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Getting to Know Your Oils



Preparation: 
Have paper towels handy.  You will need 5 fragrance strips,  pipettes (optional), a pen and your notebook.  Do not wear any scent on your body and tie your hair back.

Throughout Steps 1 through 5, take notes. 

Step 1.  Before you start to blend, you will want to get to know your library of scents.     To do this you will need your fragrancehow to smell perfume strips.  Start with up to 5 oils.    Write the names of each oil on each strip.  Also, write the time on each strip and date.  Put one drop of oil on the strip with its name on it (or dip your strip 2 ml into your selected oil).  Smell the strip briefly and note the fragrance.  Imagine it as a color.  Imagine it has a personality.   Record your impressions.  If you did not know the fragrance name, what would you call this fragrance?  Sniff it again with your eyes closed.  Do you smell or see anything different?  Now put the strip away and give you nose a chance to recover.  Now repeat for each fragrance. 

You'll want to do this exercise in stages.  No more than 4-5 oils at a time.  Save your other oils for later in the day, or the next day. 

Step 2:  After 30 minutes, go back to each scent.  Smell.  Are there other notes  in the fragrance that you recognize?  Record your impressions and any changes that you notice.

Step 3.  Go back to your original 5 strips.     Cover the names and pick one.  Smell.  Do you recognize the fragrance?  Repeat this with the other 4 scents.  Familiarize yourself with your fragrances this way, until you can recognize each scent by name without looking at its bottle.

Step 4:  Two hours later, go back to each strip.  Pick one and smell.  How has it changed?

Step 5:  The next day, go back to each strip.  Pick one and smell.  Has it changed?  How has it changed?


Applying Your Fragrances

You will also need to become familiar with how your scents blossom on your skin.  Some fragrance oils smell great out of bottle but mutate drastically after only a few minutes on your skin (and visa versa, better on skin).  So test each oil above on your wrist or forearm (dilute if using essential oils) and note the changes that occur as you wear the scent. 

How is it different when you first apply?

How about  5 minutes later?

30 minutes?

2 Hours?

Record your impressions in your notebook.



Blending 101>>







Links and Resources>>

Beginning Perfumery - Part 1
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