Perfume is a classic gift, but it's even better if the perfume you give is a scent that you created yourself, especially if you package it in a beautiful bottle. Perfume you make yourself is free from synthetic chemicals and is fully customized to your personal taste. Here's how to make your own perfume.

Unique perfume bottles: intuita-designstore.com/collections/perfume-bottles

Perfume materials

Perfume consists of a mixture of essential oils in a base (infused) oil, together with alcohol and water.

• 2 tablespoons of carrier oil (like jojoba, sweet almond, coconut, or grape seed)
• 6 tablespoons 100-proof alcohol
• 2.5 tablespoons spring water or distilled water (not tap water)
• coffee filter
• a decorative glass bottle
• 30 drops essential oils (9 drops top notes, 15 drops middle notes, 6 drops base notes)

Essential oils

The essential oils that you use form the basis of your perfume. These essential oils are called the 'notes' of the perfume. The base notes are the part of the perfume that lasts the longest on your skin. The middle notes evaporate a little more quickly. The top notes are the most volatile and disperse first. Bridge notes have intermediate evaporation rates and serve to tie a scent together. Sometimes other substances are added to a perfume, such as sea salt (ocean scent), black pepper (spicy), camphor, and vetiver.

Since the essential oils evaporate at different rates, the way a perfume smells changes over time as you wear it. Here are some examples of common base, middle, top, and bridge notes.

• base notes: cedarwood, cinnamon, patchouli, sandalwood, vanilla, moss, lichen, fern
• middle notes: clove, geranium, lemongrass, neroli, nutmeg, ylang-ylang
• top notes: bergamot, jasmine, lavender, lemon, lime, neroli, orchid, rose
• bridge: vanilla, lavender

Making infused oils is a process of transferring flavour and scent into a carrier oil.  It can be used to add flavour to cooking oils. As well as making scent oils for use in aromatherapy, massage oils and making beauty products like soaps and lotions. 

It is a simple process of infusing flowers, herbs or spices into an oil by heating or letting it sit in a sunny spot so that  the volatile oils can transfer into the carrier oil. I will show you how I make them in this instructable.

Create Your Perfume

1. Add the carrier oil to the bottle.
2. Add the essential oils in the following order: the base notes, followed by the middle notes, then finally the top notes. Add a couple of drops of bridge notes, if desired.
3. Add the alcohol.
4. Shake the bottle for a couple of minutes then let it sit for 48 hours to 6 weeks. The scent will change over time, becoming strongest around 6 weeks.
5. When the scent is where you want it to be, add 2 tablespoons of spring water to the perfume. Shake the bottle to mix the perfume, then filter it through a coffee filter and pour it into its final bottle. Ideally, this will be a dark bottle with minimal airspace, since light and exposure to air degrade many essential oils.
6. You can pour a little perfume into a decorative bottle, find a variation of beautifully handcrafted ones on the following link: intuita-designstore.com/collections/perfume-bottles
7. It's a good idea to record how you made the perfume, in case you want to duplicate it.

Perfumery Notes

It takes experimentation to get the scent you want, but you can get started in the right direction by keeping in mind the type of scent associated with essential oils:

• earthy: patchouli, vetiver
• floral: geranium, jasmine, neroli, rose, violet, ylang-ylang
• fruity: bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, lemongrass, lime, mandarin, orange
• herbal: angelica, basil, chamomile, clary sage, lavender, peppermint, rosemary
• sea: sea salt
• spicy: black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, coriander, ginger, juniper, nutmeg
• woodsy: cassia, cedar, cypress, pine, sandalwood

If the perfume is too strong, you can dilute it with more water. If you want your perfume to retain its scent longer, add a tablespoon of glycerin to the perfume mixture.

Would try to make your own perfume? Or perhaps have you tried already? Let me know in the comments section below, how it went! :)

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Chloe