Have you ever wanted to make your own perfume? You should because it's one of the easiest DIY beauty projects you can do! A few essential oils, the right base ingredients, and you've got a million homemade perfume possibilities!
Check out some of our favorite DIY perfume recipes and a few tips that will help you make your homemade perfume last longer—on you and in the bottle.
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Why Make Homemade Perfume?
Have you ever gotten a terrible headache a few minutes after spritzing on a certain scent? It can happen—and if a perfume or cologne can cause a raging headache, just imagine the havoc it could wreak on your skin or when it seeps into your bloodstream.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that many perfumes on the market today are filled with chemicals—even the ones that claim to contain “natural essences” actually don’t [source].
To make matters worse, the makers of fragrances aren’t required to reveal the myriad of hazardous ingredients they might be using [source]. Crazy, right? Needless to say, it is nice to know what you’re putting on your body.
Another added bonus of making essential oil perfume is the fact that you get to experiment with different ingredients to find the scent that appeals to you most.
Ready to dive into perfume making?
Read on to learn how to make your own perfume with these simple DIY perfume methods and recipes and start creating unique scents at home!
1. Botanic-Infused Perfume
Botanical-infused perfume is created by macerating (soaking) plant materials such as flowers, leaves, fruits, or spices in alcohol. Over time, the alcohol extracts the aromatic compounds and essential oils from the plant material, becoming fragranced.
They can be combined with essential oils, absolutes, and hydrosols to create more complex layered scents.
1. Fresh Flower Petal Perfume
Find a pretty spray bottle and bottle up some blooms to make this fragrant flower petal perfume using fresh flowers, vodka, and distilled water.
2. Vanilla-Rose and Orange-Mint Cologne
Say so long to store-bought perfume once you learn how to make homemade perfume by infusing vodka with botanical ingredients. Try these two pretty scents, vanilla-rose or orange-mint.
3. Vanilla-Infused Perfume
Made with infused vanilla beans and sandalwood essential oil, this perfume is lightly scented with simple ingredients.
2. Hydrosol Perfume
If commercial perfumes make you feel a little woozy, try infusing herbs and flowers (fresh or dried) to make a light scent. A clean-smelling hydrosol perfume is bright, fresh, and totally inexpensive to make.
Hydrosols, also known as floral waters, distillates, or hydrolats, are the aromatic waters produced during the steam-distillation process of essential oils. They contain the water-soluble components of the plant material, along with a tiny amount of essential oil.
Hydrosols can be used on their own or serve as the water component in DIY fragrance formulations, especially in eau de cologne, eau de toilette, or body mists.
4. Lavender Floral Water
Use real dried lavender to make lavender water in less than an hour. It can be used as body spray, but also as a facial toner, facial steam, or in the bath.
5. Rosemary Citrus Hydrosol
Using a similar method to lavender floral water, extract all the best scents from rosemary, mint and grapefruit, for a super refreshing scent.
6. Rose Water Hair Perfume
Scenting your hair with homemade rose water and essential oils not only smells amazing but it can also help with stress-induced hair issues.
3. Cologne
Eau de Cologne is a light, fresh fragrance that often has a citrus-based scent. It's ideal for a subtle, daytime fragrance but has the shortest longevity, typically lasting about 2 hours.
Cologne uses vodka to dilute essential oils. It typically contains 2-4% perfume oil mixed with alcohol and water. Start by combining about three essential oils to find a mixture you like, then blend with roughly 20% from top notes, 50% from middle notes, and 30% from base notes.
Eau de Toilette and Eau de Parfum are made with the same ingredients, but they typically contain more perfume oil in the alcohol base. Toilette is 5-15% perfume oil and parfum is usually between 15-20%.
7. Citrus Sunshine Perfume
Make your own citrus sunshine perfume with sweet orange, grapefruit, and peppermint that you're gonna love wearing, regardless of the season.
8. Flower Power Spray
This flower power spray is a blend of my favorite florals—jasmine and rose with a bit of lavender and orange. It's a happy smell. The vodka reduces sweat and handles odors, making it an excellent natural deodorant option that doubles as a cologne!
4. Perfume Oil
This couldn't be easier. Just combine your favorite carrier oil with your favorite essential oil scent and apply it directly to the skin and enjoy the scent as it warms with your body heat. They are longer-lasting on the skin than alcohol-based perfumes but may have a more subtle projection.
To safely use on the skin, EOs must be diluted. Just remember that for every tablespoon of carrier oil, you should add between 6 and 10 drops of your EO blend.
9. Essential Oil Rollerball Perfume
My favorite way to make homemade perfume is with a roll-on bottle. It's easier than making a solid perfume and faster than a cologne. And you can apply it by just rolling it over your pulse points.
Rollerball blends are the rage right now for headaches, insomnia, and other ailments, but you can just as easily mix up a lovely EO rollerball perfume blend.
Mix your favorite essential oils in a roll-on vial, and always keep your new purse-friendly perfume at home. Try one of our five blends from nature’s best: floral, citrus, earthy, woodsy, or spicy.
10. Body Oil Spray
We're not making any promises, but let's just say there's a reason this body oil spray is called the Man Magnet. The oil in it will leave your skin smooth and silky, especially in the winter.
5. Solid Perfume
Solid perfume is portable and spill-proof—perfect for traveling or keeping in your purse as it's made with beeswax. It's perfect for touch-ups throughout the day and can be made with natural beeswax or plant-based waxes.
A ratio of 2 parts carrier oil to 1 part beeswax seems to create the right consistency—solid but not too hard.
11. Vanilla Solid Perfume
This warm and sweet sandalwood vanilla DIY solid perfume is a perfectly light and uplifting fragrance. Using a lip balm container makes it easy to apply, and it moisturizes your skin every time you use it.
12. Solid Perfume Trio
This DIY solid perfume trio uses essential oils to create custom fragrance blends with aromatherapy benefits. The small tins are perfect for giving as gifts.
6. Body Mist or Body Spray
Body sprays provide a light scent along with moisturizing ingredients, making them ideal for a refreshing fragrance on hot days.
They contain a lower concentration of perfume oils, usually around 1-3%. As a result, their scent doesn't last long so you'll have to reapply throughout the day.
13. Jasmine Perfume Body Spray
Stay cool with a light, moisturizing perfume body spray that has an intoxicating jasmine scent. Aloe and glycerin add a smooth and silky texture.
14. Lavender Lemonade Body Spray
Lemon is uplifting, and lavender and sandalwood soothe frayed nerves and round out the fragrance, helping it linger a little longer. This makes the perfect pick-me-up on a hot day.
15. Summer Essential Oil Body Spray
Designed to help you cool off, this trio of body sprays for summer features refreshing eucalyptus, citrus, and basil notes, among others.
7. Aftershave
Designed specifically for use after shaving, aftershaves not only provide a light fragrance but also help soothe and protect the skin. Aftershave typically has a low concentration of scent oils and can include astringents or moisturizers.
16. Simple + Natural DIY Aftershave
This DIY aftershave includes witch hazel and aloe vera to reduce irritation after shaving and skin-soothing essential oil blends for sensitive skin, cooling, and woodsy cologne.
FAQ
How long your perfume lasts will largely depend on how you store it. Keep those bottles out of the bathroom.
Make sure to apply it to the right places. Pulse points are the best spots to make it last (due to the warmth of your blood).
Try layering your scents to make your perfume last longer. Cupcakes u0026 Cashmere has a great tutorial on what scents work together and which ones will just smell...not so good.
Yes, you can create an oil-based perfume using carrier oils instead of alcohol, or you can opt for solid perfumes that use beeswax or a plant-based wax as the base.
Increasing the concentration of fragrance oils relative to the carrier oil or alcohol will make the scent stronger. Be cautious, as too much fragrance can be overwhelming or cause skin irritation.
In alcohol-based perfumes, additional preservatives are usually not necessary because alcohol acts as a preservative. For water-based formulations like body sprays, a preservative is needed to prevent microbial growth.
This post was medically reviewed by Dr. Jennifer Haley, a board-certified dermatologist with extensive experience in medical, cosmetic, and surgical dermatology. Learn more about Hello Glow’s medical reviewers here. As always, this is not personal medical advice, and we recommend that you talk with your doctor.
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