Fixing fragrances

[AbdesSalaam Attar, Perfumer Composer]

Hello,
I’m a small boutique perfume company making & selling solid botanical perfumes. As you know it’s very hard fixing a scent using only balsams, resins, etc. I believe ambergris maybe the answer. I see that you sell it in a tincture, presumably in an alcohol base. As I’m using Jojoba oil & vegetable waxes as my base, I’m not sure it will mix. Also, current legislation in Australia prohibits the importation/exportation of ambergris (the only country still to do so), though I believe that it can be imported in a product already made up, but at no greater than 20% of total volume.
Can ambergris be mixed in a vegetable oil rather than alcohol? Or is the tincture suitable for a vegetable oil/wax base? If ambergris isn’t the answer for me, can you please suggest an alternative to help fix my perfumes without resorting to synthetics? Thank you for your time.
Kind regards
Jane

Dear Jane,
You could use a strong tincture of ambergris in a solid perfume, there is no problem as the alcohol would evaporate in the hot phase of the preparation.
This would be indie very costly for you, our concentrate ambergris tincture costs 31 euros per gram.

However, I invite you to ponder over the affirmation of Guy Robert:

Guy Robert created Madame Rochas, Caleche, Equipage, Gucci Parfum and
Dioressence.
This is a transcript of his lecture at the British Society of Perfumers.
“Our method could be compared to the Art of Cooking, a sort of “rule of thumb” (empiricism), and I agree this is not looking very serious! I am convinced that a few rules comparable to what is called in music :
“harmony” or “counterpoint”, should actually exist in perfumery, but nobody succeeded in defining them. Many fascinating other theories, among them this idea : for every perfume note there are several levels, like what the musicians call “octaves”. (example: Damascones, Rose Oxydes, Otto of Rose, Geranium, Rose Absolute, Rhodinol, Geraniol, Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol …) It is also possible, by comparing perfumery to painting, to imagine an “intercommunication of tones” like what is happening between the colours. That theory is probably the most advanced one and the best: Like a painter, a perfumer, consciously or not, built his “palette” which is the “catalog” of his preferite tones or products. And like a painter, if he accumulates too many elements he is going to get a sometimes awful confusion of grey and sad tones. Lasting power is not easy to reach, nobody knows how and why this is happening. I hate and find stupid that theory of “fixateurs”. We all know these many little songs we are hearing anywhere and forgetting almost immediately, but, from time to time, one of these songs sticks to our ear and we go on whistling it the whole day … I can assure you the author of these successful songs do not use any “fixatives ingredients” to get that result …”

If your perfume lacks length it is either due to a defect in construction or, more probably, to the quality of your ingredients.

AbdesSalaam Attar
Compositore Profumiere

[java138]

helps a lot. thanks

[Anonymous]

It’s very helpfull

[Author]

Posts