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Because people love to smell good, making perfume and cologne can be a profitable home-based business for small start-up entrepreneurs. The steps in making them are easy and the profit margins can be as high. You just need to follow a standard formulation to make quality scents, says Ronald Barangan, resource speaker of the Ultima Entrepinoy Forum Center's skill and livelihood training department.

The raw materials for this project are as follows: Prices may not reflect market conditions

• 70 g triple deodorized alcohol (TDOH) at about P200 per liter

• 15 g fragrance at P500 per 100 g

• 5 g muscol (MCL) at P400 per 100 g

• 5 g moisturizer (propylene glycol or PPG) at P250 per liter

• 5 g distilled water at P10 per 300 ml.

For packaging, you may use either an atomizer bottle (spray) with a net content of 5 ml  or roll-on glass bottles with a net content of 10 ml. These are available at the Divisoria Market in Manila. For a list of articles on Divisoria click here.

Procedures:

Step 1:

To start, put all the raw materials-except the alcohol-in small plastic containers or beakers for weighing. The alcohol needs to be weighed last because it easily evaporates when exposed to air.

For accuracy, all of the ingredients must be weighed in grams. Barangan says that getting the exact weight is crucial: "If you bungle the measurements, you'll bungle the formulation."

First, weigh the beaker or the plastic cups on the weighing scale. Make sure to adjust the scale to zero before taking your measurements. While on top of the scale, fill the beaker or the plastic cups with the ingredients and weigh.

When the materials are ready, pour the MCL into the beaker containing the alcohol. To make sure that the container of the MCL is thoroughly emptied of the MCL, rinse it with the weighed alcohol, mix the resulting solution with a stirring rod, then add the thoroughly mixed solution to the MCL in the beaker. Stir the contents of the beaker until the MCL is fully dispersed in the alcohol

Step 3:

Add the PPG to the mixture and stir. Always stir each time you add another ingredient, and make sure to completely disperse the substance before adding another ingredient to the mixture.

Step 4:

Finally, add the distilled water. To completely clean the empty container of the remainder of its contents, rinse it with water and add the resulting solution to the mixture in the beaker.

Step 5:

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in the beaker until the perfume solution becomes homogeneous, then get your bottles and fill them with the perfume. Label and package your perfumes as desired, based on where you intend to sell them.

This formulation for 100 grams of perfume yields 12 to 13 roll-on bottles.Your fragrances and perfumes must be kept in dry, cool, and dark places because light can adversely affect their chemical properties. . As much as possible, use dark-color bottles for storage and packaging.

Each time you need to get some of your raw fragrances, transfer them into smaller bottles. This is to minimize their contact with air, which may adversely interact with them. By using a volumetric flask with cover, you can keep your perfume intact and well-sealed until you are ready to package it

The perfume can be sold to friends, families and co-workers; you may also use them as giveaways for weddings and other special occasions. If you are marketing the products to teenagers, it's better to put your perfume in spray bottles. If you are targeting office workers, however, putting the perfume in roll-on bottles would be a better option. Avoid using plastic as packaging material; they have dioxins that may mix or interact with your perfume.

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