There are several excellent essays already out there on the top-heart-base note system of perfumery, so I refer you to your favorite search engine to find information on the theory of perfumery.
Basic recipe
10 drops Frankincense essential oil (EO)
5 drops Black Pepper EO
4 drops Rose (damascena) absolute or Rose Otto – see discussion below
1 drop Jasmine (grandiflorum) absolute – optional, quite expensive, see discussion
5 drops Myrrh EO
10 drops Cedar (atlantica) EO a.k.a. Atlas Cedarwood
3 drops Rosewood EO – or use Rosalina (Melaluca ericifolia), supposedly a more ecologically sustainable substitute
First, the base: I like to use Everclear beverage instead of vodka as an alcohol base. Everclear has a higher percentage of ethanol to water versus vodka, and therefore the essential oils will go into solution faster and the final blend will not tend to be cloudy, depending on concentration. Alternatively, shelf-stable oil such as jojoba will work just fine as a base, although you cannot add fixatives in the same way (see Advanced recipes section).
The highest concentration of essential and absolute oils in your blends should be no more than 20% in proportion to base alcohol or oil, the classic French parfum concentration. This is approximately 20 drops total (adding up all drops of various essential oils) for every 4 mL base. However, this is too high a concentration for sensitive skin, and somewhat wasteful for this particular blend. I recommend a final solution of 20-30 mL base for the recipe – you may want to start with 10 mL of base in a 30 mL glass container, add the perfume components, and then fill to the top with base.
Like all perfume recipes, this one should be adjusted to suit your tastes. For instance, I like it heavy on the Frankincense, but if you do not tend towards “incensey” perfumes, you may want to start out with only half the amount of Frankincense (see the second version under Advanced recipes). It is always easier to add more at a later time than try to re-balance a blend!
The components of will marry over time and thus I urge you to wait at least a few weeks before making adjustments to the recipe. For more advanced perfume making, you want to let your blend rest for a month, mixing once a day (if you can remember), and then finalizing the components. In this case, only fill your container 2/3 of the way, so you have room to change the composition later. You can also split the blend into two containers, change one version, and dilute to the top of each container once it has been perfected.
Discussion on the Rose and Jasmine in the Perfume Blend
The Rose component is the heart of this blend, appropriately enough. The advanced recipes have the option to use two (or more!) Roses – Rose damascena absolute and otto – but just one will suit you fine. I understand that you may hesitate to buy even one of these, especially as a beginning perfumer. If money is tight, there are rose fragrance oils that contain chemical constituents of Rose, and will suffice, though lack the depth and beauty of the real thing. Unfortunately, I do not know right now of a good source for this type of rose fragrance oil, and I warn you against just picking up any rose oil, as it could easily make your blend smell soapy (yuk!). It is well worth the investment to go ahead and purchase a Rose absolute or otto. As a bonus, the true Rose has aromatherapy applications. You may purchase Rose and Jasmine pre-diluted in jojoba, however alcohol-based perfumes will be slightly cloudy if you use jojoba-diluted absolutes.
To stretch out your Rose or Jasmine absolute, purchase a small amount and dilute it to 10% (0.5 mL in a 5 mL container; 1 mL in 10 mL, diluting with the base you will be using in your blends). The dilutions in jojoba work well for an oil-based perfume. When you make the Blend, have all the other essential oils blended together and diluted to 10% in your base. In a separate, smaller (2-5 mL) container, add 30 drops almost-ready Blend with 4 drops of the Rose 10% dilution and 1 drop Jasmine 10% dilution (if you choose to use it). If you like the results, add ~36 drops Rose (10%) and 9 drops Jasmine (10%) to your larger container of the Blend, finishing your perfume. This may sound complicated – and it’s not strictly traditional perfumery – but it will keep you from wasting too much of an expensive absolute on a blend that doesn’t thrill you.
In advanced perfumery, one worries about the staying power of the perfume and develops bases (usually alcohol bases) with components called fixatives. These base blends are often proprietary, part of the secret art of perfumery. I am sharing a recipe that has worked well for me. It requires some planning ahead, but will be especially important for the non-incensey version of the Blend, since that version has less base-note components.
In a bottle of Everclear, add approximately 3 tablespoons Orris root, several chips of Benzoin (Styrax) resin (caution, possible dermal irritant/sensitizer) and two crushed vanilla beans. Shake the bottle every day (or as often as you remember) for three months. The fixative properties do not really come out until then – and the longer you can stand to wait before using the base with your blends, the better it will be. You may also choose to add more or less vanilla (which turns the base brown), sandalwood chips, or resins other than Benzoin.
The advanced recipes have two Rose components instead of one and several ideas for personalizing your fragrance. I am assuming that you are sufficiently interested in perfumery to invest in the more expensive absolutes and essential oils.
Advanced “Incensey” Version:
10 drops Frankincense essential oil (EO)
5 drops Black Pepper EO
4 drops Rose absolute AND
2 drops Rose Otto
1 drop Jasmine (grandiflorum) absolute
1 drop Ylang ylang extra (EO, absolute)
5 drops Myrrh EO
10 drops Atlas Cedarwood EO
3 drops Rosewood EO
5 drops Sandalwood (EO, CO2) – or Amyris EO
1 drop Patchouli (EO, absolute)
2 drops Peru Balsam EO – some people are sensitive to this, use with CAUTION!
4 drops pre-diluted 20% Vanilla (oleoresin, CO2)
2 drops pre-diluted 10% Agarwood attar or CO2 (expensive, strictly optional)
Advanced Lighter, “Less-Incensey” Version:
5 drops Frankincense essential oil (EO)
5 drops Black Pepper EO
2 drops Rose absolute AND
4 drops Rose Otto
1 drop Jasmine (grandiflorum) absolute
2 drops MyrrhEO
10 drops Atlas Cedarwood EO
6 drops Rosewood EO
3 drops Palmarosa EO
3 drops Lemon (cold pressed) EO (optional, not for sensitive or sun-exposed skin)
3 drops Mandarin EO (red mandarin, or warm-smelling normal mandarin, not green)
3 drops Peru Balsam EO – some people are sensitive to this, use with CAUTION!
6 drops pre-diluted 20% Vanilla (oleoresin, CO2)2 drops pre-diluted 10% Iris (Orris) absolute or CO2 (expensive, strictly optional)
Some Ideas for Personalizing Your Essential Oil Perfume Blend
~ Try different types of Rose oils. My personal version of the recipe uses Rosa gallica, though it is really hard to find. Others such as Rosa demine, Rosa centifolia, or Gulab attar from India would be intriguing (remembering that the latter already contains Sandalwood oil). The demine otto and centifolia absolute (a.k.a. Rose de Mai) are less expensive than damascena and have greener rather than “heady” floral notes, especially suited to the less-incensey recipe.
~ Try a drop of Jasmine sambac absolute in substitution or in addition to the grandiflorum, especially in the incensey version.
~ Try a drop of Neroli absolute (a.k.a. Orange Flower) in substitution or in addition to the Jasmine for the less-incensey version. I often add a bit of Petitgrain EO to any blend with Neroli, which you may like here.
~ Try a spice in addition to the Black Pepper EO – but use caution as many people are skin-sensitive to certain spices and it is easy to overwhelm a blend. For instance, I recommend pre-diluting cinnamon to 10% in perfume base and then adding one drop of 10% diluted cinnamon to your Blend. Spices take a while to marry with other components in my experience, so you need to be patient. Saffron, ginger, clove or even cumin could give an interesting twist to either recipe (though I haven’t tried them, so use with your discretion).
~ Want to get really fancy? Try Tuberose or Black Current Bud absolutes. These are thick, almost resin-like if you get the real thing, so pre-dilute them and add sparingly.
~ Try a few drops of one or two of these exotic woods, resins and the like: Ambrette Seed, Cedar Moss, Copal, Tonka Bean (great vanilla-like scent but considered hazardous, use with caution), Benzoin resin, Gum Arabic, Copaiba Balsam, Massoia Bark (possible dermal irritant), Guaiacwood, Gurjum, or Jamarosa Root. These will generally act as fixatives and base notes: some of them will add more “incensey” notes, some will give smooth-spicy notes that are barely detectable in the Blend but still act as fixatives, some are woody, and some… are just unique.
~ Try a drop or two of the versatile Lavender essential oil to either version.
Add a Frankincense tear to your blend. It will aid in mixing when you shake the container and gradually impart its scent, deepening the blend.
Do not forget to write down everything you do when personalizing your blend! Put a pretty label on your container and enjoy.
Guest Author, Risha, is an experienced chemist, and she has a passionate interest in perfumes and aromatherapy.