The Difference Between Essential Oils and Fragrance/Perfume Oils

by bea on June 1st, 2008

Essential oils and fragrance/perfume oils are very different! The basic difference is that essential oils are extracted from plants, whereas fragrance and perfume oils are synthetically produced scents.

Essential oils are called ‘essential’ because they contain the ‘essence’ of the plant within them - the oils contain the vitamins and nutrients the plant was using to keep itself alive and healthy. Due to the nature of the extraction, the nutrients are in a very concentrated form, which often gives the essential oil some useful and pleasant properties - some examples are a glorious strong aroma and healing properties.

Essential oils are extracted from the chosen plants in one of three ways - distillation, expression and solvent extraction…. the following green text is an excerpt from Wikipedia…

Distillation

Most common essential oils, such as lavender, peppermint, and eucalyptus, are distilled. Raw plant material, consisting of the flowers, leaves, wood, bark, roots, seeds, or peel, is put into an alembic (distillation apparatus) over water. As the water is heated the steam passes through the plant material, vaporizing the volatile compounds. The vapors flow through a coil where they condense back to liquid, which is then collected in the receiving vessel.

Most oils are distilled in a single process. One exception is Ylang-ylang (Cananga odorata), which takes 22 hours to complete through a fractional distillation.

The recondensed water is referred to as a hydrosol, hydrolat, herbal distillate or plant water essence, which may be sold as another fragrant product. Popular hydrosols are rose water, lavender water, lemon balm, clary sage and orange blossom water. The use of herbal distillates in cosmetics is increasing. Some plant hydrosols have unpleasant smells and are therefore not sold.

Expression

Most citrus peel oils are expressed mechanically, or cold-pressed. Due to the large quantities of oil in citrus peel and the relatively low cost to grow and harvest the raw materials, citrus-fruit oils are cheaper than most other essential oils.

Prior to the discovery of distillation, essential oils were extracted by pressing.

Solvent Extraction

Most flowers contain too little volatile oil to undergo expression and their chemical components are too delicate and easily denatured by the high heat used in steam distillation. Instead, a solvent such as hexane or supercritical carbon dioxide is used to extract the oils. Extracts from hexane and other hydrophobic solvent are called concretes, which is a mixture of essential oil, waxes, resins, and other lipophilic (oil soluble) plant material.

Although highly fragrant, concretes contain large quantities of non-fragrant waxes and resins. As such another solvent, often ethyl alcohol, which only dissolves the fragrant low-molecular weight compounds, is used to extract the fragrant oil from the concrete. The alcohol is removed by a second distillation, leaving behind the absolute.

Supercritical carbon dioxide is used as a solvent in supercritical fluid extraction. This method has many benefits, including avoiding petrochemical residues in the product. It does not yield an absolute directly. The supercritical carbon dioxide will extract both the waxes and the essential oils that make up the concrete. Subsequent processing with liquid carbon dioxide, achieved in the same extractor by merely lowering the extraction temperature, will separate the waxes from the essential oils. This lower temperature process prevents the decomposition and denaturing of compounds and provides for a superior product. When the extraction is complete, the pressure is reduced to ambient and the carbon dioxide reverts back to a gas, leaving no residue. Although supercritical carbon dioxide is also used for making decaffeinated coffee, the actual process is different. [Beauty by Bea does not use essential oils extracted with this process at this time]

….To be continued….

Felt me up!

by bea on May 27th, 2008

This week I’ve been enjoying looking at all things felty on Etsy… I love playing with felt - it’s so interesting, when you buy it in sheets it doesn’t need hemming, and so you can let your imagination run wild with shapes… like Lupin and her gorgeous pins…

this one is her Mug of Tea Pin which I just love, because I’m English, and I totally need tea at least once every 48 hours, or I wither away!

And when you get tired of playing with 2D shapes, (and you might not, ever!) you can make gorgeous vibrant practical creations with felt sheets, like FunkyShapes and her gorgeous baby booties…

These Mushroom Booties are just so unique, I love them! No baby’s wardrobe is complete without at least one quirky item!

If you don’t fancy buying felt, you can even take a felt obsession one step further and make your own! Needle felt is gorgeous and tactile, but a little bit dangerous to make (you can take bets on how many hundreds of times you’ll get stabbed in the finger by your own needle..)… FeltMeUpDesigns and Charlotte Narunsky both beautifully prove that you can make an array of gorgeous and unique creations using needle felting!

When I think of Etsy, I think of Charlotte’s felted brooches, they’re soft yet bold…

and FeltMeUp’s wonderful creatures are just awesome! This is her alien, he’s called Norman…

I love felt!

Bea x (PS lots of new things are zooming into my Etsy and Shop)

Toiletry Colourant Info Part One - Micas are not natural.

by bea on April 27th, 2008

Mica is a colourant used in all sorts of toiletries, soaps, and cosmetics - from lipsticks to body wash. It is also used in different ‘grades’ to add colour and sparkle to many different plastics and metals (it makes metallic paint look, well, metallic!)… 
 

 

Mica colouring is not natural. 

 

This is something that annoys me slightly when browsing through shops online – some toiletry sellers clearly state that their product is entirely natural, and then list mica in the ingredients. Mica is not natural; micas are derived from natural minerals but are then changed chemically… I’m not saying everyone should stop using micas in their products, or buying products with micas in them, I just believe in being informed! 

 

Here is a simplistic explanation - ‘Micas - These should fall into the FD&C colorants category because mica is a natural product,  that is mined but then, the individual mica (which looks like a platelet) is coated with FD&C colorants, or pigments, or a combination of both to achieve the colorant.  The dual sided color is what causes the shimmer and sheen of micas.’ [1] [italics added by author] 

Cosmetic grade micas are most commonly coated with titanium dioxide and iron oxide, but are also commonly coated with other chemical colourants such as ‘carmine’ and others…

 

 Titanium Dioxide is mined but is never entirely pure, so the crude titanium dioxide is purified via titanium tetrachloride in the chloride process. In this process, the crude ore is reduced with carbon, oxidized with chlorine to give titanium tetrachloride. This titanium tetrachloride is distilled, and re-oxidized with oxygen to give pure titanium dioxide. [2] This isn’t the most environmentally friendly or ‘natural’ of procedures! Titanium dioxide is employed as a pigment to provide whiteness and opacity to products such as paints, coatings, plastics, papers, inks, foods, medicines (i.e. pills and tablets) as well as most toothpastes. Used as a white food colouring, it has E number E171. In cosmetic and skin care products, titanium dioxide is used both as a pigment and a thickener. It is also used as a tattoo pigment and styptic pencils. [3]
 

The E number E171 is banned in Germany, and pollutes waterways.

 

 Iron Oxide - Iron pigments are widely used in the cosmetic field. They are considered to be nontoxic, moisture resistant, and nonbleeding. Iron oxides graded safe for cosmetic use are produced synthetically in order to avoid the inclusion of ferrous or ferric oxides, and impurities normally found in naturally occurring iron oxides. Typically, the Iron(II) oxide pigment is black, while the Iron(III) oxide is red or rust-coloured. (Iron compounds other than oxides can be other colours.) [4] [italics added] 

 

Carmine

Carmine also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470 or E120, is a pigment of a bright red colour obtained from the carminic acid produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal and the Polish cochineal, and is used as a general term for a particularly deep red colour. Carmine is used in the manufacture of Coca Cola, artificial flowers, paints, rouge, cosmetics, food additives, and crimson ink. Carmine may be prepared from cochineal, by boiling dried insects in water to extract the carminic acid and then treating the clear solution with alum, cream of tartar, stannous chloride, or potassium hydrogen oxalate; the colouring and animal matters present in the liquid are thus precipitated. Other methods are in use; sometimes egg white, fish glue, or gelatine are added before the precipitation. [5] the use of carmine as a food additive is banned in some countries, and frowned upon in the European Union. Carmine may cause allergic reactions and is not to be consumed by children (orally.) 

 

This information really put me off using micas in my natural products, I felt that I would not be able to call them natural, eco friendly and in some cases they wouldn’t even be vegan in my opinion! A lot of people have absolutely no clue about the origins of the colourants in toiletries – it’s a scarily easy mistake to make, as a seller and a buyer.  I’ve also heard some possibly unfounded talk of the use of ‘soap grade’ micas – because soap apparently doesn’t fall under the ‘toiletry’ category, soap makers (in the US at least) can legally get away with using micas that are prohibited for use in toiletries (in other words they aren’t toiletry grade micas)… apparently some of these micas may be coated in arsenic and even lead (I have no information as yet to back that up)… because micas are used to add shine to everything from plastics to metals of all sorts, I can see how it would be easy to get the wrong mica for the job! Quite a few web resources do stress the need to check the grade of your mica before use! For instance you should not use cosmetic grade mica in lip balm unless it has been graded as food safe. 

 

I’m not trying to be a scaremonger, I’m just trying to educate myself and others who are interested in eco friendly, natural and vegan toiletries… I’ll be looking at more colourants, and ingredients in more depth soon (I will even look at how some completely natural ingredients are not at all eco friendly. Stay tuned!) 

1 – www.teachsoap.com2, 3, 4, 5 – www.wikipedia.org

 

 

 

 

One Ring to Bind Them…

by bea on April 24th, 2008

This week on Etsy I’ve been perusing the wonderful ring shops…. and my husband has made a lovely treasury

 

My personal favourites have to be the Ground Texture Wedding Band Set by Shade Jewelry

 

They are  a beautiful pair of uniquely patterned titanium rings - they almost look like vertigreed copper, I love them!

 And Organic Mechanic by Jewelry Fool

 Jewelry Fool has a shop just crammed full of gorgeous, gorgeous rings! Organic Mechanic is a beautiful ring made from brushed and patina-ed copper… I wish it was mine!

 More posts soon… and more things are appearing in my shop every few days!

Bea x

Aharrr! Treasure!

by bea on April 2nd, 2008

This week I’ve been lucky enough to be featured in two treasuries on Etsy, so I thought I’d share them with you guys too…

‘Coffee and Cream’ was chosen by Marmalady who makes gorgeous delicious cakes, preserves and more for UK people - Yum! Below is a pic of her lovely Canadian Nutty Squares! Mmmm!

…The Treasury…

 

‘Delicate’ was chosen by LazyGiraffe, she makes gorgeous beaded creations like the lovely earrings entitled ‘Rusty Bloom’ below …

….The Treasury….

More soon!

Bea x

Pretty Prizes!

by bea on March 31st, 2008

Hello there! I’m finally getting back to blogging after the birth of my second daughter and third child Miranda Rose, all three of them are handfuls so sporadic posting is the name of the game!

During the month of April I’m providing the prize for the thread of the month at the Bad Mother’s Club! Here’s a photo of the jumbo gift basket, worth more than £40….

 

It contains soaps, butter, balms, massage bars, shampoo, and shampoo bars! If you’d like a similar basket I’m happy to make them as custom orders!

This month there will be plenty of new gorgeous natural handmade products gracing the shelves of Beauty by Bea and my Etsy store… the first of these brand new creations are my mini bath fizzers and fizzing moisturising melts…

 These are my Fiesta Fizzies - healing mini bath fizzers which contain calendula and rose petals, rose and ylang ylang essential oils and cocoa-butter and sweet almond oil - they leave your skin soft replenished and clean.

 And these are my Sweet Slumber mini bath Fizzers which contain a specially formulated mix of lavender, ylang ylang and rosemary essential oils to relax your body and uplift your mood - perfect for a night time bath!

 

 More blogging coming soon!

Bea x

Bags on the Brain

by bea on December 7th, 2007

Well the other day I reached the 36 week pregnant mark and so I decided I’d better pack my bag for going to hospital (I wish I could just sit at home and do it, but it’s impossible around here to get them to agree!) I wish I could take a gorgeously stylish bag to hospital with me, but no, of course I’m stuck with a huge black bottomless pit of a bag with ‘Carling’ written on the side *sigh*….. great for stuffing with nappies and breastpumps though (joy!)…

 So, I thought I needed a bit of bag themed window shopping… and of course I’m far too fat for actual window shopping so here are some of my favourites from UK Etsians (huzzah!)… I’ve put them into categories (aren’t I logical!)

 Beautiful Bags

 

This bag by Stitchworks is simply entitled ‘Embroidered Bag’ and uses thistles and swaying green stems as inspiration - it’s simply beautiful! (In fact the whole shop is incredibly temping and full of things I would stroke and coo over for hours!)

The above bag by GilflingsDesigns is named ‘Collecting the Past’ - it’s a beautiful combination of thoughtful artwork, imaginative embellishments and a classically gorgeous shape! I love it!

Stylish Bags

This gorgeous ruby red hand felted Clutch Purse by Shunklies is effortlessly stylish and terrifically textural too! I love the deep, wintry colour - it reminds me of mulled wine!

This cutely stylish bag by FeltMeUp is a complete contrast to the ruby red one above! The Sunflower Bag reminds me of hazy summer days and golden sunflowers drying in the sunshine….

Man Bags (kind of)

This amazing wallet ‘Flying Wing Concept’ by MadebyPaddy is a perfect boy wallet - it’s so cool! The outside features the ‘concept art’ for the for the Northrop YB-49 flying wing bomber (er, right!) and the inside features actual photographic prints of it flying….

This zippered pouch entitled ‘Manly Man’ by the hilarious Yumptatious needs no description, it does exactly what it says on the tin - it is clearly a Man Bag of brilliance.

Bags for little ladies

This gorgeously girly bag ‘Catwalk’ by ChichiBoulie would make the most perfect present for any little princess out there who likes shopping (pretend or otherwise!) if only my little one was a few years older I’d have snapped this up on sight!

 Phew, that’s me all handbagged out, I hope you liked my little display! As for my news, I’ve finally got a brand new set of lovely containers - and I’ve just ordered a lot of ingredients and gift wrapping, so give me a few weeks and the shops will both look entirely new and fresh, and body butters and balms will be restocked - as they’ve almost all sold out! New fragrances and products are in development too!

Thank you for your brilliant Christmas orders!

Bea xxx

The Christmas Rush!

by bea on December 1st, 2007

Well, it’s been a whirlwind few weeks! Things have been selling out super fast! These are the last postage dates for guaranteed Christmas Delivery (according to Royal Mail anyway!)

Friday 7th December: Everywhere else
Monday 10th December: USA, Canada, Japan and Eastern Europe
Thursday 13th December: Western Europe
Thursday 20th December: UK First Class

And here is a tempting picture with some of my remaining products and brand new items! Grab them fast, before they disappear!

Bunny Fitches and new stitches….

by bea on November 24th, 2007

Well firstly I’ve actually managed somehow (I really don’t know how!) to finish a beadwoven bracelet for my Aunty for Christmas (no worries about her seeing, she has no ‘puter)… I really enjoyed making this particular bracelet because prior to the toiletries rush of 2007 I was concentrating on tubular beadweaving with bead embroidered embellishments, so this ladder design was a refreshing change! I’m hoping to make some in different colours, as always if you fancy a custom order I am totally available *wink*.

I’ve had another busy few days my Shop and Etsy shop  - I’m over the 90 sale mark now, wasn’t I just saying a few days ago I’d hit 70?! My head’s spinning!

My favourite item in my shop that hasn’t sold out this week is the 3 soap gift basket (here on the Etsy shop)  - it’s a cute little basket with three soaps of your choice inside (you just contact me to tell me which three soaps you’d like from my shop…or let me choose randomly) each soap is individually gift wrapped, and then the whole pretty basket is wrapped in patterned cellophane  - it looks great under the tree and is only £8.00 or $15.00…

 Ah - now onto the bunny fitches! I got a Treasuryyesterday on Etsy and decided to give it the theme of ‘British Humour’ (hence the bunny fitches….) here are a few of my favourite hilarious handmade Etsy products of the moment -

 1. Ninja Pigs byMooCowHandKnits

Unfortunately the second I added these amazing deadly ninja pigs to my treasury they sold (noooo!) but I’m sure if you ask Moo nicely she’ll be able to find some more from Moo Cow Land… the two flanking trained killers can fend off thieves with just a twitch of their scary little snouts, while the big bad middle piggy holds onto your precious stash of craft supply money…. Perfect! (Check out Moo’s shop for gorgeous hand knitted and unique Christmas present ideas, now!)

2. The Jack Sparrow Sock Monkey by Siansbury’s

I had to include this guy because I have a serious crush on Jack Sparrow, and somehow Sian has managed to capture his likeness in the most uncanny fashion! Who would have thought she could capture his personality using nothing but socks and felt?! This utterly amazing sock monkey comes complete with a brilliant handmade outfit, and even a silver sword!! *Swoon* - how can you not love him?! You must check out Sian’s shop for lots of other inventive sock monkey ideas!

More coming soon…. remember to keep checking the shops because I have two different types of shampoo and lots of lavender creations in the pipeline! Thanks for keeping me so busy!

Bea xx

Hufty Watch! Escape! Escape!

by bea on November 21st, 2007

This is my first ever Hufty watch post, so I’ll have to explain a little about what these extra special little creatures are before disclosing some very important information about them!

 Hufties are the creation of the very talented Kate (who I happen to know) - she’s a super cool genetic scientist who worked out how to splice the genes of cats, tellytubbies, moomins and greenspottedfluffaliens from Venus together to create the softest cutest pet ever…. *but* what she wasn’t bargaining on was their cheeky temperament…

 So one day, she’s taking her newly toilet trained hufties out into the garden for a pre-sale photo shoot…. and they look very cute and innocent, don’t they just?

When all of a sudden, that cheeky one - there on the left! Sneaked off…. and let out the *tortoises*

‘Oh, blimey’ thought Kate - and she knew she was for it, because when creating her special miniature tortoises she used mountain goat DNA (you know, for the super soft coat) - but they’re fast little blighters, I can tell you! So, there she was running around trying to herd cheeky hufties, and super speedy tortoises both at once like a headless chicken…. luckily, she managed to enclose the tortoises safely in her yard…

But unfortunately she discovered this had all been a carefully planned escape attempt (blame Petunia the purple hufty, that cheeky little so’n’so…) and after many frantic phone calls she discovered their whereabouts…… the massive country park a mile away!

But before she could say ‘damn that pesky cat DNA!’ they’d scarpered, and were seen disappearing at top speed through a hedge and into the open countryside…

 

Which poses incredibly huge risks to the UK countryside and animal population in general - can you imagine what will happen when they breed, and then cross breed?! Bright pink rabbits?! So please, if you see any Hufties in your area, feel free to take them in as pets, and make sure you contact me, ASAP, ok?

Well.. phew.. at least the 100 mile an hour tortoises didn’t escape…..

AAARGH!

 If you’d like to own one of these very special creatures, please leave me a comment or email me at beabooth@beautybybea.co.uk and I can put you in touch with the very tired Kate (who will be only too happy to send you one of the cheeky little sausages!!) and please, don’t let them in your garden unattended, for goodness sake.

******

Also this week, I hit the 80 sales mark on my Etsy in double quick time! Christmas rush or what! So grab what you can while you can … I’ve also added some new things to my new Shop - I now have a good range of soaps, body butters, balms and scrubs on there, and I’ve made it easier to create an account, and made a links page (leave a comment/contact me if you’re interested in a link swap)…. more thing will be added soon - I’m about to go and make some gorgeous Shea Delight Rose and Geranium Shampoo Bars  - mmm!

Watch out for hufties - and remember, they are perfectly toothless.

Bea xx