Perfume - women, men and children love things that smell good. Our sense of smell is one of the strongest senses we have and this is also linked to our memory in an amazing way. It also makes us feel good and special. Perfume shops all over the world are packed with every different fragrance known to man and our love of perfumes makes it a £40 billion pound industry worldwide and sales in the UK alone were £1.6 billion in 2020.
Alchemy, perfumiers, perfumer, perfumist, nose, fragrance, scents, olfactory are all words in the perfume world.
A Beginners Guide on How to Make Perfume
Making your own perfume can be very daunting, however, if you break it down into a few easy steps it becomes much more achievable and you will love every minute of it.
In this beginners guide on how to make perfume I will show you some easy steps to get you started, without breaking the bank - some essential oils are extremely expensive. I also suggest diluting your perfume oils in perfumers alcohol to start with - keep watch for my next Blog on Diluting Perfume Oils
Create a Story
Firstly, sit quietly with a pen and notebook by your side and think of the different types of smell you love. It might be fresh mown grass, bread baking, rain falling, wet dogs, fresh linen, roses, leather, candyfloss, let your imagine flow and write everyone down.
Perhaps using a fragrance wheel like the one below think about which fragrance family you would like your perfume to be in. Is it floral or perhaps spicy (oriental) or maybe citrus or woody. Already you can probably begin to smell the fragrance in your head. Have all the essential oils or aroma chemicals to hand that you love, as many as you like, the more the merrier. Using the fragrance family you are going to use, write everyone down that you like, closing your eyes and using your nose is a great way to smell these notes properly. Your perfume should tell a story about who you are, how you feel, how you think, the way you dress, where you are in life at this moment. Already you will begin to smell the perfume you wish to create in your mind.
Building Accords
Accords are 2 or more fragrances that you put together i.e Rose and Lavender or perhaps Lavender, Lemon and Frankinsence, they no longer smell like one thing, they smell completely different. They are like building bricks that you put together one by one until you have created your wall or in your case, your perfume. Write your two fragrances down in your notebook, then thinking of your perfume story again, choose two more fragrances that might go together, repeat the process as much as you wish but always write down each accord. Don't be tempted to create your perfume in one go as this could prove to be a waste of time and very expensive. Keep it simple to start with. Collect all the oils you wish to use and dilute them in the perfumers alcohol before you start to build your perfume.
Start to Build your Perfume
I suggest you use perfume strips to begin with and start by adding just one drop of each essential oil in your first accord. If you like the smell add another accord on top of the first one and so on until you feel you have achieved the aroma in your story. If you are not sure of the smell, walk away for half and hour and come back to it as you might find the smell has changed over that time. When adding accords gradually you can soon see which ones fit your story or which ones fail to make it and if you are unhappy at any stage you can throw your perfume strip away and begin again, without losing too much money. Keep going back to your original story and how you envisage your perfume to smell and stick to it, you can soon get lost if you wander away from it.
Of course there is a lot more to learn and alot more practice to become proficient but if you stick to the above you will achieve this more quickly without becoming overwhelmed.
In my Perfume Class I see far to many people start to panic if they can't get things right first time and they start to lose focus, if this happens walk away for awhile, have a cup of coffee, relax and then go back with a fresh mindset. Also, remember essential oils can soon overpower you, so step outside and breathe fresh air or even smell a jar of coffee every now and then.
Your finished Perfume
Once you have found your final fragrance, it's time to measure all your oils and pour into a clean perfume bottle. Leave your perfume for at least 24 hours for all the oils to blend before using.
Just to Recap
Think about how you want your perfume to smell
Create your perfume story
List your accords
Collect your perfume oils
Dilute your perfume oils in perfumers alcohol
Test your accords on perfume strips
Weigh your perfume oils
Decant into a perfume bottle
Leave for 24hrs
Use and enjoy
Keep your perfume away from direct sunlight
If you feel you need help have a look at my Design and Make a Perfume Course or consider an Hours Zoom Call with me.
Have fun
x Diane - Aroma Natural