# Blending EO for Soap



## LoisArbuckle (Aug 28, 2012)

Hi I'm new to the forum.

Does anyone have any tips for blending EOs? Is there a calculator online that will tell you how much of each oil to blend to make certain scents? 

I made some soap the other day and blended W.I. Sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla, as base note, rosemary as mid note, and orange as top note. The napkin I used for testing smelled incredible, very woodsy and masculine. The soap however smells like poo. Not literal poo, but it stinks. Will it smell better in a few weeks? 

Any recipes out there for a sexy, masculine scent?

Thanks!


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## judymoody (Aug 28, 2012)

Try this site for blending ideas:

http://members.shaw.ca/Tickled/html/blends.html

As for your soap, give it time.  It may bounce back.  I do test blends by drops in perfume sample vials and let them sit awhile to see how the oils marry.  However, lye can do funny things to fragrance; you can never know for certain until you soap a test batch.


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## lsg (Sep 1, 2012)

Use one part sandalwood and one part allspice for a scent that smells like Old Spice.  I also like one part rosemary to two parts spearmint.  Here is a great masculine blend I got from Rainbow Meadow calculator:  1 part frankincense, 1 part myrrh, 1 part patchouli and 1 part sandalwood.


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## Mrs Capa (Sep 3, 2012)

Ohhhh bless ya! You have had a smelly poo soap experience too! I think we all have so don't be put off with that and yes, lye does weird stuff to your ingredients! I find that lye makes some of my mixtures and soap of 24 hours stink like dirty old floor mops.  :shock:  I made a patchouli & lavender and thought it was a gonner because it ponged soooo bad.... but it cured out beautifully, the patchouli and lavender returned! So yeah, I agree and everyone here would too, hold out your soap a little while let it settle a week or two. 

Just to save on the disasters and booby traps of future batches, I'm new to this too but if you want to do Ginger EO, make sure it is FRESH ginger or the CO2 extract and not the dried ginger extraction because that will make soap smell of smelly damp socks!  :shock:  

I also find Ylang Ylang doesn't come through strong, most bottom notes don't in CP (not sure about HP) and other EO's kill other EO's off in blends. Also vanilla does not come through at all, save your money on that! I bombed a soap with everything vanilla under the sun, pods, seeds, EO extract, cocoa butter, cocoa, and it didn't come through. This is the beauty of finding those perfect recipes... mystery and experience, but also good friendly help and advice!  :mrgreen:


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## cindypoo (Sep 21, 2012)

Poo !  That link for EO blending did not take me to the right place .. does anybody have another source for EO recipes ?
I will add, that I purchased some Clementine EO ( I do live in Florida, and thought an orange scented soap would be awesome ) but the soap cured into absolutely pure smell of absolutely nothing .. so I am able to offer it as 'unscented' oatmeal soap .. and it makes some people really happy !   8)


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## new12soap (Sep 22, 2012)

citrus scents are notorious for fading into absolutely nothing. you can try to "anchor" it with another scent (I am not at all sure but for some reason litsea cubeba is coming to mind) or with a bit of cornstarch. 1tsp ppo can help.


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## stephasafari (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm also a total newb to this and would LOVE some sort of resource to learning how to properly blend oils. 
I tried making a blend with lavender, patchouli and vanilla. I have no knowledge of what top, mid, low (whatever) notes are, so I followed the blend out of a book I had and used it in a soap recipe at 2.1% of total weight. 
The soap batter wasn't too scented. Even when I was mixing them in a little bowl I could only smell lavender, really. I think I used 10ml lavender, 3.5ml patchouli and 6.5ml of vanilla. HOWEVER- I did let them sit uncovered in a bowl overnight by accident. Could that have any way effected the scent's strength?
I cut the loaf tomorrow. I guess I'll have to wait and see how it turns out...

But yes- any information would be super awesome! Thank you!!


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## birdcharm (Sep 29, 2012)

> HOWEVER- I did let them sit uncovered in a bowl overnight by accident. Could that have any way effected the scent's strength?



Yes ... very much so, I'm afraid.  They are called 
volatile oils, remember!      Sorry to say! 

Kathy


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## Hazel (Sep 29, 2012)

I don't know if any of these will help.

http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/fragr ... d.htm?nl=1
http://aromaweb.com/articles/default.asp#blending
http://soapteacher.blogspot.com/2010/10 ... -soap.html
https://www.flinthillsaromatherapy.com/ ... ations.php
http://www.serenearomatherapy.com/essen ... blend.html


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## stephasafari (Oct 1, 2012)

birdcharm said:
			
		

> > HOWEVER- I did let them sit uncovered in a bowl overnight by accident. Could that have any way effected the scent's strength?
> 
> 
> 
> ...




*facepalm* Lesson learned, I suppose!

Thanks for the links, Hazel- I'll be checking them out tonight and tomorrow!


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## Hazel (Oct 2, 2012)

You're welcome! BTW, aromaweb.com is a wonderful site and is very informative so don't just stop reading on the blending page. I used to use it a lot when I was too lazy to drag out my books.  :wink:


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## ClaraSuds (Oct 7, 2012)

I don't think napkin blending is very effective. I've run foul of it myself. I've also picked up that same napkin a few days later and gone 'pooh!', once the top notes have evaporated less than desirable smells emerge. Napkins don't well replicte the characteristics of soap either and how it releases odours. Some scents get locked into the bar while others evaporate quickly. I created a scent recently that I thought was heaven, it was woody, dark and evocative. The napkin smelled divine and so did the blend in a glass bottle too. In soap however it smells just like a jar of black licorice. The base notes disappeared while the top note is tenacious to the point of being nauseating.  :roll: 

I've decided to test my scents now in a salve containing similar oils amd waxes to the soap. That way I can let the blend mature for a few days and see what is more likely to emerge from it. 

In terms of blending I have more success with the simpler blends, 2-3 essential oils tends to make a clearer more defined scent than lots of different oils. I put this down to my lack of expertise as a perfumer and possibly a not very refined nose.   there are also some oils that are clearly my nemesis. Ylang Ylang is one of them. It just smells like a dentists office or cough medicine no matter what I blend it with. 

One way I've found to make harmonious blends is to classify the dominant note of each essential oil into certain groups I understand...

Pungent
Sweet
Earthy
Woody
Damp
Cool
Warm
Dry

Then basing a scent around these characteristics. If I want something fresh I might mix some cool and pungent oils together. I've come up with some interesting and wonderful combinations this way. It makes more sense to me than base, middle, top notes alone. As not all top notes go well with all base notes, when two oils clash you get this muddy and confused scent. Sometimes two oils just become this hideous evil scent. They combine and spawn a third scent that smells like rubber, dental antiseptic, manure or mothballs.


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## birdcharm (Oct 7, 2012)

Very funny !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that!!

Kathy


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