DIY: Tea Rose Perfume Oil

Pop quiz: please tell me you remember the amazing Tea Rose perfume from the 1990s. Please.

I guess that was more of a question, rather than a quiz. Let me rephrase that.

Pop quiz: how many of you remember the amazing Tea Rose perfume from the 1990s?

NO ONE? NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU? Neither do any, and I mean, any of the ladies from my Girl Squad. How can this be?! What sort of world do we live in where you don’t know of this tantalizing fragrance from the underworlds? Sure it was 1994, and sure I lived in Hobbs, New Mexico at the time, and sure I bought the perfume at the Jewel Osco grocery store check-out line. But still! It was a scent that spoke to the depths of my youthful, unharmed soul, and defined my entire being. (Along with Exclamation, Sunflowers, and Electric Youth. But don’t tell them I said that.)

The other day I found myself at little wistful for that purty old scent. But you see, these days I don’t typically go for a fragrance so IN YOUR FACE. Nothing over-the-top florally, or rip-your-nose-off-and-throw-it-in-the-gutter strong or sweet. I prefer a huskier, more earthy approach. #danghippie

SO, I decided to update the perfume, by making my own oil version using dried rose hips and green tea! Ain’t that just dandy?

Here, I’ll walk you through it.

Take a cup of carrier oil and pour it in a small saucepan. You can use vitamin E, jojoba, extra-virgin olive oil, anything you want. I used olive oil because I ran out of vitamin e and jojoba. Because I screwed up the first batch. I’ll tell you about it in a sec. Hold on.

Then add 1/2 cup of dried rose hips, and TWO bags of green tea. I know the photo shows three, but just use two. The tea scent reaaaally carries through. In a pleasant way!

So let that simmer on low for about 30 minutes. Maybe 40. The oil smells freaking delicious right now. I will say, we’d dehydrated these rose hips a while back, so I’m not sure what fresh rose hips would do. I looked it up, and I thiiiiink it may just take a lot longer. I saw one lady put hers in a slow cooker for about 17 months. But I’m lazy, so.

So just drain the infused oil into a small bowl. Press press presssss all that oil out. PRESSSS.

At this point, what I did was let the oil cool for a little bit. Gave it room to breathe, like a wine. I have no idea why, but it just felt right for my life at the moment.

Now, stick your finger in the oil and rub a little on your wrist. If it’s a tad too subtle for your liking, and you want to enhance the rose fragrance a bit more, add 40-50 drops of rosewood essential oil. I did and YAS, BAE.

Stir it up a little bit, and then use a dropper to fill as many roll-on bottles as you want! I get mine at Amazon. The dropper comes with the bottles. Ha-bam.

And there you have it! A gorgeous Tea Rose perfume oil that won’t completely stomp your life goals. The green tea lends a slight folksy scent, and the rose hips and rosewood oil add a delicate blooming essence that’s definitely not too sweet, but just a hint of a magical, mythical rose garden.  (<–what?)

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you about round one. Dudes, I ground the rose hips in my spice grinder and cut the tea bags open, so that everything could marry. Or so I thought. After about 40 minutes of low simmering, it smelled BURNT. Like, buuuuurnt. So don’t do that. Just leave the hips and tea bags whole. And say tea bags a lot.

Gifties galore! Speaking of, if you’re a member of my Arkansas Girl Squad, and I’m seeing you tomorrow, just, um, look the other way. Thanks, bye.

Please let me know if you’ve tried this, or try it! I’d love to know what carrier oil you use, and if you leave the rose hips fresh, or dried. Also, another essential oil that pairs well with a rose scent is bergamot. So you can definitely use that in place of rosewood. Look at all this learning! I’m tired.

Take THAT, Jewel Osco check-out line.