Purpose:
There are few things in life that are foolproof combinations. Salt + Pepper, foolproof. Oil + Vinegar, foolproof. We don't always have time to figure out what goes well with others and risk is involved when combining two things for the first time. At best, failed dinners, at worst...well, there are a lot of 'worsts'. At least with scents, Demeter makes blending easy with their Foolproof Blending Kits*.
To try a hand at blending my own scent, I received a Foolproof Blending Basenote Kit* which included Hawaiian Vanilla, Angel Food, Gingerbread and 10 test strips. I also received a Foolproof Blending Duo Custom Fragrance Kit* with Grass and Dirt. This included 4 mini pipettes, a funnel and an empty Demeter bottle for my final blend. Foolproof Blending Kits are suppose to be completely foolproof regardless of proportion, in this experiment, I attempted to see if this was true.
Method:
There are probably so many variables to consider when blending. Proportion, as mentioned above might play a strong role in the final outcome and liquid densities will determine if liquids are miscable. Since I only had 10 testing strips and 73 possible unique combinations of mixes, I decided that tests would consist of one spray applications onto one test strips with 10 randomly chosen combinations. I will also wear mixes by spraying the bottles once. Scents will be sprayed together for combinations of 1-2 scents. If there more than 2 scents, bottles will be sprayed, one in each hand, as close together as possible, into the air. I will then walk through the scent cloud.
Single Worn Observations:
Grass: Smells like the grass of wet spring rain. There isn't the acidity of freshly mowed grass but the sweetness of green leaves and shrubbery. It has a powdery nature which isn't that appealing.
Dirt: This gave the wet earth and fresh cut grass smell that I was expecting from Grass. This was more powdery than Grass but that disappeared when blended.
Gingerbread: This was a Speculoos cookie in a bottle. You get a hit of cinnamon and molasses but not much of cloves and nutmeg that can really round out a gingerbread cookie. Either way, a great fall cookied scent.
Angel Food: This reminded me strongly of Asian sweet egg rolls cracker snacks. It's sugar and egg mixed together and baked into a crispy finish. There isn't any floury or powder scent to this, just a soothing mellow sweetness.
Hawaiian Vanilla: From the bottle, Hawaiian Vanilla reminded me of the generic pine tree shaped (but didn't smell like pine) car fresheners from the 90s, I didn't like that at all but when I spritzed it on, the scent was closer to actual vanilla.
Combination Observations:
Grass + Dirt: Indeed, these two complimented each other well but since there were a few things I didn't like about each of these, the net effect was worse than the sum of its parts. Quite powdery with a strange hit of green.
Grass + Dirt: Indeed, these two complimented each other well but since there were a few things I didn't like about each of these, the net effect was worse than the sum of its parts. Quite powdery with a strange hit of green.
Angel Food + Gingerbread + Grass: This was a very overpowering combination. Angel Food Cake and Gingerbread, predictably, went well together but once Grass was added, it notes seemed too contradictory. I also found Grass overwhelmed both of the sweeter scents, even at one spritz.
Vanilla + Grass: This combination worked pretty well together. There was the green powdery scent of the grass which died down quickly into the Hawaiian Vanilla.
Gingerbread + Dirt: This was a great combination. The sweetness of Gingerbread was combined with a bit of green from Dirt. It wasn't powdery.
Angel Food + Dirt: This works well too and at this point I'm thinking something sweet plus the green of freshly mowed grass is the way to go. If I could make this more nuanced, I would say there needs to be a 2-1 combination of Angel Food and Dirt. Angel Food is not as strong as Dirt so it gets a little masked. Dirt can be too powdery at times.
Gingerbread + Hawaiian Vanilla + Angel Food: Really, just a great blend. I would probably add in one more spritz of Gingerbread because I like it so much. Surpisingly not too sugary.
Angel Food + Dirt: This works well too and at this point I'm thinking something sweet plus the green of freshly mowed grass is the way to go. If I could make this more nuanced, I would say there needs to be a 2-1 combination of Angel Food and Dirt. Angel Food is not as strong as Dirt so it gets a little masked. Dirt can be too powdery at times.
Gingerbread + Hawaiian Vanilla + Angel Food: Really, just a great blend. I would probably add in one more spritz of Gingerbread because I like it so much. Surpisingly not too sugary.
Results:
As fas I could tell, the combinations for each set were definitely blendable but if you didn't like the base scents to begin with, you most definitely weren't going to like the additive combination. In this way, Grass + Dirt was not a hit for me but Gingerbread + Hawaiian Vanilla + Angel Food hit all kinds of marks. The combination of something sweet with something green also worked well but more of the sweet scent was necessary to cover up the powder of Grass or Dirt.
These blendable combo packs are a good way to play with multiple Demeter fragrances at once and this experiment suggests that you won't go wrong as long as you enjoy the general theme of the package to start. There are so many interesting duo and trio packs to choose from. The Smoke/Incense set looks particularly intriguing with Bonfire, Amber and Fireplace.
As fas I could tell, the combinations for each set were definitely blendable but if you didn't like the base scents to begin with, you most definitely weren't going to like the additive combination. In this way, Grass + Dirt was not a hit for me but Gingerbread + Hawaiian Vanilla + Angel Food hit all kinds of marks. The combination of something sweet with something green also worked well but more of the sweet scent was necessary to cover up the powder of Grass or Dirt.
These blendable combo packs are a good way to play with multiple Demeter fragrances at once and this experiment suggests that you won't go wrong as long as you enjoy the general theme of the package to start. There are so many interesting duo and trio packs to choose from. The Smoke/Incense set looks particularly intriguing with Bonfire, Amber and Fireplace.
Acknowledgement:
I got to try this blending method because of a wonderful campaign via the Canadian Beauty Bloggers. If you are a Canadian Blogger, go ahead and join the group!
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