Guides
Guides, for business and for home
Two libraries. The business guides are about specification, compliance and procurement. The home guides are about using oils safely and getting good results from them.
Short answer
5 business guides on choosing a molecule, IFRA certificates, exporting into the EU, packaging and freight, and reading a certificate of analysis. 5 home guides on safety, DIY home fragrance, how scent notes work, blending ratios, and storage. Each guide links to the materials and products it refers to.
For business and formulators
Choosing a Biosynthetic Aroma Molecule for Your Formula
How to match a molecule to a brief, and the four questions to ask a supplier before you commit to a grade.
What an IFRA Certificate Actually Certifies (and What It Does Not)
Read an IFRA conformity statement properly, and know the three things it will never tell you about your formula.
Exporting Fragrance Raw Materials into the EU
REACH registration, SDS, CLP labelling and the paperwork a European buyer will ask for before the first order.
Bottling, Drums and Freight: Planning a Bulk Delivery
What changes at each packaging tier, and the freight questions to settle before you place the order.
How to Read a Certificate of Analysis for an Aroma Material
The numbers that matter, the ones that are noise, and how to compare two suppliers' certificates fairly.
For home and everyday use
Essential Oil Safety: The Rules That Actually Matter
Dilution rates, patch testing, the materials you should never use near the eyes, and the household situations where a diffuser is a bad idea.
DIY Home Fragrance: Room Sprays, Diffusers and Car Scents
Three straightforward projects you can make in an afternoon, with the ratios that actually work.
Top, Middle and Base Notes: A Plain-English Guide to Scents
What the note pyramid actually means, why a scent changes over a day, and how to pick a note family you will still like next month.
How to Blend Your Own Home Spray: Ratios That Work
A simple two-stage method for building a room scent that reads as designed rather than random.
Storing Essential Oils: Heat, Light, Air and Shelf Life
Why your oils oxidise, how to tell it has happened, and what shelf life actually means once the bottle is open.
Older guides
Our earlier formulation guides remain available and are still the reference for dilution rates, blending technique and the IFRA versus EU 1223/2009 distinction.