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I have to admit that I have never been a fan of perfume. When smokers in my workplace would douse themselves with body spray I would nearly choke. So, believe me, when I became obsessed with aromatherapy it was a big surprise to me that I loved all of the scents! In a bit of an epiphany, I realized it wasn’t scent that my nose and palate revolted against, it was synthetic scent.
Though I wear a diffuser necklace, what finally got me intrigued about making my own perfume was Mandy Aftel’s book Fragrant. Suddenly I had aspirations to be a perfumer.
As I explored the how-tos’s I learned that the easiest introduction to making your own perfume is the solid perfume. I already knew how to make lip balm and it was like making balm for your wrists!
Solid Perfume Recipe—The Base:
To make solid perfume you need at least a wax and a carrier oil. I will discuss suggestions for ingredients a little later but let’s get to the nuts and bolts right away with a basic recipe.
If you have ever made a lip balm, that is essentially what we are going to do—but with more scent.
2 Tbs. Coconut Oil
1 Tbs. Jojoba Oil
3 Tbs. Beeswax
- Place the wax and the oils in a double boiler (or similar). Gently heat the mixture until everything is liquid. You can also use the microwave on 50% power in short bursts (don’t overheat the oils or they will spatter).
- Remove from the heat. Allow to cool as long as possible before adding your essential oils. Essential oils are volatile (meaning they evaporate easily) so we don’t want to expose them to too much heat (which makes things evaporate even quicker).
- Just as your oil/wax mixture starts to get a hint of a skin, add your oils and stir gently to thoroughly incorporate.
- Immediately pour into your pots or tubes.
TIP: Several companies make solid perfume base. My favorite is from Brambleberry. Just melt as much base as you will need and add your scent. Easy.
Concentration of essential oils
In looking around at recipes, I discovered that many on the internet use too high of a concentration of essential oils. Considering perfume is often used on a regular basis, 1-2% is the maximum amount of essential oils that should be used. This translates to just 6-12 drops per ounce of base. Just because we are using essential oils for a different purpose (scent instead of therapeutically) doesn’t mean we can throw safety to the wind.
What to store your solid perfume in
Almost every tutorial for solid perfume puts them in little tins. These are really cute, but when you go to apply some perfume you have to use your fingers—which means you now have to wash your hands. That is kind of a pain when you want to re-apply when you are out and about.
Other tutorials show solid perfume made in lockets. Another idea that is visually stunning and very pin-worthy. But what if it is a hot day, or your body heat makes the mixture melt just a little? I don’t need to tell you that wax and oil is not easy to get out of clothing.
My favorite container for solid perfumes are large lip balm tubes (.25 oz instead of .15 oz). They can be easily carried in a purse and allow for mess free application. I am also keen to try the paperboard tubes (.3 oz) so if you have used them, please leave a comment below and let me know what you think about them.
Customizing the ingredients in your solid perfume base
I want to give you options to make your own base using what you have on hand, so here are some tips for formulating your own perfume base.
As a general rule, a perfume base is 1 part wax to 1 parts oils. Of course there are several variables.
- if your oil is solid at room temperature (like coconut oil) then you should use a little less wax
- if your wax is hard (like carnauba or candelilla) you should use a little less of it
- if your wax is soft (like a flower wax) you will need a little more of it
- if you incorporate a butter, the same adjustments as for solid oils would apply. For example, cocoa butter is solid at room temperature. Use less wax when cocoa butter is in your recipe.
Waxes:
Beeswax is easy to find and comes in blocks or small pastilles. It is also available in filtered or unfiltered varieties. Unfiltered beeswax will still have some pollen and honey in it. For a perfume, this may not always be desirable as it will have its own honey aroma. Filtered beeswax retains some aroma, but not as much.
If you don’t want to use beeswax, a vegetarian alternative is candelilla wax. It comes from a shrub. It is a little harder than beeswax and has a slightly higher melting point. This would make candelilla a good choice for a locket perfume.
Floral waxes are one of the remnants from the process of extracting absolutes. It should be noted that absolutes are solvent extracted, so if this is an issue for you floral wax may not be a good choice. That said, they are a naturally scented plant product. Using floral waxes can be one way to make a floral blend without investing in pricy oils such as jasmine, rose, and mimosa.
Oils:
Jojoba oil is not actually an oil, but a wax. Since the consistency is more like an oil, we will consider it an oil for our purposes. Jojoba is a wonderful oil that is good for any skin type. It also does not impart much scent on its own to your base. The downside is it is fairly expensive. Fortunately it can be easily found in small quantities such as 2 and 4 oz. bottles. Other alternatives to jojoba oil include sweet almond oil or avocado oil. Both are wonderful for your skin without a heavy scent.
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature and is another oil that is good for your skin. It adds some body to our balm without making it overly soft. The disadvantage is raw coconut oil can smell pretty strongly of coconut. Which leads to our next consideration—should we used refined oils in perfume bases?
Refined or not?
Normally I would choose oils and waxes in as close to their natural state as possible. When making perfumes, I make an exception and will use refined or filtered oils, especially for those oils with a heavy scent in their unrefined state. My motto is to stay as natural as possible for as much as it makes sense to, but there are times and places for exceptions.
Why? What we don’t want is for the base to have a smell of its own. For the hobbyist, this is one more variable that you shouldn’t have to worry about. Your base should be neutral to let your essential oil blends shine through.
Finally, don’t get hung up on the perfect ingredients. The base is really just a carrier for the main star which is the scent. It is like French fries and ketchup, or that sugar stick that comes with Fun Dip. We are dabbing this on a few pulse points so the skin care benefits of the oils and waxes are not our main concern. Don’t obsess too much over it. Use what you have on hand and start having fun with it!
Blending Scents
How to blend a perfume scent is a topic all to its own. The easy way out of course is to use a pre-made blend. This is super convenient and reduces wasting a lot of precious essential oils experimenting. Also, it can save money if the blend contains some of the more exotic and expensive oils. No need to invest in each one of them individually.
The fun is in the experimenting though! One easy way to experiment is to purchase fragrance test strips. You can put a drop or two of your oils on each strip and hold them together to see which combinations you like best.
One difference in blending for perfumes vs. blending for aromatherapy is that perfumes usually are more complex blends. Aromatherapists recommend beginning blenders stick to a maximum of 3 oils per blend. Perfumers on the other hand, create different chords of a few oils each and can easily end up with 9 or more oils in a fragrance. Despite that, I recommend keeping it simple at first.
I do recommend that you use at least one base note or fixative oil in your blend to give your perfume some staying power. A fixative is an oil that not only retains its scent for a long time, but it also helps top notes to linger longer.
Start with your base note and build your blend from the bottom up. Add your middle note oils to the base oils and stop to evaluate the scent. Then start adding your top note oils, again, stopping to evaluate as you add each oil. Make sure you keep notes as to how many drops of each oil that you used. You want to be able to replicate it if it turns out awesome.
Most of all, have some fun with this! Experiment and document.