Essential Oil Aroma – Impact and Longevity!

I recently stumbled across a part of the Perfumers World website that had me captivated for a good couple of hours.  Anyone that knows me and my ADHD knows that rabbit holes are an occupational hazard of mine and falling into them is one reason why  I’m still not rich or on top of my day-to-day workload 🙂

Anyway, here is what I found.

Anyone who has ever played around with essential oil perfumery knows that the aromas you create don’t always last a long time. I just wrote about this in my Fixatives article a few posts back but there is another part of that puzzle.

Essential oils have, for a long  time been categorised as being top, middle or base notes and most places I’ve looked tend to link that to their longevity.  Top notes last a short time, middle notes a bit longer and base notes the longest time.  However, what I hadn’t fully appreciated before finding the data on Perfumers World is that it’s actually a bit more complex than that and that within the simplistic ‘note’ categorisation are other things including a feature called ‘odour impact’ or odour intensity.

It turns out that among short, middle and base notes exists a whole range of odour intensities with some oils having a huge odour impact (peppermint is a good example of this even though it is mostly classified as a top note),  while others have a very low impact (Peru Balsam is a low impact odour and that’s a base note).

At this point I’m beginning to question if the ‘notes’ way of thinking is kind of pointless OR have I just not understood it correctly?  Either way, this is news that I can use!

I sorted through their website and came up with a table which organises the data that is useful for me on a daily basis as it relates to the essential oils I mostly use.   This table is ordered by increasing odour impact:

Data from Perfumers World https://www.perfumersworld.com			Increasing odour impact on application. >>>>>
Essential oil	Odour Impact	Odour Life in hours
Amyris	30	2000
Peru Balsam	45	72
Myrrh	60	24
Sandalwood	70	999
Cedarwood Atlas	75	48
Manuka	85	40
Frankincense (Olibanum)	97	3
Patchouli	98	42
Eucalyptus Citradora	100	0
Clary Sage	105	20
Vetiver	105	320
Sweeet Orange	110	8
Bergamot	110	8
Lavender	110	27
Elemi	120	12
Neroli	120	5
Grapefruit Pink	125	2
Pine Needle	125	5
Lemon Oil	130	1.2
Rosemary	130	11
Sweet Basil Essential Oil	130	25
Spruce	130	2.5
Lime Distilled	135	1.2
Ylang Ylang	140	20
Black Pepper	150	10
Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil	150	80
Geranium	170	14
Tea Tree	180	23
Clove Bud Essential Oil	180	36
Ginger	200	14
Juniper Berry	200	3
Clove Leaf Essential Oil	220	30
Roman Chanomile	230	30
spearmint	230	8
Citrolenna	280	8
Eucalyptus Globulus	370	2.6
Peppermint	400	10

I am going to experiment with this data to see if I can stretch out my odour impact and longevity further by taking this into account and formulating around the sweet spot of long-life and high odour intensity wherever possible.

I thought that this data may be especially useful when formulating products that need to smell good for a long time such as deodorants, perfumes or scented balms.   It’s probably less of an issue for face creams and make-up products…

What was also interesting at Perfumery World was their notes on formulating.  They give an applications score to each oil (and aroma note) to help identify where the ingredient is best used and where to avoid.  Looking at Peppermint again I see that it is not so good in talcum powder or alcoholic products but it’s great in everything else.  With Neroli, I see it has a huge issue in hair conditioners and by the looks of it I should be careful if putting it into more acidic formulations.

I don’t know how I’ve got through life so far without knowing this but now I have found this I feel like a new woman!

Woohoo!

Amanda