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.
Tables set with gold flatware, white china and crystal
The mantle, dripping in green amaranth, hydrangeas and stock
Pink lemonade to welcome our guests
Perfume bar
Base notes, heart notes and top notes
Perfume formulas
Bubbly Bar
Continuing with the perfume theme, I gave our guests a way to “perfume” their bubbles by adding a few drops of orange blossom, violet lavender, and rose syrups.
Iced tea and lemonade
Mini gruyère quiches and garlic knot rolls with frisée salad and champagne vinaigrette
Desserts: pain au chocolat, cupcakes, lemon merengue tarts, macarons, and white wedding cake
The candles are lit!