Transforming your enfleurage into absolute: the art of extracting living perfume

You have finished your enfleurage, and your fat now perfumes the soul of the lilac, the violet or any other silent flower...
But how can we go further? How can we extract this plant fragrance to make it even more concentrated, pure, ready to be used in solid perfumes or botanical treatments?

The answer lies in an ancient and precious word: the absolute .

In this article, I reveal my homemade technique, step by step, to transform your cold enfleurage into an artisanal floral absolute, using simple tools and natural ingredients.

🌿 What is an absolute?

Absolute is a highly concentrated plant essence, extracted from fragrant materials such as flowers, resins or concretes.
It is more powerful and stable than a macerate, and retains all the olfactory complexity of the plant.
It is the most precious form that can be obtained from a silent flower—and the most faithful to its original fragrance.

The art of capturing the soul of a flower through time and matter has fascinated for centuries.
Enfleurage, this ancestral technique which uses oil to capture the delicate fragrance of the petals, is a magical step.
But to obtain an absolute, a concentrated and precious extract, you have to go further.

My ingredients

• Deodorized coconut oil, infused with fresh flowers (enfleurage)
• Organic Neutral Perfume Base (natural denatured alcohol at approximately 90-95%)
  (Be careful not to confuse with more industrial or unnatural versions like Alcohol Denat. SDA-40B anhydrous)
  You can find this alcohol at Les Ames Fleurs
• Materials: glass jars, stainless steel bowl, fabric filters or coffee filter

Manufacturing steps

1. Enfleurage / scented ointment

I started by macerating my fresh flowers in coconut oil. Over the days, the oil becomes a rich and sweet scented ointment.
If you want to know how I did it, it's here : [Lilac Enfleurage Technique]

2. Extraction with the neutral base for perfume

Once my oil was nice and fragrant, I mixed one part perfumed oil to two parts alcohol (neutral perfume base). I stirred the mixture well, then tightly closed the jar.

This mixture was left to rest for a few days (about 3 days) away from light, at room temperature, to allow the alcohol to extract the aromatic compounds from the oil.

I stirred it about 2 times a day while it was resting.

3. Filtration

After this maceration time, I placed the mixture in the fridge to set it, then I filtered it through a fine cloth to recover a clear liquid loaded with perfume.

It is normal to observe a sometimes gelled or solidified texture due to the separation between the oil and the alcohol.

4. Decanting and resting

I let the alcoholic extract sit for 24 hours in a cool place so that the last impurities could settle to the bottom. Then I carefully transferred the clear liquid into a stainless steel bowl for the final step.

5. Evaporation to obtain the absolute

I poured the perfumed alcohol into a wide bowl and left it out in the open air, at room temperature, away from direct light. The alcohol evaporated slowly over several days. Maybe 5 days... I lost count.

Gradually, the alcohol evaporates and leaves a dense and concentrated perfumed material: the house absolute .

🌸 Final result

This slow and patient process has allowed me to create a fragrant absolute, with a rich and soft texture, concentrating the pure essence of lilac (or whatever flower is used).
This absolute is ideal for perfuming balms, soaps, oils or even homemade incense.

In summary

💡 Tips and precautions

• Use the purest alcohol possible for a clean, cosmetic result.
• Store your absolute in an amber glass bottle, away from light and heat. It will keep for several months.
  

Conclusion — Concentrated Floral Magic

Transforming an enfleurage into an absolute extends the life of a seasonal perfume.
It is keeping the imprint of a May morning, capturing it in liquid form, to slip it into your natural creations, it is an art that is certainly refined with experience.

And above all, it is the pleasure of creating a living, artisanal, unique perfume, far from the standardized commercial concentrates.

PS You can reread the post on lilac enfleurage here if you want to start the process again from the beginning.

PPS And if you want to receive other plant-based recipes, botanical advice and ideas for fragrant creations, I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter 🌿
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Happy creating my Toad!