0082912 Blog updates

Answered a comment on an old post on vegetarianism and hypoglycemia.  Thanks Louise for your comment!  I wil try to post more on this topic in the future.

Please note all comments are moderated.  Spam and any comment with a link it is immediately deleted. Thanks for understanding!

Jasmine Infused Oil

Pictured: Jasmine Infused Oil

A week or so ago I bought a jasmine sambac plant.  Right now it has mostly buds and only a couple flowers, so hopefully in a few days more buds will open and bloom.  Jasmine is one of my favorite scents.  There is nothing like the scent of jasmine; many people have never smelled the real thing.  Most of the jasmine scents on the market are synthetic since a single ounce of real jasmine absolute or the co2 extract is really expensive: anywhere from $150-300 wholesale, so most companies don’t use the absolutes. I use three jasmine absolutes (from different species) and two jasmine waxes in perfumery and natural skin care.  I have also tried the co2 extract as well as the organic extract (which is made similar to the absolute but made with benign and organic solvents). True jasmine is sensual, deep, sweet, and honeyed.  The plant I have smells similar to its absolute, a bit less intense but still heady. Its scent is pure heaven! :)

A few days ago I started making jasmine infused oil, which is similar to making other herbal infused oils (just made with fresh flowers instead of dried, and it will require multiple infusions).  My plant is medium sized, so far only two flowers have opened, and it has just a handful of buds, so I imagine it is going to take me a while to make the infused oil.  I placed the first of the flowers in a few ounces of carrier oil (I used fractionated coconut oil for its long shelf life but any oil can be used).  I’ll be doing each infusion for shorter amounts of time (just a few days each time, since this is using fresh plant parts, and I am doing multiple infusions—whenever the flowers bloom).   I used a jar for now (easier to strain or pick out the spent flowers) but will place the final product in a bottle later.  This will probably take me several weeks to months to complete, so a bit longer than the typical infused oil, but I am sure it will be well worth the wait!

I can’t wait until it is done so I can compare the scent of jasmine infused oil with (diluted) jasmine sambac absolute and jasmine sambac wax.  I’ve had jasmine plants in the past but I have never made a jasmine infused oil before, so I am excited to see how it turns out!  Definitely will be using the final product in perfumery or skin care!  

Eco Living: Reusing Packing Materials

I try to be as green as possible.  So before I throw anything out, I always first try to find a way to reuse it or recycle it, and only throw things out as a last resort.  So recently when cleaning out my business supplies, I found myself faced with mounds of packing materials (my skin care business has been temporary closed for a while, and I just restocked all of my ingredients in anticipation of my reopening.  So I had a lot of excess packing/shipping materials lying around!).  So for this month's eco living article I have written ways to reuse packing materials.  Hope you like the article!

Eco Living/DIY Home Formulating: Powdered Fruit Extracts in skin care recipes

Another awesome question from K!  My most recent eco living/diy home beauty formulating question was on powdered fruit extracts.  Powdered fruit extracts and fruit powders are a wonderful way to use fruits in cosmetics.  K asked me if they can be subbed for juices in natural, fresh, kitchen cosmetic blends.  The answer: it depends since there are a few types of fruit extracts.  I use them extensively (both in crafting for myself, and I used them in crafting my skin care line too).  In the article I described the different kind of powdered fruit extracts and powders that I am familiar with, and offered some advice on subbing them for juices in the recipes.  Enjoy!

There are also liquid fruit extracts too, but I did not go over them since the question was specifically for the powdered kind.  But the liquid ones are all of the usual herbal and lab types of extracts: tinctures, vinegars, glycerites, oils, and also lab concentrated fruit extracts.