Primer on How to Make Perfume (Version 1.0)

[lpp]

IMPROVED SITE SEARCH FUNCTION
Honestly - suggest try it - was impressed, thanks.

 

[macsmells]

Hi everyone I am just starting out experimenting with essential oils to make some smells..:smiley:.just trying to get the measuring proportions right,using fractionated coconut oil at present....until I can source some strong Vodka....and atomisers etc.....some of the oils arrived this week....so this is it....smelling the place out....also ordered some pipettes so I can get things more accurate....haven't driven everyone out of the house yet:happy:



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[Unadan]

I'm getting ready to make my own perfumes using essential oils and Everclear 190. Do I need to add distilled water to the mix if I'm using the Everclear 190 as my "carrier?" If so how much distilled water should I add as a %?



BTW - was a 2.0 version of the primer ever released?



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[TheOnion]

Regarding alcohol to use. The British webshops that sell different varieties of perfumer's alcohol typically won't sell outside of the Britishs isles. The one I asked why said it's a regulation/legal issue. Probably the different countries have so different rules on taxes etc. that they just can't be bothered keeping track on what's legal for every different country.



The German webshops sell something called "Kosmetische Basiswasser" and/or "Kosmetische Haarwasser". They contain 95% alcohol (or similar), often a little bit of panthenol (which I think doesn't matter) and are slightly perfumed - which is a downside.



The Germans wouldn't buy it for perfume since they can buy non-denatured 95% alcohol but if I ordered that, the customs would probably confiscate it. No perfume at all would be better of course but you take what you can get. The one I tried is so lightly perfumed that it's okay for me. At least it's probably better than regular 40% vodka.



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[caribbeanisland]

Dear Stallion



This is primer is so wonderful. It gave a deeper insight of the process. I am kind of lost in trying to find a kit to start this new hobby, what is recommendation? I want a kit with good quality oils so I can start experimenting.



Thanks a lot



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[jsparla]

Many of you are familiar with the free perfume formulations i've on my perfume DIY blog perfume.sparla.com. Since the start of the blog, already 1.500 monthly visitors from all over the world are using my demo formulas to take a next step in perfumery.



However, i've had a lot of questions from people who want to make a start in perfume DIY and the often rather complicated formulas offered, with building stones like diluted aroma chemicals, essential oils, tinctures and absolutes, are somewhat scaring.

So i started a set of perfume formulations based on ready-made accords. This will give you the freedom to experiment with odour classes like oriental, flowers, fruits, woods and so on, without worrying about all the different individual building blocks. Most accords are balanced in themselves taking care of top-, heart- and base notes. It's relatively easy and i will put new demo formulas online to start with and experiment further.

It's as close as you can get for a 'newbe' introduction in perfumery. Take a look at these examples, starting with a typical fresh, oriental and gourmand perfume.



Hope to shine some light on the magical world of scents.



Happy perfuming!



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[lpp]

Thanks, jsparla - hoping to amend these stickies in due course!



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[caribbeanisland]

hi, stallion! let me make one remark to your primer on mesuring: when counting drops you MUST dilute your materials beforehand, also assuming that you will use liquids as well as solid, cristaline, etc. materials! preferably at a 10% strength, otherwise you could never repeat your experiments precisely! this dillution should then be made by weighting the fragrance material as well as your dilluent.

Hello, I have a question, I am very new on this, I have to dilute each essence before the blending? or first I make the blend for base, heart and middle, and then blend dilute the bases? Can I dilute them in coconut oil?



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[user]

Hi you guide is really good thanks i really want to make my own perfume for gifts and for my own personal use . I was thinking of using a more natural oil maybe witch hazel or coconut oil and maybe alittle bit of perfumes alcohol to make perfume and aftershave though how much alcohol/oil would you add together to make a 30ml bottle of aftershave/perfume and how much of each essential oils or that would i add to make the right percent



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[user]

For us newbies, this thread is indispensable.



Although the primer doesn't include every detail needed, it contains more than enough to get anybody going, and helps to point us the right direction to find out the deeper details of blending, equipment etc.



It's a very fine starting point, and the additional tips throughout the thread make it even more valuable.



Well done to all, and thanks.



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[pkiler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlenes1986 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

Hi you guide is really good thanks i really want to make my own perfume for gifts and for my own personal use . I was thinking of using a more natural oil maybe witch hazel or coconut oil and maybe alittle bit of perfumes alcohol to make perfume and aftershave though how much alcohol/oil would you add together to make a 30ml bottle of aftershave/perfume and how much of each essential oils or that would i add to make the right percent



Plan on 5% of fragrance concentrate and the rest is your choice of substrate.



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[magnus611]

Feel free to give me your comments on the layout. 8)

1970 ...wow ...really ...wow ..is this the CEO or chief of the tribe and only 60 post ... Can't believe 1970 I was in Gods thought then ...is this thee oldest member??


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[crispybash]

This is great information for a newbie like me. Just started out in pursuing my interest in perfume business. Thanks for sharing.

 

[mrsmcgoo]

First post so please forgive me if I'm not posting in the right spot. :0)
Quetsion: I'm trying to create a 100% organic spray perfume. Can I mix organic fractionated coconut oil and organic 80 proof vodka as carriers? I was hoping this would dilute the oil enough to make the perfume sprayable without clogging, and also prolong shelf life. If this sounds right, what ratio of essential oils, fractionated coconut, and organic vodka should I use, and will mixing fractionated coconut and vodka actually prolong shelf life? Thanks so much for any help!!! :0)

 

[aggiesoils]

Thank you so much for this wonderful article !
I am just starting to teach classes on how to make perfume, and this add somes great basic information.
Well done!

 

[javed khaanzada]

Great information. What is the shelf life of coconut oil, I want to use it as carrier.

Regds-Javed

 

[RodErick314]

Thank you for the information. I just started getting into making my own fragrances using EO's and this totally helps.

 

[David Ruskin]

First post so please forgive me if I'm not posting in the right spot. :0)
Quetsion: I'm trying to create a 100% organic spray perfume. Can I mix organic fractionated coconut oil and organic 80 proof vodka as carriers? I was hoping this would dilute the oil enough to make the perfume sprayable without clogging, and also prolong shelf life. If this sounds right, what ratio of essential oils, fractionated coconut, and organic vodka should I use, and will mixing fractionated coconut and vodka actually prolong shelf life? Thanks so much for any help!!! :0)

Coconut oil will not mix with ethanol. The usual concentration of a fragrance for personal use is between 15.0% to 20.0%.

 

[mkturker]

Hi, i am from Turkey.I try to make own my parfume with some naturel oils and alcohol.But i couldn't find good smells which are matched.Are there anybody for help me to find an ideal notes for man or woman.I have jasmine,cedar,sandalwood,melissa,lemon,apricot seel,turbentine,coconut,bergamot,melon,ylang ylang,lavender,juniperberry,cocoa,strawberry,lily, rose,argan,orange oils.How can i prepare a good,pretty or sexy,powerfull,fresh etc. smells?

Can you help me? It doesn't have to be complex smells and fragrance or a Professional fragrance but i try to make it for days and any of that aren't good as i want.

Can you give me simple formulas to prepare own my and my wifes fragrance?

Please help me,i am so stressfull and i couldn't do anything.I spend a lot of money to buy this oils but there isn't any good smell.

Help me please.

I am waiting all of yours helps for good smell sharing with me in private or general messages.

Thanks.

 

[lpp]

Please see the reply to your earlier thread
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/38...ng-up-of-Notes?p=3147236&posted=1#post3147236

 

[mkturker]

I am curious if anyone knows how to create the scent of human sweat? I have heard that cumin resembles body sweat and skin.

Perhaps it's a mixture of leathery scents? There's something else there. Maybe it's is, gasp, garlic?

if anyone has any notes on adding a human edge to parfum I would love to hear them!!!

thanks
Eric

Are there anybody else heard that cumin resembles body sweat?It's an important knowledge for me.But it need to be confirmated.I wonder really, is it smell such as or nearly body sweat?Please explain if you are sure.

 

[lpp]

There's a Single Note Exploration section here which may be useful, gulhilal
http://www.basenotes.net/forums/107-Note-Pad-Single-Note-Exploration

Here's the thread for cumin
http://www.basenotes.net/threads/231583-Cumin

You really need to smell some yourself.

 

[mkturker]

Thanks,

Odor profile: a spice with an especially pungent, bitter-sour note that can resemble sweat. Polarizing, it can highlight a fragrance creation like no other and is nowadays often used to render an intimate, animalic note in abscence of animalics. Famously overdosed in Kingdom by Alexander McQueen.

I find it from fragrantica site.

But it was a new knowledge for me.

I am a new Basenoter

 

[David Ruskin]

Are there anybody else heard that cumin resembles body sweat?It's an important knowledge for me.But it need to be confirmated.I wonder really, is it smell such as or nearly body sweat?Please explain if you are sure.

The smell of sweat depends on so many things; your sex, your diet, your state of health, the freshness (or otherwise) of the sweat, and a few others things. Cumin has been described as smelling "sweaty". It is easy to find out; go to your supermarket and find where they keep their herbs and spices. See what you think. To get a more unpleasant sweaty feet type smell, try a touch of iso Valeric Acid.

 

[Nizan]

It kind of reminds me of sweat of people who eat a lot of cumin
My sweat doesn't smell like that, thank god. I'm more in the fossilized amber direction - so you could give it a try as well..

 

[mkturker]

The smell of sweat depends on so many things; your sex, your diet, your state of health, the freshness (or otherwise) of the sweat, and a few others things. Cumin has been described as smelling "sweaty". It is easy to find out; go to your supermarket and find where they keep their herbs and spices. See what you think. To get a more unpleasant sweaty feet type smell, try a touch of iso Valeric Acid.

Of course all of sweat drops smell different every person because of eating,health,affective events,etc.In addition,a person's sweat can smell different at different times.But i wondered is it generally smell as like sweat and i went to market and smelled but i am not sure Thanks

 

[Dave M.]

Thank you so much for this post It was very helpful !!

 

[Chris Bartlett]

I’m just adding here something that seems to come up quite often when people are trying to work out how to read a formula, work out how to do dilutions, blending or similar things. I’ve linked to a some relevant parts of my blog but the following basic concepts are fairly essential if you are going to get anywhere:

A perfume formula is normally expressed independently of any unit of measurement so that it can be made in any amounts that may be required, it is however almost always based on weight rather than volume, so grams, ounces, Kg, pounds or tonnes . . . as long as you keep the same proportions, it will be the same perfume.

The convention is that formulas add up to 1000 - there is no need for them to do so - it’s just a convention. However it does help when it comes to adding small amounts of high impact materials if you can conveniently express 0.1% of the concentrate as 1. If you need to add just a trace of a very high impact material, such as civet, then you can use a 10% dilution in the formula and easily get to 0.01%, or a 1% dilution and get to 0.001% and so on, without making it difficult to specify large amounts of low impact materials, such as Hedione, where you might want 30% of your formula - so you would express that as 300.

It helps to understand the concepts of ratio, proportions, percentages and, if you want to convert between weight and volume, specific gravity.

If you do everything by weight then specific gravity is only relevant when you need to know what bottle size a given weight will fit in and for that the most important factor is usually the ethanol (specific gravity of 0.8).

If you are working in drops then you need to know what size the drops are and the specific gravity of the liquid you’re dropping in order to know how much you are putting in.

If you are going to sell your perfume you will need to be concerned with the IFRA Standards and other rules. Regulations regarding perfumery are expressed on a weight for weight (w/w) basis.

You may be familiar with seeing the alcohol content specified by volume (v/v or ABV on the label) but that is only relevant for regulation of taxes on ethanol, for everything else, you need to know the weight.

Hope that’s useful.

 

[ProfessorBats]

Now I'm confused, between this primer and some other posts I read here (and now can't find again) - should you mix absolutes/EOs undiluted, or should you make stocks (10%, 50%, depends on which one?) in alcohol before you start mixing? Some absolutes smell like the plant straight, but some seem just too concentrated to even give a true representation of what they will smell like diluted, at least to my newbie nose. Sorry if this has been covered elsewhere, I tried searching. Thanks for any advice you may have!
On a related note: I've bought a small sample of orris butter (oh the beauty...), what is the best way to keep this? I'm thinking either dilute the whole amount 50% in perfumer's alcohol, or aliquot some diluted for use, and leave the rest as is (it's only "6 drops" to begin with but for a lab scientist that can be split into a lot of aliquots LOL)?

 

[ProfessorBats]

Also, is there maybe a recommended reading list somewhere? I downloaded the Carles pdf from Perfumer's Apprentice, and got a few cheap Amazon ebooks that look very preliminary (Introduction to Artisan Perfumery by Andriot and Middleton; The Professional Way to Make Perfume Second Edition by Drayton). Also just ordered Essential Oil Safety: A Guide for Health Care Professionals, 1995, by Tisserand & Balacs.

 

[Graphite]

Hi ProfessorBats,

regarding the dilution I guess most people are working with something around 10%. But the actual percentage of each material you will have to find out yourself as you might find some materials more tolerable in high concentration than others. And it may change over time.

On the reading list I'd suggest you read what you've already ordered and then you know better on what to focus next.
Currently I quite enjoy reading „Scent and Chemistry” by Ohloff/Pickenhagen/Kraft. They also run a Facebook page (Kraft and Pickenhagen).

I can't be of help with the orris butter. A material I am still missing. I'd check if your butter is really soluble in ethanol or if another solvent is needed (like IPM).

 

[ProfessorBats]

Thank you, Graphite.
That makes sense.
Yes, the orris butter is from Eden Botanicals, who tend to be good about info that way, they write: "Orris Root Butter is perfectly soluble in vegetable oil as well as in alcohol." I take it that undenatured EtOH would be better than perfumer's alcohol, if one can get some.

 

[axe.effect]

I am beginner in making perfume sprays.

I bought from non alcoholic perfume shop.
1) 1 Million Pacco Rabanne oil.
2) tween 20/polysorbate 20.
3) measuring glass with 5 ml increments.

Now I want to make 100 ml 25% concentrated perfume spray.

For that 100 ml 25% concentrated perfume spray, do I have to mix
1) 25 ml oil in 100 ml solvent
OR
2) 25 ml oil in 75 ml solvent?

 

[ProfessorBats]

[For that 100 ml 25% concentrated perfume spray, do I have to mix
1) 25 ml oil in 100 ml solvent
OR
2) 25 ml oil in 75 ml solvent?[/QUOTE]

25% means 25 out of 100 total. So it would be 25ml oil plus 75ml solvent.

 

[mkturker]

Can you reply,how can i prepare a non alcholic perfume with perfume oils and other things and what must i put for this preparate?Which emulgators can resolve perfume oil commercially?It must be seemed smart and must be cheap.

 

[axe.effect]

[For that 100 ml 25% concentrated perfume spray, do I have to mix
1) 25 ml oil in 100 ml solvent
OR
2) 25 ml oil in 75 ml solvent?

25% means 25 out of 100 total. So it would be 25ml oil plus 75ml solvent.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reply.

After dissolving this solution, the ACTUAL volume will be less than 100ml?

 

[ProfessorBats]

axe.effect - sorry for my ignorance, I thought both ingredients were liquids. Is the "oil" a powder??
Percentages can actually be expressed in different ways, by volume or weight, or a combination. Did you just choose the 25% yourself or get it from a recipe? If the latter, did it specify? it would say v/v (volume/volume), w/w (weight/weight), or w/v (weight/volume). I learned in these pages that in perfumery, the professional default approach is w/w, not v/v, so you'd have to weigh out your ingredients by gram rather than measuring by ml.

I hope that made sense. I'm actually a newbie in fragrances, so not an expert by any means - but I am a lab scientist, so at least I feel qualified to respond about how to make a dilution in more general terms. Feel free to ignore and seek more qualified help!

 

[lpp]

I’m just adding here something that seems to come up quite often when people are trying to work out how to read a formula, work out how to do dilutions, blending or similar things. I’ve linked to a some relevant parts of my blog but the following basic concepts are fairly essential if you are going to get anywhere:

A perfume formula is normally expressed independently of any unit of measurement so that it can be made in any amounts that may be required, it is however almost always based on weight rather than volume, so grams, ounces, Kg, pounds or tonnes . . . as long as you keep the same proportions, it will be the same perfume.

The convention is that formulas add up to 1000 - there is no need for them to do so - it’s just a convention. However it does help when it comes to adding small amounts of high impact materials if you can conveniently express 0.1% of the concentrate as 1. If you need to add just a trace of a very high impact material, such as civet, then you can use a 10% dilution in the formula and easily get to 0.01%, or a 1% dilution and get to 0.001% and so on, without making it difficult to specify large amounts of low impact materials, such as Hedione, where you might want 30% of your formula - so you would express that as 300.

It helps to understand the concepts of ratio, proportions, percentages and, if you want to convert between weight and volume, specific gravity.

If you do everything by weight then specific gravity is only relevant when you need to know what bottle size a given weight will fit in and for that the most important factor is usually the ethanol (specific gravity of 0.8).

If you are working in drops then you need to know what size the drops are and the specific gravity of the liquid you’re dropping in order to know how much you are putting in.

If you are going to sell your perfume you will need to be concerned with the IFRA Standards and other rules. Regulations regarding perfumery are expressed on a weight for weight (w/w) basis.

You may be familiar with seeing the alcohol content specified by volume (v/v or ABV on the label) but that is only relevant for regulation of taxes on ethanol, for everything else, you need to know the weight.

Hope that’s useful.

Just bumping this helpful post.
There are also some existing threads re. dilutions.

 

[Graphite]

Just received a newsletter with this link to the Perfumers World Youtube channel. Have watched only one yet and find it – apart from the long trailer and closing credits – to be a nice bit of information.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsMIXinlaf1Ik6akUwDy6lVnYCuTCANYC

 

[Captain]

Forgive me for not reading all 149 posts. I have a question or two! I want to make a simple sandalwood, violet, musk and vanilla concoction, nothing complicated. I want to use an alcohol base for sure, I generally don't like the oily feel of oil bases.

So, my question, is there any supplier that would ship perfumer's alcohol within Canada? It is indeed hard to find. I used my provincial liquor store app to search for Everclear with no luck. The highest proof alcohol I can find is 40% vodka. Now, would I dilute that further with distiller water or use is full strength? If the consensus is that vodka makes a vastly inferior product I might just resort to jojoba oil after all.