Don't Add Water, Glycerin or Jojoba to Alcoholic Perfumes

[newtoperfume]

I have been trying to make my own perfume. I found a recipe online using sweet almond oil, essential oils, vodka, and glycerin. Apparently I shouldn't add sweet almond oil or glycerin lol. Can someone please help me with a basic formula for a long lasting perfume?

 

[mumsy]

Where on earth did you find it? Can we have a link?

I suggest you read the stickies here right from the beginning with a nice cup of coffee in the other hand.
Perfume is the oils or abs plus ethanol. That's it in a nutshell but obviously there are many layers.

Have a nice read and welcome to the smelly fun. The perfumers apprentice is a good place to start.

https://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/t-PerfumersCornerHow.aspx

 

[newtoperfume]

Thanks for the advice! I tried to add a link to my response but I got an error saying "new members cannot post URLs". The recipe I was using was from Design Sponge. There is a similar recipe on instructables. Most recipes I have found online use carrier oils and glycerin.

 

[mumsy]

Oops. I forgot you couldn't.

I had a peek and the instructions look so neat and comprehensive that she must have a reason for using them. There are no rules. You can do as you please. It just isn't what is in commercial fragrances and she isn't intending them to be. I suspect she has designed something to keep your skin soft at the same time. Looks rather nice and is very instructive. No harm in playing with it either.

 

[newtoperfume]

Thanks for taking a look at that. This might sound ignorant but I'll ask anyway what is normally used in commercial perfume? Basically I want to get as close to commercial quality as possible... but I want to make the perfume myself so I can customize the scent. I just want to be able to something that lasts.

 

[mumsy]

Where on earth did you find it? Can we have a link?

I suggest you read the stickies here right from the beginning with a nice cup of coffee in the other hand.
Perfume is the oils or abs plus ethanol. That's it in a nutshell but obviously there are many layers.

Have a nice read and welcome to the smelly fun. The perfumers apprentice is a good place to start.

https://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/t-PerfumersCornerHow.aspx

Perfume is the oils = essential oils
or abs = absolutes (concentrated ingredient)
plus ethanol = the alcohol

Not forgetting aromachemicals of which there are many.

 

[newtoperfume]

:smiley::smiley:Thanks so much for the help! I'm excited to start creating my perfume the right way :smiley:

 

[mumsy]

Don't be in a rush. Enjoy each step and stay simple to begin with otherwise you will not learn each ingredient and what it does with others when blended. You need to learn that off by heart each step of the way.

 

[angelick]

Beginners don't know what's necessary in their perfume. Why add things that clearly aren't necessary? Because these things might be clear to you, but to a beginner who is trying to get started, online tutorials are about all they have to go off of and if those say "add 5ml glycerin" they're going to because they don't know any better yet.

That's why I'm really glad to see so many of these important topics as stickies here! All of basenotes in general is pretty amazing in my opinion.

Heh, wish I read this thread a few days ago as I just bought a bit bottle of glycerin On Sunday to attempt in making perfumes... Just so much info around that you don't know what to trust.
Oh well, we live and learn.

 

[mumsy]

I also bought a bottle of glycerin because I read somewhere that it was a solvent for some ingredients if one wanted to make a perfume that was not ethanol based. It may come in useful later. I haven't used mine but I don't think it goes off. I know you use it in sugar modelling paste, so it may be useful for a cake if perfumers glycerine is the edible version.

 

[angelick]

I also bought a bottle of glycerin because I read somewhere that it was a solvent for some ingredients if one wanted to make a perfume that was not ethanol based. It may come in useful later. I haven't used mine but I don't think it goes off. I know you use it in sugar modelling paste, so it may be useful for a cake if perfumers glycerine is the edible version.

Ha yes, I just went through my perfume notes, and there light as day I have 3 various notes mentioning both carrier oil , glycerin and water for the use in perfumery... Well I'm scrapping those notes as we speak!
I'm just trying to work out on how to start a topic on this thread, and what to do with my beginners perfumery kit I got off perfumer's apprentice... Wish me luck!

 

[mumsy]

You don't need luck. Just have some fun. What is your favourite perfume? Look it up and see what's in it. Then take each ingredient you have and smell each ingredient one by one. Then smell your actual perfume and try to 'find' each one with your nose amongst all the other ingredients.

Learn them all well and go slowly. The better you get to know each one, the better they will behave for you.

 

[angelick]

Thanks for that, I will do that for sure. I have many favourites, but I'll start off with Givenchy's very irrestible l'intense. I love the almost dusty rose and patchouli in it. Thanks again!

 

[Zos]

Hi all.

I've just recently discovered this forum, after about 30 years of floundering and bumbling around on my own, so please forgive my ignorance.
I have mainly been using Jojoba as a carrier due to the almost impossible task of finding alcohol here in the UK.
Recently however, I have been able to obtain it from friends who are chemistry students at the local university and medical professionals with whom I have recently become acquainted.

Anyway, I have been adding alcohol to some of my Jojoba based formulas to thin them out a bit, and make them evaporate more quickly.
I haven't so far had any preceivable problems with this approach, although the alcohol I've used is very pure ethyl alcohol, so maybe this is why.
I like the idea of the vitamin E content of the Jojoba too as it may add a health benefit and perhaps remedy the skin dehydrating effects of the alcohol, though maybe the vitamin E is destroyed by the alcohol.
Having had absolutely NO contact with anyone with an interest in perfumery since I started, this site is a godsend to me, and I would like to know if any of my assumptions are correct, or otherwise.

Thanks for all the amazingly valuable info I've gleaned so far in the last couple of days since I joined

 

[I.D.Adam]

^^^Welcome. This site is wonderful indeed.

How much of a practical issue do you think a relatively small spray of ethanol onto the skin causes for the vast majority of the population? I've read this over and over and it's really only part of the misbelief/misinformation from a certain sect. If you want to use ethanol in your perfumes, such as 95+% of all commercially available perfumes then I'd feel safe in doing that.

 

[Zos]

Hi and thanks for the reply.

I don't think it's a major issue to spray ethanol onto the skin, as people have been doing it for ages with no apparent ill effects, but I had read somewhere that it's not the best idea, so I thought I'd take it into consideration, as I had no one to ask before now.
I've read quite a lot of contradictory and confusing information over the years, and it has tended to leave me in a kind of limbo with regard to correct procedures etc.
It's good to have some experienced people to put things into a better perspective for me.
Thanks for the welcome, by the way

 

[IrisGold]

Good to know!

So, when making an alcohol perfume, should *only* alcohol go into it?

I had thought that one would mix essential oils in a carrier oil, and then dissolve that body in alcohol... is carrier oil still advisable - just not jojoba? Like, Olive Oil (if I wanted its unique aroma), or coconut oil, or grapeseed oil? - or just forget carrier oils, altogether.
- because, some of the more affordable oils come *in* jojoba, already; like Rose, Jasmine, or Chamomile...

Another question, is about alcohol: we don't have Everclear in Australia - just Spirytus (?!), which is about $60 for 500ml.

A lot of people use vodka... but I'm not keen: is it better to use the most pure alcohol that one can find for an alcohol perfume? The longer it rests, the less it smells like alcohol, correct?

I've been researching/studying a lot, and the internet keeps bringing me back to basenotes... glad to have finally joined from my phone, finally! *fun*

Sure I'll have many more questions and experiments to contribute.

(if my flag doesn't show up near my name - how do I add it? I'm in Australia.)

 

[I.D.Adam]

Oils do not mix with ethanol, at all. When using alcohol your should use minimum 95% (190 proof) ethanol. There is recent thread that talks about it more.

 

[Faceless void]

digging up this thread
this is what I found on Perfumersworld.com, and it makes me very confused
what do you guys think ? "higher water content gives stronger odour" ?

 

[Clare30]

digging up this thread
this is what I found on Perfumersworld.com, and it makes me very confused
what do you guys think ? "higher water content gives stronger odour" ?
View attachment 73839

I think commercial perfumes contain some water, but they must filter it, or do some kind of miscible spell over it or something, Water is not a good thing to add to perfume. Alcohol itself usually contains around 4 - 6 % water anyway, so that's plenty. That said, my room sprays are 50./50 alcohol and water, but I use a solvent to get the oils to stay in solution.

To update this thread a bit, there is in fact a natural oil that will blend with alcohol to make low alcohol body sprays, oil perfumes that will take tinctures, and help with postage restrictions when reducing the alcohol content of perfumes for overseas shipping. It's called coco-caprylate/coco silicone - a derivative of coconut oil.

Just like old times, though, Jojoba, glycerine, coconut oil, water in perfume - still nope nope nope nope.