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Simple Ways to Make Your Own Natural Perfumes
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You don’t have to shell out huge amounts of money to smell good. Make your own perfume with natural ingredients, right at home!
Have you ever been somewhere and got a whiff of something….an ocean breeze, freshly cut grass, hot buttered popcorn, and suddenly been transported back in time to another place where you experienced that same smell? Everyone has these experiences at some point in their lives. Although our sense of smell isn’t well understood, everyone knows that certain smells can bring on powerful feelings and memories. This means that the very cologne or perfume you are wearing can affect how you feel.
Why spend 100 dollars or more per ounce of someone else’s idea of what smells good when you can make one that suits you for just a few dollars? It’s not as hard as some would have you believe.
SEE ALSO: Everything About Essential Oils Infographic
First, identify the types of smells that appeal to you. On a scale of 1 (being you don’t like it at all) to 10 (being that you love it) rate the following scents:
1. Roses
2. Mint
3. Honeysuckle
4. Freshly washed laundry dried outdoors
5. Baby powder
6. Lemons
7. Lily of the Valley
8. Leather
9. Strawberries
10. Musk
11. Honey
12. Fresh dairy cream
13. Fresh Christmas trees
14. Burning candles
15. The ocean air
16. Cinnamon
17. Freshly cut wood
18. Freshly cut grass
19. Church incense
20. Rain
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Pay attention to where your 9’s and 10’s are. Most people find that their tastes fall into these categories:
- Florals – The scent of many flowers can be soft, sweet, and mellow. When they are properly balanced with other scents, they can be calming and pleasing. Many feminine scents begin with their bases in flowers such as roses, jasmine, and lily of the valley.
- Spicy/Woody/Earthy – Spices such as cinnamon and cloves, along with woodland types of scents such as cedar, oak, incense, and rain. Blended with other scents, these have a refreshing, energizing quality.
- Greens/Herbal – These are healthy, outdoor smells such as pine, citrus scents like lemons and limes, balsam. Rosemary and eucalyptus. Although these can be overpowering (think of those undiluted pine cleaners), when they are properly mixed they add a type of brisk edge. Many men’s perfumes have their bases in this green group.
- Nature/Animal/Musk – The natural smells of leather, honey, and musk can seem as if they are blunt and overpowering but when mixed with other oils and scents, these come across as exotic, primitive, and seductive.
Almost all perfumes have their bases in one of these four scent families. To provide a type of harmony, most of these scents are mixed or blended with other oils, to create those expensive perfumes you find in most department stores. You can use the same procedures, and elements, to make your own signature perfume.
After you have identified your favorite scents, you can buy these essential oils almost anywhere. All health food stores, natural food stores, or online stores sell these essential oils. Don’t buy just one; buy several of your favorites in your own scent “family”. For example, if you like flowers pick some rose, lavender, daffodil, and lilac essential oils. Then try picking one or two from a different scent family. You might want to try some combinations such as rose/cinnamon or jasmine/orange. You could also try rose/patchouli or lilac/cedar. These are just examples of some of the types of scents you should start experimenting with. See also top 10 essential oil you should have at home.
Take a look at some of these ideas for starters:
- Like florals? Try Jasmine/Ylang Ylang
- Prefer fruity? Try Orange/Bergamot
- Love Earthy? Try Musk/Vetiver
- Want Woodsy? Try Cedarwood/Sandalwood
- Looking for Herbal? Try Rosemary/Chamomile
- Want to spice it up? Try Clove/Ginger
- Love it sweet? Try Vanilla/Amber
Mix just a drop or two, put it on your wrist or the back of your hand. Now your nose is going to get overworked if you do this for too long, so try mixing two or three combinations per day until you find a few that you really like. You can also mix three or four oils if you want. Most sophisticated scents are mixes of several different oils. If you are planning on mixing more than two oils, you might want to write down what you are doing so if you hit on a sure winner, you won’t forget exactly how you got there!
Store your selections in small, dark colored bottles with lids, keeping them away from sunlight and extreme heat. If you keep your oils away from heat, air, and light, you won’t need a fixative. Use them sparingly as perfume. If you like, you can even put them in a diffuser and enjoy your favorite scent throughout the house.
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If you like, you can make some gifts for family or friends (or keep these for yourself!) Try some of these well-known recipes. You can get fixatives from your local natural food store.
Cologne
- One part perfume oil ( ones you mixed yourself)
- 6 parts vodka
- One part fixative ( best choices are powdered orrisroot or liquid benzoin)
This is a great one for putting in a spray bottle.
After Bath Splash
- One part perfume oil
- 10 parts vodka
- One part fixative
Scented Bath Powder
- One cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- About 20 drops of perfumed oil ( depending on how strong you like the scent)
Scented Massage Oil
- ¼ Ounce of perfume oil
- 4 Ounces unscented base oil ( try apricot kernel oil or almond oil)
For a real treat, warm this oil for just a minute before you use it. Absolutely delightful!
See? No need to spend hundreds of dollars on perfume and you don’t have to settle for those cheap alcohol based, synthetic, toxic laden colognes. Make your own at a fraction of the cost. It’s fun to experiment and, when you find just the right combination, you will have a scent that is truly, absolutely unique and completely yours! Read more about other natural ways to control body odor.
