Intro and question on blending

[Guest guest]

Hello,

I am a newbie in perfumery. Drawn from ancient botany, I decided to

reproduce ancient perfumes described primarily in the Materia Medica

of Dioscorides as well as in the Natural History of Pliny and in the

writings of Theophrastus.

I am trying to modernize these recipes, using tinctures and essential

oils instead of raw materials and oil. The problem is that my first

experiments do not smell so nice, and I think I could be helped from

your group.

A recent experiment is the reproduction of " Metopion " perfume,

mentioned by Dioscorides. It smells better than all my previous

blends, but still not quite good. Materials (in parentheses what I used):

Galbanum (I used CO2 extracted, 1 drop)

Lemongrass (1 drop)

Cardamom (6 drops)

Calamus (3 drops)

Myrrh (Since the essential oil is extremely volatile, I used a

tincture after having the alcohol evaporated. 6 drops)

Balsam fruit (Originally the fruit of Commiphora Opobalsamum, but

since this is extremely rare unless one lives in Yemen, I used 4 drops

of Peru Balsam as a substitute)

All the above were diluted in 7 grams of Alcohol.

Any insight on this blend would be appreciated.

Regards,

Ioannis Marathakis

P.S. Maggie, I am happy to see you here.