What do Paris Hilton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Britney Spears, and David Beckham have in common? If your answer has in any way got to do with ultra short hemlines or underwear then you are wrong (okay, maybe you are right but that is not what I am shooting for today). If you haven't been to the malls nor lifted a beauty magazine, then you may have not chanced on these stars eau de toilette babies. More designers and stars continue to join this very lucrative (and billion-dollar) sniffing business year after year.
Before the Persian doctor and chemist named Avicenna extracted oils from flowers by means of distillation, herbs have been crushed and mixed together to form perfume (which was by the way derived from the Latin word "per fumum? which means ?through smoke?). Lucky for crafty hands today, you need not go to the market or flower garden to extract your own for oils. Essential oils, the most important factor in creating perfume, are now available in most craft stores.
Making your own perfume is much easier than how it sounds like. I completed my first flower scented perfume fifth grade. We were asked to bring essential oils (I reckon mine were all about flowers: lavender, jasmine, and lilies), 100 proof vodka, distilled water, coffee filters, glass flask and stirrer, and a dark glass bottle. The recipe given to us was very simple to follow: mix 60% essential oil, 30% vodka, and 10% distilled water though roughly.
Begin by mixing the essential oils with the vodka in a glass flask. Mix thoroughly until the oils dispersed. Let this mixture stand uncovered for 48 hours. After the time has elapsed, add the distilled water and mix thoroughly again. Let it stand for another 48 hours. After 48 hours, run the mixture through the coffee filter into the dark glass bottle. This ensures that there are no sediments left in your mixture before storing. Cover the bottle tightly and let it stand for at least a week in a cool, dark place. The strength of the aroma depends on how long you let the perfume stand untouched. A week's time should be enough to produce a half-day lasting fragrance.
While performing the simple experiment above does not merit you a slot in the cosmetics and fragrance industry or a star in Hollywood's Walk of Fame, it gives you a chance to formulate a fragrance that is uniquely you. Folks suffering from allergic rhinitis might also want to concoct their own scent, avoiding the common allergens that prohibit them from wearing perfume.
