How do you go about making your own perfume? How much would it cost?

For personal use or as a business?

Google it – I did – and this one has details Link

It isn’t very difficult apparently.

Just use pure essential oils. Better than perfume any day.

Not all essential oils can be used directly on your skin.. as a matter of fact… i can think of only one off hand that is completely safe full strength and that is patchouli.

As for doing it as a business, it depends where you live as to what regulations you will have. I would have to get an ‘alcohol license’ here in Norway if I wanted to start using alcohol in the products I make at home because I’d have to import the special ‘perfumers alcohol’.

Making solid perfumes where you suspend the fragrance in a moisturising base would be a bit easier.

Check out Etsy for ideas, but chemically it’s pretty basic. Alcohol, fragrance or essential oils, and something to get them to mix like a polysorbate.

@cazzie, most can be used on your skin if diluted with coconut oil.

@Judi Yes, they can be used diluted, but not straight. You weren’t clear in your statement about using essential oils instead of perfume.

I use lavender and chamomile oils straight though.

I forgot about Chamomile.. which is another very safe one, but the lay person should be careful with lavender.

Like I said, there are some that most people can tolerate, but lavender has linalool in it and that is a known allergen and if it’s a poor version of lavender it can be high in camphor and Borneol (another terpene alcohol like linalool) and they aren’t suitable for perfumes or culinary use. Before people go putting essential oils directly on their skins, they need to know some facts.

Did you know that you can get the active ingredient in Chamomile, Azulene, from cosmetic companies?

My sister and I used to make cold-process soap at home, and we used essential oils and fragrance oils to scent the soaps. I think essential oils are also used in perfume-making- they’re the ones that are actually distilled from real things. Fragrance oils are artificial.

We used to order from this vendor and we were pretty happy with the supplies. I’m not really sure how liquid perfume is made- I think they blend the scents with alcohol? But you can make solid perfume by blending a shitload of essential oil with a bit of shea butter. Shea butter is very thick and… well, buttery, so it takes a long time to evaporate. It’s a moisturizer. You can melt all the stuff together and pour it into a little tin.

@cazzie; Mine are certified pure and tested with a GCMS. No contaminants in my lavender!
:-)

I wanted to try to get the essence of Aspen tree bark into a perfume, so I used the grapeseed oil method: Filled a jar with the bark pieces, covered with the oil and set in a warm dark closet – giving it a good shake once a week.
It was close to what I was hoping for, but not terribly strong scented. My grandmother did the same thing with cedar bark or rose petals and those came out well.

WOW! Thanks everybody fo the great answers! I’ll definitely have to see what the regulations are for making perfume, and to clarify on my question, it’s not only gonna be for personal use. Once I get everything straightened out and get enough time on my hands, I’d like to sell it, much like the brand name perfumes that one would see in department stores. :)