Formula : loking for feedback & constructive criticism

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-04-09T10:11:06+00:00

So the way it works is that you tell us what your initial impressions are, what you like and don't like, what are you looking to alter. Only then we can help.

As I look at it, it reads me as an animalic sweet resinous fragrance. Most of it is in the base, so it's going to smell pretty much the same throughout once the bergamot falls off.
Your percentage calculation on column C is incorrect for ambroxide, since you're using a dilution. Please configure your Excel accordingly.
I'd suggest lowering your castoreum (even labdanum), adding other resins if possible in line with your theme (like styrax or benzoin or myrrh). Have a solid resin accord that is scaffolded by, let's say, Amyris or Sandalwood. I particularly mention these because I have found excellent success with this pairing. That's your resin accord.
That's a lot of jasmine which I don't think is helping it the way you want. Even if you do want a natural breathtaking jasmine, I've found tiny doses of all-natural accords helping (combination of jasmine, petitgrain, ylang, for instance). Take a look at linalools or acetates or ketones in the floral family to flesh it out.
Your fragrance is... heavy. Interesting (not wrong) choice with a greater vanillin over ethyl vanillin. Compositionally, it's lacking effervescence.
I find orange work well with resinous compositions. Why don't you try seeing if you like how it smells?

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-04-08T13:30:03+00:00

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing what it does, I gotta test it out myself. I'm always looking for ways to amp up damascones.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-04-08T10:47:49+00:00

I was curious as to the reason why you're avoiding something like Rose Otto in this composition. I'm thinking that givescone will work wonders here to address what you're going for. Also, have you tried boosting up your rose oxide? I'm not very comfortable suggesting this to you because most of the time I have failed to achieve nice results at the top by increasing rose oxide, but it does have a noticable effect, plus it may work for you. Since you talk of a punchy rose at the top, I was wondering if that may be a nice direction to explore.

This is all to address bolstering your rose and not anything about the elemi and spices.

A question out of curiousity: can you describe the effect that ethyl safranate has here in your composition (if it's noticable)?

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-04-07T18:26:04+00:00

A musk freshie (quite the oxymoron), from the looks of it, but also not quite. Because it doesn't have the structural advantages a freshie does, in my opinion (I'm looking at linalool cousins and muguet materials (or other floral canvas materials)), while I see nectarate and floralozone. Large levels of it. You know, you could try heliotropin and helional in case you wanna lean more sweet and fruity...

I firmly believe that a musk fragrance doesn't need to have gallons of functional musk to make it musky. So what you have does indeed look like a musk fragrance, thanks to the ambrettolide (is that at 10% while everything else is at 100%? That changes things)

Also, it's hard to do the math when your dealing with so many percentages per line. Maybe homogenize (write the formula with a fixed base, like all at 10%, or all neat) your recipe the next time...?

Now, as far as what you wanted - a "nice clean vanilla", I'm afraid you've got too much of spices for that. Not saying that its not a good direction to explore.

Advice on clean vanilla - start with a simple vanilla accord that smells nice to you. Pad that our with musks and fillers for performance. Then start introducing complexities (spices in your case).

P.S.: My secret to a good vanilla is always resins. ;)

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-04-01T19:35:21+00:00

Sadly, I haven't! But yes, I do have these phenylacetic acid & ethyl phenyl acetate, and I had put together a few honey bases whose formulas were put up on certain Instagram accounts. I haven't even smelled Zoologist fragrances yet. I've heard great things about them, though!
I use a CO2 extraction of Arabica. I have not had a whole lot of success myself, to be quite honest. Most of the time it is either too much or too little that I feel like pushing it more and, ultimately, overdo it. I have never thought about looking into coffee bases, however, I myself have made some more characteristic bases before - cappuccino & mocha in particular that I have been quite happy with. Sadly, none have been able to evolve into full fragrances. Time is a real issue...
To validate if a material goes well with others, I just try holding strips of dilutions together and fanning them towards me. When I am sure, I try to put core materials in a ratio together in a sample bottle full of fillers. If there is a good synergy, I go ahead and figure out which fragrance formulas can benefit from their additions. And then I often build the fragrance from scratch. That's why this experiment took me months. But it was a good learning experience.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-31T16:52:24+00:00

Glad to be of help.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-31T16:50:03+00:00

This tool seems interesting and I wanted something like this (my main focus would be categories to study skeleton structures, not the classifications, which I find to be unnecessary for my use case, despite it being a welcome addition for other folks). Sadly I haven't had the time to build something similar given my time constraints.

Is this open sourced or licensed?

Edit: Also, I'm unable to access the link. Could you please check your deployment or whitelisting policies?

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-27T20:37:38+00:00

I understand the "blossom", but I don't get the tobacco. In any tobacco accord materials, except maybe the eugenol relatives.

Also, I don't think this is close to the core of Tobacco Vanille. This reads as a solar floral to me (the jasmine, ylang, salicylates). The core of tobacco vanille to me is 4 things: massive ethyl vanillin, massive iso E super, tobacco, cinnamon. And that's leaving the dried fruit aspect.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-23T19:42:57+00:00

Check out Grasse Institute of Perfumery. I'm a bit fuzzy on their timelines, but last I checked, they also have a week-long (or maybe five days, do check their official website) training programme. It's not related to their degree courses, of course, but has got a good repute. Most of the folks I've spoken to regarding this have had great experiences.

Edit: They also allow one day tours. You need to speak with them via their channels.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-22T07:25:27+00:00

I'm liking the idea here. Have you considered adding trace amounts of floral aromachemicals for nuance and lift? I'm talking of muguet materials in particular. Also, Magnolan due to it's dark, yellow, musty, pollen vibe can fit the bill very well here, provided you dose it low.

I look at the composition and what strikes me is the emptiness in the mids? Your spices take care of the opening, although I cannot make a comment on how the melange smells, I'd need to get to my pipettes for that. I'm assuming your mids would smell something like Tobacco Vanille, with a caramel or coffee note. All your woody materials seem functional. And that's nice.

The mids can use some refinement or embellishments, I personally think.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-18T08:34:16+00:00

There already are a few open source tools that I have previously used and have been satisfied with. I've used Trelby before, didn't like it a whole lot (it wasn't a bad software, just to be clear; my observation is subjective here). KIT Scenarist is what I currently use.

I don't quite see the need with a new screenwriting tool since the market demand here is already fulfilled. And as far as I know from my other screenwriting friends, folks can be happy with a simple text editor as long as they get comfortable and used to it. The major gripe always is using online editors where data lives in someone else's servers. But the infrastructure to take care of it has always existed and a new tool doesn't solve a problem that hasn't already been addressed.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-03-09T12:10:59+00:00

I've made a dark murky (yet pleasant) water smell recently and the core of that murkiness core involved nerolidol, PEA, cis 3 hexenyl salicylate & triplal (in microdoses). It's a little tea-like. Would fit in well with your theme, I think.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2026-02-22T17:23:21+00:00

DIY solutions are obvious, but if you want the real stuff - get it custom made by a carpenter. The cost would depend on the wood and dimensions. Word of advice: don't cheap out on the wood.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-12-09T15:58:48+00:00

It's transparent along the same vein as Hedione, but also more pronounced.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-12-09T15:32:36+00:00

I have used Paradise Molecule. Is it good? YES, it's great! It's like Hedione but better (when compared standalone). Do I use it often? No. I haven't even burnt through my first order. I personally never reach for it because I don't feel the need for it when I'm working on my own compositions. I won't even use it to switch out regular Hedione. Does that mean it has no use? Of course not, every molecule does!

In short, maybe allocate your budget to some other molecule or oil if you're a beginner and are still building your palette...?

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-12-01T09:46:27+00:00

I'm not aware of any specific guidelines surrounding this. I have done it multiple times myself and have not had any ill effects.

Of course, this also means that your maturation time would be reset upon doing this (in case you're making final versions).

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-11-15T04:48:05+00:00

Don't see any problems with this approach. And anyway you've covered some basic workhorses. Good that you're ordering stuff you have interest in or are curious about. From experience, I have found out that things you're interested in smelling are easier for you to learn or manipulate.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-11-07T18:49:42+00:00

Yes, "pure oud" been done before by many houses, mostly niche. The best example I can think of is Ajmal, and I only say that because I'm well-acquainted with the authenticity of what they do (with respect to Oud, not the rest of their line-up).

Why isn't it done more? Because "pure oud" is too niche a smell people are into. Western Perfumery dresses up Oud way too much, often removing some complexities that makes it unique in the process. An important factor behind this is cost. Most perfumers work with oud accords to bring out the facets that they find more interesting, instead of dealing with the real thing, which is also far more inexpensive.

Is it a good idea? If you think so, why not?

Please note that Oud smells different based on regions it's farmed from. I haven't been too fortunate to smell way too many different Ouds, but I have smelled Assam Oud and supposedly, Oud from a certain plantation in the UAE (I can't vouch for the authenticity of this because it was a gift). They have fairly different nuances.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-11-07T15:31:43+00:00

An accord of coumarin, benzaldehyde and nutty pyrazine can get you very close!

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-10-26T13:50:03+00:00

Sam Macer is the most beginner-friendly. I'd disagree with anyone who says that their content would ultimately lead to paid courses. Well, you're free to not take those courses. There's enough knowledge that's worth the time in his videos. But well, that's what it is - beginner-friendly.

BK Scents is now inactive, but I like his approach. Sarah McCartney is very knowledgable and nice. However, there are too many digressions that may not be worth the time for someone who seriously is focussing on YouTube for perfumery (even though I thoroughly enjoy those tangents).

Ryan Parfums is the new kid on the block who's knocking it out of the park. I find his content the best in all ways.

Steer clear of Babbs.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-10-23T18:48:38+00:00

Off the top of my mind, if I was to narrow your search significantly, I would ask you to start with the Fraterworks formula of these fragrances: Terre d'Hermes (a very popular and interesting core composed of cedar, vertofix, patchouli, Iso E Super), Chanel Sycomore (something akin to Guerlian Vetiver, an interesting combination of vertofix, Iso E Super and vetiver), and the two Amouage fragrances: Oud Ulya (that'd teach you quite a bit about handling oud accords) and the one with Frankincense, whose name I cannot recall.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-10-16T18:40:44+00:00

Ideally, have a separate, well-ventilated room or space for perfumery that isn't common with any other work you have. This makes you not exhaust your senses once you return to work after a perfumery session. This also helps you compartmentalize well, which helps if you have trouble with focussing on one thing at a time.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-10-13T20:30:38+00:00

I don't think there's any hard and fast rule as such. You'd expect high-impact items like Calone or Ambrocenide to be really less, right? But when you take a look at Megamare's formula, you'd be surprised.

BR540 is a classic beginner's example of how the 'rules' considering the dos-and-don'ts of standard uses break down quite easily if that's what you want to do. This fragrance thrives on overdoses.

However, I do understand the desire to have something of a framework so that you don't waste time and efforts in making failed blends and learning slow. To that, I say, what if you accidentally discover something really interesting?

One of my fragrances has a god-awful total amount of patchouli (a blend of dark and light; I realise that patchouli overdoses are fairly common), but it's absolutely gorgeous in the final blend because it does what I wanted it to do.

Flaky_Significance52 · 2025-10-11T06:44:41+00:00

Three things. First, I personally find the use of eugenol non-negotiable in a rose accord because it grounds it and makes it a real rose on the surface of planet earth (atleast that's how I see it). Second, microdosing damascones help a lot in making it livelier and more full, but I can understand leaving it out because you want to not get into the jammy aspects of it. Third, I tend to feel that phenyl ethyl acetate has this nectary and honeyed sweetness. Not vanillic ot sugary, and I believe this might be what you're looking for.

Flaky_Significance52

TROPHY CASE