Learn to Make Your Own Perfume
Making perfume is one of those mysteries that few feel as if they could crack. But you know what? I do it all the time and it's not as hard as it looks. All you need are a few simple ingredients - distilled water, grain alcohol, and essential oils. The difficulty comes from learning what combination of essential oils you like the best. Other than that, all you do is combine these three ingredients and spritz!
Making Perfume: What's Inside
How to Make Perfume
What You Need to Make Perfume
Distilled Water
Grain Alcohol like Vodka
Your Favorite Essential Oils
Basic Process of Making Perfume
The basic idea is to mix distilled water, vodka, and essential oils together to form the type of scent you want. The essential oils are classified as base notes, middle notes, top notes, and the bridge fragrance. I'll talk more about that in the bullet points.
For now, just know that the basic proportions are 25 drops essential oil, 3 ounces of grain alcohol like vodka, and 4 tablespoons distilled or spring water. Mix everything together in a glass or plastic bottle. Let set for a few days before applying it to your wrists. You'll want to dab a small amount at first on one of your wrists so you can see if you are having an allergic reaction.
For now, just know that the basic proportions are 25 drops essential oil, 3 ounces of grain alcohol like vodka, and 4 tablespoons distilled or spring water. Mix everything together in a glass or plastic bottle. Let set for a few days before applying it to your wrists. You'll want to dab a small amount at first on one of your wrists so you can see if you are having an allergic reaction.
- Base Notes. This forms the foundation, or base, of your perfume because it's the scent that lingers the longest on your body.. These oils include cedar, sandalwood, cinnamon, and vanilla.
- Middle notes. This is the scent that lingers not quite as long as the base note. You are probably noticing that perfume is all about layers. Each layer is vital. Middle note scents include lemongrass, ylang ylang, and clove.
- Top notes. You know how when you spray a perfume it smells a certain way, right out of the bottle? The scents you smell write away are the top notes. Notice how they often don't last long? Even though this is the case, they are still an essential part of perfume. It's what attracts you to the scent in the first place.
- Bridge notes. Some perfumes also add a drop or two of a scent called a "bridge" or a harmonizer. The two most common bridge notes are lavender and vanilla. Notice how vanilla is also a base note too? It's up to you to decide which role, if any, you want vanilla to play.
Perfume Making Kit
Of course, you don't need to take a total DIY approach to learning how to make perfume. Why not try one of these kits? There are some geared towards kids and others are geared towards adults. I included both types.
Essential Oils for Making Perfume
How to Make Perfume Videos
Perfume Information and News
- Scent Of Departure: Perfume Line That Let's You Smell Like New York (VIDEO)
- A new fragrance line called Scent of Departure promises to let you smell like 14 different cities. Places like Paris, London, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Los Angeles and New York. Wait, New York?! Who wants to smell like New York City?
- Jessica Alba: Perfume isn't my passion
- Jessica Alba can't understand why people would want her to create a celebrity perfume over a natural product line. The actress launched The Honest Company earlier this year, which includes non-toxic, eco-friendly baby diapers, wipes, and organic bath ...
- Le Labo perfumes, a new spin on an old tradition
- Le Labo fragrances lab have built a collection of scents based on the natural essences found in Grasse, France's perfume capital. The principle note gives its name to each fragrance and a number, which denotes the amount of raw ingredients that go into ...
- Esscentual Alchemy Announces The Launch Of New Eau de Parfum Spray - A Natural ...
- The Spray is less concentrated than the Natural Perfume, providing a light, portable fragrance alternative for summer. It will be included in Press Bags at GBK's Luxury Gift Lounge for the MTV Movie Awards.
by kohuether
My name is Katherine Huether and I am a writer, editor, and herbalist. I have a BA in English from the University of New Hampshire and a Diploma in Herbal... more »
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