Blending Fragrances

Some of the most popular fragrances are Lavender, Sandlewood, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Rose, Citrus (Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange, Tangerine, Lime), Clary Sage, Chamomile, and Frankincense.

Fragrance oils, especially, for those scents that are not available from essential oils, represent another series of favorites: Vanilla, Rose, Jasmine, Lilac, Gardenia, Almond, Apple, Chocolate, Musk, Cucumber, and Raspberry.

Vanilla works well with all scents. You may want to consider vanilla with the following scents: Mint (Peppermint, Spearmint, Wintergreen), Citrus (Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange, Tangerine, Lime), Lavender, Rose, Raspberry, Chocolate or Chamomile.

Rose also blends well with almost anything and almost anything blends with rose.

It is really all up to you when blending. Think of scents that evoke pleasant memories. Maybe mocha chocolate brings back a pleasant memory for you so consider combining espresso and chocolate. The combinations are endless.

You can blend two or three essential oils into your soap or bath products. Blending essential oils with beneficial effects greater than individual oils are called synergies. When blending different fragrances, you can choose oils that are uplifting or healing or have a physical or emotional effect. It is generally counterproductive to blend oils with opposing effects, such as calming and invigorating. Once your have selected a number of potential oils to use, you want to blend them with the right amount of each oil. The best way to blend your oils is based on their fragrance rather than on their therapeutic properties.

Another way to blend your fragrances is for the perfumery effect alone. You can do this on your own by using essential oils, fragrance oils or combinations of both. The best way of doing this is by placing a drop different scent on one cotton swab. Then bundle the swabs and place them in a plastic bag. For best results it is best to leave the swabs in the plastic bag for 24 to 48 hours before you smell the fragrance. This will give the fragrances time to marry.

The only factor that inhibits creativity in blending fragrances is the cost of essential oils or fragrance oils. However, the ability to use the above cotton swab method to preview your creations without being wasteful. Essential oils are more expensive than fragrance oils since they are extracted from the actual plant, whereas fragrance oils are synthetically manufactured.

Once you find a combination of fragrances you like, I would recommend that you jot down in a notebook how many drops you used. The only reason why is that you may not use that particular combination for awhile and forget how may drops you used. This will be a useful tool to look back upon.