How to make a natural perfume part 1: eau de toilette

We all use perfumes, deodorants, aftershaves, body sprays and fragrances of all kinds to ensure we smell nice, feel good and are refreshed. Have you thought about making your own perfume? How about making a perfume that is uniquely yours with no artificial ingredients, just beautiful natural materials? This is really easy to do, good fun and it doesn’t take long to learn or do. Here’s our guide to getting started…

Why make your own natural perfumes?

• Perfumes available in shops and markets are made with synthetic ingredients that many people are allergic to.
• Using natural essential oils means you will also get the therapeutic benefits for body, mind and emotions, which you don’t get with synthetic perfumes that use synthetic oils.
• Perfumes cost a lot of money and making them yourself significantly reduces that price.
• You can make a fragrance that is uniquely yours, that no-one else has or will ever have: your own signature scent!
• If you make it, you know what ingredients have been used. A product you can trust.
•  It’s great fun, easy to do and it doesn’t take very long.

What kind of natural perfumes can you make?

• Solid oil-based perfumes applied to the pulse points (wrists, solar plexus, neck and temples).
• Roll-on oil-based perfumes.
• Alcohol-based perfumes that are used in spray form.

There are different types of perfumes that you can make all varying in strength from parfum and eau de parfum to the most popular eau de toilette, and finally, eau fraiche which is used as a body spray.

Parfums are very strong smelling and highly concentrated essential oil formulas. You only need apply a few drops once a day and the smell will last for a very long time.

How do you make natural perfumes?

To make 25ml you will need the following:

• A 30ml perfume bottle or bottle with a spray top.
• An apron and rubber gloves to ensure you don’t get any of the ingredients on your skin and clothes.
• A glass measuring beaker that measures from 0-30ml.
• Kitchen roll/tissues, table cloth and table mat – to ensure you don’t damage work surfaces.
• 23.5ml of perfumers’ alcohol (or you could use vodka).
• 1.5ml of essential oil (about 35 drops).

You will also need to blend essential oils together to create your scent and to help you to do this you can either use my suggestions below and/or refer to my earlier blog post Beginners Guide to Essential Oils – Part II – Blending Made Easy.

Instructions

1. Measure out 23.5ml of perfumers’ alcohol into your measuring beaker.
2. Select which essential oils you would like to use.
3. Decide the number of drops of each essential oil (35 in total).
4. Place the drops of essential oil into your beaker.
5. Stir the solution and pour into your perfume bottle.
6. Seal the top on tightly and then shake gently (you will not need to shake before each use because the essential oils are soluble in the alcohol solution).
7. Label your perfume and make a note of what and how much you have used – you may want to make it again!
8. It’s best to leave the blend for three hours before using and even better would be for one day.

 

Blending suggestions (the number indicates the number of drops)

Summer Loving: bergamot x 14, grapefruit x 7, geranium x 9, cedarwood x 5

Indian Spring: lemongrass x 15, lavender x 8, sandalwood x 12

Asian Bloom: orange x 10, lavender x 10, geranium x 10, ylang ylang x 5

 

If you’d like to learn about creating oil-based perfumes, you can find out all about those here.

Happy blending!