Raidell

Now I'm more of a perfumer than a candle or soap person, so my advice might not be quite what you're looking for, but I do a lot of blending with fragrance oils to make my own fragrances, and sometimes the formulas get really complex. I think the most important thing to making successful blends is to know your oils! Be aware of how strong they are, how they change over time, and how they tend to play with other scents. And if you're going to put it in something, it's good to know how it behaves in product. The best way to get this is to experiment. Play around with oils and have fun! Try stuff out, even crazy stuff. You never know what'll work well until you try! The best part about blending is that there aren't really any rules (except max usage rules, those are sort of important! ) I usually use single notes (just Jasmine, just Rose, just Strawberry, stuff like that) but honestly sometimes blends are really nice to use if you're looking for some specific character that the individual notes don't really give you. Sometimes the blend is better than the sum of the parts. If you're just starting out and buying oils to start with, though, I would recommend single notes. If you're worried about wasting materials, I would suggest the q-tip method, or even just smelling the caps of the fragrance oil bottles together to see if you like the combo. Just be sure to have fun! It's not as scary as it seems!

Is this scent more fresh? or sweet+spicy? Fig can often be either, and with ginger and tea it sounds like it might be more on the spicy side. If it's more of a warm, sweet, spicy scent, you might go with something like Sunrise Fig, Desert Fig, or if it doesn't really remind you of fig, more vague and unspecific (Spiced/Sweet Sunrise, etc). If it's fresher, you might want to go with names like Oasis Fig, Spring Fig, stuff like that. Either way, it sounds pretty great!

Oh yeah! I've found perfumes and FOs that smell really different even on a test strip vs on my arm! That reminds me of a perfume oil I bought a while ago that tried to play up the variance so that it smelled unique on everyone, or at least had a different tone. (I just wish the way it smelled on me was a little nicer!) And from my (admittedly very little) experience, I've noticed that after mixing a couple FOs together, you don't really get a feel for how the scents will play together until after you let it sit for a few days. I've had stuff that smelled like a nice blend, but after a few days it all leveled out and got flat, and then stuff that at first smelled like a mess, but then mellowed out and had some nice harmony... I suppose if everything turned out like you'd expect, this would be a much less exciting (and expensive) hobby!

Hey, I'm more of a perfumer than a soaper or candle...er? and I've seen FOs with really positive reviews, but that say it's mediocre OOB and only really gets good when used in something. I always have to be a little careful and look before I buy. Have you guys had some major experiences like this? What are some FOs that aren't so good OOB but really bloom in soap or wax? Or even vice versa: stuff that smells heavenly OOB but really goes sour when you mix it up in something?