Guess This Fragrance Formula!

Hey Mike.

Finally got around to making this tonight, albeit with a slew of substitutions for materials lacking. Just to summarise my changes, and I know some are insolent:

Benzyl isoeugenol substituted for my version of the Firmenich dianthus base
Coumarone substituted for additional oranger crystals and coumarin
Citral was substituted for litsea cubeba (adjusting for the standard percent)
cis-3-hexenyl salicylate was substituted for cis-3-hexenol proper
Neryl acetate and nerolione were substituted for nerol
Violettyne, MOC and MHC were all substituted out for a combination of violiff and undecavertol. I've used this blend to great effect in replicating the previously mentioned Dior Farenheit. I've not yet smelled violettyne, however, and had to approximate here.

The resulting fragrance itself smells quite great, although heavily in that Grojsman space and hitting the strange vanillin/ionone accord which I've never been super fond of. That's a taste thing though.

What I do find most striking about this blend is the extreme lack of naturals! Maybe it's because I've been on a Chanel spree but this is so synthetic! Essentially all of the naturals are represented by a dash of bergamot, and there's no natural backbone to support the accords. It's very interesting and I wonder how roughing this up with real rose, for example, would serve the blend. It's also a very nice blending exercise in seeing how high a dose of green notes such a composition can afford, being matched out by a high dose of sweetness and musks and as a result avoiding the smell of a lawn mower leaking fuel.

Thanks again for sharing and it has certainly been an educational exercise.

ambrinolforthechildren said:

combination of violiff and undecavertol. I've used this blend to great effect in replicating the previously mentioned Dior Farenheit.

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ambrinolforthechildren said:

It's also a very nice blending exercise in seeing how high a dose of green notes such a composition can afford, being matched out by a high dose of sweetness and musks and as a result avoiding the smell of a lawn mower leaking fuel.

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Interesting! I want to make Dior Fahrenheit in a couple of months and I'll buy MHC for it. But in the meantime, I wonder how the petrol note happens. Is it an accord? Or do the synthetic violet leaf ACs have this note in high concentration on their own?
I only have natural violet leaf (which I love a lot and consider a miraculous material) and I don't detect anything like that in it. Is it only possible with the synthetics or is the petrol impression somewhat doable with the natural violet leaf too?

Edhelien said:

Interesting! I want to make Dior Fahrenheit in a couple of months and I'll buy MHC for it. But in the meantime, I wonder how the petrol note happens. Is it an accord? Or do the synthetic violet leaf ACs have this note in high concentration on their own?
I only have natural violet leaf (which I love a lot and consider a miraculous material) and I don't detect anything like that in it. Is it only possible with the synthetics or is the petrol impression somewhat doable with the natural violet leaf too?

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There has been extensive discussion of this in several Fahrenheit threads. If I recall correctly, the "gasoline" effect is thought to arise from accord of nutmeg & MHC.

mnitabach said:

There has been extensive discussion of this in several Fahrenheit threads. If I recall correctly, the "gasoline" effect is thought to arise from accord of nutmeg & MHC.

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Thanks, I'll look there (instead of derailing your thread... I just found it interesting that Ambrinolforthechildren managed to replace it and still get that effect).

Anyway, back to your Insolence, I want to mix it badly but missing a couple of things. But I'll definitely mix it later.
I am also very tempted to put more naturals into it. I see this as a great benefit of DIY perfumery - we can improve commercial fragrances because we don't have their budget restraints.

Not to derail at all but just to classify because I must have been unclear - the petrol note I refer to is in reference to overdoses of green notes like cis-3-hexenol and triplal, which to my nose end up resembling xylenes/paint thinner. My point was that I was amazed at how much of these green notes Mike's formula could tolerate without heading in that direction, mostly by virtue of the really strong and nicely balanced Grojsman backbone.

Using violiff and undecavertol as replacements for MHC/MOC in Farenheit was done referenced against the commercial Dior fragrance and I found it to be extremely similar. My samples of violet leaf absolute are extremely different - in order, sweet, green, apple/fruit, grassy, floral, spicy.

ambrinolforthechildren said:

the petrol note I refer to is in reference to overdoses of green notes like cis-3-hexenol and triplal, which to my nose end up resembling xylenes/paint thinner

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I like both of these on their own and don't detect anything like that. Just realistic grass.

ambrinolforthechildren said:

My samples of violet leaf absolute are extremely different - in order, sweet, green, apple/fruit, grassy, floral, spicy.

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For me, it would be green (like putting leaves in a blender), earthy, floral/violet. In this order. Nothing sweet or fruity.

Anyway, I played with combinations of Nutmeg EO and Violet leaf abs. on strips and nothing petrol-like.

I also tried a combination inspired by this formula/Insolence of Methyl Ionone Gamma, Violet leaf abs. and Strawberry Oliffac base. Violet candy monstrosity combination. Not for me but I can imagine something built around it.

Edhelien said:

I like both of these on their own and don't detect anything like that. Just realistic grass.

For me, it would be green (like putting leaves in a blender), earthy, floral/violet. In this order. Nothing sweet or fruity.

Anyway, I played with combinations of Nutmeg EO and Violet leaf abs. on strips and nothing petrol-like.

I also tried a combination inspired by this formula/Insolence of Methyl Ionone Gamma, Violet leaf abs. and Strawberry Oliffac base. Violet candy monstrosity combination. Not for me but I can imagine something built around it.

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Really? Triplal undiluted to me rips my face off, it's like straight varnish or petroleum! Cis-3-hexenol a little less so but still choking. Maybe it's a sensitivity thing.