Fragrance Blending and Perfumery 101, Day 4

Today I am going to challenge you. I’ve walked you through three blends using inspiration from photos and memories and we have had some great fun! We’ve seen how blending can easily be done with two to four fragrances and I promise you don’t have to add to your bulging collection of fragrances. (Unless you really want to and then I can give you many suggestions!)

Candy inspiration. Photo credit to Steven Depolo, https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/5941709828/

Now I’m turning you loose with some photo inspiration. We are coming up on Halloween, which just happens to be my favorite time of year, so I found this wonderful picture* that makes me think … CANDY!! Now I know that this photo may make your teeth ache just thinking about it or possibly have you concerned for my relationship with my dentist (I can guarantee that we get along well and I love visiting for my regular checkups because they go so smoothly with a “Come back in 6 months!”.)

All dental talk aside, this picture is meant to be inspiration for creating a blend that smells like candy to you. Let’s start brain storming! What does a candy stash smell like to you? If you are looking at your computer screen with an expression on your face that resembles confusion, think of it this way. Imagine a drawer filled with your favorite candies. Open the drawer, what does the air smell like to you? Write down everything that you “smell”. I’ll give you some descriptor words to help.

• Chocolaty?
• Fruity?
• Toffee?
• Spicy?
• Minty?
• Caramel?
• Nutty?
• Citrus-like?
• Sugary?
• Vanilla?

Have your words written down? Now this is where the fun begins! (Well, at least I hope you are having fun now.) Take your list of words and let’s compare them to your master list of fragrances. The names of your fragrances may not have these words in them, but you know what is in your stash and what has scents that are reminiscent of one or two words on your list. Pull all of the fragrances that jump out at you and then start mixing.

When I first begin blending, I place one drop per fragrance of two to four fragrances on my Sachet Card. I will wave the card under my nose to check if the blend has potential. If it does, then I will begin adjusting the amount of each fragrance used. I always start a new card for blend after a few minutes so all the scents are the same “age” and will age together. You don’t want to find a blend never smells like what you thought it would only to find that your card had the top notes dissipate before you finished blending.

Have you come up with some ideas? Let’s talk about them and come up with some blend ideas. Just comment on this blog with your blend ideas and get a chance to win some goodies from my private stash.

*This picture was taken by Steven Depolo and is available under the Creative Commons License.