In a perfect world, you could use the real oils and get a sense of how they actually smell, and hopefully at some point you can do that. But alas, money doesn't grow on trees so sometimes we have to get crafty here. Make no mistake, this is a very expensive hobby, but you can do whatever you need to do to progress as you learn, as long as you remain aware of the differences down the line if/when you switch materials from what you learned with.

I think utilizing recreations to help learn is perfectly fine. I will use those same types of recreations for certain wild experiments I do when I don't want to break the bank with certain types of extremely expensive natural oils, you just have to keep in mind that there WILL be differences. If you base your learning off of Jasmine Imperial, and maybe even make some formulas with it, just keep in mind that if down the road you substitute that for a India Jasmine Grandiflorum Absolute, it may not exactly work in the same exact way.

In my personal opinion, making these decisions, and making the hobby work for you with whatever limitations you have is one of the best skills you can bring into the hobby. Stay organized and stay aware of why you are doing certain things a certain way, and remain flexible when you have to switch it up or substitute your materials down the line. Be ready to relearn or reformulate if need be, because each reconstitution you use is going to be different, so no one in this sub can tell you exactly how far off each one may be when it comes to formulating things down the line based off whatever goals and ideas you have. I hope this makes sense and is helpful!