make your own perfume

The ingredients in a bottle of store bought perfume or cologne cost about ten percent of the retail price, the rest is in packaging, advertising, sales profit, and tax. Now wouldn’t you rather put your money into really exotic essential oils that you could afford, by simply making your own perfume? Haven’t you ever smelled a fragrance and you just knew that if you were a perfume that this one would be you? Now these essential oils could set you back a dollar or two, but don’t panic, you need only a drop or two of jasmine, for example, to infuse a bottle of really luxurious perfume. Unlike many store bought perfumes you can be sure that you are buying the real thing.

Maintaining the natural essence is one of the advantages of make your own perfume. You don’t have to worry about added chemicals and preservatives going onto your skin and drying it out or even worse having a severe reaction to it. Now I am not saying that you cannot have a reaction to the essential oils, each person has an individual chemistry in their body, so it might be best to try a sample of the essential oils.

The strength of your aromatic liquid or perfume depends on the ratio of essential oils to water and alcohol. Perfume is the strongest formula: 15-30 percent essential oil, 70-85 percent alcohol, and the remainder or at least 5 percent water. Be sure and use bottled distilled or spring water only. 100 proof Vodka should be used for the alcohol, you may also use Brandy, but it has a distinct aroma of its own and sometimes gets in the way of blending in the essential oils. If you want to add color, use a high quality, natural, vegetable food dye. You will also need sterilized bottles to put your creations in, and as much as you want to use the pretty clear cut glass bottles, please don’t. They attract perfumes worst enemy: the sun. But if you feel you must display your new creations in a beautiful bottle, at least store the majority of your perfume in a separate container and only what you want to display in the pretty glass one.

Finally, you need a notebook to record the exact formulas, in drops of essential oils, that you use when making up your concentrate. Remember that one drop of essential oil can change the whole formula. For instance you know you put in jasmine, ylang-ylang, and vanilla, but was it one drop or two of jasmine, and 3 or 4 drops of vanilla? So if you stumble upon a masterpiece you sure want to have everything nice and neat to look back on.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

Concentrate of essential oils
2 1/2 oz of 100 Proof Vodka or Brandy
2 tbsp of Distilled or Spring Water (add more water if needed)

Take your essential oil concentrate and add to Vodka, stirring slowly but long enough to disperse the oils. Let this mixture stand for 48 hours, then add 2 tbsp of distilled or spring water, again stir slowly and thoroughly. Let this mixture stand another 48 hours. Some people let there perfume stand anywhere from four to six weeks curing time, this way you will get a stronger perfume, and not a cologne. This choice is up to you, just remember if the formula seems too strong you can always add more water and dilute it back down. After letting the perfume mature or cure, pour through a coffee filter (so any sediment does not get in the final product) into your bottle. Voila’ your very own signature perfume. Enjoy!!!!

posted by kanee @ 11:44 PM 0 comments