RE: Floral Waxes - Many Questions

[Guest guest]

Hi Chris,

 

Yes, thank you that was very helpful!

And thank you so much for taking the time

to provide such detailed descriptions of

the scents.

 

It definately will help with my decision

about what to order. :-)

 

Hope others enjoyed it too!

 

Blessings to all,

Holly

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

> Hi Chris,

 

 

Hi Holly,

 

> I have never used (or even seen!) floral waxes so am

> completley uninformed about their appearance, texture

> & consistency and useage.

 

I have a feeling you're not the only person here who has had either

little or no experience with the floral waxes and has questions about

them. That is why I asked & received your permission to answer this

e-mail on list ...

 

> I would be interested in trying some, especially

> of the rose, if it would work well for scenting my

> M & P soaps.

 

I'm glad to hear that. I think you'll enjoy using them. I find they open

an artist up to being able to add otherwise cost prohibitive precious

natural aromatics to their soaps, candles, etc ... They will work in

scenting soaps, but in general, I would recommend not necessarily using

them as the sole scenting material, but rather using them as a part of a

scent blend.

 

> Some of the other scents, I don't know what they

> are either. Could you give me some idea of what these scents are

> like?

 

Oh gosh, I hope someone who can describe scents better than I do will

jump in here to describe those scents (not necessarily them in the form

of the wax that I have, but just those smells in general! Well, here

goes .. I will sniff wax and type ..

 

Cassie : - Acacia - related to Mimosa - its warm and kind of sweet,

but not cloying like some florals. It also has a bit of an earthy and

spicy element .. almost a bit like some resins I use for making incense,

but more subtle. I'd even describe it as a bit green and woody ... it

would definitely bring out the sweetness in a blend but at the same time

give it some tenacity!

 

 

Frangipani: - fresh & floral (once again, not cloying), green and a

tiny bit spicy - an almost curry like hint ... Actually, it also has a

very slight fruity note that reminds me of a doll I had back in the

early 80's with fruit scented hair *lol*

 

 

Tuberose: - fruity, sweet, floral, warm, honeysuckle like. Not just a

fleeting top note, has some tenacity to it. I have found that tuberose

can be nice or, well, not so nice, and this one is very pleasant to my

nose Related to Narcissus.

 

> Violet Leaf - Violet leaf doesn't sound like it would smell like

> violet flowers, but if it does I'd likely be interested in trying it.

 

 

You are correct .. Violet Leaf does not smell like violet flowers. It

has a nice green, fresh, cucumber like scent.

 

Though, I have seen in the archives of Anya's Natural Perfumery Group

 

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a recipe from perfumer Terry Sterling for a Violet Flower Accord that

calls for Violet Leaf as one of the ingredients.

 

> What is the consistency like? When I think of wax, the only

> thing that comes to mind is parafin or beeswax consistencies.

 

Consistency varies with floral waxes - for example Jasmine grand. is a

soft, kind of sticky wax while Jasmine sambac is rock hard. Rose wax is

very hard, while Clary Sage is very soft and sticky - almost like taffy,

Tuberose is creamy and Frangipani is hard and crumbly ... etc ...

 

> Do the waxes retain any healing properties? Could

> they be used in healing salves or are they for

> scenting only?

 

They are a by-product of the absolute making process, which are created

with aromatic concretes made from solvents . For the most part concretes

and absolutes are used more for scent aesthetics (perfumery &

aromachology) than for aromatherapy.

 

Now as far as whether there are any non scent related benefits they may

impart ... Jeanne Rose does have an article on her web site about using

several floral waxes in cosmetics. She specifically mentions the

benefits of Cassie wax, especially in a variety of skin lightening and

anti-aging formulas. She also discusses Rose Wax, Narcissus Wax, etc ...

 

http://www.jeannerose.net/articles/essential_flower_waxes.html

 

 

> Would you have any idea of how much I would need to use

> for the same scenting effect of an essential oil? For example

> if I would normally use 1tsp of EO in a soap, would I need

> to use an equivalent amount of wax?

 

Marge Clark gave some wonderful advice on here about using waxes some

months ago. She said that with soap making, generally speaking - 1 oz of

wax is = to 1/2 oz of absolute.

 

Recently I came across an old snippet in the archives from Anastasia

Crabtree where she mentioned using 1 oz of floral wax as part of her

blend for a 4 lb batch of soap ...

 

Obviously you'd have to adjust those numbers given above depending on

the odor intensity of your raw material (some waxes have a

fainter/stronger odor than others) and what you're looking to create,

but if you use them as a general guide, you can go play and have some

sort of direction to start with!

 

> Thanks very much for any help you can offer.

 

> Holly Perry

 

I have a recipe on my web page for a body butter formulated with floral

wax.

http://alittleolfactory.com/recipes.htm

I hope to be posting some more recipes there soon - as time permits.

 

 

Also, DM's site Make Your Own Cosmetics http://makeyourowncosmetics.com/

<http://makeyourowncosmetics.com/search.asp> has several recipes

containing floral waxes.

 

I hope that info helped you and others out some!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

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