Pampers / Luvs Fragrance Reboot

[littleArgument]

Hey everybody - we had a good thread going over on https://www.adisc.org/forum/threads...-baby-chemist-turned-perfumist.149305/page-19 and I just wanted to reboot it.

Also, at long last, I've done some perfumery. No more am I spraying dissolved Dreft dryer beads onto things. No more questionable attempts to distill things that probably shouldn't be distilled. I decided that my lifelong fetish / obsession was worth some investment - I then acquired perfume chemicals!

Since my last post, I've learned the basics of perfumery and have had about 30 or so attempts at various fragrances for shampoo, lotion, diapers, etc - generally baby themed.

At this time, I am approaching an amateur approximation of modern U.S.A. Luv's but I know I'm missing a few key chemicals, namely Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, and probably a few I have yet to discover. I have no idea what these smell like because I don't have them yet. ($$$ is finite and there are many perfume chemicals)

The most important aspect of this journey has been the isolation of various notes and trying to understand of these actually activate the part of my brain that goes off when I walk through the diaper aisle.

Here's my most updated recipe based on chasing the Luv's fragrance - it's not perfect but I'm hitting a few of the important buttons. Namely the "buttery" and "sweet tarts" notes. I'm pretty sure that I'm missing at least one of the big notes in the main Luv's accord and I'm positive that I need to do a better job with the diffuse / miscellaneous background notes.

The Recipe:

Hexyl Cinnamaldehyde	31.49%	Buttery floral note - almost rancid?
Helvetolide	28.20%	Buttery musk with wood and amber notes
a isomethyl ionone	11.75%	Sweet tarts (sharper yet creamier)
alpha ionone	9.40%	Sweet tarts (rounder, fruitier)
Prunella (Firmenich)	5.88%	Purple flavored. Plum, peach, stonefruit,
Majantol (Symrise)	4.00%	Buttery floral, slightly soapy "Lily of the valley"
Hexyl Acetate	2.35%	PEAR. so much pear. like IKEA gummies
Geranyl Acetate	2.35%	Floral, soapy, rose
Ebanol	2.35%	Dark, woody, musty, burnt, masculine musk
Phenethyl Acetate	1.18%	The smell of ghost raspberries on a rainy night
Dihydro Myrcenol	0.59%	Literally the smell of my dad's 2000s era hairgel
Kephalis (Givco)	0.24%	Spicy, woody musk - masculine, animalistic
Ethyl Linalool	0.24%	Lavender - be careful not to make Fabuloso

And here's my setup (proud of it so far!)

 

[CptKirk]

This is incredibly interesting. How did you learn how to do this? How wicked of a hobby, price-wise, is this, so far? LOVE that you're updating this and can't wait to read about your evolution with these perfumes.

CptKirk

 

[theancientmariner]

Awesome to have you back in the spotlight. That 1st post was such a long time ago, I forgot about it. You're gonna be a hero to all ABDLs, especially those who remember walking down the diaper aisle and smelling all the diapers. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

 

[littleArgument]

This is incredibly interesting. How did you learn how to do this? How wicked of a hobby, price-wise, is this, so far? LOVE that you're updating this and can't wait to read about your evolution with these perfumes.

CptKirk

I just googled a bunch - read through the linked thread, watched some of Sam Macer's youtube videos, tried to narrow down the list of compounds from the Sweet Dreams 18 Proctor & Gamble patent since I couldn't afford it all at once. I'd say it's cost me less than $500 so far, including the mini fridge (thrift store) for storing the raw chemicals. Once you actually have the perfume compounds, you just do your best to break down the different notes. It's really pretty easy. The only difficult part is actually smelling accurately and remembering to walk away for fresh air so you're actually smelling the product, not the work bench / every chemical your gloves touched in the past hour.

 

[Cottontail]

Available on Etsyyyy...when?

Kidding.

Well, not really.

Anyway, this is quite interesting--a fun and unique project for sure! I'm a science nerd myself, and I also love reverse-engineering things. Unfortunately I have the nose equivalent of color blindness, so I'd be all wrong for this one. I'd think I nailed it, but nobody else would.

 

[littleArgument]

Available on Etsyyyy...when?

Kidding.

Well, not really.

Anyway, this is quite interesting--a fun and unique project for sure! I'm a science nerd myself, and I also love reverse-engineering things. Unfortunately I have the nose equivalent of color blindness, so I'd be all wrong for this one. I'd think I nailed it, but nobody else would.

Honestly, not any time soon. I might not ever sell this. I work 40hrs at Walmart and I have like, 10 other hobbies. I'm probably in the same camp as you regarding thinking I've nailed it but nobody else would agree. People are sensitive to different chemicals. Some people can't smell certain things or they smell different to different people. I have NO IDEA what I can't smell and I don't know if everybody will actually be able to smell every chemical I am currently relying on. IF this were to be made commercially, I'd probably have to analyze the ingredients list for any compounds that are known to be hit-or-miss and diversify those compounds across a few different similar smelling options... or something like that?

Also - it's not done yet! I'm missing at least one major component of the Luv's accord. It has the buttery note, it has the fruity note, but it's missing some sort of diffuse background accord... and possibly a banned solvent or two. Maybe my baby powder accord is incomplete. The user "Diaps" is a chemist and has put more effort into this than me. I believe that they know more about the underlying musks and solvent notesI still need to read through that thread again - it's been a while. I think they actually sent pampers in for a proper VOC analysis.

By comparison, I'm just a wierdo sniffing Luv's and scribbling things in my notebook lmao

Diaps - if you're reading this, I'd love to see the VOC analysis. I have background in audio DSP and if it's anything like a spectral analysis, I might be able to use that spectrum in conjunction with a list of "possible ingredient" spectra to deconvolve a decent guess. The only caviat is having a useable list of ingredient spectra... and having a solid list or possible ingredients to begin with.

 

[littleArgument]

Random note - I used to work cutting keys at this hardware store in Chicago. There were these buzzer boxes in back. The kind that hat multiple buttons, one for each apartment. They were wrapped in some sort of plastic wrap. That cellophane had the Luv's note. Not the whole fragrance, but the plastic component was there. I walked past them every day and it took me a minute to figure out where it was coming from. I theorize that the plastic backing itself might be offgassing part of the fragrance.

 

[littleArgument]

Benzophenone - a waxy solid at room temperature. When dissolved in ethanol on the scent strip, it stayed behind after the ethanol evaporated. It's a UV protectant and generally regarded as a fixative in the perfume industry. It has been implicated as a possible carcinogen.

It smells like burning plastic to me but my spouse says it smells like powder, and we both agree that it has a "warming" effect. We can both detect it when smelling Luv's vs the scent strip, so I think this might be the fixative used to make the scent last so long. It might be a part of the "plasticy" accord found in the overall Luv's fragrance.

 

[littleArgument]

Labdanum - It's not this. I thought it would be part of the fruity / citrus notes but man.. I added like 1% to the solution and it just wouldn't do anything other than scream "LABDANUM" "SMELL THE EFFING PINE TREES"

So yeah - it was going pretty well up until then.

Here's the "plastic/butter/fat accord" I attempted today - it's missing something, probably a nitro musk, but these notes are definitely pretty close to some of the Luv's base:

20% Hexyl Cinnamaldehyde (more floral, but also buttery)
25% Hydroxy Citronellol (more buttery, rancid floral, slight citrus zing)
55% Benzophenone (burnt plastic, warming, powder)

I want to order the two nitro musks - musk ketone and musk xylene. I have a sneaking suspicion that the musk xylene is the "pheremone-like" one I'm missing... which would be somewhat upsetting on account of it being a banned fragrance in the U.S.

 

[CptKirk]

I can read about this shit all day long and I don't understand why LOL.

 

[littleArgument]

Just posting open lab notes at this point - this is my next shopping list (will edit to add things):

• Ylang Ylang
• Coumarin
• Bisabolol
• Isoamyl Acetate
• Musk Xylene
• Musk Ketone

 

[littleArgument]

I guess I can't edit posts after a certain amount of time, but I wanted to add Benzyl Acetate to the list. It's apparently a warm Jasmine / Ylang Ylang note.

 

[CptKirk]

Ylang Ylang???? Never heard of that one!

 

[quartz200420012]

I work 40hrs at Walmart and I have like, 10 other hobbies

WTF man. You should be working in a lab or academia!!!

 

[Ian16545]

Glad to see you back in the swing of things. I have a feeling this project's got a lot of promise!

 

[theancientmariner]

I might not ever sell this. I work 40hrs at Walmart and I have like, 10 other hobbies

Fair enough, but you'll maybe do us all a solid for ADISC and tell us the exact ingredients? If you're not going to sell this formula commercially, maybe you can make enough for us from you friendly neighborhood ADISC? You can't just make a revolutionary invention without sharing just a little bit, can you?

 

[littleArgument]

WTF man. You should be working in a lab or academia!!!

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be an inventor. I am an inventor. I answer to myself. I want to make my money selling products that I invent. I program audio software, press longboard skateboards, work on fragrances. I want to eventually be a fetish fashion designer too but I probably need to get successful at one thing first so I can stop working corporate jobs for a living. My spouse has a few businesses in the works, too. We're just working day jobs until something takes off!

Thanks for your kind words!

 

[littleArgument]

Fair enough, but you'll maybe do us all a solid for ADISC and tell us the exact ingredients? If you're not going to sell this formula commercially, maybe you can make enough for us from you friendly neighborhood ADISC? You can't just make a revolutionary invention without sharing just a little bit, can you?

I'm posting open lab notes because I recognize that the formula being freely available will not keep me from doing business, if I even choose to do business. I have other projects that are closed-source but I believe that this one should be open. We deserve this knowledge.

I hate that there's a portion of my brain that has been programmed to want something I'm not allowed to have. I imagine a lot of ABDLs feel the same way about various things. I'd like to reduce that cognitive dissonance if I can.

 

[littleArgument]

Ylang Ylang???? Never heard of that one!

I guess it's a common note in some baby powder accords along with violet and some rose aspects. If its too rosey, it smells soapy. If its too violet-ey it can also smell soapy, or sometimes a bit blueberry-like. I think having more powder notes to choose from will help me round out the accord without hitting off-notes.

 

[derpywhooves94]

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be an inventor. I am an inventor. I answer to myself. I want to make my money selling products that I invent. I program audio software, press longboard skateboards, work on fragrances. I want to eventually be a fetish fashion designer too but I probably need to get successful at one thing first so I can stop working corporate jobs for a living. My spouse has a few businesses in the works, too. We're just working day jobs until something takes off!

Thanks for your kind words!

U should work with the wah wash crew they have hinted at making the same sent as u