Mixing scents... blasphemy or art??

I think to mix 2 finished scents effectively you have to have an exceptional nose. Otherwise its all peanut-butter and pickled herring sandwiches.
:-P

I have found a few combinations that worked, but not many. But hey, if it smells good, I say go for it. Try it at home first, get a second opinion, and apply less of each.

Hi!
I voted the YUCK option, though I mix sometimes...

A couple of years back, I did a somewhat successfull mixing experiment, though. I had tested decants of some L´Artisans (not my house of choice), when I got this idea of actually creating my own L´Artisan.
So - I took a large unused vial, and filled it with a mixture of Ambre Extrème, Poivre Piquant, Piment Brulant and Vanilia. I didn´t measure, or anything, just a few ml:s of this and two drops of that, until I was satisfied. I remember that I used Vanilia as some kind of base, though.
I thought I had created something nice, he he... I left it alone for a few days, to blend, and I was rather thrilled with the result.
I wore it once, I think.

I have a mix-on-skin combo that is OK, too: NR for her with a tiny, tiny squirt of EL White Linen on top.

It´s sometimes fun to mix, and I wouldn´t call it blasphemy, but......

I happily layer.

Very few people think twice about throwing a scarf from one designer over a coat from another. Why should fragrance be any different. Like clothes, simple & linear fragrances are good basics, but combining complex pieces can sometimes work amazingly on the right person.

(I'm paraphrasing myself from an earlier post since my opinion hasn't changed, but some of this might seem familiar.) There are many fragrances that I won't monkey with, but sometimes I'm feeling adventurous and get an idea about emphasizing a beautiful note here or softening something shrill over there. I've had a lot of luck doing this, especially when layering different fragrances from the same house. One of my favorite ways, and my most successful, is to combine fragrances by using a perfumed body cream or lotion with a complimentary (hopefully) fragrance spray on top.

For instance, Estee Lauder's Youth Dew body cream plus EL's Pleasures Delight edp spray is wonderful! The YD tones down the sweetness of PD a bit and gives the composition some weight, but the beautiful ripe strawberry note of PD is still very present - bright juicy pink and delicious. So if you like the berry note but don't want it very sweet, this is a great solution.

Youth Dew body cream and EL's Spellbound edp combine to make a lusher, sexier, and just better (imo, of course) version of Spellbound, which I really like but find just a bit too potent and thickly sweet on its own.

Actually, YD body cream has a calming and softening effect on a lot of fragrances that may seem too sweet, or too sharp. I've also combined it with EL's Pure White Linen. I love PWL on its own during the spring and summer months, but the YD gives it a softness and warmth that I enjoy more in the winter. It just seems to make everything cozier. So layering can also be a good way to bring a scent you normally attribute to one season into another.

Another recent success I'd recommend is Aromatics Elixir cream (which is highly perfumed) with a light spritz of Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose on top - it essentially smells like the same gorgeous Elixir that I love, but the beautiful rose note is pronounced - stunning! Not everything works, though. I tried a rose body cream with AR spray, but it's just too concentrated for the much more subtle rose cream to have a chance of being detected. On the other hand, it certainly didn't hurt or alter the fragrance, so at least I didn't have to scrub....which is the worst possible outcome and it's not really so bad (just don't do it on your way out!) so you might as well have fun and experiment to your heart's content.

One of my friend does that most of the times. She sprays 2 fragrances at the same time without having ANY kind of knowledges about them..and damn, she sprays a lot! I never did and I'm not thinking much of doing it..I don't have such a good nose yet. But that's only with perfumes. When it comes to body care products and a perfume of different brand, I don't really mind.

Yeah, well I do have my enthusiasms! I think I'm generally pretty conservative in my mixology, though, and most of my better combos make sense - nothing very far out or inexplicable....though I'd imagine that's where serendipity could really do some magic.

I have yet to find one fragrance that is absolutely amazing by itself, and like smart clothing, I layer

I used to mix Creed's Royal English Leather and Millisime Imperial. I rarely wore either fragrance by itself.

Blasphemy.

Anyway, I tried, and there's no "one scent" out of mixing 2. Just a messy "dance" of 2 clearly distinct perfumes. A thing never to wear in public.

I don't like layering except for maybe a couple of fragrances.

My cousin, I SWEAR TO GOD, stands in front of the mirror, picks up a fragrance without even looking at it, sprays the shit out it, then continues this cycle for more than seven fragrances. Uuuuugggghhhh!!!!

My brother, also a layerer (a refined one I might add), has sufficent knowledge on perfumes that his layering techniques actually smell damn good. For example, he was layering Diptyque L'eau and Oud Wood and it smelt amazing. Another one was layering Mirror des Envies with Magot.

MY only layering holy grail is Straight to Heaven and Rose 31.

Occasionally, I'll layer perfumes on purpose. I mainly use amber, egyptian musk, vanilla, white musk or rose based scents to mix with the more complex ones to highlight certain aspects of a perfume's aroma.

Occasionally, I'll layer perfumes accidently (on a perfume shopping trip). It's happened to me twice now where I've had over six different scents sprayed on my skin while perfume shopping & the mix blends together to created the most wonderful sillage. I even got asked once "what's the name of the beautiful perfume you are wearing?"....then I had to explain that it wasn't one perfume she was smelling but a mix of many perfumes!

I don't really dare to mix perfumes much but sometimes when I think my previous perfume has faded enough, I put on something else.
Also, I have a relatively strong rose body lotion that I layer with other rose perfumes. I find it makes them a little soapy.
Yesterday, I actually layered Ava Luxe LTBL (oil) with Reminiscence Patchouli Elixir and this one was really great, a little like Angel.

I favor layering rather than mixing juices. To layer is also not to mix but to apply fragrance to different parts of the body in isolation so as to make the aroma mix take place in the air rather than physically togeather on the skin. The practice of layering has long taken place and with some experimentation can develop prefered personal recipes of success.

I don't layer. I like to appreciate each fragrance on its own. There's so much to explore short of combining!

I love to layer! I stick to the same families, keep one scent close to my heart and the other on my wrists so there's an added depth. One scent greets you and the other is like a secret you might sniff out if you come closer to me. But they have to compliment each other.

My current layering fav is L by Lolita Lempicka with Annick Goutal's Incens Flamboyant. Both are woody incenses, but the Goutal cuts the overwhelming sweetness of L and adds depth. They're very pretty together.

One time i mixed TOMMY BOY with CK ONE ! It became rubbish, and useless.

Best mix I've smelled is Serge Luten's Arabie with Stella McCartney's Stella. Arabie's pepper beautifully deepens Stella's rose.

I voted for yes...but actually I hardly ever layer(not talking about actually mixing different juices!). I think it's very hard to find a harmonious combination, in which neither gets "eaten up" by the other frag.
One thing I do layer is Ambre Narguile,as it's pretty cloying on me..I always put a spritz of Poivre Samarkande on top (yup, I have this 15ml Hermessence travel set)..works great this way.
Oh! Here's another good one: Shalimar+a couple of spritzes of Un Bois Vanille....heeeaven!
What Evangeline does is a good idea..I think that kind of "layering-mixing" works better..scented body cream+spritzing a different perfume.

Layering and mixing is part of the fun!

Welcome to Basenotes mzendre!

I like to layer - it works for me.
One I have tried lately with great success is Caron's Narcisse Noir layered with either Laura Mercier Neroli EDP or Neroli Absolute 3% in jojoba oil.

The Narcisse Noir with a layer on top of neroli absolute is divine. It really amps the orange blosson in NN.

There's a huge difference between mixing multiple fragrances together to create a new scent and traditional 'layering'. I don't do either although if I'm not showering before changing to a different scent for the evening there will be some overlap. I always make sure the scents are complimentary eg; Jicky/Shalimar or Havana Vanille/Felanilla. I once accidentally spayed over Attrape Couer with Bois d'Armenie, as the decants were in the same type of atomiser. Sounds wonderful doesn't it ? Nope, somehow it smelled far less than the sum of its' parts .

In my one and only mixing experiment I was once inspired to try and 'dirty up' my NR For Her with Musc Ravageur by 'wet layering'. You'd think it would make a muskier, more masculine scent but nooo. It was lilac !!! I have no clue why that would be the case, seeing as there is no lilac note in NR and no florals at all in NR.

Perhaps I am not daring enough, as I hear you all go on about mixing fragrances, but I can just imagine Germaine Cellier's or Jean-Claude Ellena's faces at the thought of mixing another perfume with one of their creations! i prefer my perfumes 'straight up'!

reine

True that, and lol @ the Musc Ravageur, anyone have other success/fail stories about mixing? I've layered, but I don't know what to think of mixing

I love to layer and have several "go-to" scents for that purpose. I'll layer on top of Encre Noire, Tea Rose, and Gucci PH to enhance or add vetiver, rose, and incense respectively. Some favorite combos are EN and M7, TR and Egoiste, and GPH and Mitsouko. I tried to make Guerlain Mahora a bit more butch and layered it with a spritz of Guerlain Vetiver and it was gorgeous, but not necessarily more masculine, just tropical green. I even made a mutant super-oriental by layering Shalimar edc and Opium edt--not bad at all. A potent pairing that I really like is Caron's Troisieme Homme with Fracas. There have been some failed experiments, but a few pairings I actually enjoy as much if not more than the solitary perfumes.

When I mix (blend) I stay within a certain House.....My Sotd is a good example of how I mix scents.....Today I blended Vanilia with Patchouli Patch by L'Artisan.....Gary

Never actually layered or mixed any of my perfumes but why not ? Experimenting is fun and if the result will be a mess there is always the option to wash it off , isnt it ?

my fave layering/blending combo is still Egoiste and M7. The results is absolutely rich and divine.

Heritage and L'instant tames down the lavender in Heritage, and offers a brand new dimension in the basenotes, making a scent thats very close to teh scent of pastries.

I love to mix or emphasize a particular note. I tend to use rose scented bath and body products to emphasize the rose note in Paloma Picasso. I will spritz Bodycology Gardenia before spraying Elizabeth Taylor Gardenia EDP and even dabbing a little Terranova Gardenia behind my ears--a trilogy that works for me.

I have tried layering and I made a mess about 95% of the time. The only combination that I liked was Baghari & Jo Malone Orange Blossom. I continue to try Myrrhe Ardente or Vanilia with a variety of scents, but I have come up with nothing much.

Excellent question! I was wondering the same thing. Ultimately I could care less what other people think as long as *I* like it, but I was curious nonetheless.

I've been battling with an issue for the last few days because I bought a 4.2oz bottle of Guerlain - L'Instant pour Homme and I decided it's too sweet for my own tastes, but the females love it. I did like that it projected so well and was very elegant, so as a last ditch effort, I grabbed my Bulgari - pour Homme Soir (stays close to the skin & is dark, mysterious and almost reclusive) and sprayed it on top of the L'Instant within seconds of each other.

The result is a somewhat bolder & friendlier Soir as well as a L'Instant w/ a more masculine edge (not as feminine-sweet as it was by itself). It still smells a little mysterious and elegant, but both scents are very classy, and the L'Instant/Soir combo seems to be like an outgoing (albeit somewhat feminine) gentleman pulling an intelligent but reclusive silent-type fellow out of the alley and onto the street and then merging together. One thing I noticed is that it isn't so much a merging as much as it is one of them sacrificing themselves and transferring the power to the other.

I'm going to try this a few more times, switching which one I put on first to figure out whether or not it has staying power (which sacrifices itself for the other). I really love my Soir because it matches my character so well, but I was just commenting to my friend that the next scent I get needs to be a little more attention-grabbing in a not-so-offensive way.

I hope this works 'cause I hate to have to exchange the Guerlain and regret it later. If it does, I have my "projector scent" for the time being (although I'll need a bigger bottle of Soir). If it doesn't, the Guerlain has to go back & maybe I'll pick up a bottle of Black Jeans or Rive Gauche.

Only yesterday did I step into the lab of the mad scientist.
I sprayed on L'Heure Bleue EdP, and layered it with Bal Ã* Versailles EdT. The result was a cheeky and sexy L'Heure Bleue. It's all in the civet!

Absolutely positively so, Dimitri.

My first foray into combining scent: I can confidently layer D'Orsay Tilleul over Cote Bastide Fleurs d'Oranger...divine.