Need a Great Holiday Gift? How About a DIY Natural Perfume

Need a great gift idea this holiday season?

Create a perfume solid using all natural ingredients. Custom blend your own essential oils to create the scent that you love. Share with friends, family, loved ones, or make one just for you.

What you will need:

• Beeswax
• Jojoba Oil
• Essential oils of your choice
• A container suitable for solid perfume (tiny jar, empty lip balm tin, large locket, gutted pocket watch, etc)
• If you are vegan or do not wish to use Beeswax you can use unrefined Shea butter instead of Jojoba and Beeswax.
• A pot and non-metal pan

The basics to creating your scent:

To find the perfect balance of essential oils, you will need a top note, middle note, and base note for your perfume.

Use your nose, instead of your ears, to hear the olfactory song. Top notes are what you smell first. The top notes are volatile and will evaporate first as you wear them.

Top Notes: Citrus oils (tangerine, lemon, mandarin, orange, etc), Conifer oils (cypress, fir, pine, spruce, etc), mint oils, basil, cardamom, chamomile, ginger, juniper berry, petigrain, rosemary, jasmine, and neroli.

You will then be lead to the middle notes, also called heart notes, the soul of your perfume. The middle notes are round and complex, surfacing after the top notes, as they last longer than the top notes.

Middle Notes: Floral oils/absolutes, black pepper, caraway, cinnamon, clary sage, clove bud, coriander, elemi, galbanum, geranium, lavender, marjoram sweet, nutmeg, palmarosa, thyme, violet leaf, and ylang ylang.

The last notes are the base notes, emerging the slowest. They are the least volatile. The base notes also work as fixatives, keeping the top and middle notes from evaporating too quickly.

Base Notes: Wood oils (cedar, sandalwood, etc), resin oils (frankincense, myrrh, etc), patchouli, vanilla and vetiver. A good ratio of notes are 5-7 drops of the top note, 7 drops of the middle note, and 7 drops of the base note. Multiply for desired strength.

Making the solid:

1. Blend essential oils you choose for your scent. You will want to use 19-45 total drops of essential oils per 4 tsp of jojoba/beeswax mixture.
2. Use equal parts of beeswax to jojoba oil. If you are filling a small lip balm tin, use 2 tsp of beeswax and 2 tsp of jojoba.
3. If you choose to use shea butter instead, use 4 tsp as a replacement . This will make a creamier perfume solid.
4. Boil water in the pot and place the non-metal pan over the water to heat.
5. Add the jojoba and beeswax or shea and stir till it melts, heat only until it melts just enough to mix in essential oils.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the essential oils.
7. Carefully pour into your desired container.
8. Let it cool.
9. Make sure you write down and save your formula in case you would like to make it again!

Other tips and suggestions:

Resources:
http://www.crunchybetty.com/handmade-solid-perfume http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryhowtoguide/a/makeperfume.htm http://www.abundantlifeessentials.com/news/perfume.htm