1. Natural perfumes work with your body chemistry, evolving and exposing its many layers in a very subtle way.
2. Botanical perfumes are your own personal smell. People will need to be in your personal space in order to smell it. Unlike synthetic fragrances which can assault your senses from across a room, natural fragrances are uniquely holistic experiences to both the wearer and anyone who is intimately close to them.
3. Botanical perfumes can be created on a whim! You can blend together pretty well any essential oils you want. Of course, I personally recommend a little more thought and care go into your blend otherwise you won't want to wear it. There are a few considerations to make when putting together a perfume blend.
So before we begin, here are a few questions to ask yourself...
What kind of scent so I want?
What mood am I trying to create?
Who is it for? What smells do they like?
Solid or Liquid?
Once you've answered these questions, you are ready to begin. Let's just say for the sake of argument that you are making a stocking stuffer for a young lady or teen. They might like something a little sweeter than a more mature person. So we are going to want our blend to be fresh, sweet and fun.
Grapefruit oil is said to be a scent that makes people seem more youthful, so I want to include that. I also want to add a bit of floral that's not too heavy, so I will add a touch of Ylang Ylang. We also need to make sure our perfume has some staying power so I'm gonna use a touch of Vanilla CO2 (oil soluble). You could also use a drop of Vanilla absolute but is is going to settle out to the bottom of the bottle or separate out of a solid because it's not oil soluble. If you don't mind having to shake your perfume each time you use it, go ahead and use it but I'd probably leave it out of a solid formula.
And just because I like it so much, I'm going to put a few drops of Bergamot in too! It's such a bright, sunny scent that just makes you feel good!
For our base I like to use a combination of Jojoba and Fractionated Coconut oils. They don't go rancid like typical carriers and they are very light and readily absorbed by the skin. Not only that, but they will actually have skincare benefit and make your skin feel softer and smoother...and who doesn't want that!
So here is an overview of the supplies we will need:
1 -5 mL glass roller bottle
2.4 mL jojoba oil
2.4 mL FCO
20-30 drops essential oil blend of choice
Our blend...
8 drops grapefruit oil
8 drops bergamot oil
4 drops ylang ylang oil
2 drop vanilla CO2
If you find this too sweet, you can dilute your ylang ylang first to 10% dilution in a separate vessel using 1 drop of essential oil to 10 drops of base. Then add one drop at a time to your preference.
Any formula can be adjusted to suit your preference.
Once you have your blend made, it's time to mix!
Pour the base into your bottle, careful not to spill!
Add your essential oil blend to the bottle, one at a time. Be sure to swirl before smelling your creation to let the essences mingle a bit, otherwise you'll only smell the last thing you dropped in and won't get the true scent.
Cap it properly and begin to mix by rolling it between your palms and gently flipping the bottle upside down several times. Try not to shake the bottle. We want to treat our blend with some respect!
Once you see an even colour in the bottle (no 'oil strings' as I like to call them) Let your blend sit for about a week so that the notes can mingle and synergize to each other. Trust me, this all important step makes your blend more cohesive and harmonious.
You can also dress it up by packaging it in an easy to make pillow box (that tutorial is coming up next!) and wrapping it with some beautiful ribbon.
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