The most fragrant DIY of all!

With all the technology today, you can easily create an original experience for your senses and share it with the world. For example, you can draw something or create a tune of your own and even share pictures of the food you made and put it up on social media. But there’s one sense that is not discussed as much – the olfactory sense or the sense of smell. Did you know that our brain reacts in a different way to smells as compared to all the other sense i.e. sight, sound, taste and touch?  

When you take a whiff of a smell, electrical signals are sent by the nose to a tiny almond-shaped part of the brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is the brain’s center to control memories and emotions.  Meanwhile, signals from all the other senses go to the thalamus, a part of the brain which further transfers the information to the cerebral cortex for interpretation as touch, taste, music etc. The sense of smell skips this step. We’ll discuss how our brain responds to smells later, but first, let’s learn about how you can make a perfume of your own!

There are many ways you can make your own perfume. We have two of them here for you:

Method 1: Flower Oil Perfume

Ingredients:

1. Mason Jar/ any glass jar with a lid
2. Two-three flowers like a Rose or Arabian Jasmine (Mogra)
3. Unscented oil (olive oil, sunflower oil, almond oil, jojoba oil or coconut oil)
4. Spoon, strainer
5. A spray bottle or small glass/plastic container to store the perfume

Procedure:

1. Pluck the petals of the flower, ensure that the petals do not have water droplets on them. You can dry out the flower by keeping it under a fan for 10-15 minutes. Do not dry the petals in sunlight.
2. Take around 5 tablespoons of oil. You can adjust the quantity of oil based on the number of flowers you are taking. You need only as much oil, as is necessary to soak the petals.
3. Heat up the oil to lukewarm and put it inside the glass jar
4. Now, put all the petals inside the glass jar. Press the petals gently, so they get submerged in the oil 
5. Close the lid, and keep the jar in a warm room for 24 hours. 
6. Next day, open the lid and strain out the petals from the oil. 
7. Your perfume is ready!
8. Collect the oil in the small glass container and apply it as perfume

If you want this perfume to smell stronger, then add a fresh batch of moisture-free petals of the same flower to the oil collected in step 6 and repeat the whole process. You don’t need to heat up the oil collected in step 6.

Method 2: Spice Oil Perfume

Ingredients:

1. Unscented Oil (either Olive Oil, Almond Oil,
2. Olive Oil or Coconut Oil or Sunflower Oil),
3. 1 cinnamon stick,
4. 1 Star anise,
5. 1 Lemon/Orange,
6. 1 grater, spray bottle or a small glass/plastic bottle to store the perfume,
7. Glitter (optional)

Procedure:

1. Using the grater,  grate the lemon/orange and keep aside the zest 
2. Fill up the small glass/plastic bottle with the unscented oil
3. Add the lemon/orange zest, cinnamon stick and star anise into the oil inside the glass/plastic bottle
4. Add a bit of the glitter to the concoction (optional)
5. Put the cap back on the bottle and shake the bottle once.
6. Leave the bottle for 24 hours at room temperature
7. Your perfume is ready

The Science Behind the Smell:

Watch this video to understand how our nose responds to smells :

As mentioned in the video, smells and memories are hardwired together in our brains. Which means when you smell a certain scent, your brain recognizes it in terms of the first memory you have with that particular scent. This is why for many of us, the scent of glue reminds us of our childhood or a citrus scent may remind us of summer with all the lemon juice we may have had to beat the summer. These memories are scientifically termed as  ‘odour-evoked autobiographical memory’. 

Many people believe that perfumes or fragrances are a part of one’s attire, not compulsorily though as a lot of people are allergic to the chemicals found in the perfumes commonly sold in the markets. You won’t have that problem with these natural fragrances, and the best part is there’s no limit to the type of fragrances you can make using these simple methodologies. 

So try it out, and share with us in the comments section how your experiments went and what scent you liked the most!

Fun Facts:

• The human nose can detect more than 1 trillion individual odors.
• Our olfactory sense (sense of smell) is believed to be our oldest evolved sense.
• Smells can evoke emotions and memories before they are even properly identified.
• The best places to apply perfume are the inner wrists and the back of the ears and not the underarms.

Did you try making your DIY Perfume? How did it go? Tell us in the comments below!

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