Kira Hansen has an obsession with chocolate, which is why the party menu for her 14th birthday included chocolate delights from fondue to chocolate-scented body lotion.

“It’s like my favorite dessert,” said Kira, who included “death by chocolate” moisturizer in the swag bags guests took home.

Kira and her mother, Karen, found the customized fragrance at Lotions & Potions, 5648 Broad St., in Greendale.

Consumers with a passion for specific scents no longer have to take what the manufacturer dishes out.

Stores such as Lotions & Potions, the Aveda store and The Body Shop, both in Mayfair Mall, allow customers to pick and choose how they want their personal products to smell.
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Essential oils, manmade fragrances and designer duplications can be dropped into shampoos, body scrubs, bath gels and moisturizers.

At the Aveda store, some customers want to replicate the way their hair and skin smells when they step out of the spa.

For that, Alita Geralts can blend 25 oils to provide the Aveda Signature Shampure smell. But sometimes, people want to blend everything. Together.

“A lot of times I’m really surprised by what they pick,” Geralts said.

In the front of the store is the mixing counter with small bottles of the oils, each with its own purpose.

For instance, Earth Nature is a blend of peppermint, lemon and orange for an “energizing” scent. Now imagine how the peppermint would feel in a shampoo.
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A mix of ylang-ylang, jasmine and rose is a soothing combo, said Geralts.

Oils, which can be touched on pulse points for a long-lasting fragrance, cost $26. A perfume spray, which is diffused with alcohol, costs $22.

The Body Shop allows creative types to customize their scent with “Invent Your Own Scent,” for $28. Nine different scents in 3- milliliter sizes are meant to be blended together.

The Body Shop’s Katherine Newcomer sprays a little Citrella, which like it sounds is a citrus fragrance, then blasts a little Velique, a floral scent with hints of palmarosa, peony and sequoia, to create another scent. The store describes the combination as flirty.

Going dancing at the club? Blend Amorito, which has notes of jasmine, chocolate and vanilla, with Zinzibar, hints of ginger, freesia and cedarwood.

Larger versions, 30 milliliters, are available for $16. Massage oils, which start at $6, can also be scented.

Dee Dee Ternes, who owns Lotions & Potions, can blend from 17 essential oils and tens of fragranced manmade oils including chocolate.

Because essential oils are natural oils, one-fourth ounce can cost anywhere from $6 for orange or eucalyptus to $16 for patchouli at the Greendale shop.

Expect to pay between $6 (for one-fifth of an ounce) to $40 (for 2 1/4 ounces) for manmade fragrances.

Fragrance oils, which are concentrated and don’t contain alcohol, can be used on the skin for a scent or custom-blended into body care products or even into candles, soaps and potpourri.

Ternes’ employees and customers have come up with several other uses for the oils such as using a drop of eucalyptus oil in the shower to help open sinuses.

A little lavender in the bath water, body lotion or shower gel can set the mood for relaxation.

“More people are coming in knowing what they want,” Ternes said. Lavender is the most popular, followed by the woodsy patchouli and eucalyptus.

Ternes is about to enter into her busiest season, at least for home fragrances.

As the weather turns and people begin closing windows, they compensate with home scents, particularly apple-cinnamon in autumn and evergreen in winter, she said.

UNCAPPING PERFUME SECRETS

We’re not saying it’s easy to make your own perfume at home by using essential oils and alcohol, but it is possible.

The basics

Perfume is made up of base notes (the smell that stays the long- est on your skin), middle notes (the smell that stays second long- est) and top notes (the smell of oil evaporates first).

Start with the essential oils that are most easily found. Use base notes such as cedar wood, cinnamon, patchouli, sandalwood or vanilla. Middle notes would be clove, geranium, lemongrass, neroli and ylang-ylang. Top notes include bergamot, lavender, lemon-lime and neroli. The notes can be bridged by using a few drops of vanilla or lavender to bring the three levels together.

Making a potion

For perfume, mix at least 25 drops of essential oils roughly divided between base, middle and top notes into a glass container. Start with the base notes, then middle then top. Add a few drops of the bridge oil and then add 2 ounces of alcohol such as 100-proof vodka and shake for a few minutes.

Let it sit for 48 hours or up to six weeks. The longer it marinates, the stronger the smell.

Then add 2 tablespoons of spring water, stir and pour through a coffee filter. Then bottle the ingredients.