scent ideas and making perfume

[leafylady]

How do you make perfume? How do you make the solid perfumes, like a chapstick type of consistency, but scented?

Now advise me on mixing scents. I'm trying to come up with my own signature scent, something that I like and will like for a long time. I've narrowed down my favorite individual scents, from essential oils, as geranium and sandalwood. Would mostly geranium with just a touch of sandalwood work out, make sense as a scent? I know I can experiment, but I thought I'd get an answer from someone a little bit more experienced.

I'm almost happy with the geranium alone. It seems that although the essential oils are quite potent at first, the scent dissipates quickly. In making the "perfume", does some ingredient help the essential oil scent last longer?

[tara]

Hi, leafylady! I have made solid perfume before. Really easy. Melt some oil (I used sweet almond) and some beeswax in a double boiler. Let it cool a little and add your essential oils. Pour in a little pot and you're done! I think that the oil base helps the scent stick around a little longer...

Blending I'm just starting to get the hang of myself, so I can't be much help there. But, I try to mix scents from different catagories (i.e. floral, earthy, etc.). Geranium & sandalwood might be great together! The way I experiment with blends is to dip q-tips in the essential oil and put them in a jar. If you think it needs more geranium, toss in another qtip. That way, when you think it smells perfect, you can tell that your blend is so many parts scent x and so many parts scent y (am I making sense??). It's a good idea to leave the jar for a while and come back to it - sometimes scents sort of mature together after a while...

[leafylady]

Thank you! What a good idea to use the Qtips to test blending. I never would have thought of that.

[LaLa]

hey sweetie! I will try to remember to post recipes later,but basically solid perfume can be made with a carrier oil and beeswax and essential oils or fragrance oils for scent.

I like Clary sage with Lavender

and another fav is Sandalwood with Rose (pricey but amazing!)

[roarzilla]

That Q tip idea is awesome!
SARAH Mom to Aurora 6/11/01 and Genevieve edd 6/29/03

[khrisday]

sandalwood and geranium sounds good together- I made some soap with sandalwood and orchid and it was exquisite.

[leafylady]

Thanks for all of the input. I finally got around to buying the supplies and making some. Sandalwood sure is pricey
I got a less expensive one that was partially diluted in jojoba.

What are the ratios of carrier oil to beeswax. I guessed. The beeswax was hard to melt and cooled quickly. Any tips? I only made enough to fit into one small container.

On scent mixing- I'm terrible about measuring and noting stuff. When I first put the scent on, I'm sure that it smells too strongly of geranium. But the geranium dissipates very quickly and I am left with the pleasant scent of sandalwood and just a hint of geranium. Does that sound right? Does geranium scent dissipate quickly?

I actually forgot to buy carrier oil, so I used some canola oil. I added a touch of ascorbic acid powder (vit C), but don't know if it was necessary.

[JessicaS]

You can find sandlewood fragrace oils that are less pricey and skin safe at soapmaking supply sites...I think real sandlewood is endangered (correct me if I am wrong)

my favorite is rosemary and spearmint.

[TigerTail]

i found out the hard way that when they suggest grating the beeswax first, they aren't just trying to make life difficult for you. it makes a difference (btw, i am just very careful and use the microwave- i am not experimenting in my bain-marie, lol! besides, in the quantities i experiment with, it doesn't make sense to drag out a double boiler. do it like you'd do flammable chocolate i.e., very, very carefully.)

i make a blend out of sandalwood, body shop indian gardenia, patchouli, rose, and some other stuff to make a waxing unguent for my dh's bald head - it has a nice glow, instead of an oily sheen. all the bald guys at work (and there are many: for whatever reason, there are a high number of engineers who shave) want some

oh yeah- i use about equal proportions of beeswax and apricot kernal oil.

(when clinique stopped making its 'aromatics elixir' perfume in solid form, that's when i started all this: the stuff is way too strong and makes me sneeze in liquid, but it is luscious and sexy in solid, so i learned to do it. you can try your fav fragrances this way too; it's also a good way to experiment without initially spending a fortune on good essential oils- oh, i want jasmine! but costs too much!)

suse

[leafylady]

grating the beeswax- I didn't think of that. I used the microwave too. I put the little glass perfume pot in a another dish that had some water, kind of a little mini double boiler set up. I had to watch to make sure the water didn't bubble up too far.

Sounds like I could have used more of the oil and less beeswax.

Thanks!

[JessicaS]

You can get beezwax in beads instead of a block...it is much easier to work with...

[TigerTail]

ahhh, where? i just got some beeswax at the health food store (because that's where i was getting the oils already, and someone had ordered some especial and didn't come get it- i need a better source! it is lovely and fresh, but way pricey! my candle beeswax sheets are much cheaper!)

suse

[tara]

try brambleberry or WSS for beeswax pastilles (and lots of other groovy stuff).

[madison]

Hey TARA! Your WSS link took me to some chick in her underwear site!!!!

Try www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com for the beeswax pellets, I use them and they are great! And you don't have to grate, lol.

[JessicaS]

You can also try those sites for essential oils. They will run you a lot cheaper than at the health food store.

:LOL at chick in her underwear site...

[tara]

Oh my goodness! I don't know how some lady in her underwear showed up in my link! Honest, I swear it! I, um, just cut and paste from the WSS site. Really!

[TigerTail]

am i the only one who tried to see the lady in her underwear?

lol, thanks, y'all. i have a new 'favorite place'! (no, not the lady!)

suse

[JessicaS]

I did too... LOL..I was curious what someone was doing running around in their underwear but the link didn't work for me..

[LaLaLuna]

This is an inspiring thread!

Here's a link to an essential oil co-op that another MDC mom passed along to me- I ordered some oils through it and got amazing prices as well as lots of good advice and recipes.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/justplainscents/

Love the qtip idea- now I'm going to spend all night thinking about oil blends. :LOL

[tara]

I'm going to sign up for that group - thanks, lalaluna!

Another great place to buy essential oils is Essential Oil University . I've bought a few, and the prices are amazing and I've been impressed with the quality. I bought 4 oz. of a sandalwood blend (all sandalwoods and not diluted with carrier oils, but sandalwoods from all different sources) for $38. Still expensive, and not quite as lovely as 100% Mysore sandalwood, but still really nice. And, with pure sandalwood you don't have to use much - a little goes a long way.

And, a while back abimommy wrote about sandalwood being endangered. According to my aromatherapy book ("Aromatherapy, an A to Z" by Patricia Davis - highly recommended reading! I am fascinated with e.o.s after reading this book.):

Despite rumours to the contrary, the Sandalwood trees in Mysore are in no danger of extinction and are protected by the State government. The trees are very slow-growing, and only very mature trees, which are nearing the end of their life, are cut.