Blending Materials

Whenever I acquire new materials, my initial impulse is to sit down and create a perfume, assuring that each element is used. More often than not, this will turn into a mess, but what I discover from the blend is priceless. I am able to analyse the performance of the oils, to observe on paper how they interact and to note down their personal qualities. From this position, I can, garner, opinions about how best to use materials, in general. This process, in turn, leads to more prosperous results down the line and less merchandise wastage.

When using the Jean Carles method below, I recommend you dilute your materials to 10%, to avoid wasting precious oils.

I don’t use the Jean Carles method. I enjoy using my intuition and adjusting my awareness accordingly and the only materials I dilute are those that are too strong to use at full strength.

If you would like to dilute your materials

you can make a 10% dilution by volume or by mass.

1ml Oil to 9 ml Alcohol or DPG (Dipropylene Glycol) or whatever you choose to use.

1g Oil to 9g of Alcohol or DPG (Dipropylene Glycol) or whatever you choose to use.

You can look up your materials at  thegoodscentscompany.com to find out which solvents are best for diluting each one.

If you do not have relevant scales with .001g accuracy and are measuring by drops, remember, 1ml contains around 20 drops. However, if you can, try to use a set of scales as measuring by drops is inaccurate and will not give you a precise concentration.

Make your dilutions in 10ml Amber bottles.

When making your perfume concentrate (a blend of oils) the professional model for subtracting and administering a material is to use plastic pipettes assuring that you dispose of each pipette after using with only one oil. This practice prevents the cross-contamination of your supplies. It is, however, not uncommon for beginners to use glass pipettes which they clean in alcohol after each administration. We all choose the most accessible points of entry at the beginning of any new creative journey, so some leeway is allowed at the start. The main thing is to ignite the artistic flame. Don’t do anything that jeopardises your enthusiasm. At some point, a walk will turn into a run and eventually you will fly and as you move and learn you will realise deep respect for your art and naturally implement more reliable systems into your work.

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Calculations

Cologne = 3 to 10%   EDT = 10 to 15%   EDP = 15 to 20%   Extrait de Parfum = 20% +

Before blending your oils, weigh the empty beaker you will be mixing your formula in. Make a note of the weight. Once you reach completion and you are happy with your creation you must weigh the beaker again containing the perfume formula. Now, deduct the weight of the empty beaker from the weight of the occupied one. The answer gives you the weight of your perfume formula.

In order to find out how much alcohol you must add, you first decide what strength you desire your perfume to be. For instance, if you want to produce an Eau de Parfum, you require your final perfume to be 15 to 20% oils and 80 to 85% Alcohol.

To work this out you take the weight of the perfume formula and divide it by varying numbers (which represent the weight of an overall volume) until you come up with an answer ranging from 15 to 20%. For instance, say your perfume formula weighs 7g, and you divide it by 30 (30ml) your answer would be 0.23, which would place your perfume at a 23% concentration. This is slightly over the percentage of an Eau de Parfum, but if you are happy with that number, you would simply subtract 7 from 30, giving you 23. That means for a 23% strength perfume you need to add 23g of alcohol to your 7g of perfume oils to give a total weight of 30g or a volume of 30ml.

7(g) ÷ 30(ml) = 0.23%          30(ml) – 7(g) = 23(g)          23(g) + 7(g) = 30(ml) @ 23%

If you are working in drops and you decide that you would like to make 30ml of a finished perfume you would take into account that 1ml is approximately 20 drops. 30 x 20 = 600 (drops). Next, you would need to decide on the strength of the perfume, say 20% for example and calculate what 20% of 600 is. The answer is 120 (drops). Therefore you would need to add 120 drops of perfume oils to 480 drops of alcohol to get a 30ml bottle of perfume at a strength of 20%.

https://www.conversion-metric.org/volume/drop-to-milliliter

Bear in mind that working in drops is not accurate, and results can differ with each batch, as oils have various levels of viscidity which, means that the weight of drops will vary. In my experience, you get inconsistent results.

I created a perfume concentrate using the drops method for a 30ml bottle of finished perfume. That means I used 120 drops of oil, but instead of adding 480 drops of alcohol for a supposed 20% strength perfume, I divided the weight of the perfume concentrate (1.656g) by the volume of my perfume bottle (30ml) which, gave me the strength of 5%, not 20%.

In the end, I settled at a volume of 10ml which gave me a finished perfume at a strength of 16%. So as you can see, making perfume by drops is not a good practice.

What Blends With What?

When it comes to aroma chemicals, a simple search via http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/search2.html  will reveal potential blenders.

Essential Oils/Examples

Odor Strength: Medium – Sweet, Balsamic, Woody, Peppery, Clean, Soft, Subtle, Thin, Fine, Unobtrusive, Refined, Reserved.
Substantivity: 400 hour(s) at 100.00 % – http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/es1028832.html
Odor Strength: Medium – Terpenic, Herbal, Green, Spicy, Vegatative, Musky, Sour, Not a million miles away from the smell of Valerian EO, but without the sweaty feet aspect. Its also alot like Spikenard EO.
Substantivity: 31 hour(s) at 100.00 % – http://www.thegoodscentscompany.com/data/es1022792.html

Bergamot, Citronella, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Frankincense, Geranium, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Marjoram, Peppermint, Petitgrain, Pine (Long Leaf), Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Spruce, Tarragon, Thyme (White), Ylang Ylang.

Bergamot, Birch (White), Camphor (White),Cedarwood Atlas, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Lemon, Rosemary, Sandalwood.

Ambrette Seed, Basil, Bay, Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Citronella, Cypress, Fennel, Galbanum, Geranium, Ginger, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lime, Marjoram, Mimosa, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Peppermint, Petitgrain, Pine (Long Leaf), Rose, Rosemary, Rosewood, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Tea-Tree, Thyme (White), Ylang Ylang.

Bay, Cypress, Fennel, Geranium, Juniper, Lemon, Pine (Long Leaf),  Tarragon, Thyme (White).

Bay, Cedarwood Atlas, Citronella, Cypress, Frankincense, Ginger, Laurel, Lime, Mimosa, Myrrh, Peppermint, Pine (Long Leaf), Rosemary, Tarragon, Tea-Tree.

Bay, Bergamot, Camphor (White), Camomile (German), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Frankincense, Geranium, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lime , Neroli, Orange, Peppermint, Pine (Long Leaf), Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Valerian.

Angelica, Bergamot, Cedarwood Atlas, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Frankincense, Galbanum, Geranium, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Mandarin, Marjoram, Mimosa, Neroli, Patchouli, Rose, Rosemary, Sandalwood, Spruce, Thyme (White), Valerian, Yarrow.

Ambrette Seed, Angelica, Basil, Bergamot, Camphor (White), Cypress, Galbanum, Ginger, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Marigold (Calendula), Neroli, Patchouli, Rose, Violet.

Basil, Bay, Bergamot, Birch (White), Camphor (White), Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Citronella, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Frankincense, Geranium, Juniper, Laurel, Lavender,Lemon, Lime, Marigold (Calendula), Myrrh, Patchouli, Pine (Long Leaf), Rose, Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood.

Ambrette Seed, Angelica, Basil, Bay, Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Cypress, Fennel, Frankincense, Geranium, Ginger, Juniper, Laurel, Lavender, Lemon, Marjoram, Peppermint, Petitgrain, Pine (Long Leaf), Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Spruce, Tea-Tree, Thyme (White).

Bergamot, Birch (White), Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Frankincense, Galbanum, Geranium, Ginger, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Peppermint, Rose, Rosemary, Sandalwood, Valerian.

Basil, Camphor (White), Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel, Galbanum, Geranium, Ginger, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Mandarin, Mimosa, Myrrh, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Pine (Long Leaf), Rose, Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Yarrow, Ylang Ylang.

Angelica, Bergamot, Chamomile (German), Citronella, Fennel, Frankincense, Geranium, Lavender, Mandarin, Mimosa, Neroli, Orange, Rose, Rosewood, Violet, Yarrow.

Ambrette Seed, Angelica, Basil, Bergamot, Birch (White), Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel,  Frankincense, Galbanum, Jasmine, Juniper, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Mandarin, Marjoram, Mimosa, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Peppermint, Rose, Rosemary, Rosewood, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Tea-Tree, Valerian, Violet, Yarrow, Ylang Ylang.

Ambrette Seed, Basil, Bay, Bergamot, Camphor (White), Citronella, Eucalyptus, Fennel,  Frankincense, Jasmine, Laurel, Marjoram, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Rose, Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Spruce, Ylang Ylang.

Bergamot, Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Geranium, Ginger, Lavender, Lemon, Lemongrass, Mimosa, Patchouli, Rose, Rosewood, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Ylang Ylang.

Ambrette Seed, Basil, Bay, Bergamot, Birch (White), Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel,  Frankincense, Geranium, Laurel, Lavender, Lemon, Marigold (Calendula), Myrrh, Neroli, Peppermint, Petitgrain, Rose, Rosemary, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Spruce, Yarrow, Ylang Ylang.

Camphor (White), Cypress, Eucalyptus, Ginger, Juniper, Lemon, Marjoram, Pine (Long Leaf), Rosemary.

Ambrette Seed, Angelica, Basil, Bay, Bergamot, Cedarwood Atlas, Chamomile (German), Citronella, Cypress, Eucalyptus, Fennel,  Frankincense, Galbanum, Geranium, Jasmine, Juniper, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Mandarin, Marigold (Calendula), Marjoram, Mimosa, Myrrh, Neroli, Orange, Patchouli, Peppermint, Petitgrain, Pine (Long Leaf), Rose, Rosemary, Rosewood, Sage (Clary), Sandalwood, Tea-Tree, Thyme (White), Valerian, Violet, Yarrow, Ylang Ylang.