Fragrance Blending and Perfumery 101, Day 2

So what did you think of yesterday’s blend? I think it was a fun start to our blending week! Did you notice the inspiration came from two things, a photograph and written memory? We can find inspiration from photographs or memories. You may be asking, how can we find fragrance experiences and inspiration in our memories? It is much easier than you realize because you already have a vast collection of fragrance experiences!

Smell is very important to us and our memories are often linked to scents. Think about it for a minute! Can you recall a memory that flowers, grandma’s house, romantic events, holidays, childhood summers or something else that also has a scent tied to it? I can! I can remember visiting my great-grandma and the smell of her perfume as it mixed with the scent of mandarin oranges and Little Debbie brownies that we would snack on as we chatted.

Yet, these scents and our memories are not single faceted things. There are many dimensions to scent as no scent is flat and one-dimensional. You may be asking “There has to be something that is one-dimensional. Surely roses are one-dimensional.”

Nope! You can smell any number of roses or rose scents and definitively say “That smells like a rose.” But, can you describe the different notes? Does the rose have a stronger musk, vanilla or citrus note? Are you smelling a cut flower? If so, are you in the grocery store or at your office or at home? Are you smelling a rose that is still on the bush? If so, was the garden recently watered? Is someone mowing a lawn nearby? Everything around you influences and contributes to the scent you are smelling.

Summer Flowers

When you are blending, don’t eliminate any fragrances immediately. Especially if you are smelling straight from the bottle. I’ll show you why today!

The photo to the right is of Black Eyed Susan, Purple Coneflowers, and White Swan Coneflowers. When you look at this picture, what do you smell or imagine?

• Sunshine?
• Flowers?
• Earth?
• Greenery?

Take a minute and write down things that you smell. I’ll give you some time to think about it, but come back here because I have some cool things I want to show you!

(hums Jeopardy! theme song)

Welcome back! Did you think about the picture? The blend that was created with this picture in mind was intended to be cheerful, reminiscent of the summer sun and even of sun worship.

So what fragrances did I choose?

• Amyris Essential Oil
• Thyme Essential Oil
• Natural Vanilla Oil
• Pink Grapefruit Essential Oil

Wait a second! Amyris? Pink Grapefruit? These don’t smell like flowers! This is where the magic of fragrance blending comes into play.

By blending fragrances* together, we can create blends that seem to smell very different! So why did I choose these to blend together?

• Amyris gives a warm, woody and earthy aroma to the blend. This kind of smells like dirt and landscaping bark with sun warmed yellow flowers
• Thyme has a sharp, herbaceous scent that smells like fresh green plants and torn leaves.
• Pink Grapefruit brings a cheery, fresh scent that melds with the others to create a flower like scent.
• Natural Vanilla adds a sweetly refreshing note that balances the whole blend.

*When I say fragrances, I am simply referring to any material that provides scent. These could be Essential Oils, resins, extracts or Fragrance Oils. For the sake of my sanity, I refer to all of these as fragrances when blending.

I started blending by placing two drops of Amyris and two drops of Pink Grapefruit in the center of a sachet card. I then added two drops of Natural Vanilla. At this point I picked up the card, flipped it over and waved it under my nose to smell. The blend was starting to develop, but I thought it needed more Amyris. Since the blend had aged, I started a new card. On this new card, I put four drops of Amyris, two drops of Pink Grapefruit, two drops of Natural Vanilla and one drop of Thyme. With a quick sniff, I decided that I needed to add two more drops of Amyris to achieve the scent that I thought the picture smelled like.

Blend:

Summer Sun Recipe: (Make 28 grams, 1 oz or your desired quantity)

This blend was mixed into the newest size of our Body Butter Base, 1.75 lbs. This size is perfect for spas, salons or those who don’t use a gallon quickly!

Recipe:

Open the container of Body Butter Base. Soften the base by stirring gently. Add Summer Sun scent blend and a small amount premixed Lemon Yellow Color. Stir gently until everything has been mixed well from top to bottom. Scoop into container and label. Now you can enjoy this fabulous butter and the rest of your day! How easy was that?

We have three more days of spectacular tips, hints, ideas and inspiration! Ask your questions now!

See you tomorrow for more fragrance blending!