Whether you have decided to make perfume for your own personal or family use, or as a gift for a loved one or friend, it is in fact something you can easily do by yourself or with others. Certainly producing your own perfume is not only a great way of learning a new skill, but it may also boost your confidence, and most importantly, you will have fun when doing it. If you carry out a search on the internet on “making perfume”, you will soon find there is a wealth of knowledge out there on the many ways and different recipes to make it. But the most important thing you should think about before making any decisions, is what sort of perfumes it is you would like as your finished product.
Firstly, you need to consider what sort of perfume it is you would like to make? Would it be an eau de cologne, perfume concentrate or even an aftershave?
Secondly, you need to decide what it should smell like? Do you want it to be soft or strong, sweet or manly or unisex? Does it have to be long lasting?
Now that you have made a decision by answering the questions above as to what kind of perfume it is that you would like to make, you need to start making a list of the ingredients that you need. When making the list, you should think about the characteristics of the various ingredients that you want to include in your recipe. However, if you already have a recipe that you would like to use, it may mean you do not need to bother experimenting with the ingredients you have (it may be wise to adjust the quantities of the ingredients you are using in order to make the perfume more personalized). However, if you do not have your list of ingredients already prepared, then there are a couple things that you should know prior to making your list.
First, when making perfume it is important that you experiment as much as you can. It should be remembered that perfume making is an art, and imagination and a great sense of smell will help you to overcome any lack of knowledge or experience that you have.
The next most important thing in relation to perfume making is that there are 3 key ingredients you will need to produce perfume:
1. Essential Oils (these have been extracted from various plants (organic or non-organic)) and when combined give the smell of the perfume you are trying to produce.
2. Pure Grain Oil
3. Water
Also, another thing that you should know about in relation to oils used in perfumes, is that there are 3 different types of oils, and these will ultimately influence the smell of perfume over time.
1. The Base Oil (Base Notes) – This will produce the scent that stays longest on the skin and for this reason it is usually added to the mixture first.
2. The Middle Oil (Middle Notes) – This also influences the smell of the perfume for quite some time, but not as long as the base notes does.
3. Top Oils (Top Notes) – This is added to the mixture after the middle notes, and may then be followed by some other substance which will help to bridge the scents together.
It is very important that when you are making perfume, you mix the extracts in the above order, and that you use enough of each type (usually equal amounts) in order to produce the right sort of perfume.
Below are provided a list of oils that you can easily obtain and which will help you to produce the perfume of your dreams.
1. Base Notes – Sandalwood, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Mosses, Lichens, Ferns
2. Middle Notes – Lemon Grass, Geranium, Neroli, Ylang-Ylang
3. Top Notes – Orchid, Rose, Bergamot, Lavender, Lemon, Lime
Now that you have read the above and considered all the possibilities it is time to start making your own perfume.
I can smell the sweet perfume all the way over here ... :o)
