Blending Tips for Fragrance Crafters

Fragrance, like no other ingredient, can and will determine how much you and others enjoy the cosmetics you make. A good fragrance can really make a bottle of lotion or bath oil stand out from the rest. If you are like me, you enjoy experimenting with scents to come up with wonderfully fragrant blends. But buying fragrances - essential oils and fragrance oils, can be quite pricey. And if you don't plan ahead, but simply purchase fragrances because you like them, you may find that you have a lot of scents that smell similar. If you want to add variety to your fragrance collection, what do you do?

Fragrance Families
Fragrances that have similar odors can be classified into groups, or families. Here is my breakdown. You may agree or disagree with it, or may want to modify it for your own needs.

Floral: Rose, Jasmine, Lily of the Valley, Ylang-Ylang, Lilac, Gardenia
Spices: Clove, Cinnamon, Ginger, Pimento
Minty: Peppermint, Spearmint
Citrus: Lemon, Lime, Orange, Mandarin, Bergamont
Fruity: Apple, Peach, Mango
Herbal: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage
Woodsy: Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Vetivert, Patchouli
Vanilla: Vanilla, Basalm Peru, Basalm Tolu
Green: Violet leaf, Palmarosa, Galbanum, Lavender, Rosewood
Musky: Musk, Civet, Castoreum
Amber: Amber, Ambergris

To get the most variety from the smallest number of scents you should choose one fragrance from as many different families as you are able. You can build up a fragrance collection by selecting additional fragrances from different families until you have one fragrance from each family.

As an example, you could choose Jasmine, from the floral family, Lavender from the green family, Lemon from the citrus family and Sandalwood from the woodsy family. Jasmine, Lavender, Lemon and Sandalwood are four scents that can each stand alone as individual fragrances. And because they are from different families, they can be combined in many ways to create interesting perfumes.