It only takes two drops too many of patchouli to utterly ruin an oil blend.
It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve made the blend — always add it counting drop by drop instead of eyeballing the level in the dropper, *especially* when you’ve gotten a new bottle of EO. Like wine, essential oils have characters, and oil from two different suppliers, or even from the same supplier ordered later, can have differences. ETA: I’ve noted the wildest variations in my own experiences with very strong EOs like patchouli and vetiver — these (and cinnamon) should always be added drop by drop in my opinion. Stop when it smells like it’s supposed to smell, and damn the formula.
Always, always, always count the damned drops.
This message is brought to you by another of my costly mistakes at the “lab table” 🙂
(If any of you *really like* patchouli a lot, now’s a good time to pick up a discounted bottle of a love drawing formula I custom-made for a client. in fact, I have custom-made this formula three times now, and it’s still not ready to mail out, sigh…)
ETA: If you’re just starting out making oils, you should note that the scent you get right after you blend them is not the scent you will have in a week, and that is not the scent you’ll have in a month, and after a year all bets are off, especially if your blend contains a bunch of lighter, floral fragrances and vanilla. Vanilla has a weird way of taking over the longer it’s left alone (depending on what it’s blended with).
Big Lucky Hoodoo 