Homemade Perfume: Create Exquisite, Naturally Scented Products to Fill Your Life with Botanical Aromas

I'm the perfume version of a home cook. I've been collecting rare oils and been blending my own fragrances for decades. I've read every book on natural perfumery, but I can say in complete honesty that I consider Anya McCoy to be the Julia Child of natural perfume. Her breadth of knowledge and expertise is unmatched: botany, fragrance blending, and now at last, creating perfume from your own garden. Do not be intimidated by some of the more laborious techniques. Start small! If you have a small patch of lavender you can create a lavender tincture that captures the soul of the flower. Amy's will guide you through each technique, and her sumptuous photographs will whisper that it is worth the effort.

My newest adventure of babe craft project is making perfume with plants gathered from my garden. For a newbie like me, this is a perfect book to start with. The book explains the different methods to extract plants essences. They are not difficult. It ‘s been a lot of fun for me to tincture/infuse plants I have and know I can creat a unique fragrance with theses ingredients. If you are looking for many recipes for quickly making perfumes with essential oils, you might be a little disappointed. There are a few recipes to start with, but you have to experiment to creat your own.

I'm impressed. This author knows how to teach and write instructions, and is extremely knowledgeable about the topic. I've read a lot of instructional books (I have a strange passion for how-to books, and I have a lot of hobbies so I tend to actually use the information). This book is well-written and well-designed. It seems care was taken to make the Kindle version actually usable which is, sadly, often not the case. I was able to read and use this book on my phone - very handy for a reference book. I found very few typos, apparently, some proofreaders still exist.

I like this book pretty well. It is very easy to read. Nothing complicated. You can definitely read this and go make some perfume (liquid or solid), body butter, or scented powder. All of the standard techniques are described in plenty of detail to execute them without going to another reference. There are a few specific recipes, with plenty of guidance on starting from scratch. And there is enough theory that you can easily dive in and make up your own unique formula. One aspect that was a little confusing was the variety of techniques described - it wasn't quite clear to me when to select a particular technique to make a particular product - the information is there, but somewhat buries in each chapter. A table to help select one technique over another would have been nice. The book could also use a little more detail when it comes to the distillation process. It would have been helpful to cover the specifics for at least the setup the author uses herself. The other miss is a continued emphasis on keeping things clean, and then encouraging the reader to use wooden spoons in several of the processes. Wooden spoons have pores and fibers, which can harbor bacteria. So if you're going to make perfume, stay away from wooden spoons - stick with stainless steel and glass. All in all, a decent book. A good balance between theory and practice. Very practical. Several external sources are listed to purchase what you need to get started. If you're a cook that likes to mix and taste to come up with the perfect recipe, and you're thinking about making perfumes, this would be a great book for you!

Visually, this book is a work of art. But unlike many beautiful books, this one is also practical. For many years I've admired Anya's work. What she was doing - making fragrances from her own garden - just seemed too difficult. But I've been making botanical perfumes for a few years now, and want to start making more of my own ingredients. I already make skin and body care products using herbs and plants I grow myself, and I'm excited to find ways of incorporating what I grow and wild harvest into fragrances. This book will help me start that journey!

A great book for beginners of natural perfumery, it has all basic information on homemade essential oils and how to make your own perfume. The book is well put together, easy to read. Great addition to a gardener's library, if you enjoy fragrant plants and want to go an extra mile beyond just smelling the flowers! Love every page of it, thank you!

I was hoping for a little bit more from this one. I was hoping it would offer a few more recipes. It does a good job at explaining the different things needed to create your own perfume, but none of the recipes were super original. Overall, it's OK, but nothing here you can't find by simple doing a google or pintrest search

I am not aware of any other book that so clearly, expertly and beautifully guides its readers on the extraction of botanical essences. I only wish I were decades younger and just beginning my own aromatic journey. Nevertheless, I will be sharing this book with others, particularly the younger people in my life. The knowledge is critical to their future.

This is not a technical book and you might not be able to make a professional grade fragrances after reading this book. But what it provides is necessary basics to get the journey started. The writing style is simple and is accompanied by some great photographs. At times it gets repetitive but then repetitiveness takes away the need of moving back and forth. Its an excellent coffee table kind of book which you can enjoy at leisurely pace and can learn the basics before moving on to more serious stuff.

I'm a beginner in perfumery and this book is perfect for me. It's well written and well organised. Can't think of better beginner's book. If I finally decide to take a natural perfumery course, it will be with Anya.

Perfect

Good book - happy I purchased - missing some information - e.g. be great to have a section on what flowers shouldn't be treated due to potential for poisoning etc. The print in grey is fantastically hard to read in low light - and so the graphic design of the book could be better thought through - looks nice, but not desperately practical. I'm not after pretty-ness in a book like this - just the substance of the topic.