MAKE YOUR OWN PERFUME AND COLOGNE FREE FROM SYNTHETIC CHEMICALS

Everyone loves perfume!

Most people have their favourites that they stick to year after year but every now and again you feel like a change. Have you ever passed someone in the street and caught a whiff of their fragrance, or had your nostrils twitching with interest when someone walks into a room and their fragrance pulls you in? And you can’t wait to ask what it is…

 

Have you ever thought about making your own perfume?

It’s really not that hard!  Making perfume using beautiful pure essential oils in a base of oil together with some water and alcohol is all you need. Imagine the pleasure you could get out of creating your very own signature scent without using synthetic chemicals. Once you start you will probably want to make them for gifts as well.

You don’t need anything special or out of the ordinary to make your own perfume, just a couple of ingredients and some time. They are a lovely alternative to the pharmaceutical products we buy and they are very healthy to use on your skin.

So I would like to give you a recipe to make your own perfumes:

You will need to gather:

• a dark glass bottle with a spray attachment (30, 50 or 100ml)
• a pure distilled floral water (Neroli, Lavender oil or Rose oil)
• pure organic ethanol and…
• the essential oils of your choice

For a cologne, you can aim for a 2-3% blend – 3ml of essential oils in 100ml blend (60 drops of essential oils).

For perfume, you can go up to 25% but it is best to start light, in small quantities to find the synergies you best like - have fun and experiment as you go along.

• in your dark glass bottle drop in the essential oils
• swirl the oils into each other
• add organic ethanol (pure alcohol) to 1/3 of the volume
• add floral water / hydrosol, 50/50 with the ethanol, to soften the alcohol (these have a very light fragrance that will integrate easily into your choices of essential oils)
• close the bottle and hit on the palm of your hand for half a minute to help the molecules within really blend
• leave for a few days – up to two weeks – before using, to allow the scent to fully integrate
• add more fragrance if it is too weak, add more ethanol if it is too strong

In perfumery you will come across scent classifications such as floral, woodsy, earthy, fruity/citrus and spicy.

You can even start to explore oils that have properties like protection, luck and romantic attraction!

Once you start to make your own perfume a little knowledge of scent classifications can be helpful in a general sense, for example: fruity, floral and woodsy are all pretty compatible, spicy offers an interesting twist to florals if used sparingly and the woodsy oils blend with almost any other type and are very smoothing.

Each essential oil is also either a modifier or an ehancer. A modifier has intense top or base notes that improve flat blends - you can add drop by drop to find a subtle balance.

An enhancer is a pleasant fragrance that complements and adds to synergies an extra touch, or an equaliser which is a harmonising scent that unites the separate elements and blends the more intense scents. You should aim to have one of each of these in a blend.

If you go to a good quality health products store, you will be able to sample essential oils for yourself.

Making your own perfume can be very satisfying and a lot of fun

You can pretend you're a 'mad scientist' as you blend and concoct your own fragrances . The more you experiment with different essential oils the more exciting it gets. It's a good idea to make some notes as you go along as this will remind you how to adjust or chang the blend when you make it the next time.

Here is a quick chart to orientate you in some of the most popular scent choices:

Lavender True Lavandula angustifolia maillette	Middle	Enhancer	Soft, fresh herbal hues. Myriad healing properties: cleansing antiseptic, antiviral… Deeply calming and restorative.
Neroli Citrus auranthium	Top to Mmiddle	Enhancer	Honey tones with a subtle zing. Cleansing and antiseptic properties. Very restorative and tonic on the emotions.
Jasmine Jasminum officinalis	Middle to Base	Modifier	Sweet and lusty. Cleansing and antiseptic properties. Clarifying on mind and body energy. Both uplifting and calming.
Rose Maroc Rosa damascena	Top to Base	Enhancer	Softly sweet. Antiseptic, antiviral properties. Very therapeutic and balancing to the emotions. A great tonic for sustainable wellbeing.
Palmarosa Cymbopogon martinii	Middle	Equalizer	Sweet rose hints. Very tonic for skin. Cleansing and anti-bacterial properties. Calming and uplifting.
Ylang Ylang Cananga Odorata	Middle	Modifier	Deep sweet with fruity touch. Tonic and antiseptic. Relaxing and calming to mind and emotions.
Cedarwood Cedrus atlantica	Base	Enhancer	Smooth balsamic scent. Antiseptic and other cleansing properties. Good for healthy breathing; calming and balancing.
Cypress Cupressus sempervirens	Middle	Equalizer	Fresh clean forest hues. Antiseptic and other cleansing properties. Good for healthy breathing. Soothing on nerves; balancing and tonic.
Sandalwood Santalum spicatum	Base	Enhancer	Soft and smooth. Antiseptic and other cleansing properties. Calming and uplifting, and sensual.
Vanilla Vanilla planifolia	Middle to Base	Enhancer	Softly sweet. Antioxidant. Very calming and sensual.  Soothing and uplifting.
Vetiver Vetiveria zizanoides	Base	Modifier	Musty, dry balsamic scent. Antiseptic and soothing properties. Very tonic and restorative. Calming and cleansing.
Patchouli Pogostemon patchoulii	Base	Modifier	Dark sweet soil scent. Antiseptic and myriad cleansing and healing properties. Grounding and balancing.
Bergamot Citrus auranthium var. bergamia	Top	Enhancer	Smokey orange hues. Antiseptic and healing properties. Calming, cleansing and tonic.
Grapefruit Citrus paradisii	Top	Enhancer	Fresh and tangy. Antiseptic and other cleansing properties. Uplifting and refreshing.
Petit Bigarade Citrus auranthium aur.	Top	Enhancer	Fresh with herbal tones. Deodorising properties and uplifting.
Orange Citrus aurantium	Top	Equalizer	Rich fruity freshness. Antiseptic and other healing properties. Calming and uplifting.
Aniseed Pimpinella anisum	Middle to Top	Modifier	Sweet liquorish hues. Antiseptic and other healing properties. Good for healthy breathing. Calming in small doses.
Black Pepper Piper nigrum	Middle to Base	Enhancer	Crisp woody twist. Antiseptic and other healing properties. Fortifying and uplifting.
Ginger Piper nigrum	Base to Middle	Modifier	Warm, woody with a citrus zing. Antiseptic, cleansing and other healing properties. Balancing and revitalizing.
Cinnamon Cinnamomum verum	Middle	Modifier	Sweet and warm woody spice. Antiseptic and other healing properties. Good for healthy respiration and generally tonic.

 

A large range of Therapeutic Plant Oils are available at www.absoluteessential.com and at select retail outlets. Absolute Essential is an eco-ethical company with over 20 year’s expertise in Holistic Healthcare.