Essential Oil Distillation and Perfume Making

I studied aromatherapy in the UK.

I learned about the benefits of various aromatic essential oils, how to use them to address specific symptoms, and how to create my original blends. These oils can be used for massage or diffused in an aromatherapy diffuser to scent a room.

The other day, I participated in a workshop where we contracted essential oil. There are three main extraction methods: steam distillation, cold pressing, and organic solvent extraction. This time, we used the steam distillation method. Steam distillation is the most common method and dates back to the time of the Mesopotamian civilization. It uses steam to extract aromatic compounds from plants and fruits.

The process is as follows:

Place the plants or fruits to be distilled into a glass distillation vessel and heat it

Once boiling begins, the aromatic compounds in the plants and fruits come into contact with the steam. The heat of the steam causes these compounds to evaporate, and the steam carrying the aromatic compounds enters a cooling tube. The steam is rapidly cooled by ice, causing it to condense and collect in a container. The resulting liquid consists of water that comes from the steam (aromatic distilled water) at the bottom and essential oil (aroma oil) at the top. This time, I distilled summer mandarins.

The concentrated scent of the summer mandarins was very deep and refreshing.

Since I was told that the aromatic distilled water could be applied directly to the skin or added to drinks, I tried applying some to my hands. Being a citrus scent, it made me feel refreshed. After returning home, I tried adding it to gin, and it was refreshing as well. Since it wasn’t sweet, it was perfect drink for a meal.

The essential oil has a slightly summer mandarin scent. I blended it with ylang-ylang, patchouli, and Egyptian essential oils to create my own original blend. When I warmed it in an aroma diffuser, the scent of summer mandarin came through first, followed by the sweet aroma of ylang-ylang, and finally, the deep, powerful scent of Egyptian oil, and patchouli floated for quite a long time. It had been a while since I’d blended scents, and I had a really enjoyable time.

I realized that both Japanese incense and European aromatherapy are tools that use scent to bring people happiness and help them unwind.

I decided I want to enjoy scents whenever I’m relaxing at home.