... a dent? Not much, but I did get a lovely Tobacco Rose from Mr Perfume quite recently and that is now 2/3 full. It's been one I've worn a lot.
I know there's a real danger of buying in loads and getting completely lost with all the scents and that is exactly what I did, but I would encourage folks to take the slightly longer journey and understand each one in turn. You might get some hints on scent from the notes about these oils and upon application only find one or two, but an hour later another note comes through, then another ... other times, there'll be a note in there which you just don't know what it is, but after trying a good few you'll find yourself clearly identifying saffron or jasmine or amber and really understanding what it is that they do to scents on the whole.
I really thought I'd be an Oudh-Head, but it turns out I'm am Amber Man! Amber with patchouli over a black musk, something writhing with cough mixture balsamic sweetness countered by that green, almost minty leafiness of patchouli over a proper good stink of musk, lovely, oudh just rounding things off and giving a real depth of fermenting fruit. Amazing!
I've put oils aside having really not understood them ... weeks later, they make perfect sense.
Returning to my top post, the ingredients are simple: florals, leaves, spices, ambers, woods and musks. All mukhallats are made up of that ladder of scent and your own personal blends will be made up of some or all of those; blends made up on the skin. Fortifying a mukhallat with a dot of your favourite single note is also something I'd encourage. Formally making up your own blends into a fresh bottle is something I would not ... make them up on your skin and enjoy that every time it will be different
Think sand dunes ... the land is always roughly the same underneath, but the texture on top ever changing.
