Lilac Flower CO2 Extract Oil

When my mother moved into our first farmhouse as a young bride, she planted lilac bushes that began at the front of the house and met down to the bottom of the driveway. Although I never asked, I felt the bushes were an answer to the harshness of living in what felt like the middle of no where, far any town or city. I remember those lilacs. Before my memories of my brother who arrived three years after me, it was those lilacs that sustained my need for something beautiful, ‘un-capturable’ and almost reckless with their arrival in last of winters. The flowers grow well in Canada and other colder countries, preferring long cold winters to hibernate until their perfumed branches would burst with magenta notes often contrasting against the last remnants of prairie snow. I never missed a year of buying my face into what I thought was the most etherial aroma I could think of and I couldn’t let go of a mind wild with notions of capturing their fleeting notes. 

I reckon lilac is one of the most synthesized oils of any. Over the years, I purchased many extractions including antique oils from Fritzsche Brothers or MMR. The profile has always held the same synthetic profile which for a natural perfumer and supplier is an assault to my senses. It took a few years to understand lilac’s season here in California. The blossoms arrive hard and fast and it was two years before I landed on the perfect harvest time. I have distilled white, persian and purple lilacs for hydrosol use and have an alcohol maceration, which is entering into its third year and perhaps final year before transitioning into a perfume. I’ve learned a lot from extracting the flower. Lilac is fleeting and must be harvested and processed preferably within hours. It doesn’t forgive time. These are incredibly important aspects to understand to avoid purchasing synthetic lilac marketed as natural. This CO2 extraction is produced in smaller batches (although not quite as small as my CO2 extractor) from wild harvested lilacs in Bulgaria. The blossoms are processed immediately after harvest and kept in cool storage. I import both lilac CO2 and absolute and then store almost a year to age out a little of the green notes that lilac holds when freshly processed. I do this as well with the hydrosol I produce. The oil is gorgeous and holds so much more vitality than other lilac CO2s I’ve evaluated. It does the job a CO2 is supposed to do; that is, to capture the aroma compounds of a flower without heat that is historically difficult to capture in its most authentic profile. For me, lilac CO2 is personal. When I close my eyes and inhale deeply,  I’m brought back to that little girl burying her face in lilacs every spring on the Canadian prairies.