The day I made my own perfume

So, I've made my own perfume. For ages I've wanted to do something different, learn something new, and do something just on my own without the kids, so when Buyagift invited me to review a perfume-making workshop with The Perfume Studio, I jumped at the chance. And I had such a fabulous time! The Perfume Studio has also kindly gifted a perfume-making kit for my readers, so you too could try your hand at this in the comfort of your own home.

I was invited to experience the Platinum Experience - designing my own perfume and topping it off with an afternoon tea at Hilton London Kensington. A glass of bubbly in my hand I listened to an explanation of how we would design our own perfumes. 

A perfume stylist explained us all about base notes, middle notes and top notes (the different levels of the scent). It was so fascinating to hear what famous fragrances contain similar types ingredients, and what different types of scents are meant to tell you about their wearer.  

The perfume you make is made from specially pre-prepared perfume blends. There were 21 perfume blends, created by a Master Perfumer, which we could choose and mix from. The idea was that each of the blends was a perfume in itself already, so you would choose a few, typically one base, one middle and one top note, to create your own bespoke favourite blend. And believe me - that was difficult enough! Sometimes you might really like one scent, and love another, and then combine them to find it was just plain odd or unpleasant together.

So we sniffed and pondered and set aside some scents and selected others, and combined them with each other and pondered a bit more, and every once in a while smelled coffee beans to "re-set" our nose. We would wave the perfumed paper strips in front of our noses with a variety of combinations and try select the best mixture. 

As it's winter now, I decided to go for something heavier, and I purposefully wanted to have something a bit different from the floral scents I usually go for. So out went the light and girly florals, and in went spice and edible fragrances. I chose gourmand and balsamic as base notes, spicy as the middle note, and put a touch of floral as a top note. In the end it worked quite well. I am not sure if it has become my favourite ever fragrance, but I'll definitely get use out of it. And in fact, this has now ignited a want in me to design some other types of perfumes for myself - I'd definitely love to try my hand at creating a lighter perfume with rose and citrus!

After the experience we all went to the restaurant at Hilton to enjoy an afternoon tea and talk about our creations. It was so interesting to smell all different kinds of scents and people did so well! I hadn't had lunch before coming, so I devoured my afternoon tea sandwiches and cakes, of which there were so many I actually left feeling rather full. Nice touch, finishing the perfume-making experience with some tea and cakes and having a good old chin-wag about it all. The cakes were delicious and there was such a good selection from scones to detailed patisserie, there was something for all kinds of tastes, and a couple of savoury morsels too. 

So yes, this experience was a world apart from my childhood memories of brewing rose petals with water and I got to create something special for myself. While it feels like a more of a girly thing to do, it would be suitable for men as well, as there were plenty of more masculine scents to choose from if that floats your boat. Loved it, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone interested in beauty and perfumes! 

What kind of a perfume would you love?

You might also like: A few lovely Christmas gift ideas for mums

The Perfume Studio has also kindly gifted a Design Your Own Perfume Gift Set (£49) as a giveaway - perfect for a Christmas gift! The giveaway will complete and will be drawn on Christmas Eve, posted in the New Year. Enter below (UK entries, over 18 only). 

P.S. Don't miss my OTHER GIVEAWAY: Days Out Together Gift Box (worth £99.99) voucher with Red Letter Days - over 2,000 experiences across UK to choose from :) 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow: Bloglovin / Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Email