Rose Maison's Open Salon Blog

Deborah Dolen Twitter Teaching Soap and Perfume

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:08:43 -0400

Deborah Dolen's first book in five years, How to Make Perfume, is about to be launched on Amazon in the States and on Amazon UK. Prior to the launch Deborah Dolen posted a free aromatherapy course on Blogger, BlogSpot which is a really good course. http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/ is the link to follow Deborah Dolen's free aromatherapy course.

For Deborah Dolen's free perfume recipes and formulas just Google "Deborah Dolen Perfume" or Deborah Dolen Aromatherapy." I have also written a lot in this journal about her trachings and how I use them in my life. Beyond How to Make Perfume coming out mid September, The Soap Rebatcher is now available on Amazon, both in the states and in the United Kingdom. Her library also has a lot of neat things as the holidays approach: www.deborahdolen.org/Deborah_Dolen_Library.htm

SOURCES:

http://www.i-newswire.com/deborah-dolen-s-newest-book-due/126699

http://www.prlog.org/11640032-deborah-dolen-on-amazon-uk-with-diy-books-and-media-now-available.html

I follow Deborah Dolen on twitter although recents posts have been focused on Hurricane Irene. Just prior to Irene she wrote a great article on soap paste which is located here:

http://open.salon.com/blog/deborah_dolen_1/2011/07/25/soap_paste_by_deborah_dolen

Have great week!

Deborah Dolen on Aromatherapy - My Notes

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:07:51 -0400

Not only is Deborah Dolen back to writing again, after a two year break, she has posted really great Aromatherapy excerpts from her newest book How to Make Perfume and Aromatherapy Basics [2011] AMAZON. Because the chapters are on several platforms, I will organize the articles I am following here. Not all chapters have been posted, so I am only posting what I can find. I am busy making my own perfume and now learning aromatherapy which is all related.

Chapter I Intro to Aromatherapy, by Deborah Dolen is here:

http://www.open.salon.com/blog/deborah_dolen_1/2011/07/11/aromatherapy_-_chapter_i_-_by_deborah_dolen

Then she skips to:

Chapter XI Cooking with Essential Oils by Deborah Dolen

http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/07/aromatherapy-chapter-xi-by-deborah.html

Chapter XII Cleaning with Essential Oils by Deborah Dolen

http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/07/aromatherapy-chapter-xii-by-deborah.html

Chapter XIII Essential Oil Chemistry & Pharmaceuticals
http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/07/aromatherapy-xiii-by-deborah-dolen.html

Deborah Dolen's perfume making basics are far better perfected and I wrote my reviews in my last post. I just love the Ethanol idea and I now wipe everything down with 190 proof Everclear. It does help keep disease way down. I will quote her instruction on that here:

Alcohol may disinfect (by making germs evaporate with it--sucking the life out of them), but it does not 'clean' an area. Alcohol is not really effective until it's all evaporated, so you need to wait a good five minutes to use an area after wiping it down with alcohol. No one in our lab has caught a cold or the flu in the two years since we started wiping down all common areas with basic alcohol, and prior to this practice it was musical germs and sick leave.

"Any kind of 90 proof or higher of alcohol is okay; we use the stuff from the pharmacy, just regular rubbing alcohol if we do not have 190 Everclear on hand. Everclear is basically ethanol. You can add essential oils to alcohol giving it a great scent. Just add a couple of drops of Lavender, Tea Tree (which is a germ busting powerhouse in its own right) per 8 ounces of alcohol. You can even add Ylang Ylang, from the floral family; Lemon, Lime or Siberian Fir Needle essential oils may also be appealing candidates to scent your alcohol. In the autumn you could add a touch of orange and clove essential oils. You do not need to wash your hands as much as you do wipe down any areas of constant contact with other people. This means handles, keyboards, and phones. Most people do not "get" that 40% of viruses are tranmitted in our actual water supply - so if you are OCD about anything, exchange habits for wiping down communicable areas and using special wipes on your hands instead of tap water. Full article located here: http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/07/aromatherapy-chapter-xii-by-deborah.html

Spreading Joy: A Look at Author Deborah Dolen | DIY Perfume

Wed, 1 Jun 2011 09:06:40 -0400

I am glad Deborah Dolen started writing again in 2011 as I have been following Deborah Dolen’s work for years. She appeared to have stopped writing in 2008. This article I hope is encouragement for Deborah Dolen to keep writing and a review of almost every one of Deborah Dolen’s books and videos I have bought over the years. I will list them in order of my favorites and why.

Deborah Dolen on Making Perfume

Making perfume seems to be Deborah Dolen’s present focus and she explains several ways to do it, with my favorite perfume oil break down located at Petal Science dot com. Here, Deborah Dolen breaks down the most common perfume oil notes, and the big surprise is that Bergamot is in all most everything. Bergamot is in the citrus family, a kind of green orange that come from Italy. So, Deborah Dolen lists Bergamot and the number one ingredient as top note in most all perfume creations. Deborah Dolen lists Rose as the most common middle note (heart note) as most predominate as a material choice. Base notes, Deborah Dolen lists Musk, and Sandalwood actually. Since Sandalwood is so pricey, Musk is probably more used. I substitute Sandalwood with Cedar wood. Once a basic formulation is complete, usually it is a composite of several essential oils. It can then be made into a fat solid, as solid perfume or into an alcohal base, known as cologne or toilet water.

Making Solid Perfumes with Deborah Dolen

Deborah Dolen explained the Effleurage method which is actually one of the first perfume extraction methods used in Grasse, France. The Effleurage method was the first way perfumers in France were able to extract precious rose oil. Deborah Dolen teaches that a hobbyist can press orange blossoms and other garden variety petals into warmed fats to collect the essence of the petals. I used lilacs since I live up north. The end result of your Effleurage can be mixed with an essential oil blend if you have made one with the first method I discussed – at Petal Science. So basically, based on Deborah Dolen’s work at Petal Science, I was able to create a very pleasurable base perfume with a top, middle and base note, and then blend that oil mixture at 1:1 with another pleasurable Effleurage extraction I made with lilacs. My creation smells a bit like “White Shoulders” if you remember that scent.

I carefully logged my formula, and Deborah Dolen is correct, always maintain careful notes. What smells awful one day can develop over the next few days a true masterpiece and you will not recall how you did it.

Making Alcohal Based Perfumes with Deborah Dolen

Most people do not make solid perfumes, they make alcohal based expressions of their favorite notes. Again, I refer to Deborah Dolen’s list at Petal Science of most frequently used notes to craft my perfume. I look at Deborah Dolen’s first article How to Make Perfume and that gives a clear instruction of the break down. Here Deborah Dolen discusses that making perfume is much like making vanilla extract. Side note: This, naturally had me making vanilla extract last year. I have a gallon jug maturing at any given time and I now make gifts to hand out at Christmas. Yes, making yoru own vanilla extract is FAR better than store bought. This is because you can make it ten fold and not just a one fold flavor.

Coloring Your Perfume

Back to making perfume, Deborah Dolen is correct it is the same idea of extracting a scent of essence in alcohal. Oddly, she mentions not to use a high proof and also, that some water is needed in your formula since water is the most used solvent known to woman. So, I use a low proof 50-80 vodka when I make my petal exactions or vanilla. I do tend to get a brown tint so I color up my perfume with a slight pink. Deborah Dolen never mentioned coloring her perfume blends, but she must because orange blossom do not come naturally pink. I use a tooth pick with a touch of red food color, and swirl an ever so slight – resulting in a faint pretty pink. A slight green works well also. You can always add more, you can never take out more.

Here are the breakdowns from Deborah Dolen’s How to Make Perfume:

Real perfume is usually 10-20% of the master oils formulation and 80% a very high proof alcohol. Some perfumeries add 5% distilled water in exchange for part of the alcohol but I never have. Colognes are usually maxim 3-5% of the precious formula with 80% alcohal, and 10% distilled water. Toilet water is usually maximum 2% precious oils to 80% alcohol and 20% distilled water. Body splash is pretty much in the cologne dilution category. I do worry about oxidation of precious raw materials so I drop anti-oxidants such as dendritic salt and or vitamin E into my oil blends. ROE, Rosemary Oleoresin extract is also great and very powerful but can discolor the project.

Perfume = 10%-20% compound /5% distilled water/80% alcohol
Cologne 3-5% compound/10% distilled water/85% alcohol
Toilet Water=2% compound/18% distilled water/80% alcohol

Bottling Your Perfume

I think the last consideration, that needs to be your first consideration is how to bottle your creation. I get atomizers from Sephora. They are pretty and half the price of most perfume atomizers. As long as your do not mind SEPHORA brand on it, and I don’t. Have fun and keep writing Ms. Dolen!

Sources: Perfume Notes Frequency Chart by Deborah Dolen

http://petalscience.com/

How to Make Perfume by Deborah Dolen

http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/05/deborah-dolen-on-perfume-crafting-with.html

The Bathroom Chemist Book by Deborah Dolenhttp://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Dolen/e/B00457BI2S Making Perfume by Deborah Dolen

http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2010/07/deborah-dolen-on-perfume-crafting-with.html

The Effleurage Method to Making Perfume by Deborah Dolen

http://open.salon.com/blog/deborah_dolen_1/2011/05/20/how_to_make_perfume_enfleurage_method_-_by_dolen

Actual Formula to Make Perfume at Home:

http://deborahdolen.blogspot.com/2011/06/deborah-dolens-perfume-formula-savannah.html