Perfume 101

“Perfume is the nourishment that stimulates my thinking.”

Muhammad

The idea of wearing the fragrance of my garden or the essence of the healing herbs that will nourish me during my day began with making healing blends for headache, joint pain or insomnia. Though these fragrances were used medicinally, there was no doubt that they were more vibrant and delightful than most perfumes I had worn before.

After making my first blends strictly based on fragrance, I thought it would be amazing to combine the use of essential oils medicinally and the idea of wearing a fragrance daily. The idea of choosing a perfume based on your physical, emotional and spiritual needs that day is compelling. I was bewitched by the plant material deftly swirling in the liquid when gently shaken. The whole thing is magical to me.

I am keen to put together over the course of a few articles a complete process for creating and choosing a fragrance that can be beneficial on many levels.

We know in our family that if you are stressed, experiencing a panic attack or in shock, that you reach for lavender essential oil, a couple of drops in your hand and deeply inhale. So, a formula with lavender would be useful for a day when you feel delicate, easily over stimulated, or going into a stressful situation.

Let’s begin…

Things you’ll need:

• Essential oils
• Carrier oil: something light with no scent like jojoba oil, sweet almond oil or grape seed oil
• Clear, amber or blue 10 ml glass roll-on bottles (use clear because it looks so pretty with the flowers and other plant material floating in the perfume, but the scent will degrade much more slowly in a coloured bottle)

The art of perfume making is mastered over years, yet the process of blending essential oils for healing and fragrance can, and should, be available to all of us. It is at its heart a simple process.

• First: know your oils and what their healing actions are.
• Second: know yourself (or your clients) and what your (or their) needs are
• Third: use your nose and your heart…what resonates with you (or your clients)
• Fourth: use a blending factor chart to make the experience more efficient and effective

How to begin:

Choose your essential oils based on healing needs and fragrance. Using the blending factor chart, add no more than 10-12 drops of total EOs into the 10 ml glass bottle. Swirl the bottle around to thoroughly combine the oils then fill the rest of the bottle with a carrier oil of your choice. replace the cap and swirl again.

The oils will bloom over time. After a week or two, the scent will really begin to shine!

What is a blending factor?

A blending factor is basically a scale from 1-10 that rates oils on the intensity of their scent. Using blending factors allows you to create blends where one oil doesn’t overpower the rest. This blog post about blending factors from A Mountain Hearth Witch is amazing at explaining the math behind the art of blending perfumes.

Krista’s Herbs Spring Blends:

Bright: notes of bergamot, sweet orange, grapefruit and rosemary

Forest: notes of mint, rosemary, lemon, sage and pine

Sweet: notes of rose, neroli and ylang ylang

Grassy: notes of rosemary, mint and lavender

Sensual: notes of cinnamon, patchouli, clove and cardamom

Earthy: notes of patchouli, hinoki wood, vanilla and cedar

Heaven: notes of lemon, lime and vanilla