# "Musky" essential oil blend?



## BayBoy

Hey EO nerds!

I'm working on a scent that is the kind of musky scent a "guy" might want to wear on a date. I like black pepper oil because it smells a bit like patchouli without actually smelling like... patchouli. Not obviously anyway. I'm combining it with amyris and sweet orange. But it's still a bit too bright, I guess is the word.

I need it to smell more... umm... mysterious. Any wisdom y'all might wish to share?


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## Obsidian

What about oakmoss? Its not really musky but it would give you the deeper scent you are looking for. A little patchouli might be good too, once blended it looses some of the funky scent that so many people dislike.


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## Kittish

Nagarmotha/Cypriol might give you the sort of kind of musky base note you're looking for. I just did a test strip of it, it starts off really leathery, but settles down into not quite cedarwood (like sticking your face in an old cedarwood chest sort of cedarwood, not a really bright fresh cedarwood) with musk tones.


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## BayBoy

I love this feedback, thank you


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## dibbles

Maybe switch out the orange for bergamot if you have it. Rosewood is nice too. A little patchouli - but I am a patch lover. Balsam Peru (Peru Balsam?) maybe. Frankincense for a bit of a smoky note?


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## BayBoy

Thanks! I'm going to try these ideas this weekend


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## Zany_in_CO

I like all the above suggestions, but I also like straight black pepper, so I'm not much help -- but I'm posting just to see what you come up with! :mrgreen:


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## BaBa

Labdanum or yellow birch (Benzyl acetate) also have leathery, masculine notes, without the sweet facet of Peru Balsam or Benzoin. Hyraceum is typically used to replace animal notes.  Depends if you want to pass directly from bright to leather or if you prefer a little balsamine trip before; maybe the contrast of the first will be interpreted as "masculine" more easily. 

Vetiver is able to make this transition without feeling too sweet, but it definetely has an earthy facet. Also does gaiac wood, without anything earthy but more in the smokey, tobacco side.

If you really want the «clean» side of musk (like in White Musk of body shop), consider working with Ethylene Brassicate (also commercialized as Musk T), but I'm unsure whether it could resist saponification.

Lavender, pine and oakmoss can give an interesting tobacco bouquet that may fit to your bright/dull game. Galbanum also allows you to have even brighter green, humus notes, but as patchouli it's a bit funk for those who aren't on the earthy side. 

Orange seems really sweet and kinda difficult to maintain in a soap. Maybe could petitgrain or bergamot give you a finer citrusy element?


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## Winter8

Where do you prefer to get patchouli essential oil?  I’m a patchouli-woodsy person too. I’ve tried several different suppliers, but I’m looking for a great patchouli EO.


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## SideDoorSoaps

I get my dark patchouli from New Directions Aromatics. All my hippie ladies love it. I’ve had other patchouli and I think they have the best. Several years back patchouli was mighty expensive and it was so gloriously dark, I’m upset that I didn’t save any.


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## cmzaha

This is a great Patchouli and you do not have to meet the $100 minimum of New Directions. I like this one better than NDA's  
http://www.fragrancelaboratory.com/...ian-Essential-Oil/p/36089366/category=9255019


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## Steve85569

Frankincense and Cedar wood at 50:50 for a base gives a musky / woodsy scent to my nose (CP).
I usually add an FO on the top of them...


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## shunt2011

cmzaha said:


> This is a great Patchouli and you do not have to meet the $100 minimum of New Directions. I like this one better than NDA's
> http://www.fragrancelaboratory.com/...ian-Essential-Oil/p/36089366/category=9255019



I too use this one.  It's awesome!   I make it straight up and have many followers.  It sticks well in CP.  Easy to work with.


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## Zany_in_CO

cmzaha said:


> This is a great Patchouli and you do not have to meet the $100 minimum of New Directions. I like this one better than NDA's
> http://www.fragrancelaboratory.com/...ian-Essential-Oil/p/36089366/category=9255019


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## Rune

And this fabulous patchouli from Fragrance-something "does not ship to this location"... Yes, perfectly normal, I'm very used to that. I have to look somewhere else for a patchouli. I have one I definately don't like. And I will NOT look at Amazon. We don't have Amazon in Norway (thank God), so I have to use the UK or German one if I am looking for something. I can seriously not understand how _everybody_ shops _everything_ on Amazon. It is without competitors _the_ worst site on the planet. Amazon reminds me of Little Britain; "Computer says NO!". 

Amazon is definately not made by Apple, that's for sure. But I'm sure Apple uses Amazon as a blueprint on what not to do to make intuitive websites and programs. And I'm glad we don't have that crappy **** in our country. I'm seriously trying to buy a coffee grinder and an onion holder. But computer says no. So Amazon can send me a cheese cutter, yes, but not an onion holder and a coffee grinder. All of that is like shipped from the same Amazon warehouse, so it's not different sellers. Well, I give up. I should use the cheese cutter to cut soap, the onion holder to swirl tops and the coffee grinder to grind my activated charcoal. But I doubt that is possible. My charcoal is made from diamonds, apparently.

I mixed essential oils of Atlas cedarwood, cypress and a tiny touch of cinnamon leaf. That is a really good one. Like a forest walk and kind of after shave-ish. But not musky, I think. My curing soap has that blend in it, and the whole room smells clean and fresh and masculine.

What about ambrette seed essential oil? That should be musky since it is vegetable musk. But maybe very expensive?


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## Rune

Haha, and american forums, like this one, censor normal swear words. I'm glad you can't read norwegian, because you would faint if you read all those uncensored norwegian forums. Nothing is censored here. And especially not swear words. Nudity and swearing can be seen and heard in primetime TV.


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## Soapmaker123

vetiver . . . oakmoss . . . patchouli . . . also, wormwood and caraway.

A method to quickly test combinations of oils for scent is with a "fan of sticks". 

Buy a box of wooden coffee-stirrer sticks,

Dip the tip of a stick into a particular oil, maybe more oil on this stick, less oil on that stick.

Then make a small "fan" of the sticks and waft this oil-fan under your nose for your scent's first-approximation.


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## Rune

I used a cotton thing, I think it is for make-up removing. Round cotton stuff in a long bag. I found that very easy, because then I could make an exact blend by using 4 drops of this, 1 drop of that and 3 drops of another. So when I was ready to make soap, I could just take so many grams of essential oil I needed in total for the batch and divide on the total number of drops and multiply with how many drops of a specific one that was in the blend. Then I would have it in gram and I measured out each essential oil directly into the base oils. 

I made quite a few test blends on this cotton things, put them in some small single bar "soap molds" with lids (they are not real soap molds, but something storage something from the grocery store).  I taped some medicinal tape/freezer tape (one that you can write on) on the lids, and marked each blend with how many drops I have used of each. I let the blends marry together overnight, and wafted that cotton make-up-whatever under my nose the day after. That worked perfectly well. 

The coffee stirrer method sounds nice, but how can you measure out an exact blend that way? Maybe it doesn't need to be 100% exact.


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## TrashKitty

I do equal parts dark patchouli and cedarwood, and add a little bit of peppermint. It smells amazeballs together.


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