From Growing up Herbal blog Blending essential oils for beginners.
The first thing you need to do when you start the process of creating an essential oil blend is to ask yourself a few questions.
- Who is this essential oil blend for?
- What effect do I want it to have?
- When will it be used?
- Where will it be used?
- Why is this blend needed?
- How will it be applied?
These are all questions to ask yourself before you buy a single essential oil or start blending anything.
Once you’ve answered the above questions, it’s time to hit the books or the World Wide Web and do some essential oil research. What you want to do here is to come up with a list of essential oils that have the properties you’re looking for in your blend.
Figure out what categories your essential oils fall into. Essential oils are often grouped together based on their aromas, and these groups are called “categories.” You can see an example of specific essential oils and the categories they fall into below.
Essential Oil Categories
- Citrus – Orange, Lemon, Lime
- Earthy – Oakmoss, Vetiver, Patchouli
- Floral – Lavender, Neroli, Jasmine
- Herby – Marjoram, Clary Sage, Basil
- Medicinal – Eucalyptus, Rosemary, Tea Tree
- Minty – Peppermint, Spearmint, Catnip (mildly)
- Spicy – Nutmeg, Clove, Cinnamon
- Woodsy – Pine, Cedar, Wintergreen
Keep in mind that there are not absolute rights and wrongs when it comes to essential oil categories. Information can sometimes vary from site to site and book to book, and you may need to check in more than one place. The more you use essential oils and become familiar with them, the easier it will be for you to categorize them based off how they smell to you.
there are no absolutes when it comes to blending essential oils. That’s the art of essential oil blending! It’s totally based on your preferences and how the oil smells to you. Now with that being said, there are a couple of guidelines that are good for beginners to follow.
- Essential oils from the same category tend to combine well together.
- Essential oils in one category can be mixed and matched with other complementary categories.
Below is a list of potential category combinations for you to look at. (Thanks go out to Stan, who took my original chart and simplified it for me into what you see below.)
Possible Category Combinations
- Floral blends with floral, woodsy, spicy, and citrus
- Woodsy blends with woodsy, floral, earthy, herby, minty, medicinal, spicy, and citrus
- Earthy blends with earthy, woodsy, and minty
- Herbaceous blends with herby, woodsy, and minty
- Minty blends with minty, woodsy, earthy, herby, and citrus
- Medicinal blends with medicinal and woodsy
- Spicy blends with spicy, floral, woodsy, and citrus
- Citrus blends with citrus, floral, woodsy, minty, and spicy
At this point, you’ll want to return to your list and chart out which oils will go together. Again, this process can take some time. I bet now you’re seeing why I recommend starting with no more than 10-20 essential oils, right?!
When creating essential oil blends you want your final blend to feel very balanced and harmonized. Once you know which oils can be combined together based on their categories, you can then create balance by paying attention to the notes each of the essential oils on your list have.
Essential oil notes are based on the musical scale and are referred to as top notes, middle notes, and base notes. The “note” of an essential oil is determined by how quickly the scent of the essential oil fades after being exposed to oxygen.
Have you ever applied a blend of oils to your skin and noticed how it smells right away only to find that 3 hours later it smells a bit different than when you first put it on? This is because one or more of the notes in your blend have evaporated.
- Top notes are the lightest of the all the notes. They’re the first ones you smell, and they’re the first ones to evaporate. This is because they have the smallest molecules. You can often distinguish top note essential oils because they’re often thin in consistency and are usually derived from flowers, leaves, and flowering herbs.
- Base notes are are deep, heavy, and often earthy in scent. These are the oils that ground your blend and help its aroma last the longest due to the large molecule size. Base notes are often derived from trees, roots, and barks, and their oils tend to be thick and viscous.
- Middle notes are like the “ties that bind” only they are binding your other essential oils together into a harmonized blend. These are the oils that complete your blend by balancing the light top notes with the deep base notes. The aroma of middle notes lasts longer than those of top notes, but not as long as base notes. These oils can vary in consistency and are often derived from whole herbs and spices.
When it comes to blending essential oils, it’s recommended to start with three essential oils in a blend until you’re familiar and comfortable with the blending process. From there you can go up to five essential oils in a blend and then up to nine. Rarely will you find more than nine aromas in one blend as that is typically reserved for perfumists!
When it comes to testing the blends you’ve created, I recommended that you start by making small blends for testing. These blends should consist of only 10-15 drops of essential oil total.
Once you’ve blended all your blends together to test them, it’s time to take a break and let your blends rest for a minimum of 24 hours… 48 hours is better. This is so each blend’s aroma can develop. Believe it or not, when you open your blends back up the next day, they’re going to smell a bit different than you remember. This is why keeping good notes is important. You want to describe what you smell so you can remember where your blend has been and where it is now. This will help you to see if you like what you’ve created.
Essential Oil Blending Ratios
- The 30-50-20 Rule
- The Perfect Balance
- Bottoms Up
The 30-50-20 Rule
When creating essential oil blends, the ratio I almost always follow is what I call the “30-50-20 Rule.” This is an essential oil blending ratio where you use 30% of your top note oil, 50% of your middle note oil, and 20% of your base note oil in your blend. This blending ratio consists of 10 total drops of essential oils, totaling 100% once combined.
I like this blending ratio because it provides an even distribution of essential oil notes, and I’ve personally had the most luck with it, especially when creating blends that are a mix of essential oil categories.
The Perfect Balance
Another simple essential oil blending ratio to follow is what I call “The Perfect Balance,” and I like to use this one when combining essential oils from the same category. Of course, it can definitely be used for oils from mixed categories as well, but it works really well with similar oils.
In this blending ratio, you will use equal percentages for each of your essential oils. This blending ratio consists of 15 total drops of essential oils, totaling 100% once combined.
Bottoms Up
This last blending ratio is a fun one, and it’s the closest you’ll get to intermediate or advanced blending so I’ve saved it for last. I call it “Bottoms Up” because it’s exactly as it sounds. You’re going to turn your blend over and build it from the bottom up, starting with the base note, then the middle note, then the top note.
This blending ratio doesn’t have a drop limit, but keep in mind that you want your blend to stay small so you don’t waste your oils (in case you don’t like it). You’ll be keeping track of your essential oils and drops on paper. This blending ratio works well with pure combinations (essential oils from one category) and mixed combinations (essential oils from complementary categories).
Here’s how it works.
You’re going to start off by combining one drop of each base and middle note oils, swirl and smell your blend, then add another drop or two of whichever oil (base or middle note) you like best. Don’t forget to keep track of everything on paper, including your thoughts on the aroma of your blend (see the “on taking notes” section below).
Once you’ve got your base and middle note oils smelling the way you want them, you’ll add in one drop of your top note oil, swirl and smell your blend again, and see what you think. From there, you keep adding oils one drop at a time until you get the a scent you like. Like I said, this blending ratio is a mix between beginner and intermediate blending because you’re only working with three essential oils, but you’re relying on your senses and intuition to guide you.
Now, when it comes to keeping track of your thoughts on scent, here’s a list of questions to ask yourself.
- What do I enjoy about this scent?
- What do I not like about this scent?
- What does it remind me of?
- Do I smell anything in particular first? Second?
- How does it make me feel?
- How does it smell after 2 hours? 4 hours? 24 hours? 48 hours?
Now that you know a bit more about taking notes, let’s get to the actual testing part.
To start off, open your bottle and place a drop or two of your blend on a testing strip or a cotton ball. Smell it. Do you like the overall scent? Do you smell one oil over the others? Smell it again. What else do you notice? How does it make you feel? Write your thoughts in your blending notebook.
REFERENCES
- Aromatic Blending of Essential Oils. (n.d.). Retrieved July 05, 2013, from http://aromaweb.com/articles/aromaticblending.asp
- Bovenizer, S. (n.d.). Top Middle and Base Notes in Aromatherapy. Retrieved July 5, 2013, from http://www.suzannebovenizer.com/aromatherapy-essential-oils/top-middle-and-base-notes-in-aromatherapy
- Natural Perfumery Basics. (n.d.). Retrieved July 5, 2013, from http://www.edenbotanicals.com/natural-perfumery-basics.html
