Newsletter

Summer 2004

A morning view of the city of Grasse looking down to the Bay of Cannes.

Grasse is the traditional home of the French perfume industry. It goes back to the 16th century, when a fashion started for scented leather, in particular for scented leather gloves. In the surrounding regions cultivation of a wide range of aromatic plants developed, including Rose, Jasmin, Neroli, Violet Leaf and Lavender with considerable trade in perfumes and perfume raw materials. For anyone interested in perfume and its production and history, Grasse is a fine place to visit. While there is less oil production in the region than in the past, Grasse remains an important centre of perfume production and trade.

Bar-sur-loup
Bar-sur-Loup is a village situated in the hills above Cannes, a few miles away from Grasse. Here traditionally bitter Orange trees were grown to supply the perfumers of Grasse with the flowers to make Neroli oil. The oil from this region was particularly esteemed. A number of special varieties of Orange tree were grown here at the upper altitude limit where oranges can be successfully cultivated. However in 1957 disaster struck and, frost wiped out all the orange trees in the area. Only one farmer replanted orange trees, using cuttings from gardens in Nice on the nearby coast. Since 1957 he has tended his trees - more for love than for money, and now in his 90's still works the land. In the last few years his son has begun distilling the flowers using traditional copper equipment, and producing Neroli water of exquisite sweetness, which is available from Atlantic Aromatics.

Citronella is a grass closely related to Lemongrass which is native to Sri Lanka and is grown widely in Asia and elsewhere. We now offer an organic Citronella oil from Nepal which has a fine fresh lemony fragrance. Citronella is mostly used as an insect repellent. It has the advantage of being non toxic to humans as well as offensive to insects.

Methods of use:

Burner - to repell insects or dispell bad odours add approx. 8-10 drops to your burner

Garden - sprinkle a few drops (every couple of days) around a small area requiring protection from cats or other animals

Insect repellant - a few drops on a handkerchief (& worn around the neck) or a few drops on the bottom of trouser legs.

A spray bottle can be very effective. Using 100ml of water (or Lavender water) add 5ml of Citronella (you could lessen the Citronella and add Lavender/Melissa/Tea Tree oil if the scent of Citronella is not your favourite). For best results, blend the oil in a little alcohol before adding to water. Shake vigorously before using to disperse oil. You can spray onto clothes before going outdoors or around a room.

How big is a drop of oil?
There are a wide variety of dropper insert types available and different essential oil companies use different types which produce drops of different sizes. We supply oils with a dropper which give a relatively small drop and one which is easy to control, allowing specific dispensing and accuracy when following of recipes. For common oils each drop weighs approximately 0.02g.

To make a massage blend using Atlantic Aromatics oils add the following number of drops of essential oil to a quantity of vegetable carrier oil.

10ml carrier - For 1% blend add 5 drops. For 2% blend add 10 drops

50ml carrier - For 1% blend add 25 drops .For 2% blend add 50 drops

100ml carrier - For 1% blend add 50 drops. For 2% blend add 100 drops

Massage blends should be between 0.5% and 3% depending on the situation. For children, the elderly, during pregnancy and when dealing with skin conditions, use the smaller % (generally 1% or less). For babies, approximately 0.5% (lavender and camomile are the two essential oils recommended for use with babies).