Black & White Bridal Shower

August 30, 2017

Entertaining, Living

Sometimes a color palette is all you need for a theme! I hosted a bridal shower and absolutely loved filling my house with flowers and black & white accents. Our activity was a Perfume Bar, adapted from lots of Pinterest inspiratoin. Here’s how to set it up!

I selected 18 different essential oils and ordered from Camden-Grey. It is important to note the difference between an essential oil which is distilled from the actual source, as opposed to a fragrance oil, usually cheaper and often a synthetic version created to smell like the real thing.
A fragrance is comprised of a variety of notes and usually contains one or more top notes, heart notes, and base notes which are revealed in that order to the wearer. Here’s what I selected:
- Base Notes: Amber, Musk, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Vetiver
- Heart Notes: Coconut, Freesia, Gardenia, Jasmine, Rose, Ylang Ylang
- Top Notes: Bergamot, Black Currant, Grapefruit, Lavender, Neroli, Tangerine
Since the essential oils arrive in different sizes and styles of bottles, I decanted them into pretty clear glass dropper bottles and numbered the bottom of the bottles from 1-18 with a Sharpie so I knew what order to display them.
I set the essential oils up on a pretty acrylic display.
A fragrance can be alcohol-based or oil-based. Since an oil-based fragrance has more longevity, I selected a neutral coconut oil (no coconut fragrance) as the carrier oil.
I ordered glass roll-on fragrance bottles and displayed them on an acrylic holder, ready to receive their custom formula!
I came up with a few scent formulas named with adjectives to describe the bride, as well as one tropical formula reminiscent of her favorite place, Key West. For the more confident guests, I gave them basic instructions for customizing their own scent with a few drops each of a top, heart, and base note. They would then fill the roller bottle with coconut oil and seal. Let the perfume rest for 24 hours, then it is ready to wear.