Elizabeth, who is a member of the UK Herbarium and is the host of the Feb 2010 Blog Party over at her blog Apotheblogary this week uploaded her first Vlog to YouTube to share with the world. The video is about making your own herbal perfumes. Elizabeth also began writing a herbal cosmetic series of articles for the Herb Society website exclusively for their members who have access to the Members Area. Two of the recipes Elizabeth talks about in her Vlog, Spice Island Cologne and Hungary Water, can be found in the HS Members Area, if you’re a member of course.

I’m going to have a go at making some of my own herbal perfumes, they seem to be very like tinctures in the making, must pick up the book that Elizabeth recommends for more tips and I’ll post some of the ones from the old books I have on my blog at Herbal Haven. Having just been reading about old honey water recipes for the face and after the success of the Honey & Mandarin Skin Tonic I’m going to experiment with honey as part of a perfume base, in October last year I made tinctures of Myrtle (leaf, buf & flower) and Bay, both of them were intended to make cosmetics of some description. I think myrtle would be a good place to start, so time to look at the fragrance notes and see which other herbs and spices compliment myrtle. I so can’t wait for May when the Honeysuckle will be plentiful, I can make my own Honeysuckle perfume, and even Lavender, Rose and Jasmine.

NB: You can find the recipe for the skin tonic just mentioned here on this blog if you’re a Registered User.

This recipe is taken from Josephine Fairley’s book “The Ultimate Natural Beauty Book” and was made at a “Pampering With Herbs” talk and demonstration given by myself to the Mercian Herb Group in 2009. The alkanet root turns this delicate salve a beautiful colour that will faintly colour the lips.

75ml (3floz) Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Jojoba Oil
45g (1½ oz) Dried Alkanet Root
20g (3/4 oz) Beeswax
9 Drops Rose Essential Oil

Method – Gently heat both oils in the top of a double boiler for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the alkanet root and steep for around 30 minutes, to extract the colour from the root.

Strain the root from the oils through a muslin cloth. Return the oils to the double boiler with the beeswax. Once this has melted, remove from the heat and add the rose essential oil drop by drop. Pour into small sterilised pots or jars. Allow to cool thoroughly before capping.