How do you make perfume?

Question

I want to make perfume using oranges or orange peels. can someone tell me how to do this without the ingredients getting all moldy?

Answer 1

There is really no way to do what you want with Orange peels. There are a lot problems with trying to use fruit to make perfume. What I would suggest is buying a good quality essential oil and mixing a few drops in a good quality high proof distilled spirit alcohol. I use 190Proof Grain alcohol also called Everclear. This a good pure alcohol that has no odor of its own and will mix well with essential oils. One of the other people here advised you to soak your peels in alcohol but it is not that simple of a process to extract the essential oils, by just soaking them in alcohol and letting the alcohols evaporate. The other problem is the quality of the fruit, if it has been treated with pesticides or other chemicals and your original concern about mold.

Essential oils are reasonable enough in price that you can make several different blends and enjoy different scents. Make sure the oils you buy are pure and not synthetic or adulterated with chemicals and other cheap fillers. You will also need to understand how much to use and what affects certain oils can have on the skin as well as other body systems/ functions. For instance most citrus oils make you sensitive to the sun and can burn the skin if you use too much. It does not take a lot of good quality essential oil to make a very pleasing perfume. There are a lot of great books and information available out there about essential oils and blending of perfumes. You should do a search on the net or contact one of the suppliers such as The American Apothecary out of Miami Florida. They can help you get the supplies you are looking for and suggest some blends that may work well for you to try. Remember to always store your oils in colored glass jars and start out with just a few drops of each oil. You can always add more if you need to but you cannot take away. If you find that you have used too much you can move the perfume to a larger bottle and add some more Everclear. If you have a store near you like Wild Oats or a health food store that sells herbs and essential oils take the time to stop in and smell the different oils. There are several types of orange oil available and they each have a very different smell.

I hope this helps and I am sorry it does not directly answer your question about using the peels. If I can be of any further help feel free to drop me a line.

Good luck and best wishes on making a sweet smelling perfume

Answer 2

Gather the zest of the orange peel with a grater. Use no part of the white or the pulp. Cover zest with either wood grain alcohol, or,clear rum with the highest proof you can buy.
Cover tightly and set in cool dark place. Each day for perhaps three or four days, take out the container, shake and replace. The zest will break down and look gooey. This is good.
Uncover and allow alcohol to evaporate either by air drying or add water and bring to boil(just to the boil) then strain through cheesecloth and use as infusion for cooking or as perfume.

Answer 3

if you are using water as the solvent to float the oils from oranges a simple antibiotic (as a drop of iodine) to the solution might help. if you are using ether or methanol as the base solution, mold will not form if the peels are covered, giving you time to saturate the peels before pressing. good luck.. you might research potpourri methods as well.

Answer 4

Alcohol, an oil base such as Baby Oil, and the scent source.