Help Me Start A Frivolous Hipster BS Side-Hustle in Perfume!
July 8, 2017 11:53 AM Subscribe
For no apparent reason at all, I'm suddenly interested in making my own perfume! Hooray! One catch- my difficulty level is permanently pegged at Perfectionist. I've read a few how-to articles on wikihow, checked out a few forums and the like but I'm seeing a lot of variable and conflicting information. Though it would only be a hobby, I'm really interested in doing it right. Help me learn how to do it like the real pros do it from the ground up to make some truly good stuff, rather than something you buy off a craft table at a street fair. Any pointers, experience, or confirmed good resources are appreciated! Specific questions inside.
Some of the main questions I have based on what I've read so far:
- Does it make any appreciable difference in the fragrances if you make the oil yourself versus buying it online?
- If you can buy the good stuff, who has the best?
- If infusing is the best option, how long does it really take to get an optimal result? I've seen everything from a few weeks to years.
- Is there any specific equipment that I need if I want to be serious? A lot of what I'm seeing online is talking about doing it in the kitchen with cookware.
- I've read that carriers can be made from a number of things. Which guarantees the longest lasting scents?
I'm excited to get cracking! Last few details right now are that I'm:
- Not looking at making a large production. Probably just one at a time for now to experiment with fragrances, or however many a single batch makes at the absolute most.
- Willing to spend as much time on it as it takes to get it right, so won't need to spare the difficulty.
Thank you!
Some of the main questions I have based on what I've read so far:
- Does it make any appreciable difference in the fragrances if you make the oil yourself versus buying it online?
- If you can buy the good stuff, who has the best?
- If infusing is the best option, how long does it really take to get an optimal result? I've seen everything from a few weeks to years.
- Is there any specific equipment that I need if I want to be serious? A lot of what I'm seeing online is talking about doing it in the kitchen with cookware.
- I've read that carriers can be made from a number of things. Which guarantees the longest lasting scents?
I'm excited to get cracking! Last few details right now are that I'm:
- Not looking at making a large production. Probably just one at a time for now to experiment with fragrances, or however many a single batch makes at the absolute most.
- Willing to spend as much time on it as it takes to get it right, so won't need to spare the difficulty.
Thank you!
Best answer: I have been obsessed with perfume for at least 10 years. If you are a perfectionist and want to do it right, as you say, first, you need to do a lot more research. Essential Oils are very potent chemicals and can do irreparable harm up to and including fatality, if misused. In addition to essential oils there are many, many other components to creating a scent.
Get a really solid grounding in the subject - read some of the more important recent books about perfume.
The_Emperor_of_Scent
The_Perfect_Scent
Essence_and_Alchemy
Perfumes:_The_A-Z_Guide
and then read everything by these authors and anything else you can find.
Read the reviews in Perfumes A-Z and then go out a smell everything you can find in stores near you. For example, Nordstrom in Seattle has perfumes you are unlikely to find anywhere else on the west coast. Also, the Perfume House in Portland, Oregon, has an amazing historical collection of perfumes and you can book an appointment to smell some of them. See if you agree or disagree with Luca Turin's reviews and see if you can understand why he considers some fragrances major milestones in the history of perfume.
For the real deal in the perfume industry, review the free informatioon, e.g. the FAQ, at and perhaps subscribe to The_Fragrance_Database. Also, The_Fragrance_Foundation. Basenotes is a database of perfumes by house, fragrance, perfumer, and notes. Also has news and forums. One more, International Fragrance Association (IFRA), which is industry-oriented.
Mandy Aftel, the author of Essence and Alchemy has an excellent website specifically about making perfumes. She is an excellent resource and offers several workbooks and classes here. Don't choke at her prices, materials for making perfume are expensive.
Check out the websites of the major formulators, IFF,
Givaudan, Symrise, and Firmenich.
One of the most interesting and reliable perfume blogs is Now_Smell_This. They also have a page of links that will interest you.
That should get you started. Have fun.
posted by Altomentis at 2:23 PM on July 8, 2017 [30 favorites]
Get a really solid grounding in the subject - read some of the more important recent books about perfume.
The_Emperor_of_Scent
The_Perfect_Scent
Essence_and_Alchemy
Perfumes:_The_A-Z_Guide
and then read everything by these authors and anything else you can find.
Read the reviews in Perfumes A-Z and then go out a smell everything you can find in stores near you. For example, Nordstrom in Seattle has perfumes you are unlikely to find anywhere else on the west coast. Also, the Perfume House in Portland, Oregon, has an amazing historical collection of perfumes and you can book an appointment to smell some of them. See if you agree or disagree with Luca Turin's reviews and see if you can understand why he considers some fragrances major milestones in the history of perfume.
For the real deal in the perfume industry, review the free informatioon, e.g. the FAQ, at and perhaps subscribe to The_Fragrance_Database. Also, The_Fragrance_Foundation. Basenotes is a database of perfumes by house, fragrance, perfumer, and notes. Also has news and forums. One more, International Fragrance Association (IFRA), which is industry-oriented.
Mandy Aftel, the author of Essence and Alchemy has an excellent website specifically about making perfumes. She is an excellent resource and offers several workbooks and classes here. Don't choke at her prices, materials for making perfume are expensive.
Check out the websites of the major formulators, IFF,
Givaudan, Symrise, and Firmenich.
One of the most interesting and reliable perfume blogs is Now_Smell_This. They also have a page of links that will interest you.
That should get you started. Have fun.
posted by Altomentis at 2:23 PM on July 8, 2017 [30 favorites]
Response by poster: MeFi, I never doubted you'd come through! Altomentis, thank you so much for your detailed reply. Can't wait to sink my teeth into it!
posted by Krazor at 8:00 PM on July 8, 2017
posted by Krazor at 8:00 PM on July 8, 2017
Best answer: Mandy Aftel is a great resource. I found her book 'Fragrant' to be more useful than 'Essence and Alchemy." No one really gives you recipes per se for anything beyond basic scent 'accords'; amber, chypre, oriental, fougere, green etc. Jeanne Rose has helpful articles on her website that can at least help you flesh out the terminology. White Lotus Aromatics also gives recipes for blends, but these are really only helpful for thinking in terms of proportions of ingredients in relation to each other. Once I began to learn some terminology a lot of judicial Googling has helped me fill in the gaps. Base notes, middle notes, top notes; tenacity, diffusiveness; fixatives
I don't think making your own oils would be practical or even practicable. Most are made with either steam distillation, maceration, or solvent extraction which all seem like they would be their own undertaking with lots of specialized equipment and a steep learning curve.
There are a lot of essential oil providers if you are looking to go the all natural route. Eden Botanicals is the one i have the most experience with and their website has great scent descriptions for each of their products. They also sell sample vials of every thing they sell. There is a helpful article about perfumery basics on their site too. They are really great and I've learned a lot just by reading the product listings and suggestions of what blends well. It's surprising sometimes what works and what doesn't. The best thing with samples is that pretty much all oils should be diluted before using since they are so powerful and the samples can end up going a long way. Most are in the $2 - $3 range for 20-30 drops. I use fractionated coconut oil for the carrier, which seems to be the most common one.
I'm a few months ahead of you on this same path and I would suggest ordering samples of things that appeal to you and educating your nose so to speak. It's a real obsession and I have begun having dreams about smells and even have inspirations in the middle of the night of possible scent combinations. I did a search on MeFi earlier this evening for Agarwood which is incredible, and found a post about it. I'm just now starting to get a handle on making successful blends. Everything I've read says that you should be prepared to make a lot of bad perfumes before you get a good one. I've only made one truly bad one so far, and even it is getting better with age. I actually mixed something earlier this evening that smells so incredible and nothing like what I thought I would even want to make when I first started doing this. I didn't want to use florals when I first started and have since come to learn that they are indispensable. Same with Patchouli which can do a lot of work behind that scenes without making you smell like a hippy. Sadly I've found out that the most expensive ingredients are some of my favorites. Things that start at $70 for 1/16th of an ounce. That's where samples are really great because you can start to get a handle on what works and what you like without making a huge purchase. And really diluting things is really important.
It can be expensive though. I've spent at least $300 over the last six months or so on oils, glass bottles to mix in and droppers for measuring out the oils, not to mention boxes to keep all the bottles in. I made some uninformed purchases at the expensive aromatherapy shop here in NYC before I even knew anything about mixing. I thought I could just choose some smells I liked and put them together and get something good, and I was really wrong. The purchases are useful though because by luck two of the items I bought are commonly useful ingredients. Also, oils really change once they are on your skin or have been on your skin for a while. Some smell really unpleasant in the bottle or on their own but bloom and become beautiful on the skin or when mixed. If you can find an aromatherapy shop where you can just smell as many things as possible that would probably help you a lot. I'm really lucky that I can just hop on the subway if I want to smell something. Whole Foods stores usually have essential oils in their body care aisle. I think the oils they sell are probably diluted because some don't smell anything like what I have at home, but its a free way to smell things. Bring along blotter paper cut into small strips if you're not shy and dab a little on each strip and label them so you can remember what you like.
Eden Botanicals though really is my most valued resource. I learn so much every time I look at their website. I just got a 50-something dollar shipment in the mail from them a couple of days ago and keep referring back to their descriptions of items to help me think about how to use them.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 10:17 PM on July 8, 2017
I don't think making your own oils would be practical or even practicable. Most are made with either steam distillation, maceration, or solvent extraction which all seem like they would be their own undertaking with lots of specialized equipment and a steep learning curve.
There are a lot of essential oil providers if you are looking to go the all natural route. Eden Botanicals is the one i have the most experience with and their website has great scent descriptions for each of their products. They also sell sample vials of every thing they sell. There is a helpful article about perfumery basics on their site too. They are really great and I've learned a lot just by reading the product listings and suggestions of what blends well. It's surprising sometimes what works and what doesn't. The best thing with samples is that pretty much all oils should be diluted before using since they are so powerful and the samples can end up going a long way. Most are in the $2 - $3 range for 20-30 drops. I use fractionated coconut oil for the carrier, which seems to be the most common one.
I'm a few months ahead of you on this same path and I would suggest ordering samples of things that appeal to you and educating your nose so to speak. It's a real obsession and I have begun having dreams about smells and even have inspirations in the middle of the night of possible scent combinations. I did a search on MeFi earlier this evening for Agarwood which is incredible, and found a post about it. I'm just now starting to get a handle on making successful blends. Everything I've read says that you should be prepared to make a lot of bad perfumes before you get a good one. I've only made one truly bad one so far, and even it is getting better with age. I actually mixed something earlier this evening that smells so incredible and nothing like what I thought I would even want to make when I first started doing this. I didn't want to use florals when I first started and have since come to learn that they are indispensable. Same with Patchouli which can do a lot of work behind that scenes without making you smell like a hippy. Sadly I've found out that the most expensive ingredients are some of my favorites. Things that start at $70 for 1/16th of an ounce. That's where samples are really great because you can start to get a handle on what works and what you like without making a huge purchase. And really diluting things is really important.
It can be expensive though. I've spent at least $300 over the last six months or so on oils, glass bottles to mix in and droppers for measuring out the oils, not to mention boxes to keep all the bottles in. I made some uninformed purchases at the expensive aromatherapy shop here in NYC before I even knew anything about mixing. I thought I could just choose some smells I liked and put them together and get something good, and I was really wrong. The purchases are useful though because by luck two of the items I bought are commonly useful ingredients. Also, oils really change once they are on your skin or have been on your skin for a while. Some smell really unpleasant in the bottle or on their own but bloom and become beautiful on the skin or when mixed. If you can find an aromatherapy shop where you can just smell as many things as possible that would probably help you a lot. I'm really lucky that I can just hop on the subway if I want to smell something. Whole Foods stores usually have essential oils in their body care aisle. I think the oils they sell are probably diluted because some don't smell anything like what I have at home, but its a free way to smell things. Bring along blotter paper cut into small strips if you're not shy and dab a little on each strip and label them so you can remember what you like.
Eden Botanicals though really is my most valued resource. I learn so much every time I look at their website. I just got a 50-something dollar shipment in the mail from them a couple of days ago and keep referring back to their descriptions of items to help me think about how to use them.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 10:17 PM on July 8, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Pallas Athena at 12:29 PM on July 8, 2017 [2 favorites]