Looking to create the perfect Sandalwood based Eau de Cologne

I'm making one like this. It had a nice woodsy start but vanished into baby powder territory a bit too soon, so needs more work. I feel it was the vanilla because I only meant to put two drops in but forgot I hadn't diluted it, so it was too strong. I would appreciate someone elses ideas. These are 10% in fractionated coconut oil so measurements are in drops for a sample.

31 thai sandalwood, 20 vanilla (way too much as it was meant to be 2), 20 vetivert, 10 Guaicwood, 5 patchouli, 10 cedarwood atlas, 5 oakmoss, 10 rose, 5 carnation, 1 birch tar, 5 black pepper, 6 cabreuva, 4 galbanum, 5 peru balsam, 12 bitter orange, 3 frankincense, 4 ginger, 2 lime

I have an ancient 1700's recipe for cologne somewhere which uses sandalwood. I shall hunt for it.

If the sandalwood oil smells really good, I would keep it relatively simple - maybe a drop of oakmoss and a tiny touch of vanilla to add to the base, a touch of rose and/or neroli for the heart and some lemon/bergamot. Personally I would avoid cedar as this can emphasise the off notes in the vanuatu.

If the santal is not rich/smooth/ even enough to smell great on its own then I would go for a more complex recipe like the one mumsy gave above.

Saichele, I am not sure the Eden's Vanuatu is a good sandalwood oil to base your EdC on, if it's the same as the one I had received from EB (sold it since) it has a very harsh, akrid, sour-ish, almost ammonia-like smell. Perhaps if diluted enough it's more palatable, but my dilution of this oil retained all the unpleasant characteristics. It smells like whoever distilled it cranked up the pressure and the temperature in order to maximize the oil yeild and managed to "cook" the resulting oil in the process of distillation. It is strong, no doubt, but doesn't have much in common with the smooth creamy sweet woodiness the good sandalwood oils possess. Of course, you will have a hard time finding a good Mysore oil for under $130 or so an ounce but it's not impossible.

Please feel free to discregard my ramblings if the oil you have is not like what I am describing.

If you want Mysore Sandalwood to be front and centre of the composition, not as a supporting base note, it is easy to screw up a sandalwood composition as it is a very subtle, yet tenacious scent. I stick to vetiver and frankincense as supporting base note (and use lactone to extend the sandalwood), and very transparent middle and top notes, in very small quantities to support and extend the sandalwood. So my experiments have been with concentrate that are half or more of sandalwood!! This is assuming that

I did one very recently that I have got very good complements on ("wow what are you wearing. Smells EXPENSIVE"....honey it is, but less than that bottle of CK Be you have poured on yourself).

It is a play between Mysore Sandalwood (4m worth!!) vanilla and lactone base, nutmeg and cinnamon middle, and cardamom and saffron top with hints of holy basil. I added traces of ionone and utrazur to give a bit of zing, and lactone to extend the sandalwood milkiness, but otherwise mostly natural.

Down about half the bottle in 2 weeks, my wife and I love it so much. Perfectly delicious smelling, and perfectly unisex.

Try smelling mysore sandalwood soap from india to get some more ideas.

A classic mysore mix is sandalwood, vetiver and rose with oud to extend the base, and citrus to extend the top (sold to discerning tourists in Mysore perfume shops. Dont buy it there. Very poor quality ingredients. But sniff a sample to get an idea of the composition). You can try playing along with this. I dont like any natural citrus extracts with Sandalwood, but synthetic ones that "float" on top work better, esp if you extend the sandalwood milky note with lactone. I have also had good results by adding Terry Mugler Cologne, or Creed Vetiver to extend the top for this combination (I know it is cheating to mix commercial perfumes into DIY ones, but whatever works!). There is a milky citrus note in these compositions that I cannot isolate (can anyone help?), but is delicious and works best with sandalwood.

Cheers

I agree with these findings. I fell for the Vanuatu advertisements too. After playing with it for a while, I don't like it much. It does smell acrid and bitter, and is very strong. Diluting it does not change the overall characteristics. It's nothing like Mysore, which to me (at least the sample I have) smells more powdery, generally woody, and has a bit of a turpentine note as well. There are none of the bitter notes in the Mysore sample I have. Actually, I would prefer a synthetic replacement like that from perfumersapprentice over the Vanuatu I bought. In my limited experience, sandalwood smells are widely variable, and none can exactly replace another.