# Nag champa recipe?



## Kittish

I've had a request for a nag champa scented soap if I can make one (I gave her a potential delivery date- _if_ I can even manage it at all- of around Christmas). I know there are lots of nag champa type FOs out there, but I can't use FOs. I've tried googling, but don't seem to come up with any recipes for actually making a nag champa blend. Well, I found one, for a powder incense, but it uses a couple dozen different ingredients. I may work from that one if I can't find anything else. (Recipe here: Ancient Blend Ritual Incense) I do realize that some of the ingredients in that incense blend are not suitable for using in soap. I'll double check every ingredient, and those not skin safe will be omitted. 

Does anyone have a recipe for nag champa using natural ingredients (EOs, absolutes, resins)? I'd really rather not reinvent the wheel unless I have to. Cost of the ingredients isn't too much of an issue, especially since Eden Botanicals offers samples of lots and lots of scents.


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## Millie

Champaca essential oil / CO2 extract / absolute / concrete / floral wax is probably a good place to start if money isn't an issue. I can't afford it so I haven't experienced it  myself:
www.edenbotanicals.com/champaca-co2.html

And a little about it... http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/champaca-flowers-vs-nag-champa-incense.html


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## Kittish

Yep. Champaca, sandalwood, and neroli are all the base list. Myrrh will probably be included, and patchouli. Heck, mom-in-law (who requested the scent) might be happy with just a blend of those. 

I'm figuring that for one batch of soap, the sample sizes of the more expensive botanicals should suffice. Possibly two. Still, lots less costly than buying a 1/2 oz or an ounce of something that runs to $1000 or more per pound.


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## IrishLass

I don't know if this helps, but according to what I was able to glean from Wikipedia, the nag champa fragrance is based on a combination of sandalwood and frangipani(plumeria) and/or magnolia champaca and/or mesua ferrea. 


IrishLass


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## Millie

I'm not sure I'm looking at the correct recipe. I scanned through the ingredients, didn't see champaca on the list. The scents you have sound nice though!

I wonder if you could use halmaddi resin in soap the way rosin is used in pears dupes. No idea if it's skin safe. When I search for a source though, everything leads to nag champa.


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## Kittish

Millie said:


> I'm not sure I'm looking at the correct recipe. I scanned through the ingredients, didn't see champaca on the list. The scents you have sound nice though!
> 
> I wonder if you could use halmaddi resin in soap the way rosin is used in pears dupes. No idea if it's skin safe. When I search for a source though, everything leads to nag champa.



You're right, champaca isn't in the incense recipe I found. And reading through it again... meh. I probably won't use that recipe. Looks like I'll be getting samples or small bottles of the five EOs (as well as a few *ahem* others) and start blending. 

A brief search turns up no halmaddi available for purchase.


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## cmzaha

My Nag Champa EO is the same as this but I did not purchase it here. Guess I should say it is the same flower, with a very strong sultry scent. http://www.edenbotanicals.com/champaca-co2.html. Forgot to add it is not fun in soap and just to expensive so I save it for lotion where it takes drops


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## Kittish

cmzaha said:


> My Nag Champa EO is the same as this but I did not purchase it here. Guess I should say it is the same flower, with a very strong sultry scent. http://www.edenbotanicals.com/champaca-co2.html. Forgot to add it is not fun in soap and just to expensive so I save it for lotion where it takes drops




When you say "not fun in soap" do you mean the scent doesn't stick, or it morphs into something icky, or messes with trace, or something else entirely?

I can, if necessary, replace champaca with nerioli and/or orange blossom plus maybe some frangipani. It won't be quite right, I'm sure, but all of those turn up in nag champa blends that I've read about. 

For what it's worth, I'm already planning for this soap to be HP, to try to minimize any problems with the scent once I come up with a blend M-I-L likes.


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## Kittish

Nag champa blend v2.0 has been approved by the MIL! Now all we need to do is settle on which soap recipe she likes best (she has bars of 3 different recipes to try out) and what little tweaks to the soap she wants. Then I'll make up a small HP batch scented with her nag champa and have her tell me when she opens the next to last bar. My mid sized mold holds a 750 gram batch pretty neatly, and that cuts into seven bars plus the end (which I'll keep as my tester).

1/8 ounce champaca CO2
25 drops sandalwood EO (New Caledonia)
35 drops lavender 40/42 EO
2 drops pink lotus absolute
2 drop tuberose absolute

Blend well, and dilute to about 50% with jojoba. I wound up with about an ounce total after adding the jojoba. 

Didn't actually weigh any of it. I need to get a scale to bridge the gap between my big soap scale and my tiny little milligram scale. Something with a capacity of a couple of pounds and accuracy down to .01. Then I can switch all of my fragrance recipes over to weight. 

Just as an aside, a 1/16 ounce bottle is incredibly tiny! That's what my tuberose came in.


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## Cyndle

One of my favorite combinations is nag champ and rose absolute.  There is just something about that smell I go nuts for


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## Kittish

Cyndle said:


> One of my favorite combinations is nag champ and rose absolute.  There is just something about that smell I go nuts for



Rose absolute by itself is pretty nice. I think it'd go well with just almost any sort of combination, especially that included any florals already (it's gorgeous in the pink lotus blend I'm using in my serenity soaps). MIL doesn't care for rose, though (weird, but okay) so decided not to include any. She sat with me, with fragrance strips for all of my EOs and decided which ones she wanted in her blend.


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## Peony

*Champ flower*

hello, from what read the main ingredients are champa flower oil and halmaddi. Champa comes from a flowering tree, also called champa, a member of the magnolia family. The ingredients: Flower oils are added to the sandalwood base and vary. Some have orange blossom, ylang-ylang and tea rose oils, but all have in common the champa flower oil. Traditionally, nag champa was made with the tree resin called halmaddi, which comes from the Ailanthus malabarica tree, also known as tree-of-heaven and white bean. Halmaddi has become more expensive in the past few decades and now nag champa incense is usually based on other tree resins. A common ingredient is evergreen resins, such as pine and cedar. Other makers add ingredients like cardamom, vanilla and black pepper. French lavender oil, saffron, cassia, cinnamon, and strawberry all appear in nag champa incenses from different makers or in different blends. 

Some people make their own nag champa at home, but usually these do not follow the traditional recipe with the champa flower oil and halmaddi, due to their rarity and cost. Idk if this helps anyone for another time


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## SunRiseArts

Millie said:


> Champaca essential oil / CO2 extract / absolute / concrete / floral wax is probably a good place to start if money isn't an issue. I can't afford it so I haven't experienced it myself:
> www.edenbotanicals.com/champaca-co2.html
> 
> And a little about it... http://ayalasmellyblog.blogspot.com/2007/06/champaca-flowers-vs-nag-champa-incense.html


 

800 for 4 oz!!! :Kitten Love:


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## bountifulsoaps

I am trying to get rid of my nag champa fragrance.  I just do seem to like fragrances.  What would you blend it with in order to change the scent some?  Mine is from Canden Gray where I generally buy my essential oils from.


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## Kittish

You could try adding just almost any sort of floral to it, a little bit at a time and see what that does. Maybe add some patchouli or vetiver and give it a solid, earthy base.


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