This is the bottle that started it all for me and homemade potpourri. Potpourri bowls all over my house. When I was 18 and leaving home for good, my mother gave me this green bottle of her homemade potpourri that was made from flower petals from her garden and some essential oils. Do you know that to this day, 36 years later, that potpourri still has the same scent! I open the bottom every once in awhile to smell it and it just takes me back to my adolescence. I never really paid attention to mom's potpourri until that bottle of my own and then when I would go home to visit, I would notice a bowl of potpourri in my old bedroom and others in different parts of the house.
Look at those old rose petals; you can see the faint pink color. It smells of clove, rose and lavender.
At my house, this is the mother jar I keep in the cellar that contains harvested lavender from my own yards and other natural pieces - these ingredients do not currently fit in the potpourri bowls scattered throughout my house but I add bits of nature as I find it and will take from it when needed.
Once a year I empty all the bowls and pour the contents in plastic bags and give them a good shake and then I fill the bowls again and refresh them heavily with new blends of essential and fragrance oils.
There is a difference between essential oils and fragrance oils and it is this - essentials oils are naturally occurring oils that are distilled from all parts of plants. Fragrance oils are artificially created to mimic the scents of natural essential oils. You can use both in potpourri because they are used for aromatherapy and scenting your rooms. You shouldn't use fragrance oils when you are making your own beauty products nor do you use them as you would essential oils for medicinal purposes. You probably know this.
Here are some of the bowls getting scented as I make up recipes as I mix. I then refresh the bowls by splashing in drops of oils about once a month and always when company is coming to stay. And I never do the same mix in each one; they all smell differently.
This is the only bowl that doesn't contain my own recipe and I have to have this in our bedroom - it is really special and unique. It is made by the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy in Florence Italy and they have been making it since 1612 from buds, leaves and flowers from plants in the Tuscan hills. It is made and "brined" in big vats and the recipe is highly secret. It is not pretty at all but is very strong and pungent and the scent lasts a very long time. It had better because a 100 gram bag (like a cup full) costs around $40 dollars. I have gotten my mother and sister Dede (PigNose) hooked on it. I absolutely adore this potpourri!
The bowl in the King Room.
In the Ocean Room.
In the Jungle Room.
In the Queen Room.
In the Dining Room.
In the Living Room.
In the Front Entry Hall - this is the prettiest one of all.
The two above are both in the Den.
In the Butler's Pantry.
Now about making your own beauty products. I make my own body oil that I slather on myself after every shower. Above and below are two examples of essential oil companies I buy from locally. You can find essential oils at health food store and specialty food stores like Whole Foods. You don't need to use the expensive Young Living and DoTerra essentials oils - essential means 100% pure and they all have to follow the same guidelines. And some essential oils (like rose absolute and cedar) are very expensive no matter where you buy them because of the extraction process and how many plants you have to use to distill tiny amounts of oils. They are very powerful though and a little goes a long way.
In the bottom drawer of this soon to be painted a different color cookbook hutch is where I keep a bunch of wonderfully smelling products. I open the drawer and whoa! That ugly can next to it contains bird seed - kind of an eye sore I know but it's temporary.
Essential oils, fragrance oils, sampler candles that I cut up and melt in potpourri candle pots, tea light candles, the spare Santa Maria Novella potpourri mix, and extra room sprays. Oh, and some incense to burn for those times I need to smell ancient European Catholic churches.
I buy bottles of Sweet Almond Oil and add a dozen or so drops of essential oils to each to create my own scents. I usually keep the scents single note. Sweet almond oil absorbs super fast so once you put it on you can put your underclothing and outer clothing on in a couple minutes. And there is no greasy residue on your clothing or your skin. I slather it on like I said earlier every night after I take a shower on my arms, legs, shoulders and chest. That must be why I'm not crepey yet even though I'm in my 50's - hee!
My favorite essential oil scents are Bergamot, Geranium, Rose Absolute, Lavender and Lemongrass. And since I could never find beauty products scented with single notes of Bergamot or Geranium (the others, yes), that's when I decided to make my own.
Scent - so simple, so powerful, so essential.
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