perfume oils ... what do I do with them??

alafairnadia

hi all,

I have some perfume oils and some atomizers (sp). what do I mix with the oils and where do I buy it?

thanks!

doctorj

Um... what kind of atomizer? Strong essential oils can be mixed down with just about any light vegtable oil I think. Almond oil might be a good one.

carnivore

doctorj wrote: Um... what kind of atomizer? Strong essential oils can be mixed down with just about any light vegtable oil I think. Almond oil might be a good one.

Funny, I was somehow picturing alcohol as the solvent, so that it evaporates after delivering the essential oil. You wouldn't want the vegetable oil on your skin (or maybe you would- I wouldn't). I think many perfumes actually use methanol, but I bet isopropanol would work ok.

pitu

Carnivore wrote: [quote=doctorj]Um... what kind of atomizer? Strong essential oils can be mixed down with just about any light vegtable oil I think. Almond oil might be a good one.

Funny, I was somehow picturing alcohol as the solvent, so that it evaporates after delivering the essential oil. You wouldn't want the vegetable oil on your skin (or maybe you would- I wouldn't). I think many perfumes actually use methanol, but I bet isopropanol would work ok.

That's what they do at Aveda when they do custom blends - not sure the type, but it's alcohol-esque. You could ask at one of the stores, or maybe it's on their website. www.aveda.com

You mix it with almond oil if you wanted to make nice smelling massage oil. You could probably mix it with shea butter or any number of other emollients to make skin cream.
None of the oily/fatty stuff goes in an atomizer.

sweet tea

the gf says she used to use cheap vodka. the idea is an alcohol with little smell of its own.

of course, it would up the snob value of a gift to use grey goose or something....

alafairnadia

vodka! good one! thank you.

I'm using tiny muji atomizers.

thanks all!

brooklynpotter

there's also a kind of alcohol used for perfume, as pitu said. i got it once at a place that sold oils; i'd imagine you could get come at ricky's. (Speaking of, is there a ricky's in brooklyn? now *that* would be a nice addition

doctorj

Carnivore wrote: [quote=doctorj]Um... what kind of atomizer? Strong essential oils can be mixed down with just about any light vegtable oil I think. Almond oil might be a good one.

Funny, I was somehow picturing alcohol as the solvent, so that it evaporates after delivering the essential oil. You wouldn't want the vegetable oil on your skin (or maybe you would- I wouldn't). I think many perfumes actually use methanol, but I bet isopropanol would work ok.

Right. I wasn't thinking about evaporation. Isopropanol (rubbing alcohol) is probably your best and cheapest bet, if you like the smell of isopropanol, which I do. Vodka is 60% water, which makes it too polar for some oils. Can you get 200-proof Polish Spirit here? If the essential oil is still too strong, two stage dilution with the almond/vegie oil then the alcohol might be the go.

I was standing in line at the food coop yesterday looking at the bewildering array of wacky hard-core chemicals on sale, thiniking 'fkn hippies', and my friend says "they should make Chemistry mandatory instead of Math and English before letting consumers out into this world".

brooklynpotter

rubbing alcohol actually isn't a good idea because it's kind of stinky and not what's to be used in perfume. (you like that smell)

alafairnadia

I'm so kicking myself for buying these stupid oils. ugh. I only had one year of chemistry. in high school.

brooklynpotter

ok, it's easy. the stuff i have is called "nectarine perfume base", i'm sure you can get something like it either on ebay, or more likely some place in park slope

doctorj

brooklynpotter wrote: rubbing alcohol actually isn't a good idea because it's kind of stinky and not what's to be used in perfume. (you like that smell)

Ok, it seems "rubbing alcohol" has a bit of a different or variable composition over here from what I thought. Isopropanol is what's used in those scented moist towelettes you get on planes, and in other such 'cooling' products. Should be fine as a carrier -- it's used commercially in perfumes, along with methanol and especially ethanol. I reckon that's the go if high strength grain alcohol isn't available (or is stupidly expensive).

Apparently when making commercial perfumes, they let them stand for a couple of weeks and filter before filling, to remove any undissolved gunk.

I found the Muji. Nice.

brooklynpotter wrote: ok, it's easy. the stuff i have is called "nectarine perfume base", i'm sure you can get something like it either on ebay, or more likely some place in park slope

Not sure what "nectarine perfume base" is... there's the essential oil from nectarine fruit, like this. But that would be its own fragrance. Otherwise, there's these which look like an expensive way to buy either unscented alcohol or light oil, i.e. what we've talked about.

carnivore

doctorj wrote: Ok, it seems "rubbing alcohol" has a bit of a different or variable composition over here from what I thought. Isopropanol is what's used in those scented moist towelettes you get on planes, and in other such 'cooling' products.

Although there are several different variants of "rubbing alcohol" on the market in the U.S., the vast majority is 70% isopropanol.

brooklynpotter

i meant that the brand name is "nectarine perfume base"