TallTayl

To get the ball rolling, here’s where I’ve been aiming, and why I get stuck. The focus of the forum at this time is anything scented. Some are obvious, like candles, melts, soap, lotion, etc. plus perfumery, car freshies, room sprays, incense, heck even scented paper will fit. as we develop our own line of unique fragrances for the membership, this name should be catchy, “sleek” and brandable. i have been playing around for years with names, but all seem like a mouthful. Scented Arts Forum Scented Arts Network Scent Artists Fragrance Arts Network Etc. i Google and go daddy check for existing places of similar names and stop because it’s all been done before. Before I give up and decorate the rut I am stuck in, I figured others might help create a new thought path to explore that might fit. let’s Ted Lasso this by tring on ideas, seeing how they feel, wearing them for a while and seeing how it plays out. thank you for your thoughts on this. Let’s invite other members who you think will fit into this group well.

The original was good in my coco wax blends. The Pinion Wood I have a sample of is similar OOB, but not quite the same. I think I prefer the Pinion wood scent overall as a holiday type. There's something in Rocky I can't quite put my finger on.

Christmas just keeps on coming this month. I made time to speak with another of my friendly reps at Lab #4 to explain how bored I/WE are with the same old same old fragrances. We want something sophisticated to elevate our products and stand out among a sea of similarity. Well friends, she delivered! The Summer Romance Collection contains 8 fragrances that are sexy, sophisticated and all around some of the most complex blends I've smelled lately. Throw out all notions of run of the mill blends with this set. 1) Gala Nights: Top Notes: Violet, Coriander, Bergamot, Middle Notes: Rose, Pepper, Lily of the Valley, Bottom Notes: Patchouli Ambergris. Slip on your little black dress, best Minolo's and a spray of this scent. Walk the red carpet in style with this sexy blend. 2) Dusted Sheets: Top Notes: Geranium, Hyacinth, Middle Notes: Rose, Bottom Notes: Orris Root, Oud Wood, Patchouli, Sandalwood. The opening notes are powder, though not a baby powder. This powder is the expensive boutique dusting powder that is applied with a fluffy puff. Dust your bedsheets and settle in for a comfy night enveloped in luxurious style. 3) Neon Flowers: Top Notes: Bergamot, Apple, Freesia, Middle Notes: Pomegranate, Berries WaterLilies, Jasmine, Bottom Notes: Amber, Vanilla. This crossover between fruit and floral hits all of the high notes. Each sniff brings out a different element. It's how I imagine bees see the flowers with a ultraviolet spectrum of flavor. 4) Up Close: Top Notes: Tuberose, Narcissus, Middle Notes: Jasmine, Orris, Bottom Notes: Musk, Ambergris, Heliotrope, Vanilla. You just met an exotic stranger in a cafe. A little light chat leads to close up conversation. This fragrance wants to pull you in close to smell more. 5) Perfect Pear: Top Notes: Pear, Middle Notes: heliotrope, fig, Bottom Notes: Cedar, Smoke, Ambergris, Incense, Leather. This juicy fragrance opens with a freshly cut pear with the juice dripping from the knife. Then you can smell the magic of cooking the pear on a wood fired grill. The heat intensifies the sweetness of the pear while adding the slightly smoky caramelized aroma. 6) Gentle Man: Top Notes: Sage, Tea, Middle Notes: Vanilla, Tobacco, Bottom Notes: Hay, Amber, Cinnamon, Ginger, Caramel, Sandalwood, Vetiver Warm and inviting, this exotic take on vanilla features bourbon and warm spices. Sit on the veranda as the sun sets awakening the senses for an exciting evening ahead. 7) Exhilaration: Top Notes: Bergamot, Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Middle Notes: Melon, Sage, Bottom Notes: Cedar, Coconut. Book that spa appointment. Put on that fluffy robe. Enlighten your senses to pure exhilaration. 8 ) Mesmerize: Top Notes: Raspberry, Lemon,Jasmine, Middle Notes: Vanilla, Plum, Orchid, Neroli, Bottom Notes: Patchouli, Sandalwood, Musk, Amber, heart Woods. This is a modern take of vanilla reinvented. The notes are warm, spicy and seductive. It could be called a "dirty" vanilla, which juxtaposes against typical cloying bakery vanilla. All of these fragrances have blended on my hands as I sniff and re-sniff. I'm in summer romance heaven right in my studio. I have a limited number of sniffies available. Send a PM if you'd like a set. I can see myself buying nearly all of these if they work well in my waxes. I DO NOT yet have IFRA. I have requested them and will test in soap, etc. if they are safe to do so.

Glad your nose survived the number of sniffies you put it through. 😊 The ifras arrived for the second set. Most of them have generous usage rates for the most common categories. I need help prioritizing testing since there are so many. I have down to earth in coco83. It’s a wicker upper, so I need to swap out what I have to better read the overall candle. It’s really unexpected. lol on the sugar beet. I didn’t hate it, for sure. That dirty note is different from all the “dirt” fragrances already available. The blending possibilities are endless. Your blend would be pre-cut hyacinth still in the soil. After cutting, the fresh cut stems enters the picture. as I sealed the packets, sometimes a bit of fragrance was in the heat path. Each of what you note smells much more intense when hot. You can drop a paper blotter onto your wax melter and get an idea of the notes that really shine with heat. isn’t this fun?!? I wonder what the top 3-4 will be. I’ll test the leaders in coco83, soap, and if they pass then soy. If we have success, let’s order some hot new fragrance!

Magnetic stirrers are handy! Some have the built in heater too. about how full can you go before the stir bar doesn’t complete the job?

What was it pre-allhell-breaking-loose? prices have to ease at some point. Leading indicators, to me, include how many suppliers are liquidating at the same time. Can’t keep price gouging forever.. 😒

TL/DR It's time for drastic changes to my business model. I'm excited to pare back to short run fragrances of the month type things and subscriptions over offering dozens of the same fragrances I've always made. It takes me the most time just to find the fragrance bottle I need among so many others. What a waste! The Long Version: After writing and speaking with my CS family I know I'm not alone feeling like I've been stuck. Despite literally hundreds of lbs of fragrance I have no gumption to make anything. That lack of ambition is showing in sales and in my general attitude toward the business. Time to change that! Recently I've ramped up home improvement projects that have been on my mind. We planned for graduation company, so we had a solid date on the calendar to complete a long list of things that have needed attention since before the world stood still. When faced with people sleeping in rooms referred to as a "Room Of Requirement" because pretty much everything got stuck there behind a door motivation improved in a hurry. I moved from room to room clearing out, organizing, and THROWING THINGS OUT! I'm not quite minimalist, but am on my way there. As an example, I loathe seeing a sink piled high with dishes because nobody bothered to run (or empty) the already full dishwasher. My logical brain said we can't have piles of dishes to wash if there are not so many dishes to use. I made many trips down to the curb with boxes piled high of mismatched plates, bowls, cups, glasses, etc that got stacked in the kitchen when we blended households. I am in the process of making custom ceramic dishes (another post to come about that). Until that happens the cabinet which was loaded full enough to bulge got emptied. We have 4 sets of plates, bowls, etc. Kept only the nicest of mugs and very few glasses. If we have company pull out the Chinet plates. Boom! Solved. The kitchen seems so much bigger now. people need to wash their own dishes if they want to eat (or use a chinet, I don't have a preference). This saves me maybe 30 minutes a day of kitchen work now. If I can apply that to the business with maybe 6 fragrances that rotate in/out each month I may have a chance to achieve some sanity and inspiration in the studio. I'm planning to use the custom selections from our fragrance labs and keep barely anything else. I'll be dispersing just about everything else. This is super scary, but has to happen. Imagine every month being completely fresh and new! Imagine storage shelves I can remove since there will be less to store. I'm breaking out in a cold sweat thinking about this. How are you staying motivated?

I’d give clear cello type bags a try. Most come with a lip and tape that helps keep the scent in. The type of plastic is important. Many common plastic bag materials drain the scent right out of the product.

Sniffie evolution. the new packets will be colored versions of the white one. I was trying out what I have on hand first. the silver can be cut in half, and get 2 out of them. The packets do a much better job of isolating the fragrances.

I use one of the paper crafting roller blade tools to cut both the paper and the foil. At least everything starts out the same size, but devolves into chaos as I can’t fold. the little heat seal packets seem to be working out. I had a few sizes on hand and all are working. I don’t dread the job as much now. Hoping the new ones coming tomorrow work as well. At least they will be pretty. 😂

I found some tiny mylar heat seal bags that might be worth a try. Amazon can have them to me by Sunday. Wow I wish I had thought of this sooner. I have a few teensy ones in my packaging collection and they look SO much nicer. Faster so far too. I won't re-do the first set... sorry for the recipients of the prototype round.

Sniffie blotters take forever to make and sort to ship out. Not complaining, just setting expectations for why this s taking so long. The # of fragrances x the # of requests = several sessions of hours so far. Smells good though… if anyone has ideas for how to speed up making sniffy samples I’m all ears! I love creative new ideas. Right now I cut watercolor paper into small rectangles sized to fit heavy aluminum foil rectangles that make the most of the roll size. Then dropper fragrance on to each blotter paper, fold, sticker and sort. My foil folding job gets messier the more I do. Many apologies for the crooked foil and labels folks.

I'll look up the latest co-op info and will PM details to you if that's ok.

Your vibration technique should be on the right track. May just need more oomph. I’ve seen people use reciprocating saws or muscle massage guns before graduating to a vibrating table.

For ceramic color, I use mason stains (made for concrete). They’re a bit more concentrated, but it still takes a shocking amount to get vibrant color. i’ll need to look up your product to understand what the ratios are. But other cement products I’ve worked with too much water mixed them weak.

I do! and pink sugar, black vetyver cafe, provence, summer fling and a few others.

Oooohhh let me know how you like it!!

Funny you mention going all the way back to the blank drawing board. Same here. I’ve been holding on to so many old fragrances to maybe use or dupe one day. Crazy how much space it takes physically and in my brain. Too much clutter. I decided (after painfully debating with myself) to look AHEAD not backward. Why be the next rendition of scentworks/whatever when I can be authentically fresh and new with this forum group? foil sniffies are easy enough. Mindless and tedious but easy. postage for them will likely be a few $ with all the usps increases. Oh well…….. if you pm your current ship to address I’ll assemble a set for you. SAME OFFER FOR ALL FORUM MEMBERS INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN A FUTURE CO-op: pm your address and I can ship a sniffie set of those you are interested in smelling.

I’m slowly getting through testing on round 1 and 2. The hard part is choosing what makes the cut to test. criteria so far has been simple, but not totally fair. Will be dialing in better criteria as we all get more familiar with the forum group needs and wishes. - no cologne types this eliminated scents like mahogany teakwood sandalwood. If there’s enough interest in the forum to split a full keg I can revisit that. - no powdery types the version of nag champa sent to us fell into this category. I have other nag champa that does not smell powdery and sells well enough. - no fringe scents. sugar beet fell into this. I’d like fragrances in the beginning to be relatively widely liked. Sugar beet, while accurate, is not something that most people will love. It will be an amazing blender though so I’m keeping it in my back pocket for now to round out realistic garden blends. + uniqueness I’d prefer fragrances we can’t easily find elsewhere. This limits “dupes” of popular retail brands for now. There are always exceptions, of course. I love a great blackberry. Black raspberry vanilla types fill the niche for me. Little/no vanilla, more fresh tart berry. The sample I have is the best I’ve tried. Only need to get it into soy now to complete the fragrance testing process. + must be useful alone or in blends. fresh cut stems fits here. It is intriguing alone, but adds that special note to cut florals. + quality, strong out of bottle experience. some may bloom stronger in product, but for starting our fragrance forum venture I’d like to focus on those that are strong OOB and only get better in product. + seasonally appropriate looking for current and next season. Realistically it takes 6-8 weeks to gather interest, order, and receive fragrances. Then it takes you all a few weeks to test and develop products with it. We need to work at least 8 weeks in advance to hit our season. So now, we need to be hitting for August and beyond. Blue Hyacinth is amazing, but might be better to look into around December for feb/march 2024 release. Sniffing: how would you like to smell the product to evaluate for what to bring in? - foil wrapped sniffy blotters? - in product, like melts, cp soap, tea lights? - little vials as similar to the old fashioned Avon perfume vials? - fragrance sets of 1 oz (or more) to put into your own product? the more complex the sniffy type, the more I will need to think about the fragrances to bring in. I only get a small initial amount from the lab, like an ounce or less typically. This barely covers my initial testing plus a few foil wrapped sniffy blotters. If we want to experience it in product before committing, I’ll choose based on the fragrances I think I will use and get the minimum 25 lbs sharing whatever is left over as fast buy. We can reorder 25 lbs or more at any time after that. I’d like to not have to store too much in inventory. I can keep a few lbs of each on hand, and prefer to not tie up cash flow storing lbs and lbs. That restricts space and cash from other new fragrances.

A big component of longevity is the quality of ingredients In The bottle. You could look for fixatives, but I’m not sure what to look for in your product. when I began learning about fragrances, I contacted places like Pure Fragrance Oils, Lebermuth, AFI, etc. and spoke with perfumers. Then I dove into places that teach perfumery. if you specifically need a dupe like black ice, I’d give AFI a jingle and see what they can offer. Then compare with other labs that appeal to you. https://afi-usa.com AFI is a decent starting place as their mins on common fragrances are pretty low. And they introduced a sampling program recently. if you wanted to sniff what I use from my labs, I have on hand: dragons blood Egyptian dragon provence tonic pink sugar I’ll also be offering up sniffies of the new candle scents so people can vote for favorites. I plan to bring in three to start.

I had a similar experience with BW wax 😢 it was “better” than 464 and 444 with fewer cavities and much less frost, but could not coax HT from it.

That’s not one I’m familiar with…. If you’re willing to branch out a little I have several in my collection that might give you an idea of how other sources can work.

The only component of citrus I’ve ever been taught to worry about is bergaptene. Bergaptene is known to cause photo toxicity. Many places offer bergaptene free bergamot essential oil. While technically a wash off, superfatting leaves behind some residual soap on the skin. all that said, many citrus oils fade quickly in Cold process (cp) soap. Along with Bergamot I can never get plain orange or grapefruit to stick. Lemon can be a fader too. litsea cubeba essential oil is very lemony and can help give a boost to lemon, or be used in place of lemon. Orange is available “folded”, or concentrated, 5x and 10x which helps with longevity. sometimes other forms of orange, like blood orange might stick longer. You’ll see lots about “anchors” of base notes like patchouli. Most ive found are old wives tales, but do try them yourself for the learning experience. Cold pressed lime is usually sticks ok and doesn’t morph. I like this one a lot! I add all of my fragrances and essential oils to the base oils before the lye so that I can blend thoroughly.

From round 1, the strawberry jam 1 in cp turned beige. As it cures further has a bit of a pink hue. How appropriate! And it is soft, but can definitely smell it. The usage rate was only 4.48%, but it was enough to scent this well. strawberry jam 2 is all but gone in CP. beige color and just soap. 6.4% max usage rate. I used 5%. Pinion Wood has a 4.88% usage rate in Cat 9 (soap). It’s growing on me. Beige discoloration, but acceptable. black raspberry vanilla is all tart berry. Very slight discoloration to the beige. High max limit at 42%. I used 5%. I’m very happy with this one in coconut/palm wax and CP so far. Need to get it into soy to complete the tests. I’m at a small dribble in the sample so taking it easy so I can make sniffies too. from round 2 I’ve only had time to get strawberry rhubarb jam and down to earth onto coco/palm wax. Both have bloomed quite a bit in wax so far. Can’t wait to light them!

I’m thankful for you hanging here too. 😊 the good news is no new spammers today. Woot woot!