The perfume business is a massive one; fashion designers have their own perfumes, celebrities have their own perfumes, even sports stars have their own fragrances. So, why can't you create your own perfume? Well, you can, but it may not be in every Harrods or Selfridges store around the world; but you can certainly be able to make a perfume to have at home to save money buying the expensive brands.



Of course, making perfume is particularly easy, but if you have the nose for a good fragrance and you have the creativity to make a perfume; there is no reason why you shouldn't be able to successfully create your own brand to have at home! Something you may have in the house already that can be used to make perfumes is essential oils. There are also specialty oils that you can buy from certain perfume suppliers that are just for making fragrances to wear.

Essential oils are what is extracted from living plants; the essences are taken out of the plant. It may surprise you to learn that only 200 plants produce the oils that are used in the art and the science of perfumery. Essential oils should never be directly applied to the skin as they are very strong and intense. They will need diluting before use. There are two types of essential oils sold for perfumes and that is those that need diluting in alcohol, and those that need diluting in oil.

Creating your own perfume will require a certain amount of trial and error, and experimentation. This is all part of the learning process and will make your nose better and more accurate for the scents. What is a good idea at the beginning is to have as many different oils as you possibly can, and that your budget will allow. This is so you can experiment more and create a unique fragrance.

The types of fragrances are in certain groups that you will need to know. Some are categorized depending on their origin, for example, fruits, flowers, animals, roots, herbs, etc. Some are placed into groups after this categorization: floral (rose, lily of the valley), animal (civet, musk), green (pine, lavender) and woody/spicy (cinnamon, cedarwood, clove).

You may also be familiar with the following updated categories for fragrances and types: citrus, fruity, herbal, spicy, gourmand, earthy, and floral. It is always a good idea to try and have a few oils and scents from each category. This makes it easy for you to mix and match and see what group goes well with each other.

From the citrus group, you could opt for grapefruit, mandarin, tangerine or perhaps lime. From the spicy group of scents you could go for ginger or maybe cinnamon. In the herbal category, you could use cucumber, sage and rosemary. Fruit scents to use could be green apple, strawberry or even pear. In the gourmand category there is fragrances such as vanilla which is very popular in famous fragrances. Floral fragrances could be ylang ylang, jasmine, rose and chamomile. Earth scents are honey, musk, amber and sandalwood.

There are so many beautiful scents available that you may find it difficult to choose which to start with. A good rule of thumb is to go for the ones that you love the most. Remember that it is you who will be wearing it after all!