From Bloom to Perfume

How to Make Perfume from Flowers

You can make your own perfume from fresh flowers. Ideally, you’d use distillation to make your own essential oils, but there is a simple method to release a flower’s scent into liquid. Note that the fragrance captured from a flower is never exactly the same as that of a fresh flower, but it can be pleasing just the same.

• 1 cup fresh flowers
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 2 cups distilled water
• Glass jar

1. Crush the flowers to break open the cells in the petals and soak them in vodka for 24 hours. An easy option is to mix the flowers with the vodka in a blender, but you can mash the flowers with a spoon.
2. Add the distilled water. Seal the jar and let it rest for another 7 days.
3. Strain the mixture or use a coffee filter to separate the solids from the liquid.
4. Store the liquid in a refrigerator when not using it.
5. Shake the mixture before use.

It’s important to use both alcohol and water to extract the scent because not all fragrance molecules are water-soluble. Some people use glycerin with alcohol in the first step to make sure oil-based components go into the liquid. If your fragrance isn’t as strong as you’d like, you can always add a bit of essential oil to the final product to enhance it.

Step 1: Prepare the Materials and Choose a Scent.

After you are all set up, choose a scent profile. Are you going to create a sweet, floral perfume or a citrusy, energizing perfume? While this Step isn’t necessary, it can add to the excitement to the finished scent.

Step 2: Harvest Your Herbs and Flowers

*See list of suggested flowers below

Cut or tear petals and herbs. Crush the herbs or pluck petals to smell them. Examples of fragrant plants include lilacs, roses, mint, and rosemary. Explore scents at your own pace, put chosen flowers and herbs in the bottom of a mason jar.

Step 3: Choose Your Fruity Notes

The fruits you’ve chosen whether oranges, lemons, grapefruits or all three, should already be chopped into pieces small enough to easily grab them and fit them inside of the mason jars. Smell each fruit to decide which you prefer, then place them at the bottom of the mason jar.

Step 4: Add Some Flare

Fill the mason jars about three-fourths of the way full of clear water. You can add a drop of essential oil to the water if you’d like to create a more dramatic smell.

They can also add some glitter to the mixture using either your fingers or the salt and pepper shakers.

Step 5: Funnel “Perfume” into Clear Bottles

Once you have added all of the ingredients, cap the mason jars and let them sit for about 30 minutes. You can gently shake the jars as well.

Once the ingredients have had time to fuse, it’s time to transfer the “perfume” to the bottles you will store it in. Use a funnel to carefully pour the concoction into the smaller glass or plastic bottles. The larger ingredients (like the citrus fruits and any large pieces of flowers) will get filtered out and you’ll be left with a sweet-smelling perfume that’s all your own.

Step 6: Choose Your Label

After your “perfume” is bottled and capped, it’s time to choose a label. Print the custom labels out. You can choose to either print them onto an uncut sticker template sheet or simply print them on some thick paper. If you print them on paper, cut them out and either glue or tape them onto your perfume bottles. If you use a sticker template sheet the kids can simply peel and stick their favorite design onto their perfume bottle.

Suggested Flowers

Rose Narcissus Carnation

Jasmine Gardenia Orange Blossom

Violet Peony Lotus

Plumeria Lily Magnolia

Lavender Fressia Iris

Tuberose Hyacinth Honeysuckle

Ylang-Ylang Lilac Orchids

Be creative and enjoy.

Here are other web sites that also feature making perfume.

How To Make Perfume from Flowers and Herbs from Your Garden – Mother Earth News

Visit this site to make notes

Create Your Own Rose Perfume: 9 Simple Recipes to Try | Hello Glow