Ocean Scent: The Great Scent Challenge

[glowworm]

How goes it - Everyone?

I am getting them into wax as we speak...I pm'd you with my oob observations

[rctfavr3]

Thanks Glow for give'n it a go. Look forward to your review.

[glowworm]

:)

[rctfavr3]

Please PM your findings and opinions. We can tweak the scents were needed. Looking forward to everyone's review.

[candly]

I'm looking forward to hearing how this turns out! I'll definitely be ordering some when/where it's available. Thanks for your work on this!

[rctfavr3]

Now that everyone has received their samples...we can review and test!

Please PM me your opinions with:

1) What do you think of them OOB based out of 5 stars. *****

2) Which scent do you like best? (A = painted/dot vial OR B = clear vial)

3) What you like about this fragrance( A or + What you don't like about the other? (A or

4) What you "dislike" about the frangrance you prefer.

5) Did the scent change for the better, or for the worse onced soaped/waxed?

6) Individual questions/ concerns/ suggestions/ tweaking scent profile

7) Wax used if any.

8) Name of scent(s)

PLEASE PM REVIEWS! Use this 8 bulleted review form. We'll group eval later. THANKS!

Edited September 18, 2012 by rctfavr3

[jackbenimble]

I finally put the samples in wax today. I use soy so I'll have to wait a week to melt them in my warmer.

[jackbenimble]

Just an update: I'm testing/ melting the wax samples I made. Sorry it's taken me so long. Maybe I will have it done by this weekend.

[bsones]

I spent a large amount of time, and a not-inconsiderable amount of money, trying to come up with a good ocean scent a little while back. I had the same complaints about existing "ocean" scented candles and fragrances as the original poster--not a single one that I have ever encountered smells anything like the ocean. They remind me of the tea from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which tasted "Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea").

I started to learn the warning signs. Floral components is a non-starter. The sea doesn't smell like flowers, sorry. The sea doesn't smell like flowers even when there are flowers there. Believe me, I spend a lot of time walking through the salt roses and wildflowers on the beaches of Cape Cod, and you don't really smell them. The other scents in the air are too strong.

Citrus: No. Just, no. Cucumber: also no. These things smell nice. They have fresh scents that can be somewhat reminiscent of water. Not in a literal sense, but in a sort of conceptual, "I know that citrus fruits and cucumbers are watery" sense. But they don't smell like ocean water at all, not even conceptually.

"Ozone" in a fragrance oil is a code word for "this will smell like laundry detergent." It isn't even vaguely reminiscent of the ocean. "Salt" in a fragrance description can mean a lot of things. Real salt doesn't smell like anything, so this term usually indicates some sort of powdery component. Except in the case of SOS's "Sea Salt" FO, which smells almost exactly like buttered popcorn. (In case you were wondering, buttered popcorn does not smell at all like the ocean. Sea Salt would be a great scent for a carnival-themed candle, though).

I learned to be extremely pessimistic about fragrances that people told me to try. "Ahoy Matey/Salty Mariner" is a great ocean scent," one person told me. No, it isn't. "Peak's ocean smells just like being at the beach," another person told me. I can only assume that this person had never been to the beach, because it really, really doesn't. Brambleberry claims that their Sea Moss has a "kelp-y" smell. It doesn't. The reviews for WSP's Bladderwrack swear up and down that it smells exactly like real bladderwrack (aka seaweed). What it actually smells like is my grandmother's perfume cabinet. RE/AH's Salty Sea Air? Nope. Moonworks Celestial Seas? It's actually a somewhat pleasant scent, but it smells nothing at all like the ocean.

SOS's Fishing Pier is actually the first exception to the rule that I ever found. It smells exactly like what it claims to smell like, which isn't really a complete ocean smell, but perhaps one component of it, if you happened to be smelling the ocean from the end of a commercial dock. The problem is that it's a fairly unpleasant smell. I don't mind the scent of fish when I'm at the ocean, but pulled out of context like that, it just smells... bad. More on that below.

So I decided to go off the reservation a bit, and started looking for scents outside the usually range of fragrance oil vendors. I tracked down an essential oil called "Choya Nahk," which is actually made by roasting oyster shells in a clay oven. It's exotic and smokey and strong, but not really a very convincing ocean smell. I tried making infusions of dried bladderwrack (the real stuff) in oil, but it didn't have much scent. I discovered seaweed absolute, but it's hard to come by in the US (it's made in Spain, I think) and is very expensive. We're talking hundreds of dollars an ounce. Not really a practical candle ingredient.

In my research, I eventually ran across this article. Interesting! It actually identifies the specific component that makes the ocean smell unmistakably like the ocean: dimethyl sulfide, which is produced by bacteria when they consume decaying plankton and seaweed. Here's the kicker: you can buy it!

I bought some. Even at the 1% dilution that you get from the Perfumer's Apprentice, it's really, really potent stuff. Out of the bottle, it smells like rotting cabbage. But in very, very small amounts, infused into some Fishing Pier FO from SOS, it really does smell like sea brine. Which makes sense, because in a literal sense, it is sea brine.

So there has to be a catch, right? Yeah. There are two of them. One: it's highly unstable. Dab some on a sniffie strip and it will make the room stink to high heaven... for a little while. In a few hours the scent fades a lot, though, and after a day it will disappear entirely. I tried fixing it in things like vegetable oil and vetiver EO. No luck.

The even bigger problem, however, is that even if you could find a way to fix the scent, it's a lot like the Fishing Pier FO in that it's rather unpleasant, even after you dilute it down enough that it smells like sea brine rather than rotting cabbage. You can mix a scent that smells a lot like standing in the dunes over the surf (I did! DMS plus Cedar EO and a mixture of Vetiver and Peaks' Tall Grass), but once you subtract the experience of standing in the dunes over the surf, it's just not the same. It's a wild, funky, slightly rotten smell that is an honest-to-goodness dupe of that the ocean really smells like, and I guarantee that nobody is ever going to buy it. I wouldn't, and I love the ocean.

So, probably not what folks here were looking to hear, but that was my own personal experience with trying to make a true ocean scent. Hopefully there's some helpful info in there, if you aren't deterred from trying. I've set the project aside, personally. If I come back to it, I'll probably try to come up with something a bit less literal (but still not flowery or perfume-y or powdery, because that stuff still doesn't even put my nose in the same ballpark as "ocean"). Maybe starting with cedar (which reminds me of dockwood and wooden shakes on fishing cottages), but leaving out the Fishing Pier and the DMS.

[chuck_35550]

Its exciting to see a group of people enter into a community effort to create something new and unique. The American spirit if you will. I think that all of us harbors a secret hope that we will accidentally or on purpose; discover a technique that will give us some form of reward. I hope you come up with a fragrance oil that everybody will go gaga over but if you don't......16 pages? Damn.

Steve

[rctfavr3]

You post is on point! The blends I created are based on this understanding, though it was in internal struggle to get both a pleasant yet realistic interpretation of the ocean. I definitely have the salty metallic fish notes, and the cabbage aspect, but the problem IS the NEED to create a less linear variation of "Ocean". A pure linear ocean scent smells very rank and boarders on being putrid. But the minute floral aspects I did add, didn't really work to offset or balance the blend - at least not perfectly.

The scent is a challenging one for sure, as you're either stuck with stink, or blasted with floral nausea. I attempted to balance the two and somewhat succeeded but the floral aspects still ruin an otherwise nice interpretation. I'm exploring the use of Elemi right now. it has a brightness to it with an underlying metallic aspect that I think will complement the foulness of my floral sulfides.

I think that's why I initially wanted to have other's test a few FO blends to get a few ernest reviews on what worked and what didn't and how to improve upon what was created. I think we did fairly successful considering a trial run of a first batch, but we definitely have some room for improvement. The struggle isn't recreating the scent, it's getting one that's both pleasant yet realistic whilst still adding a few subtle artistic nuances to elevate it to something less linear and bland.

Edited October 8, 2012 by rctfavr3

[rctfavr3]

OK now that all the reviews are in...it's obvious as to the winner (if in a weird round-about sort of way)

The most enjoyed OOB was A the painted vial (more pleasant, more cologne like with a great HT) Average 4.5/5 stars

If not TOO strong.

The most enjoyed in WAX was B the clear vial (more earthy, damp and realistic with a somewhat off putting fish note, medium HT) Average 3/5

If not TOO stinky.

Taking all of that into consideration...I'm actually going to blend the two. 1 part A to 2 parts B, plus a little more brine notes. I'll have more info for you all soon! Thanks for participating!

Edited October 20, 2012 by rctfavr3

[rctfavr3]

So here's the formula for a Truer Ocean scent (if anyone what's to try it) It's a 4 parts formula.

67% "Kelp" + "Fishing Pier" (from SOS)

33% Black Tea + Ahoy Matey (from Daystar)

For artistic nuances, try:

2-5 drops eucalyptus EO per OZ batch for a brisk smelling sea

5-10 drops Neroli EO per oz batch for a beachy smelling sea

5 drops Black Pepper EO per oz batch for metallic-cologne smelling sea

5-10 drops Lilly of the Valley EO per oz batch for floral smelling sea

Edited March 2, 2014 by rctfavr3

[soapbuddy]

To the best of my knowledge, there is no Lilly of the Valley EO.

[ChrisR]

Gotta agree with Soapbuddy...........I've never seen a Lily of the Valley EO either.

[doglvr]

My favorite ocean scent is Salty Sea Air by RE. To me there is no perfume, just salty air. I love it and its my favorite scent.

[rctfavr3]

Sho nuf! :undecided Wow, didn't think about that. I guess some Myrtle EO or some of Lily of Valley FO could work if you do want the blend to be somewhat floral. I'm not partial to heavy handed doses of flowers in my marine scents though...

The main Ocean formula is pretty true. Anyone want to try it out and report your findings? Something about the Black Tea blended with the fishy-melon aspect in SOS's "Fishing Pier" really makes for a good ocean scent, IMHO.

Edited March 3, 2014 by rctfavr3

[ubure]

Hi Steve,

I didn't read through all the pages of your thread yet (but I will - the ocean, its smell is something that seems to be essential for my surviving, even if I haven#t been at the sea for 7 years now and the memory of it is shrinking...all the more I keep looking at beach, sea etc. pics on pinterest and try smelling the scent in my mind): I have such a seaweed eo and it is great! Very potent and stinky oob, but if you get the right dosage....I also find that a bit of rosemary is also an important part of the scent, not only because I relate rosemary to Italy and Greece, of course, it seems to be an essential part of the ocean smell.