The past couple of weeks, or so, have been a whirlwind of fragrance sprayer ingredients mixing. I’d found some very affordable (and, authentic) old favorites that I like, on eBay, namely Spicebomb Extreme, which is for men, and Absolutely Blooming, for women (although I’m using it for myself). I decided to dip in to ladies’ perfume, to boost my room’s aesthetic, and to have some features of femininity in my close proximate area (on me). I’ve been reading that the fragrance is apparently discontinued. Despite these fragrances being old favorites, I started to feel a bit limited, in scent choice, when going out, and I was getting tired of layering the same fragrances on top of each other.
I was longing for some novelty and versatility, so I went with a concept of one of my own creations, a very skeletal prototype of a men’s fragrance, which I named Eau Pigeonoid, at least, for the time being, that’s what it’s named. The basic concept was that the fragrance opens with some citrus brightness, and, subsequently, a woodsy, coniferous, sweet resinous scent, over a chocolate and tonka aroma, which was somewhat a tasty gourmand musky effect that helped ground the composition.
I wanted to make some changes to the formula, so, instead of my original 8 ingredients, I consulted with Google Gemini about the fragrance, in intervals, revealing segments of the original Eau Pigeonoid, combined with some features that I wanted to add, such as rum extract, ambrocenide, which I found to be a very popular deep and rich amber fragrance ingredient, and I had some Ultravanil, as well, from an earlier purchase, that I wanted to throw in to a new composition. I hadn’t really used these ingredients in a fragrance composition, just yet.
So, in the course of brainstorming the new version of a fragrance, based upon the general themes of the original, given my additions that I wanted to make room for, Gemini and I worked out a fantastic ingredients list, where I could pull out all the stops, in the case of this purchase of fragrance ingredients. Ambranum is one of my favorites out of the list below, with its resinous incense-like character, like a raw copal resin sort of take. Patchouli Fractions was another stand out favorite, and it went well with Ambranum and Benzoin Ollifac (the Benzoin, from the original recipe.
Since I wasn’t too fond of how cloying the original Eau’s citrus opening was, I wanted to have a more ephemeral and fleeting, natural citrus character to the fragrance, so I went with a natural California Lemon and Lime Terpenes. I’d become intrigued by the potential of implementing terpenes in to my fragrance compositions, rather than trying to sort through a bunch of synthetic or altered aroma chemicals, of which there are many available. As I said, the citrus was initially a bit too much, in the original fragrance composition, and it stuck around a long time, and it made the composition take on sort of a smeared mix mash of fragrance components, whereas I envisioned differently, using terpenes, as they were reputed to have generally the same, or desired, type of effect in a fragrance composition, yet, being that they’re natural and not particularly oily (terpenes can be extracted from essential oils, as one of the components of the oil). With the citrus accord I had, including yuzu, petitgrain, and bergamot, I attained a fresh citrusy opening to the fragrance, as the initial highlight of the scent experience, which, now, starts to settle down and really fade, after about 5 minutes, or so.
I made a couple of different mockups of the new version of Eau Pigeonoid, since I felt that the first one had become too muddy, and it smelled like old men’s aftershave, which is okay, sort of, although I wanted something more cutting edge, and more well-defined. I made a second bottle, which I was happier about, and this time around, I knew the formula better, by memory, so I spent less time conceiving of the number of parts that ought to go in to the fragrance, what order they’re put in, and, I had hoped, with the addition of BHT crystals, the citrus would keep its definition and character, while fading away to allow room for the subsequent woods and sweet musky effect.
I found it surprising, after having made these batches of the remake of Eau Pigeonoid, that Gemini could function so adeptly in the world of fragrance, being that it’s machine based, and, for the fact of that, in general, machines aren’t made to have a sense of smell. For the rum extract component, for example, Gemini recommended giving the rum a new life, with the addition of an oak wood component. I had the choice of trying the absolute, or the CO2, and Gemini recommended the Oakwood CO2, since it had a better character and consistency, within a formulation. I had forgotten what sort of reference I could have, prior to purchasing these ingredients, of a memory of Oak wood’s scent profile, and, upon receiving the product, and sampling Oakwood CO2, I was immediately reminded of the rich, boozy sort of scent of oak casks, for storing and aging rum, for example. The character of oak wood would be a prominent feature, that is to say, in a concept of a true rum aroma.
I bought a few musks, this time around; not the most expensive ones, but, a variety of cheaper and mid-grade musks, since I wanted the dry down of the fragrance to be somewhat light, yet distinct and ethereal. Ethyl Maltol and Ethyl Cyclopentenolone were used in very trace amounts, to achieve a distinct sweet and caramel character to it. I knew that these ingredients were intriguing novelties of this fragrance formulation, yet, also, I imagined that any more than a couple of drops, or a mini scoop of crystals, ought to suffice, since I didn’t want it to smell cheaply sweet. In my original formula, I used Benzoin Ollifac and Tonka Bean Absolute or Key Accord for sweetness.
5-Methyl-2-Phenyl-2-Hexenal took some getting used to, as a cocoa/chocolate component, as it seemed quite bitter, on first impression. Now, it seems more like natural roasted, ground cocoa bean powder, rather, which is good. I was looking for a cheap alternative for a colorless cocoa component, and I tried out Perfumer’s Apprentice’s Cocoa Essence (Natural), which I found to be very cost effective, and, unlike cocoa absolute, which makes the fragrance liquid milky and thickly colored, I was able to implement cocoa notes without compromising the color of the fragrance composition using these two ingredients.
I added some smokiness to the composition, with some Guaiacwood oil, which comes with a pasty consistency. Part of the reason I reformulated my second try at doing this fragrance was that the second original formulation had a bit too much smokiness to it, although I liked the effect of the smokiness in the mix. Other woods that I implemented were Operanide, Iso E Super, Palo Santo Key Accord, Coniferan Pure, Prismantol, and Patchouli Fractions. I truly was fond of the classic, lighter effect of the patchouli fractions, and I applied it fairly liberally and regularly to the formulation, since I didn’t want it to get buried and left behind. I used Cashmeran somewhat like Ambranum, both of which ended up being primary components of the fragrance mix. I threw in a bit of frankincense and myrrh, to complement the resinous aroma that I was going for, here.
There were probably just several other ingredients I used, in addition to the ones mentioned, although likely in much smaller, trace quantities.
| SKU: | Product | Quantity | Price | Ext. Price | |
| ac-1098-sz1 | 5-Methyl-2-Phenyl-2-Hexenal- | 1 | $7.25 | $7.25 | |
| fr-1-sz2 | Almond Fragrance Oil **-15ml | 1 | $6.00 | $6.00 | |
| bl-155_sz1 | Ambranum-4ml | 1 | $17.75 | $17.75 | |
| ac-1104-sz1 | BHT Crystals-8g (0.28 oz) | 1 | $6.50 | $6.50 | |
| eo-108_sz1 | Blackcurrant Absolute **-4ml | 1 | $25.00 | $25.00 | |
| ac-720-sz2 | Cashmeran® (IFF) **-15ml | 1 | $16.75 | $16.75 | |
| fr-20-sz2 | Cassis (Black Currant) Fragrance Oil **-15ml | 1 | $6.00 | $6.00 | |
| bl-212-sz1 | Cassis 345F (Firmenich) **-4ml | 1 | $11.75 | $11.75 | |
| na-6436-sz2 | Cocoa Essence (Natural) **-15ml | 1 | $12.75 | $12.75 | |
| ac-1059_sz1 | Coniferan Pure **-4ml | 1 | $6.00 | $6.00 | |
| ac-920-sz4 | Coumarin (crystalline powder) **-30g (1.05 oz) | 1 | $9.50 | $9.50 | |
| ac-9862-sz1 | Ethyl Cyclopentenolone 50% in PG (Firmenich)-4ml | 1 | $8.00 | $8.00 | |
| ac-1200-sz1 | Ethyl Linalool-4ml | 1 | $6.25 | $6.25 | |
| ac-501_sz1 | Ethyl Maltol crystals-8g (0.28 oz) | 1 | $5.50 | $5.50 | |
| ac-421-sz1 | Galaxolide (Musk G)-4ml | 1 | $6.00 | $6.00 | |
| eo-7310_sz1 | Guaiacwood (Multi-Origin)-4ml | 1 | $6.50 | $6.50 | |
| ac-6000-sz1 | Habanolide® (Firmenich)-4ml | 1 | $6.25 | $6.25 | |
| eo-6505-sz2 | Lemon - California **-15ml | 1 | $14.75 | $14.75 | |
| ac-2424-sz2 | Lime Terpenes (Natural) **-15ml | 1 | $12.25 | $12.25 | |
| ac-1194-sz1 | Limediene (Bedoukian) **-4ml | 1 | $21.75 | $21.75 | |
| ac-1222-sz1 | Muscone (Firmenich) **-4ml | 1 | $14.50 | $14.50 | |
| eo-217-sz1 | Oakwood CO2 Extract **-4ml | 1 | $9.00 | $9.00 | |
| ac-1284_sz1 | Operanide (IFF) **-4ml | 1 | $9.75 | $9.75 | |
| ac-9851_sz1 | Patchouli Fractions-4ml | 1 | $9.75 | $9.75 | |
| ac-27421-sz1 | Precyclemone B (IFF)-4ml | 1 | $6.50 | $6.50 | |
| ac-1185-sz2 | Prismantol (IFF) **-15ml | 1 | $15.75 | $15.75 | |
Order Notes: None |
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| Some of my current fragrance mixing components, at home. |
Later, in early February, I got an inkling, probably from my lengthy discussions with Google Gemini, and, also, for going through most of my ingredients collections I’ve acquired, again, so far, of that the narcissus flower could be done much more justice than could be had, with trying out narcissus and jonquil absolute, both of which I tried out, in small quantities, and, which left me disappointed, being that they both smelled very green, somewhat spicy, and stemmy. I don’t recommend, at all, trying out narcissus and jonquil absolute, this being the case. As it turns out, there is no essential oil in narcissus flowers, which is sometimes the case, with some of the fragrant flowers that are used for their fragrance, so, gas chromatography mass spectrometry analyses much more suitably suffice for recreating the fragrances of such flowers that don’t have essential oils to them. After all, narcissus is known, by and large, for its attractive flowers and richly fragrant scent, of which, paperwhite narcissus have a particular character about its fragrance that immediately sparked nostalgia and longing, the moment Gemini had mentioned it, as our discussions went along, during the course of development.
Although Gemini had neglected, initially, to mention para-cresyl acetate and Para Cresyl Phenyl Acetate (PCPA), one a liquid, the other, powdery crystals, I uncovered that these two components were not only available, from Perfumer’s Apprentice, but that they are also largely considered to be integral in the formulation of a narcissus flowers reconstruction. Indeed, PCPA has a very characteristic floral scent that lends itself strongly to the scent of narcissus flowers. Gemini did not provide the perfect formulation, right off hand, that is to say, but, in the end, it took on my research item additions (PCPA + para-cresyl acetate), and it successfully worked out a beautiful formulation recipe for reconstruction the natural, live fragrance of paperwhite narcissus flowers.
| SKU: | Product | Quantity | Price | Ext. Price | |
| ac-814-sz2 | Benzyl Acetate (Natural)-15ml | 1 | $14.75 | $14.75 | |
| ac-580-sz2 | Benzyl Alcohol FCC-15ml | 1 | $11.00 | $11.00 | |
| ac-1106-sz1 | 1 | $7.00 | $7.00 | ||
| ac-1250-sz1 | Eucalyptol (Natural) **-4ml | 1 | $6.00 | $6.00 | |
| ac-1035-sz1 | Indole (Pure) Crystals **-8g (0.28 oz) | 1 | $6.75 | $6.75 | |
| na-6699_sz1 | Linalool (Natural)-4ml | 1 | $6.50 | $6.50 | |
| ac-1129-sz1 | Methyl Benzoate (Natural)-4ml | 1 | $9.50 | $9.50 | |
| ac-2240-sz1 | Methyl Isoeugenol-4ml | 1 | $7.25 | $7.25 | |
| ac-2143-sz1 | Ocimene **-4ml | 1 | $8.00 | $8.00 | |
| ac-1036-sz2 | Para Cresyl Phenyl Acetate Crystals-8g (0.28 oz) | 1 | $16.25 | $16.25 | |
| ac-2551-sz1 | Para-cresyl acetate-4ml | 1 | $6.25 | $6.25 | |
Order Notes: None |
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|
Ingredient |
Parts |
Note |
|
(E) -beta-Ocimene |
500 |
Neat (Pure) |
|
PCPA (10% Solution in IPM) |
400 |
<-- This delivers 40 parts of scent |
|
Benzyl Acetate |
200 |
Neat |
|
1,8-Cineole |
80 |
Neat |
|
Indole (10% dil.) |
60 |
(Already diluted) |
|
Linalool |
50 |
Neat |
|
Benzy Alcohol |
30 |
Neat |
|
Methyl Benzoate |
20 |
Neat |
|
Para-Cresyl Acetate |
10 |
Neat |
|
Methyl Isoeugenol |
10 |
Neat |
 |
| A line art illustration of paperwhite narcissus flowers. |
