In case you haven’t noticed, I am a weird person. Whew, glad the air is cleared on that matter! So it shouldn’t surprise you that I sometimes connect things in my brain that aren’t necessarily connected. For example, the Cloud Blood room mist that we’re making today. When I first threw this scent together on a whim it made me think of one of my favorite Ani Difranco songs, “Cloud Blood.” I’m still not sure why, but I liked the association so I just went with it and wrote out my recipe under that name. I figure if Dragon’s Blood is a scent, then yeah, I’ll allow it.
The song’s name derives from a lyric describing a sunrise after the speaker has been driving around all night trying to clear her head: “cloud blood smudge smeared on the sky, it’s dawn’s roadkill.” The song is bittersweet, heavy with mood, and I just really love it.
As for the scent itself, I wanted something subtle, warm and soothing. I like to spritz a bit of room mist over the bed before going to sleep at night and that was the idea that I had in mind when formulating this scent. I knew to begin with that I wanted a vanilla base, but wasn’t sure what would go well with vanilla. As I was sniffing the essential oils I had on hand, one stood out: Creative Juice by Aura Cacia. It’s a blend of bergamot, lemon and cardamom and it smells divine, sweet and slightly citrusy. It seemed like just the thing to brighten up the vanilla, and it worked.
The partner agrees that it’s a nice, comforting, relaxing scent. We like that the essential oil blend is intended to spark creativity; whether there’s any truth to that I can’t say, but it’s a nice idea to be inhaling creativity so I’m going with it. If you like the vanilla idea but aren’t convinced about the Creative Juice, then just add an equal amount of another essential oil that you prefer. I’d like to try lavender and/or jasmine next time.
This recipe is easy to make and only takes a couple of ingredients. You can purchase a 4 oz spray bottle for super cheap, however, I cleaned out an old body spray container to use for mine. I peeled off the label and made my own for the photoshoot, although usually I’d probably just use it as is because I am lazy like that. If you decide to give this a shot, please be sure to spray it around the room while listening to “Cloud Blood” and tell me if it makes any sense or if it’s just me being strange. Recipe below!
Cloud Blood Room Mist
Ingredients:
- 4 tsp vanilla extract
- 40 drops Creative Juice essential oil (or blend of bergamot, lemon and cardamom)
- ⅓ – ½ c water
Method:
Measure vanilla into a 4 oz spray bottle. Add essential oil to bottle. Fill to top of bottle with water, cover and shake until combined. Make a pretty sticky label for your container if you are so inclined. Name yours something different and weird. Shake briefly before each use.
You have a theme!! Question o crafty ones: vanilla – good addition to homemade tooth paste? Am thinking a sea salt and baking soda blend but am afraid to waste ingredients on a sucky recipe.. Any advise would help. <3 much love always & enjoying each post.
Thanks! I can’t say I’ve delved into the world of DIY toothpaste or even given it much thought, but I am making a mental note right now and will report back if I do any experiments. I can’t imagine vanilla would hurt, although you’d probably want to go light with it considering it’s a brown color and you wouldn’t want to stain the ole teefers. What about a vanilla peppermint toothpaste? That sounds delicious. I don’t think toothpaste is supposed to be delicious, but whatever, we do what we want!
Delicious. I can smell it already. I imagine a little ylang ylang in place of bergamot would sex it up for a twist. 🙂 Love a vanilla base.
Oooo, I like that idea! Will have to invest in some ylang ylang soon and give it a go! I’ve made this one a few times now so definitely ready to mix it up! 😉