Print PDF
Favorite
Email
This is an inexpensive and easy way to smell nice! I originally looked into this because I wanted to smell like pine trees, and nobody makes that scent (at least until Ralph Lauren gets a whiff of me). Create a personalized scent for a nifty gift.
The only ingredient that can get expensive is the essential oils, especially if you make a complex scent blend requiring an initial investment of many different essentials. Of course, there's nothing wrong with picking a single pleasant scent. One bottle of an essential oil will make lots and lots of perfume; you use only drops at a time!
You will need:
1 tablespoon Beeswax (available at craft shop)
1 tablespoon Almond Oil (or Jojoba Oil or Vitamin E - available at natural foods/health store)
8 - 15 drops Essential Oils (available at natural foods/health store)
1 container (preferably glass, ceramic or stone but plastic is acceptable)
For a cool gift, find an appealing container at your thrift store (it must be bowl-like, not bottle-like, to allow fingers to access the perfume) to make it special.
The only ingredient that can get expensive is the essential oils, especially if you make a complex scent blend requiring an initial investment of many different essentials. Of course, there's nothing wrong with picking a single pleasant scent. One bottle of an essential oil will make lots and lots of perfume; you use only drops at a time!
You will need:
1 tablespoon Beeswax (available at craft shop)
1 tablespoon Almond Oil (or Jojoba Oil or Vitamin E - available at natural foods/health store)
8 - 15 drops Essential Oils (available at natural foods/health store)
1 container (preferably glass, ceramic or stone but plastic is acceptable)
For a cool gift, find an appealing container at your thrift store (it must be bowl-like, not bottle-like, to allow fingers to access the perfume) to make it special.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1Measure and Melt
.Put about an inch of water in a small saucepan, then put a small glass jar or pyrex bowl in the water. Measure out the wax and almond oil into the jar/bowl and bring the water around it to a boil.
The wax will melt gradually; when it is 100% liquid, remove from heat and stir in the other ingredients with a straw (the wax will start to form solid on whatever you do your stirring with a straw has little surface area so you lose less of the end product, and it's disposable so you don't have to clean it off). When everything is thoroughly mixed together, pour the liquid wax immediately into your final container. In about 30 minutes, it will be cooled, solid and ready to use.
Here, I'm making a cedarwood essence perfume to rub on my dogs' collars, so I just used a simple plastic container. The scent of cedar repels ticks, and smells good, too!
The wax will melt gradually; when it is 100% liquid, remove from heat and stir in the other ingredients with a straw (the wax will start to form solid on whatever you do your stirring with a straw has little surface area so you lose less of the end product, and it's disposable so you don't have to clean it off). When everything is thoroughly mixed together, pour the liquid wax immediately into your final container. In about 30 minutes, it will be cooled, solid and ready to use.
Here, I'm making a cedarwood essence perfume to rub on my dogs' collars, so I just used a simple plastic container. The scent of cedar repels ticks, and smells good, too!
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
I wonder if a nice cedar citronella blend will be good for dog collars to repel ticks and mosquitoes?
Cheers!
Look it up if you wish, but I read it in a book somewhere.
As for containers, sometimes you can just reuse one you already have! Old lipbalm pots work great. You can usually ask someone older to help you melt the beeswax and add the oils; it doesn't take much time.
Is that a good substitute?
I know there is the mention on the label that it cannot touch the skin.
If not I”ll have to make my own bamboo essential oil, and I don”t know where i can get the plant :P
The label warning is precationary due to the fact that the product is a concentrate in an alcohol base, and concentrates of anything can be dangerous if misused.
They are however similar in the same manner that vanilla extract and imitation vanilla extract have the same chemical formula. However, the atoms are arranged in a different order.
Be aware that some of the desired essential oils like peppermint which is cooling to the skin. As a volitile oil (such a misnomer in chemistry) will cause irritation sufficient quantity.
Use the metasearch here on Instructables or a search engine to learn how to create your own essential oils.
Often times it is as easy as taking high proof ethanol alcohol (i.e. Everclear) and letting your desired organic oil rich substance sit in it for a couple of months. Others require being dropped into boiling water to release the oils, or soaked in a base oil (i.e. mineral oil). The last general category that I'm aware of require distillation from a neutral oil/spirit to get a high enough concentration of the desired oils (this is unnecessary for most plants and flowers). Though should you build a distillation apparatus I would recommend looking into the "theory" of brandy making, *wink wink*.
There are a few sellers on ArtFire that sell small DIY kits for these sort of things, complete with bottles, little tins, etc, including a choice of oils...I had considered buying one, this instructable might kick start me!
I did a quick search on the above mentioned site & came up with lots of nice options: search terms: oil, kit
<now, where is that incredible bottle of Sandalwood I had stashed away...>
(wow, old post, I know. :) )
Several things.
1. I work with a young woman who loves licorish.
2. I once told her that when I was living in San Diego, that fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) grows as a weed in vacant lots, and smells and tastes of licorish. (I'm unsure of the spelling of "licorish".)
There is a scent source for you.