Perfumery Basics: Understanding & Learning Your Materials (Strength vs. Longevity)

A brief ramble about the 2 main focuses of learning your materials for better efficiency, blending and less waste of materials.
Material Odor Strength (Impact) & Material Longevity (Evaporation)
Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to my channel if you like:
-- Perfumery, DIY perfumes, fragrance reviews, perfumery tips & tricks, tutorials, classes, basics, training, courses, how to's, and learning to make your own perfume and fragrances!
#bkscents #diyperfumery #fragrances
BK SCENTS :)

[@dhruvmini01]

I am extremely thankful for your free education on these subjects. I graduated with a biochem and nanotech degree, but I was never familiar with the realm of perfumery. So I thoroughly appreciate you providing such useful advice to budding Perfumers. I am slowly working through your videos. I appreciate every single one of them!

[@bkscents7050]

Thank you 😊

[@Mzaros1]

This information is of paramount importance, and will be found. BK, you are master ... if you can make a more technical video in practice on these points to help us, it would be very important for us beginners. I already thank you immensely!

[@loganjohnson4257]

Thisss^^

[@marieballesteros3309]

Your videos are excellent - clear, concise and extremely helpful and I wish I had found you early. I have purchased lots of materials over last couple of years but have been too nervous to use them as I was not entirely sure about a bunch of stuff....until now. I have found it difficult to find books or quality online content that covers key points at the right level. Thank you for sharing your knowledge :)

[@bkscents7050]

Thank you Marie! 😃😃😃

[@sammacer]

Really nice video, I think you gave a great summary of this topic!

[@bkscents7050]

Thanks Sam! 😁

[@RFinkle2]

Wasn't a ramble at all. I know I'm late to the party, but thank you for posting this - videos like this one are super helpful.

[@Lyricluxx]

Great. Neeed more info like this... Thank you👍👍❤️❤️❤️ lovw u broo

[@roshanallindia]

Knowledgeable videos 📹, keep your good work ❤, love and support ❤️

[@bilalmoussa989]

Thanks for the great videos ; would you mind post a short video for aging process , time, condition, aging material and best perfumer alcohol to use ? Thanks 🙏 in advance

[@marqueesiog8210]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@NasEffect77]

Love your vids first of all, can’t get enough of them. Just with pre-diluting…. When you want to get the overall material % when calculating for e.g , a edp strength… would you minus the alcohol that you’re adding at the end to get your 20% material and 80% alcohol blend cause your materials are already pre-diluted

[@kajolgolchha1326]

Very informative learning many things newly 🤗😇

[@kurush61]

Goes without saying but this is again such good information. What a fantastic channel. I had tried using pink pepper a while back and even at one drop it really threw my blend off. Good to know that it needs to be diluted down.

[@bkscents7050]

😃😁😁😁😁😁 glad you are enjoying these vids! 😀😀😀

[@Mzaros1]

hello, I made the same mistake, and it was a great disaster..even more that I used essential oil from the pink pepper that steam extracts resentively and was highly concentrated..it was a great disaster, despite all its beauty, because it is indomitable in its raw state rs, rs..so, i diluted the essential oil in isopropyl myristate (1% solution) I'm sorry for the bad English ... I'm from Brazil.

[@TheFragranceGuy]

Love your videos, I wonder do you use any specific apps/software to keep track of everything? Anything you can recommend?

[@arinalba5543]

Awesome video thanks so much! If just starting out , is there a general dilution amount to try? Some smells so far I’ve noticed , sandalwood amber really scrapped on of my blends. I put too much (before I saw this video) . Do we just test our dilution gram per gram?

[@asmagul1022]

Thankyou so much for making us understand this all ,step by step .So nice of you .Stay blessed 😍😍🌺

[@ilyassel2824]

moroccan ?

[@asmagul1022]

Pakistani

[@ilyassel2824]

@@asmagul1022 ok

[@Aaron-us5iu]

I got some essential oils and DPG sat down mixed some things and got them in the sprayer and it was too thick the atomizer will just squirt out no mist… what do I need to make it sprayable? I’m a long ways from making the next Bleu de Chanel so any help is greatly appreciated. I got into fragrance about a year ago and these videos have inspired me to try creating some of my own

[@rellstuttin9198]

Thanks again

[@laurenbray8314]

Diluting my materials is the scariest part of learning perfumery especially the expensive naturals. My first dilution was birch tar since its the cheapest lol.

[@bkscents7050]

Diluting is easy! And don't make alot of dilution amounts, just dilute enough to give you a 10-15ml working bottle, and keep the rest neat

[@dan_evsky]

Thanks for all your videos. I was wandering.I predilute all my molecules to 10% and lower and I made my first perfume with pink pepper opening going to almondy heart notes so i have like 1,2g batch and. Id like to make 30mil bottle or even more from that sample, should I use not diluteted oils and molecules for example coumarin, musks like exaltolide 50% instead 10% is there any rule?

[@islandspicehawaii]

Aloha... I'm die hard on using natural scents but am very open to working with synthetic fragrances to understand them. Any guidance towards understanding them deeper and guidance to sourcing as well?? Thanks so much. Best wishes

[@mariakhan-tp4bi]

If a composition of a fragrance is too good, what to add to make it more long lasting?

[@asherasherko8606]

Do you recommend using jojoba oil to install perfume scent

[@rapsmithman]

Great Video! Thanks. If i want to make a Fragrance with 20% Juice and 80% Alkohol, do i add the amount of alkohol i used for the Dilution ,from the Raw Materials? if i use all Materials with a 10% Dilution,then the Fragrance is gonna have more then 80% of alkohol at the end.

[@alexandromavromatis5679]

Do you always separate your droppers? How do you avoid them from getting mixed and or dusty

[@africansoapsupplies9565]

Im a complete beginner, have done some research. The very essence im not understanding is pre-ditution. With what? If one wants to use the aroma chemicals in certain formualtions, can one use an oil to predilute? Denatured ethanol causes huge problems in eg cold process soap. Thanks, Charl.

[@alexandromavromatis5679]

Which materials do you normally never dilute

[@mariakhan-tp4bi]

My quantity of fragrances is alot for stores, so longetivity and lasting is an important factor for me , hope you can help me out.... Is it a fixative to be added or anything to be added that may not change the composition of my selected fragrance but I may ask the perfumer while working on my batches please do add that raw material that makes my scent last....

[@NaturalBeauty-yl2ze]

I love this but am failing to get the difference between the what is diluted and what is used to dilute

[@joejojo5966]

if denatured ethanol alcohol okay to use? whats a good one to get off amazon?

[@harmanvi]

Bk no doubts you are the master, but bro I get confuse see all videos , coz I want to start small buisness in perfume ,kindly guide me which of your videos shall I watch first and which should be 2 ,3 . Stay blessed bro ,A lot os Respect from Punjab, INDIA. Harman

[@manojsundaram9848]

Hi could you suggest me a fixative that helps to retain the fragrance after wash cycle

[@DaltonH-tf8sc]

Hey! I was wanting to know what scale you use?

[@mariakhan-tp4bi]

I am into r&d of fragrances, i experienced one thing at this moment, once i tested a fragrance on cloth piece its lasting well for a day or 2, But once i am wearing a cloth and apply the same fragrance at times doesnt last longer, What can be the issue? Please guide

[@sayarmhan4222]

Where do I start to learn to become a perfumer? What should I know? What books are there? And if I really want to learn, what other knowledge should I have besides online classes and courses? How can I start and do it?

[@DeseCompangLelakTata_945]

Good

[@seksaravy]

Thank you very much , your video is very useful . I have a question , If we would like to get a strong smell out of clothes after washing ,what is chemical raw material for adding to get a strong smell when we make liquid detergent ?

[@bkscents7050]

Your probably referring to "musks". Most laundry detergents are very musk heavy

[@alissac6161]

Hey BK- could you PLEASE give us the formula for 1% and .05 % too like you did this one? and so for 20% Is this Right? 2 Grams of Material and 9 Grams of Alcohol- Just double it :) Right? Thanks BK!!

[@jennyparfum]

I see you have your pipets laying in front of the bottles, are they labeled? How do you not accidentally mix things? I know it's not good to have a pipet on top of the bottle containing the materials but for me it's more handy.

[@user-jq8gs7jd4j]

How we will come to know evaporation of material and what is meant of vapour pressure of material

[@delight8888]

Just like me- You’re ALSO into Music- Songwriting & Production!!!!! 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 Do you have a link to your music?.. Impact vs Tenacity love the breakdown

[@bkscents7050]

My music gear sits and collects dust as wall art now. I stopped making music many years ago sadly

[@delight8888]

BK Scents no way- how Come- you should at least once every 2 weeks... a musician designed a fragrance for a luxury brand he has his organ laid out as Musical notes spread across a lot of octaves. And built a system where when people play chords and accord is released- and notes for notes... Just came across your site today but wow thanks for all your tips and videos cant wait to dig in proper!!!

[@bkscents7050]

😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@delight8888]

BK Scents 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gustavoabella3429]

Gracias por la enseñanza , y materiales que sirvan de enlace entre las notas de salida ,medias y base ,como el dihidromircenol. Cuáles son tus favoritas como enlaces ?.gracias ,thank you.

[@juandelacruzfraganciadelac1224]

Can you recommend a good website to get Perfumers alcohol I've been trying to get some but every time I get it it says not safe on human skin

[@zenaschristian3626]

I have just started to make perfume.and in a month Got purchased about 100 bottols essential oil. Fixative. All musk like fore or five main. Synthetic odor ingredients castoreum resinoid. After accord of 9 small bottles selection of one. Balance 8 bottles I use for making same selected accord by adding each other in ratio of selected accord so material should not vested.

[@TheBuduig]

After you level out all your materials to the same odor strength by prediluting them, when you do your blending and before you put them in the vials you combine them further in alcholol (lets say for EDP 20% fragrance mix and 80% alcohol) before you spray/test it on your hand? Or you spray them on your hand directly as they are already prediluted in alcholol? Thanks

[@bkscents7050]

Once all my materials are prediluted, the predilution amounts vary on a per material basis. Some I use full strength, some at 50%,. Some at 25%, some at 10%, some at 5%, etc etc. So once you start blending with all these, you still have to keep track of all the dilution levels total outcome once the blend is done. I still usually end up having to top it off with more ethyl alcohol in the end if I want my trial blend at a 10% EDT concentration.

[@kajolgolchha1326]

How to understand how much amount we should dilute 🤔teach Separte video for dilutions 😁🤗

[@phongcachvietntn9522]

Hello new friend, very good video

[@bkscents7050]

Thank you so much!! 😁

[@dmitryaksenov9166]

I also heard people talk about odour impact as a separate characteristic distingushable from odour strength. What do You think about it?

[@bkscents7050]

To me odor impact and odor strength are one in the same. I would love to hear someone explain the difference to me however if they are different. I’m an open minded person 😉

[@dmitryaksenov9166]

@@bkscents7050 as far as I managed to find out, odor impact is a function of vapor pressure and detection threshold, thus meaning it’s a characteristic of how vividly we perceive the smell. Odor strength deals with longevity and it’s an ability of a scent to “push” over its lifespan. And... I’m not sure whether this info is gonna help You, me, or anybody but I’ll just leave it right here 😅

[@sdhute]

I like using 5ml plastic test tubes for my formulas. They are inexpensive and I only use a automizer when I know I'm getting close or need feedback from a human tester

[@bkscents7050]

I have them too! I mainly use the plastic ones for temporary testing with paper test strips. But I also like you, use the atomizer once i know i want to test the formula on skin

[@adriansumner1412]

I generally dilute with DPG especially with high impact aroma chemicals or essentials like Galbanum and wintergreen. And yeah I generally do it by the gm also. My accords I'll do in mixing pots which are plastic shot cups they work really well, ahh for my big fragrances like when I do an oriental fougere I generally have roughly 3 accords like a coumarin based attar maybe a linalyl acetate based attar also. I never use any more then 20 Max materials generally around a dozen. Ambroxan does my head in, I'm never ordering powders again, always best to order premixed.

[@bkscents7050]

Don't be afraid of the powders my man! Its much cheaper and cost effective if you buy the raw powder materials and dilute them your self.

[@adriansumner1412]

@@bkscents7050 yeah you get good quality projection, the last time I tried mixing the dpg with the Ambroxan didn't really work out all that well sort of did. Went 50-50. And the coumarin stuffed that up haha tried to add to benzyl benzoate yeah that didn't work. I'd kind rather have it already pre done, the price isn't that much different really. Depends where you get it from.

[@annelim1784]

Are you selling any perfume? If yes, where can they be purchased?

[@brucewayne375]

Can I predilute stuff without using a scale?

[@bkscents7050]

No, you cannot. Well, not accurately. Every material weighs slightly different. Like 1 drop of iso e super might weigh 0.023g, versus 1 drop of orange essential oil may weight only 0.016. So to accurately make pre-dilutions.....you really really need a scale and do it all by weight.

[@asherasherko8606]

Hi thanks A lot amazing job. I have a question please if I wanna add more kind of oil together for example 5 kind of oil each one 1 gm right so how much alcohol I need to put because u said each 1 gm oil need 9 gm alcohol right? Thank you

[@bkscents7050]

It depends on the concentration you want for your final product. 1gr of oil with 9gr of alcohol will give you a classic 10% EDT perfume concentration. So once you are done mixing your blend, you count the total weight of your oils and then add in the appropriate amount of alcohol to it. The amount of alcohol will depend on if you want an EDT, EDP, Parfum, etc. It will involve some basic math to determine how much alcohol you will need

[@asherasherko8606]

Thank you so much amazing

[@Perfumery_by_Sabin]

so if i want to make 6g of 1% from a 100% aldehyde, i would multiply the amount of total liquid i want, by the percentage i want to achieve. Then fill the rest with perfumers alcohol? so 6g x .01 = 0.06g aldehyde then fill to 6g with Perf. Alch.

[@bkscents7050]

If you want a total of 6g of usable material at a 1% dilution, ...that would be 0.06g of raw material and 5.94g of alcohol

[@khaledal-habib777]

good day, where can i purchase materials?

[@contrebande_co]

Your trial blends are 1g, including or excluding ethanol ? Nice video, BTW.

[@bkscents7050]

That’s including ethanol to bring it down to about edt (10%- 12%) concentration. That’s a super small trial batches! It’s hard to get it down this small with such precision dilutions, but I make it work 😀

[@contrebande_co]

@@bkscents7050 Wow, ok ! But how much is an average drop from your glass pipettes, do you know ? I use a specialized ~12µl drop plastic transfer pipette, but yours must be around 50µl, no ? Otherwise I have the same blending strategy, except that I always work with undiluted materials however strong, even with aldehyde C-12, even with aldehyde C-6 which to me is the worst ever in terms of strength of stench. I haven't tried cadaverine but I hear it might hold the record. I'm blending using either a 12µl disposable plastic transfer pipette or a 0.1µl micropipette. My goal usually is for 1-3g concentrates depending on the complexity of the formula. You are challenging me to go even smaller. That would mean 100-120mg concentrate. That is tiny! But I will try it.

[@bkscents7050]

My average drop from a pipette is around 0.018g weight, depending on the material. Some lighter materials a drop will be 0.015, and some thicker consistency materials a single drop will weigh 0.024g. I try to work in smaller batches as much as possible cause I’m constantly recreating the same formula (with a minor tweak) over and over an over, experimenting with different amounts per material and seeing how they react overall. In this method, I’d be burning through so much materials if I wasn’t prediluting most of them.

[@contrebande_co]

@@bkscents7050 I just remembered that you are using bases a lot, right ? That brings down the ingredient list to a more workable ingredient count. I don't work with bases so much and I use ingredients undiluted (unless they come pre-diluted from the provider). So even with 0.1mg drops (that both my micropipette and balance can handle), it's difficult to stay under 1g because there are 30-60 raw ingredients in average in there. Anyways, I'll try the 1g total goal, including ethanol and see how it goes. I like a challenge. Also, expect an email from me soon, cause I think we're at that point in our "relationship" where I think we should voicetalk. 😋

[@bkscents7050]

You are correct, I do work with a lot of premade bases and accords that I create. This cuts down on trying to “recreate a note” in a blend with separate materials if I already have a note/accord premade in its own separate bottle. So in my trail batches, you’ll sometimes see like 20-25 bottles on the table...but some of those bottle are blended accords that encompass 7-8 materials in that accord blend. So in reality the end result of a perfume blend can sometimes reach up to 50 material line items at the final formula. But I don’t worry about the final formula material count (breaking down the pre made accords materials) until I’ve worked out all the blend scent to a desirable result.

[@samirehman3466]

Your ears are blushing👂

[@mashkoor78]

Nice information? Do you have any brand perfume formula??

[@bkscents7050]

I do, but i wont share them publicly because i had to send them out to a Lab to have them analyzed (GCMS), and those costs up to $500 per analysis. Thats something i wont share freely with the public.

[@thunder4808]

Hi. I'm learning perfumery. I just want to ask one question. Is it possible to make a perfume without alcohol?

[@vanillinchillin743]

You can use various oils as your carrier. Jojoba, coconut, other oils. You just use rollerball applicator. Use perfumers alcohol to spray it like a mist. Is that what u mean?

[@thunder4808]

@@vanillinchillin743 What I mean is can I use essential oils without adding alcohol?

[@PhiI93]

Can someone just clarify something, at 14:00 he says 1 gram of material and 9g of alcohol creates a 10% solution, wouldn't that make a 9% solution? cause 10% of 9 is 0.9. 10% of 10 is 1. i'm confused.

[@vncs]

Final weight is 10g. 10% of 10g is 1g. So it is a 10% dilution.

[@astronomiica]

Diluting with DPG vs perfumers alcohol ?

[@bkscents7050]

200 proof SDA-40B ethyl alcohol :)

[@saadowain3511]

But how you diluted !?

[@rima.h1597]

the music is sad

[@celebratesuccess6309]

U can't explain blend , it is an art.

[@lisaa6099]

Why do you start the video with that awful sound……..

[@MdAlamin-wk3fb]

Good