How to make a "fresh" scent

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Nov 15, 2018
Messages
11,940
Reaction score
21,871
Location
US
I am working on the bath and body items to go into a gift bag for our speaker at an upcoming conference. She finally got back to us with the type of scent she likes. She said she likes "fresh" scents - not floral and not too strong. I'm not even sure what a "fresh" scent smells like. With the holiday weekend, slow shipping times, and a gift delivery date of Sept 17, I don't think there's time to order anything and then rush to get it made on time.

Most of my FOs are floral or food-ish (OMH, Honey and Shea, mocha, etc.). I do have Calamondin Sea Salt, as well as Driftwood and Sea Salt. Do either of those qualify as fresh? If not, can anyone recommend a mix of EOs or FOs to make a "fresh" scent? I do have lots of EOs on hand that are typically used in soaps. Thanks in advance for your help!

PS - Yes, I do expect to see this in the Thread Titles and My Very Strange Mind thread. Please run with it! 😄
 
Fresh to me is usually green or citrus. If you have lemon, cucumber or bamboo on hand that would work. Anything herbal? The Driftwood and Sea Salt (WSP?) to me is a bit too woody to be 'fresh', but that might be me. Is there anything you can blend with it? EOs - eucalyptus and mints are fresh in my mind.

Honestly, she probably doesn't really even know what she means by 'fresh'. She probably means not perfumy or incensy, like the heavy florals and (I know this is me) amber or spices. The sea salt you have might be fine - I just have no idea what it smells like.
 
Thanks @dibbles, that is so very helpful! I just used the last of my cucumber FO, darn it, but I do have orange, lemon, grapefruit, bergamot, eucalyptus, lemon-eucalyptus, chamomile, pine, fir needle, peppermint, and spearmint.

Any thoughts on percentages for a mix? It's totally out of my wheelhouse.

EDITED: I do have some Peche de Vigne - my very favorite soft peach scent. Not sure what might blend well with that.
 
Maybe @Zing has some blends he could recommend. And I love bergamot straight up, but blended with any of the citrus you have should be nice. Lavender:peppermint 2:1 is quite lovely and not too floral. Or try drops of lavender/peppermint/eucalyptus or peppermint/eucalyptus or orange/eucalyptus to figure out what smells good to your nose. I've used orange/eucalyptus at 2 or 3:1 (orange:eucalyptus) and it was really quite nice. But that was also in soap, which as we know can be quite different than B&B. Lemon-eucalyptus smells like citronella to me, so I'd maybe skip that. A bit of fir needle with eucalyptus might also be good. Let us know what you come up with.

ETA: I don't know why that emoji insists on staying there - I've tried to remove it. Lavender:peppermint
ETA: And again! I think I should go to bed.
ETA: OK, I figured it out. Keyboard emoji thing. Der.
 
Wow, thanks everyone! Y’all have given me some great ideas and helped me to understand that citrus = fresh. Not having bought any fresh-type scents, I didn’t know that till you enlightened me. Besides the aforementioned list, I actually do have lime, lemongrass, and a bergamot grapefruit EO-FO blend. That gives me all kinds of options!

Since the gift bag will include sugar scrubs, bath milks, and shower steamers, I will mix up a couple of different blends so she will have options.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top