Special Request Perfume

[BrewerGeorge]

My oldest daughter has asked with help making some honeysuckle perfume for her own use.

Is an FO going to be more realistic than an extract? Can somebody recommend a source for a good one?

Also, to make perfume should I just dilute the FO with perfumer's alcohol or Everclear? Include a bit of an oil to help it stick maybe? What would be a typical scent percentage?

 

[Kittish]

Hmm. I find honeysuckle absolute (ETA: which further research suggests is a blend of natural and synthetic oils to mimic honeysuckle), but when I search essential oil all I find are fragrance oil blends. The absolute is expensive, but I bet it'd be worth it to have a clear, unmistakable honeysuckle fragrance. Or not, if it's not going to be the real deal. Doesn't look like the real deal even exists.

I use everclear to dilute for perfume. The alcohol smell evaporates in seconds, just like regular perfume. Typical dilution rate is 3-10%. Perfumer's alcohol is just grain alcohol with stuff added to make it undrinkable and mixed with some water. You can do that yourself.

 

[DeeAnna]

If you sent me a PM with your address, BG, I'll send you a sample of Nature's Garden Honeysuckle. I've been using it in soap this summer and like it really well. It's pretty strong, so a little will go a long ways. It's this one: https://www.naturesgardencandles.com/honeysuckle-fragrance-oil

 

[shunt2011]

I too use the Honeysuckle from NG. I make roll-on perfume for a customer. It's really quite nice.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Thanks for the offer, but I think we'll just trust your recommendation and order the NG.

We're going to make this tonight. Do I need to add any PS80? (That's all I have onhand.)

 

[DeeAnna]

I'm assuming you're using perfumer's alcohol or something like that? If so, I'd try a small sample of FO + alcohol without PS80, give it a good shake, and see what happens.

If you see immediate separation into FO on top of alcohol or if the mixture stays mixed but milky or cloudy, then I'd add small amounts of PS80 and see if you can get it to stay mixed and water clear. Start by adding PS80 weight equal to the FO weight and work up from there. Give each test mixture some time to stabilize -- sometimes it can take some minutes to even overnight to get the final result. If you get impatient (who -- me -- impatient??? ) you can end up using more PS80 than is really necessary.

To give you some perspective, I normally have to use anywhere from 3 to 6 times the FO weight to get a stable, clear mixture, but your mileage may vary from mine.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Does anybody have a feel for how much the honeysuckle from NG accelerates CP?

She wants the scent left over from making the perfume as soap now. It will be my vegan recipe which is 50% Crisco, 20% coconut, 20% HO safflower, and 5% each avocado and castor. Will I have time for an ITP or drop swirl, or will I be racing to avoid soap-on-a-stick?

 

[DeeAnna]

I use NG Honeysuckle. I like it a lot. It sticks beautifully and doesn't discolor, but it does accelerate trace. I'd say it does medium-slow to medium accel, not super naughty soap-on-a-stick stuff. But as always, YMMV.

I normally add fragrance to my oils if I'm scenting the whole batch, but with this FO, I add it to the soap batter as the last thing to give me the most prep time before any excitement. I'd definitely do an ITP swirl or a drop swirl. Ive Here's a drop swirl soap with Honeysuckle at 4% ppo --

eta -- The yellowish cast showing up in the white is how the camera saw things the day I took the photos. The white is really white in real life and stays that way.

 

[BrewerGeorge]

Fantastic. Thanks, DeeAnna!

 

[DeeAnna]

I hope my experience with this FO holds true for you too.

I'm not usually too keen on floral FOs, but there's something about this FO that keeps me coming back. It has a nice green-herbal-clean thing going on and that keeps the floral sweetness from being cloying. I've used 2 bottles just this past year alone. That's a lot of any one FO for my little hobby business.

 

[shunt2011]

I too have used NG's Honeysuckle. Same experience as DeeAnna. It moves. I did blend it with a Rose as well one time.