The Art of Perfume Blending
Aromatic blending is like cooking, some cooks follow the recipe and never deviate from the ingredients, whilst other cooks prefer to adlib or substitute ingredients to make their meal their own. Still other cooks never open the book and create from their own imagination. Aromatherapy blending is the same. Most create blends for the sheer pleasure of the aroma as well as for creativity and science. When using a blend primarily for its fragrance, often a therapeutic benefit can also occur. The focus of the blend, however, is on the final aroma, not its therapeutic properties.
It is important to note that most modern perfumes contain synthetic, chemically based copies of essential oil fragrance. Most modern perfumers consider it impossible to design good perfume without them. They use chemicals to impart lift, diffusion and radiance to the scent. Most perfumes can contain over 100 different chemicals and compounds to achieve the final essence.
Although it would be impossible to match the 100 ingredients contained in these fragrances, the fact is that it is not necessary to have this many ingredients. This is due to the fact that unlike chemical clones, essential oils are already a combination of constituents. An example of this is rose oil, which contains over 300 constituents. When combining Rose with, say Jasmine essential oil, your blend may constitute over 400 constituents that a chemist would be required to synthesize! This is why it is impossible to identically copy essential rose oil.
Lastly, many people may be sensitive to some of the chemicals used in the manufacture that may not exist in natural essential oil.
Safety precautions should be followed for any type of blending, including for aromatic blending. For instance, you would still want to be extremely careful when using Bergamot because of its phototoxic properties and still avoid using all hazardous oils and all oils that are contraindicated for conditions that you have.
Perfumers working for fragrance houses study all their life mastering the art and science of perfumery. Many perfumer’s utilize essential oils but also use synthesized chemicals that copy the natural essence of essential oils and other natural ingredients. Synthesized chemicals and chemicals extracted from essential oils are often used because they are cheaper than using pure essential oils as well as being more stable and long lasting providing a more consistent aroma.
In aromatherapy blending, only natural ingredients are used including essential oils, absolutes, CO2s, alcohol, carrier oils, herbs and water. As aromatherapy blending requires and benefits from the use of unsynthesised chemicals, you shouldn’t expect to perfectly duplicate your favorite commercial fragrances.
The Next Article: Blending Basics
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