfume: Animal Testing or Cruelty-Free?
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Using lilac-infused oils
To make a lilac-infused oil, you can use either fresh or dried lilacs. If you are using fresh lilacs, you will need to dry them first. To dry your flowers, cut several bunches of lilacs and set them on a cooling rack or tie them in smaller bunches of two to three and hang them to dry. It will take about a week for the flowers to dry completely. Once they are dry, remove the petals from the stems and discard the stems.
Place the dried flowers in a mason jar, filling it no more than three-quarters full. Cover the flowers with a carrier oil or witch hazel. You can use any carrier oil, such as almond oil, jojoba oil, olive oil, avocado oil, or grapeseed oil. You can even use coconut oil, but this requires the slow cooker method to infuse. Make sure the flowers are completely submerged in the oil. Let the lilac and oil mixture infuse for 24 hours, then remove the flowers and strain the oil.
If you are using the solid fat method, you can use raw beef fat, which you render yourself into solid tallow, or organic cocoa butter. Melt the fat in a pot over low heat, then remove any impurities with a slotted spoon. Next, strain the liquid through a fine strainer and then pour it twice through cheesecloth to ensure it is as pure and scent-free as possible. Pour the melted, strained fat into a clean pan and allow it to harden again. Once it is hard, cut it up and place it in a sealed container in a cool, dark place until you are ready to use it.
To infuse the oil with the scent of lilacs, you can either steep the flowers in boiling water or submerge them in ethyl alcohol. For the boiling water method, fill a heat-resistant container with lilac blossoms and pour boiling water over them. Cover with foil or a tight-fitting lid and allow the mixture to steep. When the liquid has completely cooled, strain it and discard the flowers. Transfer the lilac water into a spray bottle and store it in the refrigerator. Spray it on as a light perfume.
For the ethyl alcohol method, submerge dry, fresh lilac flowers in the alcohol and let them soak for several days. Make sure the flowers remain submerged by placing a weighted plate on top of them. After several days, remove the flowers by straining the liquid through cheesecloth. The leftover liquid will be slightly scented. As the alcohol evaporates, the scent will become more concentrated. You can also add lilac absolute to your infused oil to enhance the scent.
Black Narcissus Perfume: Where to Buy the Scent
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Vodka as a base
Vodka is a great option for a DIY lilac perfume base. It blends well with essential oils, and, being made from potatoes, is a fairly natural product. While it does undergo some chemical processing, this is not the same as a chemical additive.
To make your own lilac perfume with a vodka base, you will need a perfume bottle, a plastic pipette, vodka, jojoba oil, and lilac essential oil. First, fill your perfume bottle just over halfway with vodka. Next, fill the pipette almost to the top with jojoba oil and add this to the bottle, leaving room for the essential oil. Finally, add 10-15 drops of lilac essential oil. If you are using a 4 oz spray bottle, increase the number of essential oil drops to 25-30 to ensure the scent is strong enough to cover the vodka smell. Place the cap on the bottle, shake well, and wear on your pulse points.
The shelf life of your homemade perfume will depend on how you store it, the quality of the essential oil, and the colour of your spray bottle, among other factors. However, because it is alcohol-based, it will generally keep for quite a while.
If you want to explore other bases for your DIY lilac perfume, enfleurage is the oldest form of scent preservation and works well with delicate flowers such as lilacs. This method involves pressing the flowers into some type of lard or oil, such as organic cocoa butter.
How to Dilute Your Perfume with Water?
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Using lilac absolutes
Lilacs have a short flowering time, so you may need to refrigerate your tincture until the next flowering season to achieve a strong enough scent.
To make a lilac absolute, you will need to dry fresh lilac flowers and then submerge them in ethyl alcohol for several days. After straining the flowers, the leftover liquid will be your absolute. This can be used in aromatherapy, natural medicine, or natural perfume making.
Alternatively, you can use the enfleurage method, which is the oldest form of scent preservation. This involves pressing the flowers into some type of lard or oil. For enfleurage, pick the lilac flowers in the morning after the dew has dried and remove the flowers from the main branch. Set up a double boiler and fill the bottom pan with water. Place the oil of your choice in the top pan and bring the water to a boil. Keep an eye on the temperature to avoid overheating. Once the oil has melted, strain it through cheesecloth to remove any plant material. Be sure to squeeze out all the oil from the cloth. Allow the oil to harden again, then cut it up and store it in a sealed container in a cool, dark place.
If you are using lilac absolutes to make a perfume, you can add it to a mixture of vodka or rubbing alcohol, and jojoba oil. Simply add 10-15 drops of lilac absolute to the mixture and shake well before applying it to your pulse points.
Kayali Perfume: Nigerian Price and Availability Guide
You may want to see also
Explore related products
Other DIY fragrance methods
One of the oldest methods for fragrance extraction and preservation of flower essences is enfleurage. This involves pressing flowers into some type of lard or oil and is used for delicate flowers such as lilacs, whose scent cannot be preserved well by other methods such as tincturing or distillation. To do this, you can render raw beef fat into solid tallow, melt it, strain it, and then pour it into a glass dish to harden. Before it becomes completely solid, score the surface to allow the fragrance to absorb throughout the fat. Then, collect your lilacs, remove the flowers from the main branch, and submerge them in the fat or oil.
Another method for capturing the scent of lilacs is to make lilac water. To do this, steep crushed lilac flowers in boiling water, then strain and discard the flowers once the liquid has cooled. Transfer the lilac water into a spray bottle and store it in the refrigerator. You can also make a moisturizing fragrance by steeping lilac flowers in a heated quality oil such as almond, jojoba, or olive oil for 24 hours. Then, strain the flowers and rewarm the oil before repeating the process with fresh flowers until you're happy with the fragrance. You can then bottle the oil and use it as a perfume or add it to skincare products.
Alternatively, you can make lilac-infused oil or witch hazel. To do this, dry the flowers for a week, then remove the petals from the stems and place them in a jar. Cover the flowers with a carrier oil or witch hazel and let them infuse for one to three weeks. You can also make lilac perfume using vodka or rubbing alcohol, and lilac essential oil. Simply fill a perfume bottle halfway with vodka or alcohol, then add jojoba oil and 10-15 drops of lilac essential oil.
Understanding the Standard Ounce of Perfume
You may want to see also
Frequently asked questions
The easiest way to make lilac perfume at home is to fill a perfume bottle halfway with vodka or rubbing alcohol. Then, add jojoba oil and 10-15 drops of lilac essential oil. Cap the bottle and shake well before applying to your pulse points.
The oldest-known method for fragrance extraction and preservation of flower essences is enfleurage. This involves pressing the flowers into some type of lard or oil and is ideal for delicate flowers like lilacs, whose scent cannot be preserved well using typical methods such as tincturing or distillation.
Common ingredients used in DIY lilac perfume include lilac essential oil, vodka, rubbing alcohol, jojoba oil, witch hazel, and carrier oils such as almond oil, olive oil, or coconut oil.
