A double haul of fragrance components - Late January-Early February 2026

 The past couple of weeks, or so, have been a whirlwind of fragrance sprayer ingredients mixing. I’d found some very affordable (and, authentic) old favorites that I like, on eBay, namely Spicebomb Extreme, which is for men, and Absolutely Blooming, for women (although I’m using it for myself). I decided to dip in to ladies’ perfume, to boost my room’s aesthetic, and to have some features of femininity in my close proximate area (on me). I’ve been reading that the fragrance is apparently discontinued. Despite these fragrances being old favorites, I started to feel a bit limited, in scent choice, when going out, and I was getting tired of layering the same fragrances on top of each other. 

I was longing for some novelty and versatility, so I went with a concept of one of my own creations, a very skeletal prototype of a men’s fragrance, which I named Eau Pigeonoid, at least, for the time being, that’s what it’s named. The basic concept was that the fragrance opens with some citrus brightness, and, subsequently, a woodsy, coniferous, sweet resinous scent, over a chocolate and tonka aroma, which was somewhat a tasty gourmand musky effect that helped ground the composition. 

I wanted to make some changes to the formula, so, instead of my original 8 ingredients, I consulted with Google Gemini about the fragrance, in intervals, revealing segments of the original Eau Pigeonoid, combined with some features that I wanted to add, such as rum extract, ambrocenide, which I found to be a very popular deep and rich amber fragrance ingredient, and I had some Ultravanil, as well, from an earlier purchase, that I wanted to throw in to a new composition. I hadn’t really used these ingredients in a fragrance composition, just yet. 

So, in the course of brainstorming the new version of a fragrance, based upon the general themes of the original, given my additions that I wanted to make room for, Gemini and I worked out a fantastic ingredients list, where I could pull out all the stops, in the case of this purchase of fragrance ingredients. Ambranum is one of my favorites out of the list below, with its resinous incense-like character, like a raw copal resin sort of take. Patchouli Fractions was another stand out favorite, and it went well with Ambranum and Benzoin Ollifac (the Benzoin, from the original recipe. 

Since I wasn’t too fond of how cloying the original Eau’s citrus opening was, I wanted to have a more ephemeral and fleeting, natural citrus character to the fragrance, so I went with a natural California Lemon and Lime Terpenes. I’d become intrigued by the potential of implementing terpenes in to my fragrance compositions, rather than trying to sort through a bunch of synthetic or altered aroma chemicals, of which there are many available. As I said, the citrus was initially a bit too much, in the original fragrance composition, and it stuck around a long time, and it made the composition take on sort of a smeared mix mash of fragrance components, whereas I envisioned differently, using terpenes, as they were reputed to have generally the same, or desired, type of effect in a fragrance composition, yet, being that they’re natural and not particularly oily (terpenes can be extracted from essential oils, as one of the components of the oil). With the citrus accord I had, including yuzu, petitgrain, and bergamot, I attained a fresh citrusy opening to the fragrance, as the initial highlight of the scent experience, which, now, starts to settle down and really fade, after about 5 minutes, or so. 

I made a couple of different mockups of the new version of Eau Pigeonoid, since I felt that the first one had become too muddy, and it smelled like old men’s aftershave, which is okay, sort of, although I wanted something more cutting edge, and more well-defined. I made a second bottle, which I was happier about, and this time around, I knew the formula better, by memory, so I spent less time conceiving of the number of parts that ought to go in to the fragrance, what order they’re put in, and, I had hoped, with the addition of BHT crystals, the citrus would keep its definition and character, while fading away to allow room for the subsequent woods and sweet musky effect.

I found it surprising, after having made these batches of the remake of Eau Pigeonoid, that Gemini could function so adeptly in the world of fragrance, being that it’s machine based, and, for the fact of that, in general, machines aren’t made to have a sense of smell. For the rum extract component, for example, Gemini recommended giving the rum a new life, with the addition of an oak wood component. I had the choice of trying the absolute, or the CO2, and Gemini recommended the Oakwood CO2, since it had a better character and consistency, within a formulation. I had forgotten what sort of reference I could have, prior to purchasing these ingredients, of a memory of Oak wood’s scent profile, and, upon receiving the product, and sampling Oakwood CO2, I was immediately reminded of the rich, boozy sort of scent of oak casks, for storing and aging rum, for example. The character of oak wood would be a prominent feature, that is to say, in a concept of a true rum aroma.

I bought a few musks, this time around; not the most expensive ones, but, a variety of cheaper and mid-grade musks, since I wanted the dry down of the fragrance to be somewhat light, yet distinct and ethereal. Ethyl Maltol and Ethyl Cyclopentenolone were used in very trace amounts, to achieve a distinct sweet and caramel character to it. I knew that these ingredients were intriguing novelties of this fragrance formulation, yet, also, I imagined that any more than a couple of drops, or a mini scoop of crystals, ought to suffice, since I didn’t want it to smell cheaply sweet. In my original formula, I used Benzoin Ollifac and Tonka Bean Absolute or Key Accord for sweetness. 

5-Methyl-2-Phenyl-2-Hexenal took some getting used to, as a cocoa/chocolate component, as it seemed quite bitter, on first impression. Now, it seems more like natural roasted, ground cocoa bean powder, rather, which is good. I was looking for a cheap alternative for a colorless cocoa component, and I tried out Perfumer’s Apprentice’s Cocoa Essence (Natural), which I found to be very cost effective, and, unlike cocoa absolute, which makes the fragrance liquid milky and thickly colored, I was able to implement cocoa notes without compromising the color of the fragrance composition using these two ingredients.

I added some smokiness to the composition, with some Guaiacwood oil, which comes with a pasty consistency. Part of the reason I reformulated my second try at doing this fragrance was that the second original formulation had a bit too much smokiness to it, although I liked the effect of the smokiness in the mix. Other woods that I implemented were Operanide, Iso E Super, Palo Santo Key Accord, Coniferan Pure, Prismantol, and Patchouli Fractions. I truly was fond of the classic, lighter effect of the patchouli fractions, and I applied it fairly liberally and regularly to the formulation, since I didn’t want it to get buried and left behind. I used Cashmeran somewhat like Ambranum, both of which ended up being primary components of the fragrance mix. I threw in a bit of frankincense and myrrh, to complement the resinous aroma that I was going for, here. 

There were probably just several other ingredients I used, in addition to the ones mentioned, although likely in much smaller, trace quantities. 

SKU:	Product	Quantity	Price	Ext. Price
ac-1098-sz1	5-Methyl-2-Phenyl-2-Hexenal-4ml	1	$7.25	$7.25
fr-1-sz2	Almond Fragrance Oil **-15ml	1	$6.00	$6.00
bl-155_sz1	Ambranum-4ml	1	$17.75	$17.75
ac-1104-sz1	BHT Crystals-8g (0.28 oz)	1	$6.50	$6.50
eo-108_sz1	Blackcurrant Absolute **-4ml	1	$25.00	$25.00
ac-720-sz2	Cashmeran® (IFF) **-15ml	1	$16.75	$16.75
fr-20-sz2	Cassis (Black Currant) Fragrance Oil **-15ml	1	$6.00	$6.00
bl-212-sz1	Cassis 345F (Firmenich) **-4ml	1	$11.75	$11.75
na-6436-sz2	Cocoa Essence (Natural) **-15ml	1	$12.75	$12.75
ac-1059_sz1	Coniferan Pure **-4ml	1	$6.00	$6.00
ac-920-sz4	Coumarin (crystalline powder) **-30g (1.05 oz)	1	$9.50	$9.50
ac-9862-sz1	Ethyl Cyclopentenolone 50% in PG (Firmenich)-4ml	1	$8.00	$8.00
ac-1200-sz1	Ethyl Linalool-4ml	1	$6.25	$6.25
ac-501_sz1	Ethyl Maltol crystals-8g (0.28 oz)	1	$5.50	$5.50
ac-421-sz1	Galaxolide (Musk G)-4ml	1	$6.00	$6.00
eo-7310_sz1	Guaiacwood (Multi-Origin)-4ml	1	$6.50	$6.50
ac-6000-sz1	Habanolide® (Firmenich)-4ml	1	$6.25	$6.25
eo-6505-sz2	Lemon - California **-15ml	1	$14.75	$14.75
ac-2424-sz2	Lime Terpenes (Natural) **-15ml	1	$12.25	$12.25
ac-1194-sz1	Limediene (Bedoukian) **-4ml	1	$21.75	$21.75
ac-1222-sz1	Muscone (Firmenich) **-4ml	1	$14.50	$14.50
eo-217-sz1	Oakwood CO2 Extract **-4ml	1	$9.00	$9.00
ac-1284_sz1	Operanide (IFF) **-4ml	1	$9.75	$9.75
ac-9851_sz1	Patchouli Fractions-4ml	1	$9.75	$9.75
ac-27421-sz1	Precyclemone B (IFF)-4ml	1	$6.50	$6.50
ac-1185-sz2	Prismantol (IFF) **-15ml	1	$15.75	$15.75

Order Notes: None

SubTotal: $277.75 Shipping: UPS Ground $13.03 Tax: $25.89 Total: $316.67

Some of my current fragrance mixing components, at home.

Later, in early February, I got an inkling, probably from my lengthy discussions with Google Gemini, and, also, for going through most of my ingredients collections I’ve acquired, again, so far, of that the narcissus flower could be done much more justice than could be had, with trying out narcissus and jonquil absolute, both of which I tried out, in small quantities, and, which left me disappointed, being that they both smelled very green, somewhat spicy, and stemmy. I don’t recommend, at all, trying out narcissus and jonquil absolute, this being the case. As it turns out, there is no essential oil in narcissus flowers, which is sometimes the case, with some of the fragrant flowers that are used for their fragrance, so, gas chromatography mass spectrometry analyses much more suitably suffice for recreating the fragrances of such flowers that don’t have essential oils to them. After all, narcissus is known, by and large, for its attractive flowers and richly fragrant scent, of which, paperwhite narcissus have a particular character about its fragrance that immediately sparked nostalgia and longing, the moment Gemini had mentioned it, as our discussions went along, during the course of development. 

Although Gemini had neglected, initially, to mention para-cresyl acetate and Para Cresyl Phenyl Acetate (PCPA), one a liquid, the other, powdery crystals, I uncovered that these two components were not only available, from Perfumer’s Apprentice, but that they are also largely considered to be integral in the formulation of a narcissus flowers reconstruction. Indeed, PCPA has a very characteristic floral scent that lends itself strongly to the scent of narcissus flowers. Gemini did not provide the perfect formulation, right off hand, that is to say, but, in the end, it took on my research item additions (PCPA + para-cresyl acetate), and it successfully worked out a beautiful formulation recipe for reconstruction the natural, live fragrance of paperwhite narcissus flowers.

SKU:	Product	Quantity	Price	Ext. Price
ac-814-sz2	Benzyl Acetate (Natural)-15ml	1	$14.75	$14.75
ac-580-sz2	Benzyl Alcohol FCC-15ml	1	$11.00	$11.00
ac-1106-sz1	Cedarwood Terpenes-4ml	1	$7.00	$7.00
ac-1250-sz1	Eucalyptol (Natural) **-4ml	1	$6.00	$6.00
ac-1035-sz1	Indole (Pure) Crystals **-8g (0.28 oz)	1	$6.75	$6.75
na-6699_sz1	Linalool (Natural)-4ml	1	$6.50	$6.50
ac-1129-sz1	Methyl Benzoate (Natural)-4ml	1	$9.50	$9.50
ac-2240-sz1	Methyl Isoeugenol-4ml	1	$7.25	$7.25
ac-2143-sz1	Ocimene **-4ml	1	$8.00	$8.00
ac-1036-sz2	Para Cresyl Phenyl Acetate Crystals-8g (0.28 oz)	1	$16.25	$16.25
ac-2551-sz1	Para-cresyl acetate-4ml	1	$6.25	$6.25

Order Notes: None

SubTotal: $99.25 Shipping: UPS Ground $13.06 Tax: $9.68 Total: $121.99   Payments: Gift Card $100.00 CREDITCARD $21.99

The final formulation recipe for the reconstitution of paperwhite narcissus flowers, obtained via Gas Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy headspace analysis of the air surrounding the fresh flowers. I made only 10% of the listed parts, for my batch of paperwhite narcissus fragrance oil, since I was just experimenting with creating a headspace flower reconstruction. 

Ingredient	Parts	Note
(E) -beta-Ocimene	500	Neat (Pure)
PCPA (10% Solution in IPM)	400	<-- This delivers 40 parts of scent
Benzyl Acetate	200	Neat
1,8-Cineole	80	Neat
Indole (10% dil.)	60	(Already diluted)
Linalool	50	Neat
Benzy Alcohol	30	Neat
Methyl Benzoate	20	Neat
Para-Cresyl Acetate	10	Neat
Methyl Isoeugenol	10	Neat

In truth, the recipe turned out fantastic, as a powerfully diffusive authentic replication of the smell of paperwhite narcissus flowers, with no unnecessary components kept in the formula. I highly recommend this project, which costs about $100 to do, from Perfumer’s Apprentice, for DIY and aspiring fragrance makers. It came out very strong, and one spray of the concentrate, diluted at 25%, at minimum, ends up lasting about 2 hours, or so, on the skin. It smells great, and it’s a suitable season-themed project to do, being that flowering plant bulbs are being sold in gardening stores, around this time of year, paperwhite narcissus bulbs, amongst them. 

A line art illustration of paperwhite narcissus flowers.

Update: more instructions and tips for making your own reconstitution of paperwhite narcissus.

One thing that I should mention is that you’ll need a solvent to keep the oils (and powder - para cresyl phenyl acetate is a powder) diluted in, especially the para cresyl phenyl acetate. One thing to note is that para cresyl phenyl acetate powder is tough to work with - it won’t dissolve easily, at room temperature. I read that putting a glass container in a hot water bath will help the PCPA become diluted, but I didn’t have a glass container like that handy, so I tried plastic. It didn’t work all that well, so I tried diluting the PCPA is more isopropyl myristate, a scentless solvent, related to isopropyl alcohol, somewhat, and it also has the capability to allow dissolved materials to permeate the skin - you could notice some warming effects from some oils, and I found that the paperwhite narcissus oil’s “feel” is somewhat cool, surely on account of the Eucalyptol (1,8-cineole) being present in a kind of small amount. The skin permeation feature of it isn’t too powerful, though. The isopropyl myristate also feels fairly emollient, not quickly evaporative, like isopropyl alcohol. 

So, anyways, I tried diluting the PCPA in more isopropyl myristate, and I didn’t have much success getting the crystalline powder to become diluted in the solvent, although shaking it up in a closed small plastic container did work better, and I got a fair amount of the powder dissolved. I only made 10% of the recipe listed, and I did it as drops being one part. You might want to have a 0.00 scale handy to measure out your portion of PCPA, which I roughly calculated, for a 10% by drops equivalent weight ratio for the ingredient, to be about half a gram, although I had to account for undissolved crystals that were left in my dilution container, so I added about 1/10th to 1/4 gram more, and the base amount for the formula, which worked out well, was about 1/2 a gram, so up to 0.6g-0.75g of PCPA for the 10% reconstitution formula. The amount of isopropyl myristate I used was pretty heavy handed, at 4 mL. I somewhat wrongly estimated how much workspace I was allowing myself, given that I was working with 5mL spray bottles, as my workspace.

Para cresyl phenyl acetate crystal powder, and a 5mL spray bottle. 

Giving myself 4mL of isopropyl myristate made it so my container would be overfilled, given the other oils that need to be mixed in, so I ended up splitting the contents between two containers, and, at the end, when I was done mixing the ingredients together, I just poured the contents out of and back in to one another, to mix it easily. So, if you have 4mL of isopropyl myristate to 0.5-0.75g para cresyl phenyl acetate, that’s plenty to dissolve the crystals in, although you have to consider your workspace bottle’s own particular volume capacity. The thing is, is that, shaking the crystals up, in the solvent, helped to dilute the crystals more than putting my plastic spray bottle in a hot water bath. This dissolving step is important, because the solubility of the crystals affects the diffusion of the ingredient, when sprayed. It’s quite a powerful ingredient, when sprayed. You have to make sure that the crystals are dissolved well, or else your spray bottle will become clogged with solids, and you would have a hard time measuring out equal portions of concentrate in to separate containers, which is how I did my process - with multiple containers. 

About half a gram of para cresyl phenyl acetate - a suitable amount for making 10% of the above described formula, which is plenty, to last you several weeks, to several months or more, even if you sprayed it all the time, when you go out.

Aside from dissolving the crystals, following the recipe is fairly easy and straightforward. You’ll want to have some kind of plastic or glass dropper, to count out the drops per part you’re putting in to your container, and it’s simple to follow the recipe, using 10% of the numbers listed, to create a small amount of fragrance concentrate, which will happen to be a very powerful concentrate, with enough of it to suffice making anywhere from 16 oz. to a half gallon, or so, of dilute hydrosol water. I left my concentrate very powerful, at a 25% dilution, but Gemini advised me of that 1mL of this concentrate would make 16 oz. of hydrosol water.

If you’ve never mixed fragrances with professional ingredients, you might find some of the ingredients to smell strange, some of them powerfully diffuse and fragrant. Don’t worry, though, the recipe makes an authentic portrayal of paperwhite narcissus flowers, and I’d say that all of the components are necessary, even if you only use 5 drops, 1 drop, etc. for some of them, and 4mL is the minimum you can purchase, from Perfumer’s Apprentice. Note that if you’ve never mixed wanted to make this formula in huge bulk, there’s Consolidated Chemicals and Solvents’ Ocimene, being offered in 250mL-1 liter sizes, for cheap prices. You would only require the minimum sized 4mL bottles of each ingredient, to do this project. You definitely should not use the fragrance concentrate undiluted, be sure to mix it in to 4 parts solvent for each 1 part concentrate, at the very minimum. A larger set of travel-sized spray bottles might make more sense, if you don’t like to go heavy on the fragrance. 

If you wanted to, just for fun, you could compare the fragrance concentrate to the real flowers, ideally in fall or winter, although some shops may offer the bulbs year-round. The bulbs are very easy to grow.

Paperwhite Narcissus flowers in bloom.

Oh! I forgot about indole, which also comes as a powder, for this formula. This powder is much easier to dissolve, and it will dissolve easily, without any hurdles or obstacles in the way. 1 part indole powder (1/10th of a gram) to 9 parts isopropyl myristate. You could also opt for perfumers alcohol, or 190 proof alcohol, for the solvent, instead of isopropyl myristate, but, in general, the initial investment for starting out with a small amount is much higher with the alcohol, and you might also only find large amounts of alcohol (relatively) available. 

Follow up work on Sophorxa (renamed).

 I’d spent a few days with my new fragrance composition, and I think it’s great! (still). It uses 16+ ingredients:

Top notes - Bergamot, Ocimene, Carene-3 Delta, Prismantol, Sweet Yuzu, Black Pepper

Mid / Heart - Jasminlactone, Terpineol Alpha, Blackcurrant Bud Absolute, Champaca Yellow Absolute

Base - Palo Santo Key Accord, Iso E Super, Cashmeran, Benzoin Oliffac, Heliotropin Replacer, Special Vanilla Extract

My special vanilla bean extract.

Here’s the latest marketing material for the fragrance (I don’t know how much I like this one):

Sophorxa a powerfully fresh and sweet androgynous floral wood fragrance, with a helping of animalic primal character to it. I’ve still yet to create a bottle of it; I need to work out the drop by drop proportions, or weights.

New, for Spring 2025: Yuzu Delight, A Citrus Elixir Fragrance

 

As I’ve been working on refining the bottled version of Eau Pigeonoid, a newer fragrance, which I detail, here, on this blog (the fragrance smells great “neat,” or, applied directly to the skin, although translating that olfactory experience in to a bottled spray product proves challenging), I’m noticing some nice fragrance notes that are coming out of the woodwork, as I work to simplify the formula. Notes like “orange delight,” one of my favorite childhood treats, which I now encounter as a citron/lemon variant (it’s essentially a thickened, sweet jelly of citrus in a bite size, chocolate-covered bar).

It reminded me of a former, although recent attempt at composing a fragrance, one which took on a rich theme: a citrus elixir, with a bouquet of citrus ingredients, headed by yuzu essential oil, following with grapefruit and mandarin, with light floral effects of magnolia, over a base of Tonka bean and cocoa, with some black pepper, for spice, and blackcurrant bud, to enliven and freshen the scent’s mood and profile.

The original conception of iPigeon.institute’s “citrus elixir.”

In my latest purchase, I revisit the citrus elixir theme, as a reconstitution, and, as a refinement. For example, this time around, I have a much more well-resourced set of ingredients. I’m using yellow champaca absolute instead of magnolia, so I’m excited to see how this take on a citrus elixir “Yuzu Delight” will turn out, with much of the skeleton of the fragrance, otherwise, remaining the same.

What’s the difference between a damascenone and a damascone? A Personal Journey Through Fragrance, and the Literature.

 You might be tempted to research and add one of the damascones to your cart (or wish list), instead of trying out damascenone total, itself, but the reality of the situation is that: these aren’t typos that snuck in to the supply chain of retail aroma compounds, although that might be the most common folly, in this situation; it got me, for example, and for years I went about not knowing and discerning between a damascenone versus the various damascones that there are - in other words, I thought that these were typos (the difference in spelling, between one and the other), and that these two distinctions were part of the same family and classification of fragrances. Not until just several hours prior, before preparing this blog article, in fact, did I truly learn and discerned the distinctions and differences between damascenone and the various damascones.

First of all, the difference in use case scenario is fairly large, in this case. I recall a nameless mock-up perfume composition that I threw together with a new haul of fragrance ingredients that I’d procured, and I was relatively new at composing fragrance mock-ups. As such, I had much less familiarity, or sense, for that matter, about the suggestions and or significance of the IFRA limitations upon many various fragrance and flavor compounds, offering guidelines and limits, in percentages, or in “parts per” (million), for example. For that matter, damascenone is used as both a flavor and as a fragrance molecule. In this mockup fragrance composition I had made, years ago, implementing damascenone, I had employed what would be considered an “overdose” amount - the compound is very powerfully fragrant. Here is what the literature has on damascenone.

The article feels timely, seeing as how we’re on the heels of the latest Valentine’s Day, this year (2025). 

As well, here is what Google’s AI-augmented search came up with, when I asked what the difference was/is between damascenone and damascones, since I had gotten things mixed and mushed up, in my mind, until just earlier:

Here, although, absent of smelling the aroma compounds in question “in person,” it would be a far cry from simple, to really invoke the senses in a way that would constitute that the readers could mock up damascenone, for one, and the damascones (there’s a few, at minimum). Regardless, we see that it is the case, that the two distinctions are inherently separate families, separate molecular forms, and different classifications of materials, both chemically and in an olfactory sense. I personally have had a former in-person sampling of damascenone 93%, which I employed in the fragrance composition I had touched on, earlier, and, as well, I recently purchased beta-damascone, thinking that that was the compound that I had employed, previously (without checking my receipts, as notes; therefore, I was wrong). Damascenone is, as well as damascone, distinguished, in composition and form, in the “beta” distinction (it’s known as beta-damascenone, and there are different aesthetics, dependent upon the degree of purity of the beta molecule, versus other variants of the same compound). 

The original haul in question, where I purchased Damascenone 93% from the now defunct CreatingPerfume.com (they’re now at CreatingPerfumeStore.com).

Now, having made my recent mistaken step, in trying to reclaim some of the scent legacy that I had once created, just for the olfactory nostalgia’s sensibilities of the situation, but also, that I felt that that particular historic nuance of the fragrance composition I made would be a distinguished role to fulfill in my latest composition, Eau Pigeonoid (I lost my fragrance collection, years ago, when my belongings, including over 300 fragrance ingredients and oils, were swiftly removed from my possession. As such, I “miss” some of my fragrance compositions that I’d made). In this case, I’d been feeling that my latest make of Eau Pigeonoid (my latest fragrance composition) is “pretty good,” meaning that it’s tolerable for myself, and, conceivably, for others, as well. I can tell, because I sometimes have to admit that I find myself stuck, at times, with fragrance compositions that make me a bit nauseous or embarrassed, being that they don’t smell all that refreshing. Here, I have a pretty good composition that doesn’t make me sick or fatigued; I just feel that the composition could use a bit of smoothing out of some of the slight let-downs that it has, as-is, so I wanted to audition Damascenone Total next to my working composition of Eau Pigeonoid, even though I might only use just a slight amount for it, in the end, I just wanted to sample the two fragrances together, as well as Hedione HC, in which case, I’m opting for the cheaper (and equivalent) Methyl Dihydro Jasmonate HC. Despite that Eau Pigeonoid is touted, currently, as a men’s fragrance, and these are floral-esque (or, moreso floral) effects, I’m just whittling away at slight facets of the fragrance, Eau Pigeonoid, at the moment. Most of the primary and formative work has already been done on it. 

Updating…

02/17/2025 10:11 p.m.

I placed my order for the materials, finally, and I threw in some patchoulol crystals, to see how they are. The price worked out to be just right, for my budget. 

As an aside, I have some other oils on order from Sheer Essence, on Amazon. I checked out their website, as well, to view their full catalog, and, in this case, I ended up going with a bottle of cardamom essential oil, as well as Melissa officinalus. Right now, I have a fairly (what I might estimate to be) aldehydic fragrance, with recent additions of vanilla, pink pepper, beeswax absolute, and a “named” aldehydic mandarin scent, with Mandarinal. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the type of quality that a Dior fragrance might have, yet it brings out the sensual side of my days, as a quick reminder, here and there, of an animalistic nature, lying beneath the surface (probably also owing to that I haven’t done laundry in a very long time - although, I did a quick run, to make sure I wasn’t too bum, just the other night). What I mean is that body odors would arise, in my senses and periphery, yet, fragranced with the sweetened odors of beeswax absolute and other components, I found it compelling (I know, doesn’t everyone, of themselves?). Anyways, I’m currently cleaning my room. I ordered a new mattress, and it’s a size upgrade, so I have to move and repurpose a bunch of stuff in my room, on this evening. 

“Dior?” You might be remarking. “He compares himself to Dior?” And I know, sure, it’s a bit youthful and unrefined a composition, yet, as I stated, my composition, I would say, to reiterate, that it simply has “some of” the qualities that some Dior fragrances do have. I found it a bit affront, to have landed, stylistically, in a fragrance space that’s already occupied; that’s why I’m seeking new ingredients, perhaps; I’m seeking to surge forth and find my Eau Pigeonoid niche, with a finished prototype, something fantastic and unique enough to stand on it’s own, even though - <_<… it’s not bad, as it stands, right now. 

In fact, I suppose, on second thought (now that I gather my thoughts, a bit), that Eau Pigeonoid was slightly built upon a supposition of that I could, at this stage, in my perfumery knowledge, make a slight mockup of something that smells somewhat like Dior Homme Sport, so I guess that that rightly stood as some of my formative inspiration, in crafting Eau Pigeonoid. Now I’m going with some Cardamom and Melissa, some damascenone and Hedione, with a dash of patchoulol crystals, if it suits; attempting to craft a bit of spicy, a bit of lemon freshness, and I want to fill out and round out the woods, with an aim to barter good intentions for near-cosmonaut euphoria highs, upon smelling my own fragrance (Hopefully? That’s my goal, anyways, with this stuff). I’m hoping that Damascenone and Hedione HC are perhaps the missing actors in making my fragrance composition a fine show of things.

The reason I reopened this project was a drive to explore the undiscovered (by myself), which is always the case, when procuring and experimenting with new aroma chemicals and fragrance compounds. Even if it’s a familiar scent, that I’ve encountered, or know, from experience, smelling it as a bottled product, ready for mixing, is a whole other experience. By the way, I do highly recommend Sheer Essence for procuring some fundamental essential oils, carrier oils, etc. You might be thinking, “well, they ship from India, how do I know it’s good? What if it takes a long time?” The answer to those fears are that, surprisingly, the packages take a much shorter time than expected, and the quality of their oils is fantastic. I recommend that readers try them out. They’re perhaps one of the best bargain merchants in the entire world of natural fragrance materials - not that bargain, here, means “cheap.” As I said, it’s surprising; both the quality of the oils, as well as the promptness in receiving the shipment. Perhaps a week or two, at most, to receive it in the United States. As you can see, from the screenshot below, I ordered a fragrance on the 6th, and I reviewed it, after receiving it, on the 14th of the same month, or earlier than that, that I received it and reviewed it.

Update: I received the fragrance ingredients, and I added them to my fragrance composition, which I tentatively call “Eau Pigeonoid.” Even with around only 1/4 to 1/3rd of a milliliter, of the Damascenone, that I added, it stands as a very prominent feature of the composition, with a relaxing, natural, fruity floral effect to it. I feel that I rested better, after spraying some of the fragrance in my room, as I slept. I’ll plan on waiting for the cardamom and Melissa essential oils to arrive, from India, before I plot out the final and finishing touches on the fragrance, once again. So far, it’s been through it’s fourth cycle of development, since the formula was originally concocted, out of 8 ingredients (now, there’s more like 20 ingredients, some of them just trace amounts, but I wanted the damascenone effect, that I remembered, from my past compositions, and Perfumer’s Apprentice’s Damascenone Total (Firmenich) doesn’t disappoint.