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DIY Perfume Bar - ?

post #1 of 5
8/20/10 at 1:13am
Thread Starter 
Hi,
I've done some online research, but I'm a complete newbie - would love to get your opinion on the best approach for setting up a DIY Perfume Bar for a bridal shower - which looks like a fun activity for guests to customize their own scents and do some on the spot blending...
(Example: http://www.edytaszyszlo.com/blog/201...ridal-showers/ , http://blog.strawberryhedgehog.com/2...al-shower.html)

So - 2 Questions for our BN'rs:
1) What EO's should I stock this bar with? I'm anticipating ~20 party favors of 5 ml roll-on's/atomizers, so I'm guessing 15 X 4 ml vials of EO's should be plenty. I'll need a proper mix of Top, Middle & Base Notes. I'd want to include the staples that most people like - and avoid the super expensive oils that will leave me broke - I've put a sample list of notes from a commercial perfume kit for reference below if it helps

2) Should I go with everclear, vodka, fractionated coconut oil or jojoba? Seems like the everclear is most common on this forum - but I'm concerned with any possible lingering alcohol smells? Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for all your help!
winnie123

Top Notes
1.\tBlack Pepper essential oil
2.\tJuniper Berry essential oil
3.\tFennel essential oil
4.\tBalsam Fir essential oil
5.\tBergamot essential oil
6.\tSweet Orange oil
7.\tLemon oil
8.\tPink Grapefruit oil
9.\tLime oil
10.\tLavender, French essential oil
11.\tLavender, Bulgarian essential oil
12.\tCedarwood essential oil
13.\tNutmeg esential oil
14.\tSpearmint essential oil
15.\tGinger essential oil
16. \tClove Bud essential oil
17. \tCardamon essential oil

Middle Notes
18.\tPalmarosa essential oil
19.\tPetitgrain essential oil
20. \tLitsea essential oil
21. \tNeroli essential oil
22. \tClary Sage essential oil
23. \tRosemary essential oil
24. \tBasil essential oil
25. \tGeranium essential oil
26. \tSweet Marjoram essential oil
27. \tYlang Ylang essential oil
28. \tJasmine grandiflorum absolute
29. \tJasmine sambac absolute
30. \tCoffee essential oil

Base Notes
31. \tOakmoss absolute
32. \tBenzoin
33. \tMyrrh
34. \tCocoa absolute
35. \tPeru Balsam
36. \tVetiver essential oil
37. \tCistus essential oil
38. \tFrankincense essential oil
39. \tPatchouli essential oil
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post #2 of 5
8/20/10 at 2:49am
I'll add more when I have time, but one thing I've noticed is that many people don't like the scent of a considerable number of essential oils. If the people involved are more natural living oriented I wouldn't worry, but if it's a group of more 'normal folk' you might want to go with some fragrance oils instead.

This has a few upsides: 1) it's cheaper 2) the fragrance oils are generally more liked and 3) the fragrance oils have longevity and projection characteristics close to that of normal perfumes. Natural perfumes behave completely differently and will likely upset or disappoint people who are expecting something with longevity/projection similar to anything you'd find at Macy's

If you do go with natural oils, I find that a 20% blend of oils into everclear leaves no noticeable alcohol smell, but this is only after the oils have blended together after a week or more of sitting. The alcohol is noticeable at first, and the perfume smells completely differently when initially blended than it will a few days later (and they often keep changing for periods up to a month!).

I believe fragrance oils will blend together more quickly, as there are less chemicals present in them, hence less chemical reactions. That's another plus to the fragrance oils - the smell they get 15 minutes after blending is likely to be close to the final product.
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post #3 of 5
8/20/10 at 11:58am
You could make some great fragrances with the things on your list, but have you checked the price tag on all of those oils? Things like jasmine absolute and cistus don't come cheap. I agree with SoS that you might want to cut back on the EOs since most people in this society aren't familiar with natural scents and may not like the way they smell. You would probably be better off with a set of synthetic fragrance oils including flower scents (e.g., rose, jasmine, gardenia, carnation, orange blossom, etc.), some "foody" ones (e.g., vanilla, cotton candy, chocolate, caramel, buttercream, etc), some "outdoor" scents (marine, ozone/fresh air, etc), a couple of musk fragrance oils (light and dark), some woods (sandalwood, teak, etc) and whatever else strikes your fancy. The fragrance oils are already diluted, so the carrier is already in the mix.

By using synthetic fragrance oils, the whole process will be easier, the resulting fragrances will probably smell a lot more like the commercial scents that people are used to, and you won't have spent a fortune on what is essentially a one-time parlor game.

Sorry if I sound cynical, but this is what I would do if I were in your place.
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post #4 of 5
3/21/13 at 10:00pm
I know this is an old post, but perfume bars are even more popular in 2013. I run a bridal shower blog and regularly get told by maids of honors about pre-made perfume bar kits which are an alternative to buying 29 individual fragrance oils/ EOs.

The top 5 that I know are (in no particular order): Perfume Wizard: http://bit.ly/ZD63d3, Sweet Anthem: http://bit.ly/10qefyA, Kamilyin: http://bit.ly/ZD66p2, Scentelier Perfume Bar by Showerella: http://bit.ly/SKZONG and Scented Events: http://bit.ly/YswXVK (if you live in the UK).
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post #5 of 5
3/29/13 at 10:05am
I ran a perfume bar last week with Liam Moore at the W Hotel London. I made up six accords for the different themes, took six harmonisers and twelve stronger variations to customise them. I spent two months making sure that it was almost impossible to screw up, and Liam and I let guests choose materials, but didn't allow them anywhere near the blending. It was quite a day...
With that list of raw materials a non-perfumer could make some very expensive sludge. You'd need some safe synthetics in there - as I say all the time, like cupcakes need sodium bicarbonate - or everything will come out unwearable.
Have fun.
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