"What makes the scent of your candles?" (Referring to WoodSprite Organic Body)
- Tiffany
A:
Hello Tiffany,The short answer to your question is that we use only 100% natural, pure essential oils to make the scents in our soy aromatherapy candles at WoodSprite. However, the answer becomes more detailed if one doesn't know what Essential Oils (EOs) are, or what the difference is between an EO and a fragrance oil. If it's the latter, then please read on!
Essential Oils (EOs) are natural living essences extracted (usually distilled) directly from real plants. The term "essential oil" is actually misleading, because they are not actually oils at all, but rather volatile extracts which evaporate at room temperature. An easy way to see if you have a pure, distilled, unadulterated essential oil is the paper test: blot a drop of essential oil on plain paper and see if an oil mark remains after a day or two. If there is a mark, then it is adulterated. If it evaporates, it is likely pure--because there is no oil in it at all, but an aromatic, complex compound of the living plant's vital properties. Not all plants will yield an essential oil; or what they do yield is so negligible as to be purposeless to extract from them.
That's why there is, sadly, no Lilac essential oil; no Coconut (although there is a virgin coconut oil, which is a cold-pressed oil which does carry the natural scent of the coconut and it is, indeed, divine) no Strawberry essential oil, no Watermelon, no Kiwi, no Mango, no Fig...In general, there are no fruit EOs except for the citrus family. Different parts of the same plant can give off different EOs, such as the Bitter Orange: There is an EO from the bitter orange blossom (known as Neroli) which is one of the most expensive EOs in the world with a long history of use in perfumery AND aromatherapy, and then there is the EO given by the fruit peel--which smells differently and carries different properties. EOs can be distilled from leaves, blossoms, stems, roots and even bark. Essential Oils are incredibly concentrated due to the distillation process. It takes about 2,000 lbs. of roses to produce just 1 lb. of Rose Attar.
But ALL essential oils have one thing in common: they were directly distilled or extracted from real, live (or sometimes dried) plants. Synthetics abound--the best way to identify synthetics is if the label says "fragrance" on the ingredients list. Anyone who is using pure Essential Oils (and only essential oils--remember, sometimes they'll mix just enough real EOs into the formula to claim it's natural, then dump a bunch of cheap fragrance in to spread the costs) will proudly list them on their label, because they have taken the time and expense to use them and they want people to know about it. Any words other than "pure essential oil" should raise suspicion. WoodSprite products make exclusive use of pure EOs; we use absolutely no fragrance oils or other synthetics in our products, ever.
Kind regards,
Jacquelyn Ramsey
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