How to create your own great blends... *In creating blends, its helpful to recognize that essential oils are often divided into top, middle, and low notes. This is a musical pattern suggested by the 19th century French perfumer Pliesse. * TOP Notes have a fresh, light quality which is immediately recognized when the bottle is opened. But those notes have a quick evaporation rate, so they only last if they are mixed with lower notes. If you are using top-note oils alone, they will not linger, so you can put them on first thing in the morning, and they will have dispersed before you walk out the door for work. Top notes can be sharp and strong like peppermint, thyme, lemongrass, cinnamon, and clove. With these sharp high notes, youll want to use very little in a blend because they can overpower other fragrances. Use, maybe 2-5% of the blend at the most. * You can use softer top notes like the citrus oils (bergamot, orange, lime, tangerine, lemon, etc). They can constitute from 10% to 40% of the blend, but they are typically no more than 20%. If you are creating a blend to use mainly in a diffuser, you can use more of the top notes. *Middle notes are the heart of theblend you are creating. They usually make up most of the blend -- 50% to 80%. This scent emerges sometime after the first impression. These notes give substance to the blend. They are typically warm, soft, and mellow. Sometimes they are called enhancers. typical enhancers are lavender, chamomile, marjoram, etc. * BASE notes are richer and heavier. They appear more slowly and linger longer than the middle notes. They can also act somewhat like a fixative to keep the lighter oils from dispersing too quickly. They increase the lasting effect of all the oils in the blend. * Base notes will smell rather faint right out of the bottle, but when on your skin, they will begin to release their power. Thats why you only truly experience the full fragrance when it has been on your skin for a minute or two. Base notes can linger for several hours. * It is not necessary to use base notes in blends youre going to diffuse, though they do add depth and body to the aroma. they are, however, almost required for blends youll apply to your skin (Lavabre p.107) * Essential oils are often classified according to their dominate note. This is useful information for those who are blending oils for perfumery, but its also important to know how long the strong aroma you are using will be staying around. For example, because tea tree is a relatively high-middle note that doesnt last too long, you wont have to worry about a lingering aroma of tea tree throughout the day. The pleasant aroma of geranium, on the other hand, applied to the pad of a bandage is a middle note and could be with you all day. *There are different options about which oils have predominant top, middle or base notes. Some, like frankincense, patchoili, jasmine, and sandalwood are obviously base notes. But perfumers and aromatherapists disagree on which are top and which are middle notes. We will suggest a category, but depending on the growing conditions and climate, an oil that was once a top note may later become a middle note (Davis p.250). some oils like ylang ylang and jasmine span several categories.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:48:52 +0000
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