I have a love affair with fragrances. The idea that something that I create can comfort, invigorate, or even arouse someone is mind boggling. At first I was incredibly precise and used the names of the fragrances that I had purchased and liked. I admit that there are a few fragrances that will never make it into the products that I sell, sadly. Once I got into things and learned more, I love to mix things up and make the fragrances mine. That’s when it starts getting fun.
I am all for food scents, primarily sweet. The smell of an apple pie, pumpkin spice, or any variety of buttercream makes me totally happy. I can be crabby as can be and take a whiff of cake batter FO, and I start to mellow out. I don’t care for the straight up FO of pumpkin pie, so I blended it with some buttercream and now I have a scrumptious blend that makes me think of the dessert table at Thanksgiving.
The funny thing to me is that essential oils (EO) are natural scents that are from plants that have proven natural benefits, yet I tend to have more effects from FOs. I think it’s all about that trigger in the mind. Don’t get me wrong, I want to become a certified aromatherapist, but cake batter always makes me think of a yummy cake for a childhood birthday, with tons of family and presents. A plant can’t remind me of that. I love that idea that an EO can lower my blood pressure, help me concentrate, or help my libido. The entire concept is totally intriguing. I keep dragging massive books home from the library that talk all about aromatherapy. It’s just like in school; the more you learn, the more you find out that you don’t know squat. So I’ll keep reading and researching, then applying it to my products.
Back to what I originally set out to tell you *grin*…One of the most awesome things to me is to have an empty amber glass container and starts adding scents. I have pipettes rubber banded to each FO and EO bottle, to prevent contamination. So I take a drop of Black Tie, a drop of musk, and a few drops of this and that (can’t give too many details or else it wouldn’t be my secret anymore *teasing smile*), and suddenly I have this sexy, deep scent. I used some strong, heavy scents, which are called base notes. Then a few others that enhance the scent, that you only pick up individually if you either have a great sniffer or are trying to pick them out, but those scents, called top notes, really help round out that scent. Suddenly I have what I think is perfect for the character Jacob from Twilight (the reasoning will be in another post). And then I get to toss around names. I all ready have Edward’s Kiss and Bella’s Kiss, so I figured another kiss would be pretty lame. Jacob’s Embrace sounded just right. The custom scent has that dark, masculine scent that I would imagine from snuggling into him, that musk undertone from shifting and most likely not having the best hygiene *grin*, and the middle notes of the woods, since that’s where he is so often. I really do think about my product names and try to coordinate to the notes in my scents.
There are a few scents that I just don’t mess with the FOs or the names, like Bubblegum. It is just that and you can’t really mess with perfection. The name and the scent automatically take you back to your childhood, and I don’t want to mess with that. I left the name Dreamsicle, because I want to make you think of orange and vanilla melting on a hot summer day. That one I add some vanilla to really boost that scent and what a difference a few drops make!
I think my favorite scent remains Edward’s Kiss. It was the first blend I ever made and isn’t that complicated to make. The scent itself is delightfully complicated though and I think it works well for both genders. I personally find it to be a very sexy scent. The secret to making the deeper, masculine notes pop is citrus. Probably not what you would think, right? The citrus makes the scent so crisp and fresh to me. *happy sigh* It’s one of those scents that I could spray on a flannel, wrap up in, and fall asleep with a smile. Just a touch of heaven.
My next custom scent I want to try making is Black Forest Cake. I thought that it would make an incredibly indulgent scent for the luxurious bath whip line. I just need to make sure to make the warning part on my label to not eat very bold. I think it would be a really fun scent to make…those delightful layers. Building a scent is a lot like making a luscious layered cake such as Black Forest. Sure chocolate is dominant, but when you dig your fork into those layers of cake, you get a nice note of cherry…not too sweet and not too sour…usually a hint of vanilla is between some of the layers…maybe you like a dark chocolate curl on top of your cake to give a little pop? It’s all of those little touches, those small notes, that really rounds out a scent. I want you to smell the best cake you ever had, not the one you made in home ec that you want to forget. *smile* I really love trying to figure out just what should be in a scent.
Georgia's Pampering 