How to Make a Floral Infusion

Invent a personalized scent by soaking your favorite flowers in fresh water or soothing oil. Using a few household items, you can create scented body oil or a fragrance so glorious it will make you wonder why you ever bought commercially manufactured perfume. Follow these steps to find out how.

Things You'll Need

• Flowers with a strong fragrance that you like
• Quart-sized jar with a lid
• Glass container with a lid, slightly larger than a quart
• 2 cups cold-pressed light oil, such as sunflower oil, for scented body oil
• 1 cup vodka, for spray and water-based perfumes
• 1/2 cup distilled water, for spray perfume
• Handheld sieve
• Perfume atomizer
• Essential oils
• 1 coffee filter
• Decorative container

Instructions

Make a Scented Body Oil

1. Make sure that the flowers are completely dry and that no water clings to their petals.

2. Remove the petals from the flowers and drop them in to the jar.

3. Pour the oil over the petals. Put the lid on the jar.

4. Allow the petals to infuse in the oil for a maximum of ten hours. Longer infusion times will cause the petals to sour and will ruin the perfume.

5. Strain the petals from the oil using the sieve.

6. Be sure to press the petals gently to remove any oil still clinging to them.

7. Repeat as many times as you like, using the same oil, so that the scent is as concentrated as you want it.

8. Use the resulting concoction as a scented body oil.

Turn the Scented Body Oil Into a Spray Perfume

1. Prepare the scented body oil as described in Section 1.

2. Pour the scented oil into the larger glass container.

3. Add the vodka to the oil in the glass container.

4. Cover the container.

5. Shake the mixture every day for a week.

6. Pour off the alcohol, which should have taken on the scent of the oil and separated from the oil layer.

7. Add distilled water to the alcohol, and pour the mixture into a perfume atomizer.

Make a Water-Based Perfume

1. Collect your flowers. Do not worry if their petals are slightly damp. You will be pouring water over them anyway.

2. Pick the petals from the flowers, and drop them into the jar.

3. Pour enough water over the petals to cover them. Note the amount of water you use, because it will determine how much vodka you use in Step 4.

4. Add vodka to the jar. The amount of vodka you use should be about 1/8 of the amount of water you used in Step 3.

5. Cover the jar and shake the mixture.

6. Leave the mixture in the sun for about two weeks, shaking it every day.

7. Strain the petals from the liquid using a coffee filter.

8. Pour the resulting floral water into a pretty container.

Tips & Warnings

• Lilacs are particularly suited to the oil infusion process.

• Place the jar in the refrigerator after Step 3 if you will have to leave the flower petals in the oil for more than ten hours. This slows the infusion process and keeps the perfume from spoiling.

• Remember to shake the mixture daily. The scent will not develop properly if you forget this step.

• Invent a new scent by adding essential oils to this mixture.

• Roses and rosemary make particularly nice water-based perfumes.

• Add a few drops of essential oil to the final product if you want a stronger scent.