I am not suggesting we walk around like the medieval days, stinking the subways, buses and shopping malls with our sweaty arm pits. On the contrary, summer months means having to be a bit more conscientious about the odours around you, particularly the ones you give off. Instead of using up your favourite perfume, you can create your own at a fraction of the cost and save that expensive stuff for the fall months ahead.

Throughout our evolution, our nose has lead us into the arms of love or out of harms way. Our nose lets us know if something that is a “left over” in the back of the refrigerator now qualifies as an archaeological find, or worse, the next brand of penicillin. The pheromones that we give off also subconsciously trains our mind to “mark” our loved one with a distinct scent... I am sure at least at one time everyone has hugged a garment that belonged to someone they loved and thought how it smelled just like them.

As of late, many magazines and news articles shout from the covers about the wonders of aromatherapy. This is a marvelous and fascinating field of endeavour that those who really are interested in fragrance should investigate.

The purpose of this article is to provide you with some simple recipes for summer fragrance that you can make yourself. These creations can be altered as your preference dictates which will only enhance and make it more exclusively your personal scent.

The most important ingredient is the essential oil itself. These range in price so purchase only what you need. Due to the fragile nature of some of these oils, their shelf life is not always very high. Some exceptions are Patchouli and Rose Otto among a few that age well and mellow the scent over time.

An essential oil is the extracted oil from the plant. The price is often dependent upon the amount of fragrance sacs on a particular plant. Some oils require literally large rooms of a plant that is compressed to provide a small amount of fragrance. These naturally are much more costly than those that require less plant material.

A word of caution with essential oils. Never apply directly to your skin as some of them are potent enough to burn and cause blistering. Some oils are also not conducive with summer fun, i.e. exposure to sun light can cause pigmentation changes. Bergamot is one such oil that when on the skin undiluted and exposed to sunlight, it will darken the skin considerably that is quite unnatural looking.

You will also require small jar containers for storing your creation. Do not store in a rubber stopper type of bottle as some of these oils can and will eat and dissolve the rubber. Also, a jojoba or sweet almond oil will be needed to cut and dilute the oil in order to wear it on the skin. For summer months, I prefer jojoba due to its wondrous properties for the skin.

One of the simplest things to do is to add a few drops of essential oil or a preferred combination of oils to an unscented shampoo and/or conditioner. The same can be done to unscented body lotion as well.

For those hardy enough to want to create their own fragrance, gather your oils together and let’s begin!

Fragrance is created like a musical symphony. There must be a top, middle and base note. The top note is the scent that basically hits you first. They are distinct and pungent but they do not have a long life. These particular notes only comprise a small portion of your creation. Some of these include lemon, bergamot, peppermint, chamomile, orange, and lime.

The middle note is used with a bit of a heavier hand due to the fragrance durability. These notes help to smooth out the scent like an artist’s paint brush blending color. The fragrances in this category are lavender, rosewood, ylang ylang, and rose geranium.

The base notes last the longest and are generally in the earthy category. Fragrance in this category act as the fixative to the fragrance as it holds the entire body together to make it last longer. Despite the importance of this category, a lot of material is usually not added to a fragrance as it would over power it. In this category the fragrances are patchouli, frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, and vetivert.

These are only a small sampling of a very large body of fragrances. As you work with some of these mentioned items, you will gather more information regarding which oils belong into which category.

At this juncture we have a choice of oil or perfume. If you wanted to make a “perfume” because oils just are not appealing, you could actually create a base alcohol in which to incorporate your fragrance. You can take a stalk of vanilla bean or 2 tablespoons of spices such as cloves, cinnamon, ginger, or star anise and mix it with a pint of vodka in a dark colored bottle. This would have to sit for at least 4 weeks prior to use in order to get the full fragrant effect. I generally shake the bottle every couple of days to help with the extraction process. Once the time has passed, you can strain the vodka and set aside the small amount you wish to work with. After you have created your fragrance, you can put it in a spritz bottle and use as you wished.

Here are some recipes.