Layering fragrances with powders and solids in personal perfumery.

Over the years since I started taking up perfumery ingredients collecting, I can say that I’ve had a fairly good and decent run of many aroma chemicals and naturals, alike. At one point, my collection came out to over 300 items, I believe, and I had a dedicated large shelf where my miniature perfumery organ would sit.

I wish I could have kept the collection longer, but it got taken from me during a forced move-out from a home I was staying at. It was supposed to last me for years, and I kept buying more ingredients like there would be no end to my fragrance ingredients explorations. 

Some of my favorite materials to work with were the powders and crystals, as some of the ingredients were partially or fully solid at room temperature, or depending on the room’s temperature, alternately. Some of them melt in to a liquid, when heated over a flame. The texture of some of these materials is fascinating to explore, and their organoleptic profiles are typically powerful and unique, within a fragrance composition. 

A sample of cetalox, procured from Perfumer Supply House.

A 5 gram container of cetalox, from Perfumer Supply House.

Cetalox, ($11.50 for 5 grams, currently) pictured above, in its solid form, is an amber or ambergris type fragrance - it’s smooth and enticing, and I’d easily imagine it in a laundry detergent. Another comparable scent would be carpet cleaning shampoo, of a particular, store-bought type. I started working with this material only recently, even though I’ve owned it on 2 different occasions. I mostly would just smell the powder in its container. This time, however, I set about in tackling the discovery of the scent profiles of my solid and powdered fragrance ingredients, so I purchased some isopropyl myristate, which is a great material to work with in perfumery and in skin applications. It’s similar, in the solubility profile, to isopropyl alcohol, or an alcohol, in general, but there are some things, I should mention, that, while they “work,” in an “at all,” or even “well enough” sense, the materials are just not worked with, because of some defeating feature of the material. Isopropyl alcohol is one of these no-nos. It’s very easily accessible, and it functions like other alcohol solvents, for perfumery materials, but the scent profile is too prominent when trying out isopropyl alcohol for fragrance uses, and, I believe, there is something about the chemical molecular structure of isopropyl alcohol that amounts to wasteful and detrimental free radicals affecting fragrance materials. 

Isopropyl myristate, on the other hand, is commonly known as a suitable solvent for perfumery uses, and it has other properties that complement the cosmetic character of this material’s use case profile, such as that it assists in permeating the skin, and, subsequently, materials dissolved in IPM will permeate the skin to provide therapeutic effects more prominently. It also acts as an emollient, when applied to the skin, for a short while, and that emmolience dries up neatly, not leaving an oily residue. 

Isopropyl myristate, by Soapeauty, on Amazon. 

So, the backdrop to this situation is essentially that the perfumer needs to have some kind of solvent that works well in perfumery (perfumer’s alcohol is ethyl alcohol), for the sake of making dilutions of these solid and crystalline materials, so that they can be sprayed, for diffusion of the scent. I chose to go with a brand I had tried, previously, for isopropyl myristate - Soapeauty, on Amazon, who currently sells 8 fl. oz. of IPM for $11.50. It’s an easily accessible ingredient to buy in on, in small quantities - good for small operations and for beginners, whereas perfumer’s alcohol is usually sold in larger containers, at a heftier cost. There’s not much difference, performance wise, between the two, except that IPM is scentless.

Since most oils and solid materials, in perfumery, are not soluble in water (not completely soluble, sometimes), a workable solvent is necessary for creating dilutions, and for dissolving the solids, powders, and crystals in to a solution. With water, as an amateur’s perspective in mind, powders such as cetalox would not dissolve, and they would soon clog the spray apparatus of the bottle, after being sprayed, a bit. Getting a good alcohol is good form - it dissolves the material, and it serves as a diluent carrier liquid, for the spraying and diffusion of the scent materials. Luckily, some of these solid ingredients wind up being fairly powerful at a 5%-10% dilution. A 1 oz., 2 oz., or 8-10 mL spray bottle would suffice, for the isolated dissolved powdered materials in solvent solution. My rationale on keeping these ingredients separate, in terms of that, in some cases, different layers could be mixed together, to have everything in one spray bottle. I felt that these materials were too unique, and that they smell fantastic, on their own, so I figured that, for a fragrance enthusiast use case scenario, carrying around a travel spray bottle, along with one of these small spray bottles, for the cetalox, ends up working well, especially for touch ups, during the day, or to deter from smelling sweaty or unbathed, as the day goes on.

Small, travel size spray bottles, used to hold single ingredients, for fragrance layering, in a practical setting/sense, are a suitable means of making use solid fragrance materials.

Another one of the solid ingredients I’ve enjoyed working with, in some fragrance composition projects, is Prismantol, by International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF), currently starting at $6.75 for 4 mL at Perfumer’s Apprentice. This one is a delightful woodsy scent, with a touch of new pine needles, a relieving camphor-like freshness to it, and a touch of ginger and cardamom, giving it a slightly spicy character. This material is solid at room temperature, and will melt over a flame, or microwaved, for a short several seconds, or so, at a time. 

Solid Prismantol in its container. 

I used a paper clip to scrape out some shavings of Prismantol, to prepare it for dilution and diffusion. 

With about 20 mL of isopropyl myristate in a 1 oz. container, I achieve about a 5% dilution, from using around 1 gram of solid material.

Either one of these materials described in this article are wonderfully dynamic and versatile, when added as a layer, over your own personal favorite cologne or perfume. They achieve fantastic effects, and they are a delight to enjoy, as fragrances, on their own, or combined with other fragrances.