To best learn how to make effective aromatherapy blends it will help to understand the history behind the perfume industry. In the early 19th century, the Englishman George William Septimus Piesse discovered a way to classify scents. Similar to music he used “top notes”, “middle notes” and “base notes”. He called this an “odophone”.
Top notes are the scents you smell first in a perfume and include the fresh and light smelling essential oils such as Basil, Lemon and Eucalyptus.
Middle notes are revealed once the top notes evaporate and form the character of a blend. These middle notes are generally floral, herbal and light woody, and spicy scents such as Geranium, Juniper and Black Pepper.
The heavier and richer base notes are usually woods, resins, and spices such as Cedarwood, Benzoin and Cinnamon. These base notes are warming and tend to hang around the longest and they round off a good blend.
Ideally all aromatherapy blends should contain all three notes, to keep the blend in harmony and ‘in tune’! That is the secret behind essential oil blends.
For a handy reference, check out these three guides to essential oil notes:
You don’t have to follow the suggested aromatherapy perfume recipes strictly – these are merely to get you started. Use your own creativity and personality to create your very own personal scents. Use your favorite essential oils or the essential oils you currently have at hand. If a recipes calls for an essential oil you don’t have replace it with another, just remember the ‘odophone’.
Aromatherapy blends can be used in a variety of ways including for aromatherapy perfume recipes, aromatherapy diffusers, natural skin care, aromatherapy body scrub recipes, aromatherapy home recipes or bath and body recipes.
You can find out the various notes for each of the essential oils on their individual profile page for aromatherapy essential oils.
