To capture an Enfleurage essence, living and breathing flowers must be used. It is the raw essence or vapors being exhaled from the fresh flowers that we coax onto the fats in the chassis. In general, enfleurages are not as strong as distilled oils. One reason is that enfleurages are raw uncooked essences directly collected as the living nectar of the flower. Steam distillations are a composite of plant compounds from the cut, or dried plant material and are not collected vapors from the living plant as is the case with Enfleurages.

In Enfleurage, the flower must be kept alive and intact so the little scent factories can continue to pump out scent as long as possible. We capture only the scent produced in real time by the little factories of each flower. In distillation dead or dried plant material is fine because steam distillation draws out the oils in the flesh of the plant.

One reason lilac does not lend itself to distillation is this very thing. The scent is not in the petals or flesh, it is manufactured in real time at the base of the flower as long as it is living. It must be living. Therefore the enfleurage essence is produced from the living flower and captured only while the flowers are fresh and producing their scent. Spent, wilted flowers must be removed immediately from the corpse or bitter, moldy and rotten smells will be absorbed into the fat of the corpse. 

Enfleurage oils must be used soon after their capture, or at least fixed with any number of fixatives perfumers may employ. Blending and formulating with other oils and natural scents, slows the volatility of Enfleurage oils and may provide a natural preservative. To be kept for longer periods, Enfleurage oils must be stored in a cool dark place, in unopened bottles.

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