Natural Perfumery Basics-Blending Attars & Essential Oils

Making your perfume naturally with the help of natural attars or essential oils is not going to be a very big project. You can easily get the instruments and the oils from anywhere and you can start mixing and making the scents of your choice. Just be attentive of the fragrances around you and you can successfully make any unique perfume of your choice.

The trending topic in the perfumes industry is to blend a few different attars and essential oils which are originally from any plant that has a good scent. Few scents are combined to make something that smells good and allures the people. The natural fragrances are added to different things like the products of personal use or household use. The art of blending three or more natural attars or essential oils is called natural perfumery.

Firstly, when you want to make a blend of fragrances into perfume, it is required that you select what kind of main fragrance do you want to go for. For choosing the fragrance of your choice, observe the scents around you. Take a walk in nature or go to a coffee shop. Observe what grabs your attention. Take note of what scent you like the most. This way you will have a general idea on what kind of blend you would want to make.

To make the fragrance of your choice, it is first required that you choose the three various fragrance oils depending upon the categories or the notes. The top note, the middle note, and the base note have their properties and specific aroma oils go to each note. Sometimes, an oil can belong to two notes depending upon the qualities of the aroma oil.

The citrus fragrance is used as the top note usually. Any citrus scent like lemon, lavender or flower can easily help to mash two different scents together. Top notes can be floral, spicy or herbal too. It depends on you that what kind of base you want to select. Then according to that, you can choose the fragrance you want to select as the top note. Top note is about 10 percent to 20 percent of the total blend of all the notes.

The middle notes are the main fragrance of the total blend. Different types of fragrances give different effect to the middle note. The middle note can be strong or subtle. It depends on you to choose the middle note according to your choice. For example - Jasmine attar can be a strong fragrance and orange fragrance can be on the heavy side. Lavender essential oil can be used for a herbal hint and chamomile can be used for a calm scent. If you are using flower scent as a top note then you can choose a spicy fragrance as the middle note. 50% of the total blend of all notes is the middle note.

Base notes are usually the heaviest in the density. They act as a base to the blend you are about to make. Base notes are also the fixatives. Sandalwood oils are the most common base notes. If you combine it with the rose oil, it makes a very alluring scent. There are other examples of base oils too like the patchouli or the vanilla. You can use an oil that will support your top note and middle note. 30 percent of the total blend is the base note.

Now, once you have selected the 3 notes, you combine them to get the fragrance. This fragrance can be as unique as you want it to be. In the beginning, you can experiment with few fragrances but with time, you will get the idea of how you can blend certain fragrances to get the scent of your choice.

Now there are two methods to make the perfume of your choice.

Making alcohol or oil based perfume.

Making solid perfume.

Whether you are making alcohol or oil based perfume or you are making a solid perfume, make sure to not combine more than 4-10 oils. As it is beginning for you, it is recommended that to reduce the complexities of making perfume, you should not experiment with more than 10 essential oils which can be attars(sandalwood based). Another important thing before making the perfume is to have a notebook and a journal with you so that you can write all the steps of making perfume in it. This way, when you are successful in making your desired perfume, you can make it again by referring to the journal. Therefore do not miss writing any step in the journal even when it is a small one. To avoid the skin irritation while working with the heavy attars or essential oils make sure you use the right concentration and wear gloves when you are in the process of making the oil. With this way and little experience you can make a good perfume.