How to Make Your Own Scent

Perfumes and colognes get fairly expensive these days. If you want to save money, or just try your creative hand at making a scent, here are some methods you can use! The fragrant oils will mix with the alcohol to create a long lasting fragrance, and tone down the oils a bit so they are not so strong. The flowers and water will make a nice scent, but it will not last as long.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Flowers/Fragrant Oils/Essential Oils
• 70% alcohol like distilled vodka
• Bottle
• OR
• Flowers
• Water
• Cheesecloth
• Bowl

Making Perfume with Fragrant Oils

1. Gather your fragrance options. Choose things you like, and things that you can afford. Essential oils make for stronger scents, and last longer. Because Essential Oils are so much more expensive though, you can use fragrant oils instead, and still come up with a great scent. You think of it, you can find a fragrant oil for it! Scents are available to mimic flowers, foods, and more. See the Resources section for scents and oil selections.
2. Experiment with the oils until you come up with a combination you like enough to make a large batch of, and wear. This should be done in stages so as to not to cause headaches or nausea. If you spend too much time creating, mixing, and matching different things, you may become a bit overwhelmed. Many times, you are looking for three "notes". A top note, a middle note, and base note. This method ensures that you are coming up with a good scent, without putting too much into it.
3. Once you have found the combination you like, you can mix it in your bottle. Make sure that you use 25% oil, and 75% distilled alcohol, so as to keep the scent primary, without allowing it to be too strong.
4. Wear it! If people like it, you may be the next Chanel! You can start marketing it if you want.

Using Flowers and Water

5. Take the cheesecloth and put it over the bowl, leaving sides hanging over the bowl.
6. Fill it with a cup of the flower blossoms of your choice.
7. Pour water over it until the flowers are covered.
8. Cover the bowl and allow it to sit overnight.
9. Lift up the cheesecloth and then gently squeeze the scented water produced into a small pot.
10. Simmer the water until there is about 1 teaspoon of liquid left in the pot.
11. Allow the solution to cool, and store in a bottle.

Tips & Warnings

• Perfume made with flowers and water has a shelf life of about a month.
• Do not over do the fragrance or it may not come out as desirable as you hope!