Illuminated Perfume: Perfume Illuminated: Cannabis

In a subtle association with the previous post about Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, Perfume today gets Illuminated with a bit of Cannabis.

Known by a variety of names including Hemp, Cannabis was utilized for thousands years for such things as paper, fiber, textiles, beauty care and more. An interesting time line of the use of Hemp can be found at Hemp House Maui where the versatility of the plant is well documented.

FRAGRANCE

For the natural botanical perfumer there is a steam distilled Hemp, Cannabis sativa, essential oil and a Hemp seed oil as a carrier base.

Hemp seed carrier oil has a medium viscosity with a nutty aroma. It is often employed for the skin, cooking and soap making. The disadvantage of the oil is that the shelf life is only about three months depending on how it is stored. My experience with it has been with deep moisturizing oil treatments for the hair.

The essential oil of Hemp is obtained by the flowers with an herbaceous aroma. I use this essences in Vera, the perfume devoted to Lavender. It pairs well with other aromatics of the meadow and citrus.

This particular essence is not included in any of my perfume books. Since the aroma therapeutic profile has a calming affect the essential oil will work well for a bedtime perfume or linen spray combined with Chamomile, Lavender, Sandalwood and Neroli.

For a conceptual perfume consider pairing with Patchouli as the start of a hippie perfume and add some transformational essences including Frankincense.