Wordless Wednesday - Make Your Own Perfume
Wednesday December 3, 2008
If you're thinking of giving perfume as a holiday gift, why not find vintage perfume bottles like these and fill them with a signature scent you made yourself?
Anne Marie's Chemistry Blog
By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Chemistry since 2001
If you're thinking of giving perfume as a holiday gift, why not find vintage perfume bottles like these and fill them with a signature scent you made yourself?
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Comments
No artificial fixative. Sounds like a headache proof recipe — for me, at least. A recipe for evernote, for sure. Thanks. Why Spring rather than Distilled water and jojoba or almond vs. other oils?
Tap water usually contains things that could react with the essential oils and either make your perfume cloudy or else affect its scents. Personally, I’d go with distilled water, but I know some people swear by spring water.
Jojoba and sweet almond oil are examples of oils that are stable for long periods of time and are gentle for the skin. You find them in cuticle oil and certain body lotions. They are plant oils so they will mix with your plant essential oils. Mineral oil would work too. As much as I like olive oil, I did not list it it because it has such a short shelf life (will get rancid or go ‘off’). The same is true with most other cooking oils.
Wow! That’s really cool! …But now I’ve got “how to throw a perfect perfume bottle” on my mind, lol.
How fun! Another project to add to my list…The perfume bottles are gorgeous, by the way.
Me again. Thanks for the answers. Another question: Do you think vanilla extract would work for the ethanol and the vanilla bridge(?) note? I’m trying to figure out how I can make it ASAP with just a trip to the grocery store, where they don’t sell alcoholic beverages.
Nemy,
You can use vanilla extract or you can soak a vanilla bean in the mixture for the vanilla fragrance. Vanilla extract is plenty high in alcohol, but I think your perfume will smell overwhelmingly of vanilla if you use more than a drop or two of extract.
Now… how about a recipe that is alcohol-free? I can post instructions for a dry oil perfume spray, solid perfume, or glace de parfum, if any of those would work?
~Anne
What a fun idea! It would make for a great holiday gift. Thanks for the scoop.
The alcohol free perfume would be nice. When I thought about the vanilla idea more I rejected it. I don’t like kitchen smells in fragrances. Thanks. And thanks for the greater details in today’s article.
Here’s the solid perfume recipe. It’s extremely easy to make. I prefer to use beeswax over petroleum jelly, since it’s a little more solid, but either ingredient works.
http://chemistry.about.com/od/healthbeautyprojects/a/solidperfume.htm