How to Make a Homemade Flower Fruit Perfume

If you've ever read the back of a perfume bottle, you may have noticed that professionally made perfumes have a mix of both floral and fruit scents, often mixed with woodsy scents. Perfume makers use "top," "middle" and "bottom" notes to make a delightful harmony and produce popular fragrances. Now you can learn the basics to making a flower fruit perfume at home that you personalize to your preference.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 15 drops of citrus essential oil
• 10 drops of (different) citrus essential oil
• 8 drops of floral essential oil
• 12 drops of (different) floral essential oil
• 8 drops of a third floral essential oil
• 4 drops of warrior essential oil
• 2 drops of (different) warrior essential oil
• ½ tsp. distilled water
• 5 tsp 80 proof vodka or other alcohol
• Glass bottle with stopper

How to Make Homemade Flower Fruit Perfume

1. Choose the scents you want to use. When you make a perfume, you have to choose three categories of scent: the top note is usually a fruity and fresh citrus scent, the first thing you smell, but it only lasts a few seconds before it gives way to the middle scent, usually a floral scent. This only lasts a few seconds longer than the top note and is meant to blend the top and bottom notes together. Then comes the bottom note, a "warrior scent," which lasts the longest. Citrus can be something like lemon, orange, grapefruit, lime or bergamot. The floral note can include scents like jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, germanium, freesia, peony and iris. The bottom notes include woodsy scents like sandalwood, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, heliotrope, amber, moss, clove and vetiver. See the Resources section for websites helpful in choosing a fragrance.

2. Mix the oils and the alcohol. Start with the vodka (or other alcohol) and add one drop of oil at a time. Mix each drop in before adding another drop. When you have mixed all the oil and all the vodka together, let it sit without moving or mixing it for 48 hours. This is important to allow the perfume to mix properly.

3. Add the water. After the alcohol and oil mix has had a chance to sit, add the distilled water. Again, add it slowly and give it a chance to blend with the rest of the mixture. Once the water has been added to your perfume, let it sit again. Like wine, it needs to sit and mature; for perfume, it takes about three weeks.

4. Filter the perfume mixture. Once the perfume has had time to mature, filter it through a coffee filter and into a colored glass bottle with a stopper. Remove any sediment that has formed.

Tips & Warnings

• Carefully note the amounts you use of each essential oil so you can modify it to fit your tastes next time. Remember just one or two drops can completely alter the fragrance.

Resources

• Perfume fragrance list
• List of pure essential oils
• Sample perfume recipes
• More on making perfumes