DIY

DIY Perfume Advent Calendar 2018

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I love advent calendars especially if they are filled with perfume. This year I decided to make my own advent calendar inspired by Sam’s wonderful post on her I Scent You A Day website  (see the link at the end of this article). One advantage is that I can use perfume samples I have laying around for testing and it is cheaper than buying a perfume advent calendar online. Although it was quite tempting not to buy a prefab calendar as some were absolutely stunning (like the Carthusia calendar!).

The Power Of Surprise

One of the great things of a ready made advent calendar is not knowing which scent you will get.  I bought the Micallef and 4160 Tuesdays Calendar before and this was what I liked most. A little and lovely scented surprise everyday. You could ask someone else to pick the samples for you, help you to wrap them and put them in the calendar. I can imagine children like to help with this as well. This was my original plan but due to circumstances my little nephew was not able to help me.

Choosing An DIY Advent Calendar

I started looking for a fill able advent calendar online on sites like Wish, Amazon and EBay. In the end I found one from textile on Wish in China. I saw several wooden calendars on the Dutch Marktplaats and Bol websites as well but it wasn’t clear if samples would fit into the boxes.

Filling The DIY Perfume Calendar With Samples

The next step was to collect the samples. This was a bit more work but it was quite nice to go through them and select the ones I wanted to try. If you don’t have samples you can order them via internet, look for them on EBay or (the Dutch Ebay) Marktplaats. Atelier Cologne has a great deal of 16 samples for 30 euro too for example. Many samples I have used for my Calendar were gifted by (with or without purchases) The Perfume Lounge, Skins or fellow perfume lovers.

The Filled DIY Perfume Calendar

I wrapped all samples in white and green thin tissue paper matching the advent tree and voila! A beautiful custom made scented advent calendar. It might be short notice now to order some things so I do hope you find these things before December 1 or you could step in some days later if you plan on making one.

Extra filling ideas! You can use little soaps or travel sizes of shower gels instead of perfume samples if you don’t have enough. Or you could use mini perfume bottles as well if they fit into the calendar days. You can find travel sizes of affordable body products at your local drugstore like Boots, Etos or Kruidvat. Small scented candles can be great as well for this purpose.

Two years ago 4160 Tuesdays used a cardboard box with small colored numbered envelopes for the days as an Advent Calendar which was a very nice idea. This should not be to difficult to find for next week. You can see this box in my previous article in the link underneath.

This is the end result! A wonderful advent perfume calendar for December 2018. It can be filled next year with other samples too!

Do you like Advent Calendars? Would you make one or did you buy one already made?

Read more about making your own Advent Calendar on Sam’s website I Scent You A Day here and thanks to Ned for this brilliant idea!

Read my previous review on the 4160 Tuesdays Advent Calendar here .

My Favorite Holiday Gift: Vanilla Body Oil (easiest DIY ever!)

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DIY vanilla body oil

Take 100 ml pure jojoba oil and add one vanilla pod into the bottle. Leave it several months in a dark cupboard. As there is not enough time for the upcoming holidays you can make one bottle and give it away with the advice to leave it some time to rest like a bottle of wine.

DIY Vanilla Oil

This vanilla infused oil has become one of my favorite body products. The first time I made it with 100 ml of jojoba* oil from De Tuinen (now Holland and Barrett) which was about 4 euro and a cheap and probably not high quality vanilla pod from Lidl for 2 euro. I had to cut the pod in half and put both halves into the bottle with the oil. After 8 to 9 months it smelled amazing and was an excellent oil to layer when using vanilla perfumes. This oil was not 100 percent jojoba oil but had some other stuff added. I just finished this bottle.

Some months ago I made a new batch with better quality pure jojoba oil from Oshadhi (bought online in the U.K. I paid about 24 pounds for 200 ml) and an organic vanilla pod. One important thing about jojoba oil is, it does not go rancid. Another quality is that it is easily absorbed by my dry skin. It is said to work for both dry and oily skins. I am about to start with my new bottle.

When adding a vanilla pod to your oil you really get the natural vanilla scent into the oil which is nice as you get to know the natural fragrance of vanilla as well.

One thing though, this is for true vanilla lovers!

DIY vanilla oil

*Note about jojoba oil: officially jojoba oil is not an oil but liquid wax. Its latin name is Simmondsia sinensis. If left in a very cold place or fridge it will solidify but will become liquid again easily at room temperature of 10 C. It could also be used as a hair conditioner and after epilation. (source: Carrier Oils by Len Price, if you want to read more about carrier oils like jojoba oil, this book is quite a good source)