Category: Content

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L is for: Linden

“The banch of the Linden is leafy and green”

I used to travel Cheltenham each week for a language lesson.  That stopped when UK entered Lockdown.  Cheltenham is a city with parks and mature trees.  Leaves were beginning to appear on my last visit.  I had occasion to make a single visit to Cheltenham yesterday, and the chance to see the trees in their summer liveries.

Linden Trees

Of all the trees in Cheltenham, it’s the Lindens that I miss most.  While they are commonly called Lime trees, they are not related to the citrus trees that bear lime fruits.  In the US and Canada they are called Basswood.

Linden blossom
Linden Blossom.
Valentyn Volkov/Shutterstock

In the UK, Lindens blossom from early June and into July.

Aphids feast on the sap of Linden trees.  The aphids are often “farmed” by ants, producing a sweet, very sticky sap that drips from the tree.  So while the trees provide shade, it’s not a good idea to park a pretty car underneath a Linden.

The young, translucent leaves of the European Lime can be used in salads.  They are also dried and used to prepare a tea.

Scents have a very direct effect upon human memory.  Most famously Marcel Proust wrote about scent in Remembrance of Things Past.  When Proust’s narrator, Marcel, eats the crumbs of a madeleine dipped in lime blossom tea it triggers a process of remembering that brings his past to life.

Memories of Linden

I have two schooldays memories directly linked to the scent of Linden blossom.  My first memory of Linden blossom comes from playing cricket.  I wasn’t a team sportsperson, and I loathed cricket.  However, for half of each game the unfortunate team that included me would be batting.  Apart from the few moments it took for my innings to be terminated, I spent the remainder of the team innings in the shade of a Linden tree, reading or just daydreaming.

My second memory of Linden was associated with amateur dramatics.  My box of greasepaint included sticks of Leichner #5 and #9, and the cheapest bottle of makeup remover I could find in Boots the Chemists.  It was a Boots’ own product scented with Linden.  I suspect it was a mixture of distilled witch hazel and Linden hydrosol.

Linden blossom has a very distinctive scent.  Fragrantica describes it as “a bright yellow floral, with a honey and green nuance”.  It’s a Heart note, so it has some persistence.  I’ve used it as the basis of my Beltane fragrance, both as a perfume and as a fragrance for Hand Creme #14.

There is an evocative description of Linden trees, their cultural significance and history, in How the Light Gets In.

And the opening quote? It comes from the second verse in this chilling piece of cinema:

 

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Insanitizer #51

As insanity spreads even faster than SARS-Cov-2 (the coronavirus responsible for the disease COVID-19), it might be fun (and maybe even useful) to unpick one of the hoarders’ favourite targets:

Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is going to be absolutely essential to our survival, right?

Well, no.  It isn’t.

When it comes to killing a virus, hand sanitizer comes second to vigorous washing with soap and water.  Sanitizers are a useful complement to soap and water when constant handwashing is impractical and the risk of infection is high (such as in a hospital).  Sanitizers are not a substitute for soap and water.  However much you may dislike soap and water, hoarding or even using hand sanitizer won’t protect you or those with whom you come into contact. Wash your hands.

But hand sanitizer is effective, right?

That rather depends.

I tried to find standards and regulations that would apply to a product labelled “Hand Sanitizer” and sold as such.  I didn’t find regulation that requires Hand Sanitizer to have any effect whatsoever on any virus, bacterium or other germ.  I can piss in a bottle and sell it as Hand Sanitizer (if you want to try this you might want to consult a lawyer in case I’ve missed something).  But as far as I can see, provided my snake oil contains no known allergens, I am free to sell it and I don’t have to list the ingredients.  Ironically, if I added enough alcohol to my mixture to turn it into an effective sanitizer, then I would have to label the bottle to the effect that the contents were flammable.

If you are having difficulty believing that this product of the moment is so little regulated, I suggest you check out some of the hand sanitizers offered on Amazon (for example).  See how many even list their ingredients.

Of course some hand sanitizers are effective.  Healthcare professionals will select products that work, and some specify their own formulations.  Even home-made sanitizers can be effective.  (The ingredients for one of my versions are listed at the end of this piece.)

If it is affordable and available without prescription,  an effective sanitizer will contain alcohol.  (So all the “no alcohol” or “0% alcohol” sanitizers meet their claim that they won’t dry out your skin, but they won’t have much impact on a coronavirus.  They might give some protection against secondary infections.)

The World Health Organization has published recipes for liquid handrubs.   In both recipes the main ingredient (75% or more) is alcohol.  This may be ethanol or isopropanol (which I discussed in A is for Alcohol).  Only two other ingredients are used.  Hydrogen peroxide is used as an antimicrobial agent, and a small quantity of glycerol is added as a wetting agent.

There appears to be a consensus that an effective hand sanitizer should contain a minimum of 60% alcohol and a maximum of around 95%.  There should be some water in the formulation.  The water helps the alcohol to penetrate the outer layer of a virus.  Once the outer layer has been penetrated, the alcohol disrupts and destroys what is left.  One study tested the efficacy of a number of hand sanitizer formulations with alcohol ranging from 60% to 95%.  It identified two formulations containing 70% as the most effective amongst those tested (so increasing the alcohol content above 70% doesn’t guarantee a more effective sanitizer).

Home-made hand sanitizers can be effective if they contain a high enough concentration of alcohol.  Most forms of liquor don’t contain enough alcohol.  Spirits at 80º proof only contain 40% ethanol, far short of the minimum 60% required.  Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol attracts less tax in most countries, so it’s cheaper.  As I write all the useful sized bottles are disappearing from Amazon listings, but there are other suppliers, including on eBay, who still offer to supply.

One of the 2 widely available offerings of isopropyl alcohol contains 70% alcohol (with the balance being water).  This is an effective sanitizer in its own right, but it has 2 drawbacks:

    1. It evaporates rapidly, so it can be difficult to spread it to all parts of your hands before it has disappeared.
    2. It dries out skin, so it’s not very pleasant to use repeatedly.

Both these can be addressed, but that means adding ingredients and this will reduce the proportion of alcohol in the mixture.   There’s a useful calculator published on Lab Muffin’s blog that shows how much alcohol you need in your mixture to achieve a particular proportion of alcohol overall.

Home-made hand sanitizer

This version has a concentration of 62% isopropyl alcohol.

I include glycerine (glycerol) in my sanitizer as a wetting agent.  I also include aloe vera.  Both ingredients help spread the liquid over your hands and slow down evaporation.  They also help prevent skin drying out, so they make the sanitizer more pleasant to use than just alcohol and water.

The World Health Organization includes hydrogen peroxide.  I don’t include it in this recipe because I believe its purpose is deal with possible contaminants in water used to dilute the alcohol.  I have the luxury of access to distilled water and uncontaminated ingredients.

The final ingredient I add is peppermint essential oil.  It goes some way to masking the smell of raw alcohol and contributes to making the sanitizer a little more pleasant in use.

So here’s the recipe for Insanitizer #51:

    • 100 ml isopropyl alcohol 70%
    • 8 ml aloe vera gel
    • 4 ml vegetable glycerine
    • 0.5 ml (or 20 drops) peppermint (piperata) essential oil.

Put the ingredients in a bottle and shake to disperse the aloe gel and the essential oil.  Let it stand for a while, and then shake it up again.

The mixture is flammable, toxic if ingested, and you should avoid getting it in your eyes.

Be well.  Be safe.

 

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Ostara Handcreme #14

“In Spring the young man’s fancy turns to what women have been thinking about all Winter.”
with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson

We see the first glimpses of Spring at the start of February (in my part of the United Kingdom).  By the time the Spring (Or Vernal) Equinox arrives , Spring has definitely sprung.  This year, the Spring Equinox will fall in the early hours of Friday 20 March.  The days lengthen more rapidly at the Spring Equinox than at any other time of the year.  From the Spring Equinox until the Autumn Equinox we will have more hours of daylight than darkness.

This is ostensibly a post about a hand cream for the Spring Equinox.  The hand cream recipe is the same as the recipe for #14 Handcream and the blend of oils used to fragrance this version is Ostara.   So having fulfilled the promise of this post’s title, let’s follow the Easter Bunny down her rabbit-hole and decorate some eggs.

Down the rabbit hole

The last time I decorated eggs by dying them with onion skins was in Edinburgh in 1980.  I thought I’d better test out what I remembered of the process before posting anything about it, so last weekend I bought half a dozen eggs with light coloured shells, and gathered together some onion skins, some newspaper, some string, and some flower petals.  My collection of flowers included crocus, forsythia, primrose, periwinkle, hornbeam and celandine.

The idea is to stick the petals to the surface of an egg, then wrap the decorated egg with onion skin.

The onion skin-wrapped egg is then wrapped in newspaper to hold the petals and the onion skin in place, and tied into a bundle with string.  The bundles are put in a pan, brought to the boil, and boiled for just a little longer than it would normally take for hard-boiled eggs (maybe 5 minutes).  It can be helpful to weight down the bundles so they don’t float in the pan.

And that’s it.  When the wrapped eggs have cooled down enough to handle, you can unwrap the dyed eggs.  The overall effect is marbled, with the onion skin dye masked where the flower petals have been.

It’s still a little too early for me to find flowers in the garden that will colour the eggs rather than just mask the onion skin dye.  Colours rarely come true with this type of dyeing, but I do remember some of the coloured primulas add shades of red and pink to the overall effect.

Forty years ago:

I managed to find the photos I took the first time I dyed eggs in this way.  Here they are, from prints on Kadachrome paper and collected in an album:

 

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D is for: Damiana

I started writing about a seasonal perfume for Ostaria, or Ēostre, or Easter, or the Vernal Equinox, or the Spring Equinox, or however you may choose to mark that part of the year.  Partway through I realised that a significant part of the post was about Damiana.

H. Zell / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Damiana (Turnera Diffusa) is a small shrub that is native to parts of Central and South America, certain States in the south of the United States, and some Caribbean islands.  It belongs to the plant family Passifloraceae, the same family as the Passion Flower and Passion Fruit.  This gives a clue as to the main uses of Damiana – it is reputed to be a powerful aphrodisiac.

Herbal uses of Damiana

I say “reputed to be an aphrodisiac” because the evidence is almost entirely in folklore.  There’s very little clinical evidence, and it appears inconclusive.  I’ve found one study in 2009 which dealt with the sexual performance of male rats, which reported a positive result in a small sample population.  Most other studies have looked at the efficacy of herbal blends in which Damiana was present.  Other components of these blends included ginseng, ginkgo, guarana and vitamins.

The lack of conclusive clinical evidence doesn’t affect the popularity of Damiana in herbal products.  Health stores such as Holland and Barrett in the UK sell Damiana leaf in capsule. Baldwins sell Damiana as a tincture.

Although most preparations including Damiana use the dried leaves, either in capsules or as a herb tea, or even a herbal smoking mixture, an essential oil can be produced from the leaves and woody part of the plant by steam distillation.  This essential oil appears in a limited selection of essential oil catalogues.   Many essential oil reference books don’t list it.  (You won’t find it in the Aqua Oleum range, or at Neal’s Yard, at Naissance or even Mystic Moments.  There are no suppliers of Damiana essential oil supplying through Amazon UK at the time of writing.)  A web search will turn up some suppliers, but a word of caution – some of the oils that are offered are either essential oils that have been diluted with a carrier, or the herb has been diffused into a base oil (so not an essential oil at all).

DAMIANA AS FRAGRANCE

My interest in Damiana essential oil gives a brief nod to the fact that festivals celebrating with eggs and rabbits were never really chaste.  Its potential aphrodisiac properties suggested it as a component in a seasonal perfume for the Spring Equinox.  I chose to use it as the starting point in developing my seasonal fragrance.

Damiana has been used in commercial perfumes.  Fragrantica lists two, both produced by boutique perfumiers specialising in natural perfumery.

Damiana has a distinctive, but rather elusive scent.  I’ve seen it listed as a Head note and a Heart note, so that suggests it’s slightly heavier than most Head notes, but at the light end of Heart notes.  The scent is described as “woody or mossy”, and also as “spiced orange”.  I’d lean towards the “woody or mossy” description, but I can appreciate the spiced citrus description too.

My Spring Equinox perfume is intended as fragrance for a cold cream, and I tend to use reduced quantities of Head notes for such applications.  The Heart notes are at the lighter end of that classification.  Litsea Cubea and Melissa reinforce the citrus qualities of the Damiana.  A little Neroli gives just a suggestion of something floral.  Rosemary plays to the Damiana’s wood and spice.  Vetiver underpins all the other notes with persistent wood and spice:

Heart
    • Damiana (10 drops)
    • Litsea Cubea (May Chang) (4 drops)
    • Melissa (4 drops)
    • Rosemary (3 drops)
    • Neroli (3 drops)
Bass
    • Vetiver (6 drops)

This is the second year that I’ve used this blend.  It’s becoming established in my recipe book as Ostara.

 

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A is for: (Isopropyl) Alcohol

This is intended as the first of a series of posts in which I discuss (ramble, pontificate) about cosmetic ingredients.  I may dive down the occasional rabbit-hole to explore things that aren’t strictly ingredients.  Let’s just see where this takes us.

I’m starting with A is for Alcohol.  It’s very unlikely that I’ll work through the alphabet, but my plan is to create an alphabetical list as I add other posts.

In this case A is for a specific kind of alcohol.  Its names include isopropyl alcohol, isopropanol,  2-propanol and propan-2-ol depending on the naming convention you follow.  I’m going to stay with isopropyl alcohol.

Americans often refer to isopropyl alcohol as Rubbing Alcohol, possibly to distinguish it from what the British might call quaffing alcohol (ethanol).  Isopropyl alcohol is unpalatable and toxic, so it doesn’t attract the attention of tax collectors to the extent that ethanol does in most countries.  It’s readily available as 99.9% isopropyl alcohol, but it’s more commonly sold as a mixture of 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% water by volume.  The 70% mixture is good for all the uses I’m going to discuss below.  A litre of 70% isopropyl alcohol should cost no more than GBP 8.00.  I think it’s a good investment.

(In Britain there is a concoction called surgical spirit based on methyl alcohol.  American Rubbing Alcohol and British Surgical Spirit are different.  In many contexts they can be used interchangeably, but some versions of Surgical Spirit include fragrances (notably Wintergreen) and so they aren’t suitable for cosmetic uses.)
Antiseptic

Isopropyl alcohol is used as a topical antiseptic.  If a doctor or nurse swabs your arm before pushing a needle into it, it is likely that they are using isopropyl alcohol.

The main ingredient in pre-packaged antiseptic wipes is normally isopropyl alcohol.  The 70% version is more effective as an antiseptic than the 99.9% version because water opens up the pores of bacteria so the alcohol can penetrate and kill them.  Isopropyl alcohol on cotton wool is good for cleaning minor cuts and skin abraisions.  Somewhere I’ve seen a suggestion that it can be used as an antiseptic on nappy (diaper) rashes and intimate parts of the human anatomy.  I’m sure it would be effective, but I wouldn’t want to be around to hear the scream.  It can sting painfully.

I use isopropyl alcohol as an antiseptic for swabbing down worksurfaces and for spritzing the containers I use for cosmetic preparations.  I have a small bottle with a flip top that I can use to moisten pieces of paper kitchen towel, and I have a small spray bottle that I can use for spritzing.

Solvent

Isopropyl alcohol mixes with many oils and greases, as well as mixing with water.  Isopropyl alcohol (including the 70% version) evaporates completely without leaving a residue.  That makes it a very useful cleaning agent.  Those lens wipes that your optician sells?  They are impregnated with isopropyl alcohol.  That cleaning spray for your whiteboard?  Probably isopropyl alcohol.  That cleaner for your computer screen?  Probably isopropyl alcohol.

I use my spray bottle of isopropyl alcohol, along with either kitchen paper towel or a facial tissue, for cleaning eyeglasses, computer screens, windows and other hard surfaces.  It’s pretty effective on the grime that accumulates on the inside of a car windshield, the kind that makes driving into sunlight rather challenging.

I try to re-use bottles and containers made of glass or plastic.  Removing manufacturers’ labels can be challenging (involving a lot of cursing).  Isopropyl alcohol will remove some of the adhesive deposits left on glass or plastic surfaces.  (It doesn’t always work.  My solvent of last resort for label adhesives is parafin.  I use a clear, unscented lamp oil because it evaporates without leaving a residue, in much the same way as isopropyl alcohol.)

 

Curiously, although isopropyl alcohol and water mix freely in any proportions, isopropyl alcohol doesn’t mix with water containing common salt.  Adding some salt to any mixture of isopropyl alcohol and water causes the alcohol to separate out of the mixture.  The alcohol is less dense than the brine, so floats on the top.  This is a process called “salting out”.  Of course I tried it at home …

It took a lot of salt to persuade the alcohol to separate out, and a little vegetable dye to make the boundary between the layers visible in a photo.  The proportions of the layers suggest that the brine (on the bottom) still contains some alcohol.

Drying aid

Isopropyl alcohol mixes with water, and the mixture has a much lower surface tension than water.  So adding isopropyl alcohol to water causes droplets to collapse and the resulting mixture evaporates faster than the water would if left untreated.

I put a few drops of isopropyl alcohol into glass bottles after I’ve washed them, then give them a shake.  The inside of the bottles dries faster.

Image of Swim-eze bottleThere is a product called Swim-eze that is used by swimmers and divers to dry and disinfect their ears afer swimming or diving.  A few drops in each ear is very effective.  A 30ml bottle of Swim-eze sells for around GBP 12.00.  That’s GBP 400.00 per litre.  The content?  Just 95% isopropyl alcohol and 5% glycerine.

Perfumes and Cosmetics

Although I’ve seen isopropyl alcohol listed as a cosmetic ingredient for lotions and aftershaves, I don’t generally use it as an ingredient in my preparations.  Mostly I prefer to use ethanol as a lighter alternative.

There is just one exception (Frog’s Breath) which I’ll save for a later post.

That is not to say that I don’t use isopropyl alcohol when I’m making cosmetics – I use it as a disinfectant and a solvent for cleaning before and after a making session.  The heavier essential oils are very viscous and some are very sticky.  They coat the surface of droppers and pipettes.  With a little persistence it is possible to remove the deposits with isopropyl alcohol.

Cautions

Isopropyl alcohol is toxic if ingested in any quantity, and it’s flammable.

 

 

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Imbolc Handcreme #14

Snowdrops
Snowdrops

This is my goto recipe for a handcreme (“Handcreme #14”).  I produce it with different blends of essential oils to reflect the seasons.  This version celebrates the land waking up at the end of Winter.  I’ve called it Imbolc.

Imbolc falls around the 1st of February in the Northern Hemisphere.  It celebrates the first stirrings of Spring as the days become perceptably longer.

Although I normally describe this as a handcreme, its use isn’t limited to hands.  It’s a classic cold cream that is suitable for hands, face or any other skin that may be prone to dryness.   Rosemary Gladstar gives the proportions of ingredients in a cold cream in her book Herbal Healing for Women.  She called her version her Famous Face Cream:

“The basic proportions of this cream recipe should be about one part group 1 (oil phase) to one part group 2 (water phase).

“In group 1, the oil proportions should be approximately 2 parts liquid oils (such as grapeseed, almond, apricot) to 1 part solid oil (cocoa butter, beeswax, lanolin).”

My Heavy Duty Handcreme #21 is another example of a cold cream.

The ingredients, equipment and method I use to make Handcreme #14 are:

Oil Phase
  • 150ml  Sweet Almond Oil
  • 75ml  Coconut Oil
  • 30g  Beeswax
  • 20g  Shea Butter
  • 7.5ml  Lanolin
Water Phase
  • 150ml  Distilled Witch Hazel
  • 75ml  Aloe Vera Gel
Cool Down
  • 7.5m  Vitamin E oil
  • 20-30 drops of essential oils (see later in this post for the Imbolc blend).
Equipment
  • Two heaproof glass containers, one with a capacity of al least 500ml and the second with a capacity of at least 250ml.  (I use Pyrex jugs.  Mason Jars are also suitable.)
  • An electric oven capable of being set to a temperature of 60-70C, or a shallow pan wide enough to accept the glass containers and a kitchen stove electric hob or gas ring
  • A hand blender or whisk
  • Clean jars for the handcreme
  • Spatula(s)
  • Cloths or paper towels for cleanup.
Method
  1. Measure out your oil phase ingredients into the largest of your two glass containers, and measure out the water phase ingredients into the other glass container.  Put a stirrer into the container with the oils – a spatula or spoon.
  2. Heat the ingredients until all the solid oils and waxes melt.  Either;
    • Put the containers into an electric oven set to about 70C, or;
    • Put the containers in a shallow pan and surround them with water.  Bring the water to the boil on a stove top and reduce the heat so the water simmers gently.
  3. Prepare your containers.
  4. When the solid oils and waxes have melted, take the containers out of the oven or off the stove.  Stir the oils (remembering that the stirrer will be quite hot).
  5. Put your blender or whisk into a pot of hot water to preheat it.
  6. When you start to see the oils solidifying, put your blender or whisk in the container with them.  Whisk or blend as you add the water phase ingredients, keeping use of the whisk or blender to a minimum.
  7. Briefly whisk or blend as the mixture cools.  When it gets to around 40C (when the container will still be warm to touch but not too hot to hold comfortably) add the cool-down ingredients and whisk or blend briefly for the final time.
  8. Pour and scrape your cream into your containers.
  9. Label the containers and keep them in a refrigerator until you want to use your handcreme.
  10. Clean up with hot, soapy water.
Handcreme in containers, labelled and with information slips
Imbolc Handcreme #14

I’ve used Handcreme #14 as the basis of a number of seasonal cosmetics.  In December I added my Yule blend of oils.

For the Imbolc version I started with an Imbolc blend proposed by Amy Blackthorn.  (The blend is published in Amy’s book Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic.)  Amy’s blend has  a base/heart note of Angelica Root, with  heart notes of Basil and head notes of Laurel.  I modified Amy’s blend by adding Tobacco Absolute, Violet Leaf Absolute and a goodly dose of Fir Needle.  I aimed to develop a fragrance with green notes throughout.  I’m quite happy with the results – I developed this blend in 2019 and re-used it this year without modification.

Head notes
  • 16 drops Fir Needle Essential Oil
  • 8 drops Laurel Essential Oil
Heart notes
  • 8 drops Violet Leaf Absolute
  • 8 drops Basil Essential Oil
Bass notes
  • 8 drops Angelica Root Essential Oil
  • 4 drops Tobacco Absolute

To end on a cautionary note – neat essential oils can be highly corrosive.  With very few exceptions they should never be applied to skin unless diluted.  I first made this blend last year in a laboratory grade plastic test tube,  intending to add it to handcreme a few days later.  When I came to use it, the interior of the tube was etched and the base was crazed and cracked.  I mixed up some more in a glass container for my batch of handcreme!

Plastic test tube etched and cracked by essential oils
Cautionary tale of effects of essential oils on plastic
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Pumpable Body Lotion #46

This recipe was published as Summer Passions Pumpable Body Lotion by Barb Misiuda on her site Scrub Me Down.  I made it on New Year’s Day (in England) so it wasn’t exactly Summer.  I followed the recipe without making substitutions.  I don’t use artificial fragrances, so I used a combination of Rose and Clove Bud essential oils to produce a scent reminiscent of carnations.

The list of ingredients for this lotion is longer than that used in most of my concoctions.  It introduced me to a couple of ingredients that I hadn’t used before.

Oil Phase
  • 12 g Avocado Oil
  • 12 g Emulsifying Wax (Olive Derived)
  • 9 g   Mango Butter
  • 6 g   Sweet Almond Oil
  • 6 g   Passion Fruit Oil
  • 3 g   Beeswax
Water Phase
  • 207 ml Distilled Water
  • 30 g Aloe Vera Gel
  • 3 g Vegetable Glycerine
  • 3 g Silk Peptides
Cool Down
  • 3 g Vitamin E Oil
  • 6 g Panthenol
  • 1.5 g Plantaserve E
  • 12 drops Rose absolute (Turkish)
  • 4 drops Clove Bud Essential Oil
  • 0.1g Gold Mica
Equipment

To make this you will need:

  • 2 glass containers large enough to hold all the ingredients with a bit of room to spare.  I use half litre Pyrex jugs, but wide-mouthed jars such as Mason Jars also work well.  At least one of the containers needs to be large enough for all the ingredients and a stick blender.
  • 1 smaller glass container.  A shot glass works well for this.
  • A stick blender
  • Small spatulas (wooden coffee stirrers scrounged from coffee shops work well)
  • 1 or more pump bottles with a total capacity of slightly more than 250ml
  • A funnel
  • A kitchen hob and a shallow pan, or an oven capable of being set to a temperature of 70-80C.
Method

Measure out the oil phase ingredients into one glass container, and the water phase ingredients into another.  If you aren’t in a hurry, cover the containers and let them stand for a while.  This allows the waxes to start to soften in the oils, and allows the silk peptides and aloe gel to start to disperse in the water.

If you have access to an electric oven, set the temperature to 70-80C and put the 2 containers of ingredients in the oven.

If you are going to make this on a gas or electric ring, put the containers in the shallow pan, add some water (perhaps to a depth of 3-5 cm) and bring the water to the boil.  Turn down the heat when the water boils so the water is just simmering.

Put the cool-down ingredients in another (ideally smaller) container –

  • Panthenol is a very viscous gel that I found difficult to weigh accurately or to scrape off a spatula.  Another time I may add some to water to make a less viscous solution, keeping any excess in the fridge until the next time I need some.
  • I didn’t weigh the mica.  I would consider it an optional ingredient anyway.  I added enough to cover about 6mm of the type of stick that coffee shops provide for stirring coffee.  I might double the amount next time, but too much glitter would be, well, too much.

Emulsifying wax doesn’t seem to melt into the other oil phase ingredients.  When the other oil phase ingredients are all liquid, take the oil phase and the water phase containers to your work surface and turn off the heat.  As there’s more of the water phase ingredients to heat up, they may not be as warm as the oil phase.  That’s not a problem.

It’s a good idea to put your stick blender into a separate pot and leave it to stand in hot water to warm it up a bit.

If you have a thermometer, watch the oil phase until the temperature drops to about 42C.  If you aren’t using a thermometer you can judge the temperature by feeling the outside of the container with your hand.  When it still feels warm but you can hold it comfortably, it’s time to start mixing.

I add the water phase to the oil phase, but it’s not critical which you add to which.  I just find pouring the water phase avoids oils and waxes solidifying on the rim of a container as you pour them.  Barely touch the control button on your stick blender as you mix the 2 phases – it’s important not to over-blend this lotion.  Only blitz the mixture until it’s just mixed.

Add the cool-down phase ingredients and blitz again, very briefly.

Decant the mixture into your pump bottles.  Briefly shake them as the lotion cools completely and thickens.

I keep all my cosmetics in a fridge until they are to be used.

Reflections

I’ve wanted to make a pumpable lotion for maybe a year.  Some attempts at formulating my own recipes produced rather nice and usable lotions, but they were too thick to be used in a pump bottle.  This recipe proved highly successful, and the lotion it produced is disappearing fast in this and other households.  in short – it’s a winner.

I’m sure I won’t resist the temptation to tinker with the recipe over the coming months, but the changes won’t be substantial.  I may subsitutute oil for oil, butter for butter, and maybe hydrosol for distilled water.

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Re-imagining the Winter Solstice

My first venture into making cosmetics was around this time of year.  I spent a couple of days at a workshop offered by Rowan McOnegal.  We made a classic Cold Cream and I added what I considered seasonal essential oils to provide fragance and act as preservatives.  I called it “Yule” because it’s a short word to put on a label.  And it’s what I was trying to evoke with the aromatic oils.

Since my first attempts, my cosmetic recipes have mostly been in two parts:

  • A base of oils, often combined with with water based ingredients
  • Esssential oils to provide fragrance and prevent mould and bacterial growth.

This post briefly explores how a perfume of essential oils is constructed, ending up with a recipe for a blend intended to invoke the the spirit of Yule.

The composition of a perfume

The word “composition” is somehow appropriate for perfume.  The analogy of making music is carried into the words used to describe the process.

Essential oils used in composing perfume are divided into three categories:

  • Head (or Top) notes
  • Heart (or Middle) notes
  • Base (or Bottom) notes.

Head notes are the more volatile oils.  They are the first to catch your attention.  Their impact is immediate, but short-lived.  They are the first to fade, often within minutes.

Heart notes have more staying power than head notes.  They may linger for an hour or two.

Base notes are the least volatile, and may last a day or more.

The categorisation of oils as Head, Heart or Base is not an exact science.  Most fall clearly into one category or another, but some inevitably fall on the cusp between.

There are no hard and fast rules, but a balanced perfume normally contains Head, Heart and Base oils.

Chords

Continuing the musical analogy, a blend of notes of the same category is known as a chord.  So a perfume normally comprises:

  • A chord of Head notes
  • A chord of Heart notes
  • A chord of Base notes.

Perfumeurs often blend individual chords, and then blend the completed chords into the final perfume.  I recognize that I’m an amateur, so  I do not attempt to shortcut this process.

Patrick Süskind presents a slightly stylized version of composition in his novel Perfume.  His ideal perfume comprised 12 individual elements in 4 chords, plus a  final 13th element to complete the perfume.  Perfumeurs would recognise the addition of the 13th ingredient as dosing the blended perfume.

Dosing

In addition to the chords that are blended to produce a perfume, some perfumeurs add very small quantities of particularly assertive ingredients.  Musk, civet and ambrette have been used for dosing.  Musk is virtually unobtainable now, and along with civet raises some significant ethical issues.

Re-imagining Yule
The essence of Ule
The essence of Yule

My 2017 and 2018 Yule blends comprised:

  • A Head note of Nutmeg
  • Heart notes of Clove and Cinnamon
  • A Base note of Frankinsense.

While this produced a suitably festive perfume, I wanted to evoke a couple of the memories of distant Winter celebrations:

  • Oranges were one of my childhood associations with the Winter holidays.  Fresh oranges were not so common (it was a while ago) and mandarin oranges (satsumas) were a seasonal treat.
  • Evergreens connect the Christmas Tree tradition with the older “bringing in the green”.

As well as selecting Bitter Orange and Scotch Piner Needle to go with the oils used in earlier years, I added Corriander.  I wanted to include the seasonal references, but that doesn’t always result in a harmonious blend.  I suspected that a little Corriander would help the other ingredients rub along together.  Bitter Orange, Scotch Pine Needle and Corriander are all Head notes, so while my Heart and Base cords remained the same  my Head note chord now comprised:

  • Bitter Orange
  • Scotch Pine Needle
  • Nutmeg
  • Corriander.

I’ll discuss the process of selecting the proportions of the oils in a perfume in a future post.  In the meantime, here’s the my recipe for (this year’s ) Yule fragrance :

  • 6 Drops Bitter Orange Essential Oil
  • 2 Drops Scotch Pine Needle Essential Oil
  • 3 Drops Nutmeg Essential Oil
  • 4 Drops Coriander Essential Oil
  • 3 Drops Clove Essential Oil
  • 2 Drops Cinnamon Essential Oil
  • 9 Drops Frankinsence Essential Oil

 

 

 

 

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Rose Tinted Lip Balm #135

This lip balm is coloured, but not with the intensity of a lip gloss or lipstick.

The colour is obtained from alkanet.  You may have encountered alkanet before.  It’s what gives the distinctive red colour to a Rhogan Josh curry.  You can buy alkanet at Asian food stores or online.  The alkanet is used to colour an oil that is used in the recipe.  I use light olive oil, but any light cooking oil will work.  Gently fry a couple of tablespoons full of alkanet in about 100 ml of oil until the oil takes on the red colour.  Let it cool and strain it into a clean glass jar or bottle.  Keep it somewhere dark and cool (ideally in a refridgerator) until you want to use it.

I’ve used Castor Oil in this recipe.  It’s a very good lip conditioner, and is slightly glossy.

To complement the rose colour, I’ve added a hint of mica (glitter) powder.  Any more than just a hint might be too much.

This recipe makes about 75g of lip balm, which is a little more than 12 tubes of 5.5 g each.

Ingredients
  • 30 ml Castor Oil
  • 15 g Unrefined Cocoa Butter
  • 15 g Beeswax
  • 15 ml Olive Oil coloured with Alkanet
Additions
  • 1 ml Vitamin E Oil
  • 0.2 g Purple mica powder
  • 4 drops Rose Essential Oil
Method

Measure all the ingredients (except the additions) into the glass jug. Put the stirrer into the jug with the ingredients, and then put the jug into an oven at 70-75C, or heat it in a bain marie.

While the ingredients are warming up and melting, prepare your tubes or tins.

When the ingredients are all liquid, remove them from the oven. Add the Vitamin E Oil, mica and the Essential Oil. Stir. Pour into the tubes or tins.

Keep your lip balm in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Product Information

I don’t sell my cosmetics, so I am not obliged to provide detailed product information.  However, I do provide a double-sided slip of paper that describes the product and its ingredients:

… and on the reverse:

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Chocolate Orange Lip Balm #133

Lip balms are among the easiest cosmetics to make.  At their most simple it’s just a matter of weighing out the ingredients, warming them up until everything has melted, stir and pour.

This recipe is a favourite, with the classic combination of chocolate and orange that is reminiscent of Christmas treats.

Don’t be tempted to increase the quantity of Orange Essential Oil in this recipe because at higher concentrations it becomes phototoxic.  I’ll discuss phototoxicity in a later post.

It makes about 110g of lip balm, which is about 18 tubes each containing 5.5g.  There’s a neat way of filling tubes that I discuss at the end of this post.  Alternatively, you can pour it into small tins.

In addition to the tubes or tins, you will need one glass jug and something to stir the mixture.

Ingredients
  • 60 ml Apricot Kernal Oil
  • 20 g Unrefined Cocoa Butter
  • 20 g Beeswax
  • 8 g Darkest Chocolate (I used Willy’s 100% Cocoa Solids Chocolate)
Additions
  • 1.5 ml Vitamin E Oil
  • 15 drops Bitter Orange Essential Oil
Method

Measure all the ingredients (except the additions) into the glass jug.  Put the stirrer into the jug with the ingredients, and then put the jug into an oven at 70-75C.  Now you can heat up your jug of ingredients in a bain marie if you don’t have access to an oven that can be set at relatively low temperatures, but there is a surprise advantage to using an oven.  The oven heats the jug evenly and the contents pour easily.  If you heat the mixture in a bain marie, the top of the jug doesn’t get very warm and the mixture solidifies on the jug as you pour.

While the ingredients are warming up and melting in the oven, prepare your tubes or tins.

When the ingredients are all liquid, remove them from the oven.  Add the Vitamin E Oil and the Essential Oil.  Stir.  Pour into the tubes or tins.

Keep your lip balm in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Clean up with very hot water and washing-up liquid.

Lip Balm Tubes

I’m definitely not in favour of single-use plastics, but nor am I blind to the ease with which plastics can be kept hygienically clean.  Lip balm tubes can be washed out with very hot soapy water and re-used if you can persuade their recipients to return them to you.

I do use lip balm tubes.  I’d like to think most people would return them.  The choice, of course, is yours.

If you do chose to put your lip balms into tubes, there is a very convenient way of filling them.  The version I use is branded Kare & Kind and is available on Amazon or Ebay.  (There are cheaper suppliers of the empty tubes if you shop around.)

The filling tray will take up to 50 tubes.  As I normally make smaller quantities, I have filled a few tubes with cold-cast resin to use as blanking plugs.