Harmonizing Your Blend
Have you ever noticed that a perfume smells differently after several hours than when you first apply it? Some essential oils evaporate more quickly than others. As the oils in a blend evaporate, the aroma will change to reflect the aroma of the remaining oils.
Here is a guide to the strength for blending:
- Top note based oils evaporate the quickest, usually within 1-2 hours.
- Middle note oils evaporate with 2-4 hours.
- Base note oils take the longest time to evaporate. Some base notes can take several days to evaporate!
Below is a chart of commonly available oils based on their common classification:
Top Note Essences
- Anise
- Basil
- Bay Laurel
- Bergamot
- Citronella
- Eucalyptus
- Grapefruit
- Lavender
- Lemon
- Lemongrass
- Lime
- Orange
- Peppermint
- Petiigrain
- Spearmint
- Tangerine
Middle Note Essences
- Bay
- Bois-de-rose
- Cajeput
- Carrot Seed
- Chamomile, German
- Chamomile, Roman
- Cinnamon
- Clary Sage
- Clove Bud
- Cypress
- Dill
- Elemi
- Fennel
- Fir Needle
- Geranium
- Hyssop
- Jasmine
- Juniper Berry
- Linden Blossom
- Marjoram
- Neroli
- Nutmeg
- Palmarosa
- Parsley
- Pepper, Black
- Pine, Scotch
- Rose
- Rose Geranium
- Rosemary
- Rosewood
- Spruce
- Tea Tree, Common
- Tea Tree, NZ (Manuka)
- Thyme
- Tobacco
- Yarrow
- Ylang Ylang
Base Notes
- Angelica Root
- Balsam, Peru
- Beeswax
- Benzoin
- Cedarwood, Atlas
- Cedarwood, Virginian
- Frankincense
- Ginger
- Helichrysum (Immortelle)
- Myrrh
- Oak moss
- Olibanum
- Patchouli
- Sandalwood
- Vanilla
- Vetiver
There are no real rules for blending that wonderful blend that you’ll love for a lifetime. The lack of limits and restrictions is what makes perfumery an art form. Here are a few tips will help get you off to a fine start:
Tips
- When creating your new blend, begin by adding only 5, 10, 20 or 25 drops of the combined blend. If you don’t like your outcome you wasted little oil.
- Use only pure essential oils, absolutes or CO2s. If you don’t like the fragrance you have created you wasted no carrier oil or alcohol. If you hate the blend you created, you have then not wasted any carrier oils or alcohol.
- Record you recipe, listing each oil that you used with the number of drops used for each oil. It is easy to forget the exact recipe for your blend. Remember, one drop too much or too little of any oil can drastically change the outcome of your blend. Once discovering that perfect blend, you want to be able to duplicate it.
- To store your new fragrance use either a essential oil vial or perhaps a fancy perfume bottle.
- Always label your blends clearly. In most cases there may not be enough room to label all ingredients so use codes to shorten the process and to keep your blend a secret!
- A good rule of thumb in blending is to balance your fragrance with a 30% blend of top note essential oil, 50% of middle note oil, and 20% base note oil. Use the chart above as a guide to finding out what oils belong to each category.
- Remembering that absolutes and CO2 oils are much stronger than essential oils. Study oils you wish to use in a given blend and observe the oils that have the strongest aromas. Unless you want those oils to dominant the blend, use much less of these stronger oils in your blend.
- To learn more about the strength of oils, experiment by adding one drop of an essential oil to 5 drops carrier oil to get a 20% dilution, study the aroma, then add another 5 drops of carrier oil to get a 10% dilution, study the aroma again, then repeat as desired. This can help educate you on the characteristics and strengths of each essential oil at various dilution ratios.
- After creating your blend, allow it to sit for a few days to “blend and age” then study the essence again. Often essences develop when combined and soften.
The Next Article: Perfume Recipes
© 2004 Aromatherapy and Essential Oil Centre