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Styrax benzoin oil/Benzoin resinoid as a fragrance fixative
INCI: Styrax benzoin oil
Has anyone ever tried this as a fragrance fixative in lotions or creams? If you have, what % worked well for you? Did you dilute the resin in something, or use the thick, undiluted form?Would this also work simply as a vanilla scent, I wonder? -
7 Replies
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Benzoin has a distinct smell of its own. It does have fixative properties, but cannot simply be added to an emulsion without effecting the smell of the fragrance. It’s soluable in DPG. I can usually get a 50% solution with gentle persistent heating.
Benzoin smells nothing of vanilla — though the two work well together. It has a sweet ambery smell.
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Oh crappppp about the NOT smelling like vanilla. The retailers claim it does.
Thanks for the heads-up! -
Well, I should be slightly more generous. Benzoin does have a vanillic note; it’s sweet, but also resinous, sticky, syrupy, smoky and nutty. It’s aroma is quite complex
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@Margreat how did you go incorporating your Benzoin oil? I tried to put it into my cream but it sort of solidified and became a resin again! like little hard rocks in my cream!
i used a resinoid so i thught i could jsut add it in?@georgetedder what is DPG? -
DPG = dipropylene glycol
I HAD had benzoin, a few years ago. I mixed it with my orange essential oil with polysorbate 20. Exact mix was, by mass, 25% orange, 25% benzoin, 50% poly 20. I still had to shake this up before taking it out of the bottle with the dropper though.So far, I have done nothing with the new batch of benzoin. -
INCI: Styrax benzoin oil
Which species? Only 2 species are allowed at present max @ 0.6%.Others are prohibited. -
I guess fragrance is in the nose of the beholder, as I consider benzoin to have a vanilla-like aroma. I am a vanilla fragrance freak who has been on an obsessive quest to find a vanilla fragrance oil that holds up under saponification — I am also a cold-process soap maker who has yet to find a vanilla fragrance oil that I’m satisfied with.
What is your goal? Are you looking for a good fragrance fixative, or are you looking for a vanilla fragrance oil?I think benzoin is going to be problematic in lotions and creams unless highly thinned out with something like DPG. Without thinning it down, it is likely to stay together in globs that refuse to mix in. However, adding sufficient DPG may possibly create issues with the stability of the lotion.
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