Follow The Notes And Make A Perfume - Part II

Follow The Notes And Create A Perfume - Part 2.

There are a few basics to pefumery. One, if you're using essential oils exclusively, you'll be separating the notes with those only. Some of them will fit into more than one catagory, or overlap, so think about the type of scents that you, yourself like or that you'd like to make for marketing purposes.
Think ahead. If you also make soaps, lotions, creams, bath or massage oils and/or body spritzs, you'll probably want the same scent in those as well, since it makes for good sales, or in anycase, great gift baskets.
If you're using fragrance oils, some of which are already blended with several scents (example: Bath and Body Works, Cucumber Melon or Oatmeal, Milk and Honey), then you can use just that one oil, or to make it more your own, you can add one or more single-note fragrance oils to make it yours.

Many people that make perfumes, colognes and after-shave products use a base called Everclear, which is nothing more than a high proof vodka. There is also a perfumers alcohol, that I've tried and don't like. No matter what, that smell came through and I truly believe that alcohol is not good for your skin. Therefore, I make perfume/cologne oils, using either Jojoba Oil (organic, golden, also called a liquid wax) or Fractionated Coconut Oil, which is probably the best choice if you also want a massage oil as it won't permanently stain any bedding or clothing when used.

At least for now, I'll concentrate on essential oil/absolute blends only. The first thing you need to know are which notes are considered top, middle and base notes.

Any citrus oil is most often a top note. An exception I can think of right off the top of my head is Neroli, from the bitter orange tree. It's more of a citrus/floral as is Orange Blossom Absolute, from the same tree. They could be used either as top or middle notes, using them as middle notes would make them the heart of the perfume.

Citrus Oils - Top Notes:

Lemon (American or Italian)
Tangerine
Sweet Orange
Blood Orange
Orange Mandarin (red, yellow and green)
Grapefruit (pink or white)
Neroli
Orange Blossom Absolute
Lime (USA)
Key Lime (Mexico)
Petigrain (orangey, from the bitter orange trees leaves and twigs), can also be considered a middle note.
and these, which aren't distilled from a citrus fruit or tree, but still have the citrus scent:

Lemon Myrtle
Lemongrass (tropical grass)
Citronella (tropical grass)
Litsea Cubeba (stronger than lemon, lemony scent)

Again, these are off the top of my head and as I'm sure there are more, any questions, please feel free to ask, especially about a specific oil that's not on this list.

Middle Notes:

Spearmint
Peppermint
Cornmint
Lavender (bulgarian, french - hi-altitude, turkish, etc's)
Lavindin
Spike Lavender
Jasmine Absolute (there are two types, one has a slight-spicy odor)
Rose (otto or absolute)
Tansy
Eucalyptus (many varieties)
Sweet Almond (smells like cherries, distilled from the bitter almond tree)
Neroli
Orange Blossom Absolute
Tagettes (distilled from the African marigold)
Cinnamon Leaf (also base note)
Clove Bud (also base note)
Clary Sage
Ginger
Ylang-Ylang (there are several distillations of this flower, from the extra, which is the first distillation, to ylang-ylang I - III, with varying degrees of  - also ylang-ylang  complete, which is a distillation of both the flowers, leaves and twigs, producing a very soft-floral scent).
Lotus (blue, pink or white) Flower Absolute
Immortelle
Basil
Myrtle Leaf
Anise Seed

Base Notes:

Patchouli (light or dark)
Vetiver
Sandalwood (there are five different types, all can be used as a base note; or a combination of all five)
Cinnamon Leaf
Clove Bud
Vanilla Absolute
Cocoa Absolute
Cassia
Black Pepper
Eucalyptus (also a middle note)
Valerian
Oakmoss Absolute (green or brown)
Ambrette Seed (has a somewhat musky scent)
Niouli (also middle note)
Cedarwood (different types)
Spruce
Pine Needle
Cypress, Jade and Blue
Frankincense
Myrhh

There are many more oils that can be used and I do use them off and on, but this is a good starting place. If there are any questions about other oils, I'll be more than happy to answer them for you. I'm  trying to make these not-too-long, as it can be a bit to take in at once. Thanks for your patience.  

Next will be blending or Perfumery 3

mn - copyright 2008; HealingLite Essentials