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Lavender

post #1 of 14
2/2/13 at 8:14am
Thread Starter 
I have some beautiful lavender absolute and lavender essential oil. The problem is that I'm unsure of other good materials to blend with it. I don't want to create something that smells like shaving lotion. By that I mean, I don't want an astringent. I have blended both materials with balsam fir absolute and essential oil, but wasn't completely satisfied as the fragrance seemed a bit too powdery. Any ideas, anyone?
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post #2 of 14
2/2/13 at 9:45am
Incense goes well with lavender.
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post #3 of 14
2/2/13 at 10:10am
A little olibanum (frankincense) would be nice with it, though you may find that gives a powdery effect too. Oakmoss will give you a Fougere effect, which is a classic and geranium works well with it too.

Alternatively try a musk combination such as celestolide with ambrettolide, a trace of lyral and some methyl anthranilate to enhance the floral quality of the blend and soften the top-notes with some benzyl salicylate.
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post #4 of 14
2/2/13 at 11:05am
A google Search with these terms" lavender essential oil blends well with" brought up a lot of ideas on different pages... Maybe that will help...?

For Instance:
Blends Well With: Bergamot, black pepper, cedarwood, chamomile, clary sage, clove, cypress, eucalyptus, geranium, grapefruit, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, mandarin, marjoram, oakmoss, palmarosa, patchouli, peppermint, pine, ravensara, rose, rosemary, tea tree, thyme, vetiver
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post #5 of 14
2/2/13 at 1:29pm
  • ION
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COUMARIN of course! Lavender loves coumarin!
Haven't you smelled "Le Male"?
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post #6 of 14
2/2/13 at 1:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ION View Post

COUMARIN of course! Lavender loves coumarin!
Haven't you smelled "Le Male"?

No, I've not smelled Le Male. Looks like I'd better get to it soon. I do have some tonka.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you hedonist, Chris, and pkiler. I have compiled a list based upon your suggestions. Some days the inspiration is very weak.
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post #7 of 14
2/3/13 at 2:09am
A classic Fougere accord is made using a blend of Lavender, Bergamot, and Geranium. Add some Musk and some Moss together with some Coumarin and then let your imagination run wild. Add some more Citrus notes, go spicy with Clove and Cinnamon, go green with AAG and DHM. It's up to you.
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post #8 of 14
2/3/13 at 6:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Ruskin View Post

A classic Fougere accord is made using a blend of Lavender, Bergamot, and Geranium. Add some Musk and some Moss together with some Coumarin and then let your imagination run wild. Add some more Citrus notes, go spicy with Clove and Cinnamon, go green with AAG and DHM. It's up to you.

Thank you,David. I have most of the other materials you mention on hand. Still trying to dissolve the tonka bean absolute, though. I'm using 190-proof ethanol, heating the tonka, and mixing in the alcohol, and then shaking the container. The tonka absolute is still mostly out of solution, but I plan to keep trying.
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post #9 of 14
2/3/13 at 6:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Curly11 View Post

Still trying to dissolve the tonka bean absolute, though. I'm using 190-proof ethanol, heating the tonka, and mixing in the alcohol, and then shaking the container. The tonka absolute is still mostly out of solution, but I plan to keep trying.

Tonka is one of those ingredients that takes a fair amount of effort to get into solution. I diluted a new batch of mine recently and it took several hours on the stirrer, so you'll need to be patient, but it will go cleanly into solution eventually.

Pure coumarin is a bit easer to deal with, not least because as it's a powder you don't need to melt it first, though of course it will lack the extra complexity that comes with tonka.

As you probably know coumarin is quite heavily restricted by IFRA and tonka is mostly coumarin: but unless you are planning on selling the resulting fragrance you don't need to be concerned with the restrictions.
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post #10 of 14
2/3/13 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for your timely reply, Chris. Out of curiosity I have to ask the size of the container in which the tonka was dissolved? I imagine you purchase in large quantities. About what size is a stirrer? My container is a 7 ml amber bottle with approx. 3.7 ml tonka absolute.
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post #11 of 14
2/3/13 at 6:50am
Actually I don't use huge amounts of Tonka and I used a 100ml amber bottle with 8g of tonka absolute plus 72g of ethanol to get 80g (100ml) of a 10% solution.

I think you are going to struggle to get a 50% solution especially with so little shaking room but you might find it helps to warm the bottle gently in a hot water bath. Be very careful doing that as you don't want the bottle exploding (cap on) or falling over in the water bath (cap off) . . . and yes I've had both of those happen to me over the years.

The smaller of my two stirrers is ideal for this sort of thing but will also work happily with a 1 Litre Simax bottle and that's what I use for things I use more of that are a pain to get into solution such as celestolide for example (the larger stirrer also incorporates a heater for the really difficult stuff).
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post #12 of 14
2/3/13 at 7:09am
Thread Starter 
OK, I take your point. I'll transfer the partially dissolved tonka into a larger bottle once I heat it again. I've been careful about loosening the cap a little to allow gas to escape, but not so much that it might fall off if the bottle tips over. That happened once before, what a waste. My method is to place the tonka bottle inside a shot glass (jigger, if you will) and then the shot glass goes into a simmering water bath in a small pan on top of my stove.
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post #13 of 14
2/3/13 at 7:16am
That's a good method for the pure absolute, but don't forget that ethanol gives off potentially explosive vapour that is heavier than air. For heating the dilution I'd heat the water in the pan and remove from the heat before adding the bottle (with slightly loose cap, as you say).
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post #14 of 14
2/3/13 at 10:10am
+ clove
+ rosemary
+ nutmeg
+ allspice
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