Okay...so if you read my post Pretty Is As Pretty Does then you know I'm slightly obsessed with Gone With The Wind. In the book, Scarlett's mother Ellen always smells like Lemon Verbena. She uses lemon verbena sachet and the smell always reminds Scarlett of her mother. Welllllll I couldn't place that smell right off so I wanted to find out what it smelled like. Interestingly it's way harder than I expected!! L'Occitane makes a lemon verbena lotion, cologne...etc. but it's way overpriced. However, once I smelled it I fell in love with the scent. It's very fresh and clean.
So instead of paying close to $50 for it...I decided to make my own! I know...it sounds crazy but it was actually very easy and inexpensive!! You can choose to make a light alcohol based perfume or a heavier oil based. First step is to find lemon verbena essential oil. As it turns out, no place within a 50 mile radius to me has lemon verbena oil. They have lemon...and lemongrass...but no lemon verbena. It has it's own distinct scent and I was not substituting. So I went online. Now, if you want real deal lemon verbena oil straight from the leaves you are going to pay a LOT of money for it. I was very surprised at how much it costs. But you can get lemon verbena fragrance oil for a reasonable price. I paid $9.99 for a small bottle.
Now that you have your oil (you can use any oil you want for this and you can mix a few oils together to make your own scent too!) it's time to make perfume! Grab a spritzer bottle (I bought a glass one from the health food store but you can get a plastic one from Target if you wish) and a medicine dropper.
Alcohol-Based Perfume
For a lighter perfume, make an alcohol-based perfume. Add about 24 drops of your essential oil with two teaspoons of distilled water and two teaspoons of vodka in your spritzer bottle. Shake well and allow to sit in a cool, dark place for at least 48 hours to allow the scent to infuse itself into the water and alcohol. Shake well again before using.
Oil-Based Perfume
Add 10 to 12 drops of your essential oil and about two teaspoons of grape seed or jojoba oil in your spritzer bottle. Shake the bottle to mix thoroughly. Let sit for at least 72 hours to allow the scent to penetrate the grape seed or jojoba oil, and then shake to mix thoroughly again before using.
I made the lighter alcohol based perfume. I used lemon verbena fragrance oil, mineral water and vanilla vodka. I love the little hint of vanilla in it. It smells heavenly!!!!!! Now it's your turn!! What kind of mixture would you make??
