Reader Tips: Making Your Own Perfume or Cologne

5 by Becky Striepe on July 16, 2010

Spray Perfume

Not too long ago, we talked a bit about mixing your own scents to avoid the toxic chemicals in store bought fragrance. The recipe called for adding 40-60 drops of essential oil in a 2oz. spray bottle, then filling the rest of the bottle up with rubbing alcohol. The idea here is that oil dissolves in alcohol, so it's a good, inexpensive carrier for the scent.

There was some great discussion in the comments, and we wanted to share some of those reader insights!

Commenters Margaret Welke and Tiffany S. suggested using grain alcohol instead of isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Tiffany pointed out that IPA "is VERY flammable and is toxic if absorbed in significant amounts."

Margaret also suggested using a glass bottle instead of plastic, which is a great tip! Travel spritz bottles found at the drug store are usually plastic, so I recommend something like this glass bottle suggested in the original post.

Jessie mentioned that her skin is sensitive to alcohol, which is a great point. For folks with a sensitivity, you can try dissolving your essential oil in a carrier oil like sweet almond or apricot kernel oil. Instead of a spritz, you might want to just dab this onto your pulse points and rub it in well - an all oil mixture will almost certainly stain your clothes. Jessie also wondered if glycerin would work, which I'm not sure of. If anyone tries this with glycerin, I'd love to hear how it goes!

Do any of you guys have a favorite recipe for home made perfume or cologne? Maybe a favorite essential oil blend? I'd love to continue the discussion!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by theloushe

http://www.beingbohemian.com/blog kimi

I like this one. It has almond oil as a base…. 3 drops bergamot , 2 drops jasmine, 2 drops rosemary, 1 oz almond oil.

Becky Striepe

That sounds lovely!

hope faith

I use a few different mixtures for different things. I usually use water ,but if you do that you need to make sure you shake very well before spraying.
In the cold/flu season I always make sure I make a blend of lavender,eucalyptus,tea tree oil to spray around the room.
As a body spray/perfume spray i love the mix of rose oil and patchouli. sometimes i will add a little sandalwood.
Also I like rosewood,frankincense and myrrh. Another blend I like is clary sage, orange bergamont, & neroli.
All these blends smell amazing !
Good luck !
Geri

I use flower petals, or leaves from from plants like bee balm, pack in a small container and pour rubbing alcohol over it. Shake well every couple days. Let it sit for a week or so. Pour into a perfume container. Enjoy!!
Zephyr

I found out that a great base oil, which will not necessarily intrude with the scents of the other oils you use, but which will make the scent last a lot longer, is patchouli. I personally don’t like the smell of patchouli alone, but if you use just a few drops as a base you won’t be able to identify it. I think ylang-ylang may be another base oil to use, it is similar to patchouli in it’s darker-earthy-musky sort of smell, but in my opinion is a lot more pleasant. And again, the ylang-ylang won’t outweigh the other oils you use if you only use a few drops. As far as finding a thinner to use instead of alcohol, I use witch hazel and just shake the bottle to further diperse the oils before I spray it on me. There are all sorts of awesome combinations of scents that you can use, the best advice is to just use your nose to guide you, and also- don’t overdo it by trying to cram every oil you like into the same mixture. Pick a few of your favorites- put the bottles together on the table so you can smell them all at the same time, and if they smell good together then pick the oil you like best, add the most drops of that and then slowly add the other oils until you have the scent you want.