I’m looking into making things more often this summer, it’s economical and you can control exactly what chemicals (and lack of!) are on your body!

I had a few spray style hand sanitizer bottles that I’ve emptied (all eco, of course) and wanted to find a use for. The thought eventually occurred to me that I could use them for body mist, which should be quite simple to make.

I’ve found a few recipes, depending on what ingredients you want to use. One uses essential oils, and one uses flower petals/herbs. The recipe that uses the petals warns to never use essential oils, as they can apparently stain clothes and cause allergic reactions… here is the warning label they left for us.

Before using an essential oil or other fragrance you’ve never used before, it is a good idea to do an allergy test first. You can do this the same way you do the allergy test before coloring your hair at home—dab a small amount of the ingredient (diluted as it would be in the body spray) in the bend of your elbow. Leave the spot undisturbed for 48 hours. If your skin shows signs of irritation, do not use that ingredient in your body spray.

It looks like it’s a matter of preference and personal allergies. I’ll list them both here for you all!

Essential oil recipe

You will need:

• A spray bottle (preferably dark-tinted glass, and unused)
• Distilled water
• your essential oil
• mixing bowl

If you want to test the scent before putting it in the bottle, add a small amount of distilled water to a mixing bowl (about how much should go into your bottle) and put one drop of the essential oil in. Stir it up and then dab a bit onto your wrist. Wait a few moments, then smell your wrist to decide if it needs more scent. Once you have your fragrance the way you want it, pour it into your bottle and store at room temperature. The shelf life for this is several days depending on how it is stored and the ingredients used.

Now, recipe #2!

Flower petal recipe

You will need:

• Spray bottle
• Nice smelling herbs/flowers
• Filtered or Pure Water
• Sauce pan
• Strainer
• Funnel
• Bowl

For this recipe, it is recommended to collect quite a bit of your chosen scent source, and don’t forget you can mix scents as well for an interesting perfume!

Remove the stalks and leaves from your flowers and put them in a sauce pan over low heat for about a minute. This will wilt and dry them out, and also helps them to release the scent. Put the flowers in a small bowl of pure/filtered water overnight, at room temperature. The next morning, you can strain the water to remove the flower fragments and bottle up the liquid! The recipe suggests adding a drop or two of vanilla essence if the scent isn’t very strong, as it will give it a warm undertone. If the scent still isn’t strong enough, you can gather more petals and repeat the process. Also try crushing the petals, which sometimes will release the scent more strongly.

I hope you all like these recipes, I’m quite excited to try them myself! :)

If anyone does, let me know how it goes! And what scents did you use? Which recipe?