What Oils Are Best For Homemade Perfume?

Homemade or handcrafted perfumes are becoming increasingly popular as more people look for natural, custom fragrances. Rather than buying pre-made perfumes, homemade perfumes allow you to create your own personal scent by selecting and blending oils and extracts. The key oils used in homemade perfumes are carrier oils, essential oils, and extracts. Carrier oils like jojoba, coconut, and sweet almond oil provide the base. Essential oils like lavender, vanilla, and rose provide fragrance notes. Extracts like vanilla and tonka bean add depth and complexity. With the right combination of oils and extracts, you can create unique blends tailored to your preferences.

Benefits of Homemade Perfume

Creating your own homemade perfume has several advantages over buying pre-made fragrances. With homemade perfume, you can customize the scent to your personal preferences. You get to choose which essential oils and absolutes to blend together and in what proportions, allowing you to craft a truly unique fragrance.

Homemade perfumes also tend to use more natural ingredients than commercial perfumes. Essential oils, absolutes, carrier oils, and alcohols are derived from plants, fruits, resins, and other natural sources. Avoiding synthetic fragrance chemicals reduces the chance of skin irritation or allergic reactions.

Making DIY perfume at home is significantly more cost effective than designer brands. Essential oils and other ingredients can be purchased for a fraction of the cost of a bottle of Chanel No. 5. You can experiment with different scent combinations without breaking the bank.

Carrier Oils for Homemade Perfume

Carrier oils are an essential base for homemade perfumes. They help dilute and carry the scented essential oils, as well as condition the skin. Some of the most common and effective carrier oils for homemade perfumes include:

Jojoba Oil – Jojoba is one of the most popular carrier oils because it mimics the skin’s natural oils. It has a light, golden color and barely noticeable scent, allowing the perfume oils to shine. Jojoba oil nourishes skin and provides a smooth base for essential oils (source).

Coconut Oil – Fractionated coconut oil is ideal for homemade perfumes. The fractionation process removes any scent from the oil, leaving it odorless. This allows the essential oil fragrance to come through. Coconut oil is hydrating for skin and provides excellent dilution for essential oils (source).

Sweet Almond Oil – Sweet almond oil has very little scent of its own, yet provides nourishing vitamin E and fatty acids to condition skin. It has a lightweight feel and mixes well with essential oils. Sweet almond oil helps the perfume last longer on the skin (source).

Essential Oils for Top, Middle, Base Notes

Essential oils are categorized into top, middle, and base notes based on when their aromas emerge as a perfume evaporates. Top notes provide the initial aroma and dissipate first. Citrus and herbal oils like lemon, orange, grapefruit, basil, and thyme are commonly used as top notes. Middle notes emerge after top notes fade and last a bit longer with floral scents. Lavender, jasmine, geranium, and rose are popular middle note essential oils. Finally, base notes ground the perfume with their deep, rich scents that linger the longest. Base notes like cedarwood, sandalwood, vanilla, oakmoss, and patchouli have woody, musky aromas.

According to Wikibooks, some examples of essential oils for each note category include:

Top Notes: Lemon, Orange, Grapefruit, Bergamot

Middle Notes: Lavender, Rose, Jasmine, Geranium

Base Notes: Frankincense, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Patchouli

When formulating homemade perfume, using essential oils from each note category creates a balanced, multi-layered fragrance. Top notes provide a bright, uplifting opening, middle notes add body, and base notes provide depth and lasting power.

Blending and Ratio of Oils

When creating homemade perfume, it’s important to use the right ratio of carrier oils to essential oils for safety and efficacy. Typically, the ratio should be around 10 parts carrier oil to 1 part essential oil, or a 10% concentration of essential oils ([1]). This helps dilute and stabilize the essential oils so they don’t irritate skin when applied topically.

Some common carrier oils used in homemade perfume include:

• Jojoba oil
• Fractionated coconut oil
• Sweet almond oil
• Apricot kernel oil
• Grapeseed oil

When first starting out, aim for a maximum of 20% essential oils to 80% carrier oil. As you get more experienced blending, you can experiment with slightly higher essential oil concentrations like 30% essential oils to 70% carrier oils. But in general, maintaining at least an 80% carrier oil concentration helps make the perfume milder and less irritating ([2]).

Adding Natural Extracts

Some natural ingredients that can add depth, complexity, and unique notes to homemade perfumes include vanilla, teas, herbs, and spices. Vanilla is one of the most popular additions, as it has a warm, sweet, balsamic aroma that complements many other notes. Some options for vanilla extracts include:

• Vanilla beans – For a rich, intense vanilla note, you can directly infuse vanilla beans in your carrier oil or alcohol
• Vanilla oleoresin – An extract made from vanilla beans that provides a concentrated vanilla flavor
• Vanilla absolute – A solvent-extracted essence from vanilla beans

Teas like black tea, green tea, and chai tea can add an extra dimension with their natural aromas. Herbs such as lavender, rosemary, and mint impart distinct herbal nuances. Spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom inject warmth. When adding natural extracts, use a light hand and start with just a few drops until the desired intensity is reached. It’s easier to add more later than to overwhelm the perfume.

Sources:

Dominique Roques is In Search of Perfumes

Perfume Fixatives

Perfume fixatives are ingredients added to homemade perfumes to help the scent last longer on skin. They work by binding to the essential oils and carrier oils, slowing down evaporation so the perfume lingers. Some of the most popular fixatives for homemade perfume include:

Benzoin resin – This balsamic resin from the Styrax tree has a sweet, warm, vanilla-like scent. It acts as a fixative while also providing a base note. Benzoin makes an excellent addition to perfumes with floral or citrus notes. A little goes a long way, typically 2-5% of the perfume formula.[1]

Castoreum – This thick, creamy secretion from beavers was historically used in perfumery. Though rare today, it has a rich, leather-like aroma that helps anchor other notes. Use castoreum at 1% or less in perfumes.[1]

Ambergris – This intestinal secretion from sperm whales was once highly prized as a fixative. However, ambergris use is controversial today due to ethical concerns. Synthetic ambroxan can mimic ambergris scent instead.

Storing and Maturing Homemade Perfume

Proper storage is important for allowing the perfume to mature and the scents to blend together. Here are some tips:

Store in dark colored bottles or containers. Light can damage the essential oils and shorten the lifespan of your perfume. Amber or blue colored glass bottles work well to block light.

Allow 4-6 weeks for the perfume to age and mature. The different scents will meld together over this time. Be patient and allow your perfume to rest before using.

Some recommend storing homemade perfume in the refrigerator during the maturing process. The cool temperature helps the scents blend and settle. Just make sure to bring it back to room temperature before using.

Consider “macerating” your perfume by gently shaking or turning the bottle daily while it rests. This helps to blend the oils together more quickly.

Once matured, be sure to keep your homemade perfume somewhere dark and cool. Don’t store it in direct sunlight or heat, as this can diminish the scent.

With proper storage and maturation time, your homemade perfume can retain its aroma for months or longer.

Safety Tips

When creating homemade perfumes, it’s important to keep safety in mind. Here are some tips:

Patch test any perfume blend on a small area of skin before applying it more widely. That will allow you to check for any skin irritation or allergic reactions. Wait 24-48 hours after patch testing to check for any redness or inflammation [1].

Avoid using phototoxic essential oils like bergamot, lemon, lime, grapefruit, and orange at more than 1% concentration. Phototoxic oils can cause burns, blistering, and pigmentation changes when exposed to UV rays [2].

Store finished perfumes away from heat and light which can degrade the quality over time. Tinted glass bottles are ideal.

Keep perfumes out of reach of children as ingestion could be toxic. Use childproof caps on perfume bottles.

List all ingredients on the perfume label so users can identify potential allergens or irritants [3].

Conclusion

Creating your own homemade perfume offers many benefits over store-bought perfumes. By making it yourself, you can customize the scent to your personal preferences and avoid any synthetic chemicals found in commercial fragrances. You have full control over the quality of ingredients you use.

The key to a great homemade perfume is finding the right balance of carrier oils and essential oils. Some of the best carrier oils to use are fractionated coconut oil, jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil. Top notes like citrus and floral oils give an initial burst, while middle and base notes like sandalwood, vanilla and amber help the scent last longer.

Making perfume at home also allows you to create personalized scents for yourself or as gifts for loved ones. You can blend and experiment with different oil combinations until you find your perfect signature scent. The final product will be free of artificial additives and preservatives.

With some basic guidelines, high-quality ingredients, and a bit of trial and error, you can create homemade perfumes that are natural, long-lasting, and delightful to wear.