Perfume Sticks and Lockets

This week I was digging around looking for some other supplies for another project and...I got side tracked. As a crafter this happens a lot. Just go with it. I didn't find the supply i was looking for in my crafty stash, but I did stumble across my perfume sticks supplies.

For this project it's rather simple. Finding the supplies is a pain.
You need a scent which is usually found as an essential Oil.
 Technically the walmart oil can work, but always do a skin test. If you feel even remotely itchy don't use them. For me I haven't had any reactions to them yet.
Most of my oils come from a web site designed specifically for making these. http://rusticescentuals.com/
The other item you'll need is something to make the solid base. Some use coconut oil and cooking wax from what I've heard, but I use the base from the above site because I trust it.

Beyond those ingredients you'll need a container of some sort. I had a bag of tubes so I'll be using those but anything can work. I use two lockets as well.

YOu'll need a microwave safe container. I used a pyrex measuring cup.
An optional item is small pipettes to make transferring the melted perfume from the pyrex to the tubes easier, but it isn't necessary. Just keep some rags on hand to clean up the mess if you spill a bit.

Here are the scents I chose to use this time around. I have about 20 scents, but that's due to the web site doing a batch scents sale so I kinda splurged them. These little bottles go a long way. You don't want to add too much to a batch or it'll be over powering. that being said, I followed my old instructions to the letter. I only used a pipette or two full of scent per batch, but it wasn't enough.  I got quite a few comments about not smelling the perfume. So the ratio of scent to base is up to your own preferences really. 

 These are two of my containers. The small tube to the left is a basic lip balm tube. the clear one on the right is a bigger one. I like varioation. these can also be found at the web site linked above.

I chose this base from the web site because it was listed as all natural. With more and more people shying away from things that have weird chemicals in them I figured it would be a good idea to choose something natural just to be safe. Theoretically you can use coconut oil but I haven't used it yet so I don't know how it reacts. I do know coconut oil has a lower melt temp than this, so hot days will cause it to melt. This stuff wont.

What it looks like on the inside. it feels like well oil really, just hard. As you can see I'm almost out. For this project I used up what was left.

 YOu don't need to use a lot for one tube to be honest. This is...maybe one spoonful? Maybe just a bit over. I microwave this in intervals starting with 40 seconds. This round that was enough but some of my other batches required multiple rounds of time. Be careful, the cup will be hot.

 I didn't get any pics of the pour stage because this stuff has to be done fast. What you do is pour your scents into the melted wax and stire for about a minute or so. It's up to you. Then you need to pour these into tubes. This was the first batch and because i chose to do the bigger tube I didn't quite have enough. It's ok since this was one I was keeping.

Blurry image right after a pour. Someday I'll get a better camera. :P

These were some other containers I wanted to use. They're lockets. As I said you can use anything. These will allow someone to wear the perfume without having the get the oils on them if they wish. 

Another option, if you don't want to make a solid perfume stick, is to take a little bit of your essential oil and put it into a bottle with a cork. The cork sucks up the scent and you can wear it around. However I'd suggest diluting the oil. Oils have a high potency without diluting them.

These are all of the perfumes after I ran out of base. My last batch ended up with quite a few tiny tubes.

Overall, this is a lot of guessing. Have fun with it. You can get exact measurements if you want, but I sort of just winged it after a while because the exactness was giving me very mild scents and i have quite a few friends who like more powerful scents.

Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!