Custom cologne?

[bluefoxicy]

I'm trying to think up a custom cologne, ideas bouncing around in my head still.

I like the pipe tobacco flower smell. I might actually pick up some SRD Opus X shave soap, because it's a strong tobacco scent which I want to evaluate; my current comparison base is a tub of SCS Pipe Tobacco shave cream.

I'm thinking leathers with the primary being tobacco flower. Not sure what the other leather scents are but I want to look into that.. I know there's suede; and I like the Red Latigo leather strop from SRD (it smells awesome), which I think is just cow(?) leather treated with certain oils. Thinking bring the tobacco to the foreground, and give a balance of that Latigo leather smell significantly weaker but perceptible, maybe touch with some other leathers to add complexity.

The finish ... woods. I'm thinking a small accent with Tea Tree, which smells like a wood AND a spice; but this seems it may be unpalatable. It's a sharper smell, and something more mellow and warm would probably complement the leathers more. Then again, if the leather and tobacco completely subdues i.e. Sandalwood, Cedar, and Tea Tree, then some mix of woods might actually be decent; the leathers would fade out and give way to clean, refreshing woods.

So that's a theory. Now how the heck do I come up with an actual idea for an EdT? After that I just gotta get someone to implement it (a skilled perfumer, I'm sure there's a few; I have one in mind).

Any comments?

 

[ryanl7640]

That, sir, sounds awesome. If you can get it created- I'd love to have a whiff.

 

[bluefoxicy]

That, sir, sounds awesome. If you can get it created- I'd love to have a whiff.

Haha... well at least I've got a viable idea floating around in my head, I guess.

Making it smell the way you want is hard. Making it smell the way you want AND turn out to be a good smell is VERY hard (because face it, it works in your head sometimes, and then comes out exactly as you imagined; and then you realize your REAL senses imagine it quite differently than your imaginary senses).

Of course, an experienced perfumer with the facilities to one-off something for you like that would also likely have the experience to look at what you're asking for, make minor adjustments, and create something that's "close" and DOES jump out at you the way you imagined, if it's a viable idea at all.

That said, if you hand me a bunch of EOs and alcohol, I'm not quite sure I could make something decent my first 10 tries. My tools are good (olfactory palate) but my experience is lacking. I'll chew on it a while and maybe, after some more input and some advice from a perfumer, I'll have something worth ordering up.

 

[Evbo]

I would recommend joining Basnotes. There's a DIY forum over there with lots of good advice from lots of very experienced people.

Re materials: try Liberty Natural Products for EOs. You can pick up perfumer's alcohol here. Then it's up to you.

I've been thinking about pursuing this as well. Kind of like cooking, only with scent. Good luck -- let us know how it's going!

 

[B. Wooster]

I believe there is a store in New Orleans that does custom fragrances on the cheap, if your ever there (though I can't remember the name at the moment). Also, I wonder if you could just add a couple drops of your desired perfume oil in a tobacco fragrance like Alt-Innsbruck.