EO/FO blends

[Mobjack Bay]

I went back and forth about which sub-forum to put this in and settled on this one because this is mostly where I see posts about blending FOs with EOs.

At some point last year I did a little research on perfume blending and then promptly forgot about it. Luckily, I took notes and when I found the notebook the other day, I decided to try to make a couple of the blends that form the basis for some perfumes. I don’t have some of the expensive or new to me ingredients, like labdanum, oakmoss absolute or jasmine eo, but I do have FOs that lean in the right direction, so I gave it a shot. Much to my delight, the blends I ended up with smell delightful OOB. Further testing of my blends are needed, but I’m posting now because I’m also interested in any additional ideas or suggestions.

I wrote in my notes that the original blends are chypre accords from the website thegreatestsmellever.com, but I didn’t write down the full link)s) and so far have been unable to relocate the pages. If anyone knows the link(s) and feels like sharing them, please do! I found the right web page!

Essential Oil Perfume Recipes - TGSE Custom Fragrance

A list of simple to complex perfume recipes I've learned over the years. Use the directory to skip to your recipe by fragrance family or essential oil.

thegreatestsmellever.com

“Basic“ with patchouli, original (in drops):
10 labdanum
20 oakmoss absolute
20 patchouli
50 bergamot

I used:
3 g Oakmoss & Amber FO (Oregon Trails)
2 g patchouli (Camden-Grey, fairly dark and a year old)
5 g bergamot (also Camden-Grey)

I love this one! This is one of the few times I thought some magic happened in the bottle for a blend I made.

Floral variation, original (in drops):
10 labdanum
20 oakmoss absolute
5 patchouli
36 bergamot
4 vetiver
5 lavender
10 jasmine
5 rose
5 ylang ylang

I used:
3 g Oakmoss & Amber FO (Oregon Trails)
.5 g patchouli (Camden-Grey, fairly dark and a year old)
3.6 g bergamot (Camden-Grey)
.4 g vetiver (Camden-Grey)
.5 g Bulgarian lavender (a sample from Essential Depot)
1 g Jasmin Showers FO (FB)
.5 g Wild Rose FO (BB), with a drop or two of rose EO from?
.5 g ylang ylang (Camden-Grey)

I was expecting to love this one more, but it’s not quite there. My nose can pick up the Ylang Ylang or some other sweet note and it’s just a little too much for me. I want to add a wee bit more bergamot or lavender, maybe…

Another blend I made and love is a mix of eos and sandalwood FO. I’m sure I must have gotten the idea from @lsg and it may be one of her blends. That one is buried in my notes and I will post it when I find it. ETA: well, darn, I can’t find the notes with the recipe. Thank goodness I already made the labels for the soap with the blend listed in order: sandalwood FO (Mysore Sandalwood, Oregon Trails), with lavandin, bergamot and cedarwood. As I recall, I used about 50% FO with the rest being mostly bergamot and lavender with the cedarwood in the background. Does anyone do a lavender, bergamot, cedarwood blend? I did a quick search but there are more posts coming up then I can possibly read.

I know that some of you blend EOs and FOs and would love to hear about what you think works well.

 

[glendam]

I have not made that particular blend (bergamot, lavender and cedarwood), but it sounds nice. I only have the Texas cedarwood which is actually cypress if I remember well, so it is not the same.
The blends you made sound nice! I need to remember to Try them next time I venture on perfume making.
I did buy the labdanum and it’s so thick I could not measure drops out of it, they were more like blobs. I had not heard of the oakmoss absolute, but will look into that.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I'm very curious about labdanum and many of the other EOs and resins that I haven't had an opportunity to smell in a pure state. I never thought about them much until I started making solid perfume. I've read that labdanum is used to provide amber notes, which I really like in scents. I've never ordered from Eden Botanicals, but after reading some of the links here, I may order a really small bottle. It sounds like oakmoss is difficult to use, but at least the kind they sell is IFRA compliant.

 

[glendam]

I was a bit disappointed by the smell of labdanum, to me it smells somewhat like licorice but once blended with other notes, not as much. I bought it from Amazon, I think. (It was a link from a “Humblebee and me” recipe that no longer works)

I did like the smell of the resin that is supposed to smell like vanilla, Benzoin, though you need to use more of it since it is a delicate/light note. I bought that one from New Direction aromatics.
I have only made liquid perfumes, but now I am curious about these solid ones.