I’ve always wanted to be one of those ladies with a signature scent. And maybe I’ll get there one day, but right now it’s more fun to experiment. Some days I feel like wearing a strong jasmine floral and other days call for an energizing citrus scent. I had no idea there were so many ways to make your own perfume, but over the past couple of years we’ve experimented with several techniques.
Here are some quick tips and notes on four different perfume-making methods. But really, the best advice is to just play. Find the scents that make you happy! And anytime you’re working with essential oils, be sure to check all safety data for the oils in your blend and do a skin patch test prior to using.
How to Make Perfume – 4 Ways
1. Alcohol + Water Base Perfume
1. Alcohol + Water Base PerfumeMy first perfume was this Citrus Sunshine perfume, and I still love the happy scent. To make your own, you’ll need oil, vodka, distilled water and, of course, essential oils. You’ll need at least 3 scents for your top, middle and base notes. (AromaWeb has a great guide for which scents are in which category.)
Start by combing a small amount of oil to find a combination you like, using 20% from top notes, 50% from middle notes and 30% from base notes. When you find a blend you like, then you can up the ratio and dilute with the carrier oil/water.
2. Solid Perfume
Solid perfume is simple to make with oil, beeswax and essential oils for scent. I’ve made batches with jasmine and vanilla and lavender with shimmer. A ratio of 2 parts oil to 1 part beeswax seems to create the right consistency – hard but not too hard. You want the perfume to stay in the container and easily melt into your skin, otherwise it feels too much like a lotion bar.
Melt your beeswax and oil together (determine the specific amounts of wax and oil based on the container you plan to use) and add about 10 drops of essential oil per tablespoon of oil/beeswax mixture. Pour into a small container and let it sit until fully hardened, then keep in your purse if you like.
3. Body oil spray or roll on
This is my favorite perfume method because, well, it’s easy. Pour carrier oil into a glass bottle (ours is from Rail19). I like jojoba because it feels great on the skin, has a long shelf life and doesn’t have a competing scent.
For every tablespoon of jojoba oil, add about 10 drops of your essential oil blend. This can vary depending on the essential oils you use (I went way overboard on clove initially with this man magnet spray). So start slow and add more later if needed.
4. Botanic Infused Cologne
Making an infused cologne is fun because you get to watch it develop. You can infuse dried herbs and flowers or use fresh if you have extras in your garden. Above is a lavender vanilla infusion.
I used the same technique from these botanic colognes, which is basically combining herbs with vodka and letting everything sit for a couple of weeks. Then strain out the herb bits and put the liquid in a pretty container. You can layer in additional scent like you would if making perfume from essential oils if you want a stronger smell.
Have you experimented with perfume making? What’s your favorite method?
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I love that included botanical infusions and essential oils. For me, natural flower essences are the best.
Thank you for this post.
I have been wanting to make my own perfume as I could not find the perfume that will work with me from the stores.
There was one I truly love but has been discontinued.
Maybe I could formulate something that I will like.
Could you Also suggest or inform me as to where I could take classes for this please.
Thank you so much. This post has been a good help.
I love making my own perfume. Luckily, the first time I did it, I had a discount for a perfume class so I had someone to talk me through it. 1 lesson I took from the class is to use a scale, so you can carefully measure.
I want to try all of these! Jasmine is one of my favorite scents too and I love a cocoa spice scent as well. :)
Please i need more advice on how to make different perfume and where to get materials as i want to try and be independent and be the best of my self.
Thanks
I like the simple alcohol and water idea. I also like how you mentioned cologne.
Hi, love the recipes! Can you tell us where you got the small glass spray bottle?
I’m definitely going to try the body oil, does almond oil work too? I have a lot of almond oil and I would love to make a fruit smell with lemon and orange essential oils.
Love your sight, send me more!!!!
Amazing perfume recipes! I am excited to try them.
I love this post! I’ve been thinking about making my own natural perfume ever since I started moving away from the artificial ones, but I had no idea where I would even start. I love that you highlight all these different ways and I definitely want to try them all out, but I think the infused cologne will be a great one to start with since I have some lavender buds on hand.
Have a great day!
Oh, Ana, I know that it isn’t really my job to reply to your comment, and you might get annoyed at me, but actually the highlighting in the post are actually hyperlinked words – they link to the recipe.
Oh Aria, it may be your job to read the comments and graciously accept sweet compliments when given? Ana is so happy to have found this post and now have directions for making her own perfumes, especially the cologne. Nowhere did she ask for clarification, or condescension.