Make Cologne With Essential Oils: Smell Great, Feel Great

Creating a cologne with essential oils is a fun way to make your own customised scent. It's also a great natural alternative to commercial perfumes, which often contain chemicals and synthetic fragrances.

To make your own cologne, you'll need a blend of essential oils, a carrier oil, and a glass bottle. The blend of essential oils is key to creating a unique scent, and there are many different oils to choose from, including:

- Citrus scents like bergamot, orange, and lemon

- Woody scents like cedarwood and sandalwood

- Musk scents like ambrette

- Herbal scents like lavender and rosemary

- Floral scents like rose and jasmine

When creating your blend, it's important to consider the different fragrance categories: top notes, middle notes, and base notes. Top notes are the first scent you'll notice, middle notes blend the scents together, and base notes are the longest-lasting. You can experiment with different combinations of essential oils to find a scent that you like.

Once you've created your blend, simply add the essential oils to your glass bottle, fill the rest of the bottle with a carrier oil, and shake well. Your customised cologne is now ready to use!

Choose your essential oils: Select oils that complement each other, such as citrus, woodsy, and floral scents

When choosing essential oils to blend, it's important to consider what you want to achieve with your cologne. Are you hoping to reduce stress, increase focus, or relieve seasonal allergies or chronic pain? Once you've identified your goals, you can select oils with the properties you need.

If you're aiming for a masculine scent, earthy, woodsy, spicy, and citrus notes are a good choice. Floral scents like lavender and jasmine are typically considered more feminine. However, you can experiment with different combinations to find what works best for you.

• Citrus: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Orange
• Earthy: Vetiver, Oakmoss, Patchouli
• Floral: Jasmine, Lavender, Neroli, Ylang-Ylang
• Herbaceous: Basil, Marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme
• Camphorous (or Medicinal): Cajuput, Eucalyptus, Tea Tree Oil
• Minty: Peppermint, Spearmint, Wintergreen
• Spicy: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger, Nutmeg
• Woodsy: Cedarwood, Cypress, Juniper Berry, Pine

When blending essential oils, it's generally safe to combine oils from the same category or cross-categories. For example, woodsy essential oils blend well with almost all other categories, while floral essential oils pair nicely with citrusy, woodsy, and spicy notes.

To create a balanced fragrance, combine oils from the three scent notes: top, middle, and base. Top notes are the first impression of the fragrance and evaporate quickly, middle notes form the heart of the scent and last for a few hours, and base notes are the longest-lasting impression, taking a few days to fully dissolve.

• 3 drops of lemongrass (top note), 3 drops of basil (middle note), 4 drops of cedarwood (base note), 6 drops of Douglas fir (base note)
• 2 drops of bergamot (top note), 3 drops of lemon (top note), 6 drops of clove (middle note), 8 drops of white fir (base note)
• 4 drops of wild orange (top note), 6 drops of sandalwood (middle note), 10 drops of frankincense (base note)
• 3 drops of lemon (top note), 4 drops of cardamom (middle note), 4 drops of ylang-ylang (middle note), 6 drops of vetiver (base note)

Remember, creating your own cologne is an experimental process, and it may take some time to find the perfect blend. Enjoy the journey of discovering new scents and don't be afraid to take risks!

Understand perfume notes: Combine top, middle, and base notes for a well-rounded fragrance

Creating a cologne fragrance with essential oils involves blending various notes to form a unified and pleasing perfume. Understanding how to combine top, middle, and base notes is crucial for crafting a well-rounded fragrance.

Top notes, also known as head notes, are the first scents detected after spraying a perfume. They play a crucial role in shaping the initial impression and typically consist of lighter, more volatile molecules that evaporate quickly. Common top notes include citrus scents like lemon, orange, and bergamot, as well as light floral scents such as lavender and rose.

Middle notes, also referred to as heart notes, emerge as the top notes fade. They form the core of the fragrance, creating a bridge between the initial impression of the top notes and the lasting resonance of the base notes. Middle notes are more substantial and rounded, often featuring floral, spicy, or fruity scents. Examples include jasmine, cinnamon, and black pepper.

Base notes are the foundation of the fragrance, providing depth, warmth, and longevity. They are rich, heavy, and long-lasting, typically kicking in about 30 minutes after application. Popular base notes include vanilla, musk, patchouli, and woody notes like sandalwood and cedarwood.

When blending these notes, it's important to consider their relative proportions. A typical cologne might have around 10-15% top notes, 25-30% middle notes, and 55-65% base notes. However, these percentages are just a starting point, and you can adjust them as needed to create your desired fragrance.

Additionally, the choice of essential oils for each note is crucial. For a masculine cologne, earthy, woody, spicy, and citrus notes are often preferred. Examples include wild orange, sandalwood, cedarwood, bergamot, and clove.

Creating a cologne with essential oils involves experimentation and creativity. By understanding the role of each note and carefully selecting the right essential oils, you can design a unique and captivating fragrance.

Gather equipment: You'll need a glass bottle, pipettes or glass droppers, and a carrier oil like jojoba or almond oil

To make cologne with essential oils, you'll need to gather the right equipment. This includes a glass bottle, pipettes or glass droppers, and a carrier oil.

The glass bottle is important as it won't react with the essential oils. You can use a rollerball bottle, a spray bottle, or a simple glass perfume bottle. If you're making a roll-on cologne, you'll need a 10ml bottle. For a spray cologne, a 2-ounce bottle should be enough. If you're making a simple cologne, a 30ml (1 oz) glass bottle will do.

You'll also need some way of accurately measuring your essential oils, so get some pipettes or glass droppers.

Finally, you'll need a carrier oil. Carrier oils are used to dilute the essential oils and "carry" them onto the skin. Good options include jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, sweet almond oil, or fractionated coconut oil. Fractionated coconut oil is great but can be hard to find plastic-free and is a bit expensive.

Once you've gathered your equipment, you're ready to start making your cologne!

Follow concentration ratios: Use a maximum of 20% essential oils to carrier oil, or lower for sensitive skin

When creating your own cologne, it's important to dilute your essential oils with a carrier oil to prevent skin irritation and optimise the fragrance. The maximum concentration of essential oils in a blend is typically 20%, but this can be lowered for sensitive skin.

Diluting your essential oils is a crucial step before applying them directly to your skin. Essential oils are highly potent and can cause skin irritation if not used responsibly. By blending and diluting essential oils with milder products, you can safely enjoy your custom-formulated cologne without altering the properties of the essential oils. Dilution also helps to enhance the physical experience of wearing cologne. Essential oils are highly volatile, meaning they evaporate quickly. By mixing them with a less volatile, more absorptive medium, they will linger longer on your skin and penetrate deeper, prolonging your enjoyment of the scent.

It's important to note that the optimal dilution ratios for essential oils depend on various factors, including age, health conditions, medications, and skin and olfactory sensitivity. The general recommendation for adults is to add 10 to 20 drops of essential oil (a maximum concentration of about 3%) for long-term regular use. This equates to 0.5% to 2% of the total blend. However, if you have sensitive skin, you may want to start with a lower concentration and adjust as needed.

When creating cologne, it's also crucial to consider the type and quality of essential oils used, as well as the blend's application and duration of use. Additionally, certain essential oils, such as citrus oils, may contain phototoxic properties, so they should be avoided if you plan to be exposed to the sun after application. Always do solid background research on the essential oils you plan to use and perform a skin patch test before using any new blend.

Apply your cologne: Dab or roll onto pulse points like the wrists, neck, and collarbone

When applying cologne, it's important to remember that less is more. You want to create a subtle signature scent that people can appreciate when they come close, rather than overwhelming everyone in the room.

The best way to apply cologne is to dab or roll it onto your pulse points. These are areas where your heart pulse can be felt, and the warmth of your blood will help to warm the fragrance. The main pulse points are your wrists, neck, and collarbone, but you can also apply cologne to the crease of your arm (inner elbow) and behind your ear.

When applying cologne to your wrists, avoid the common mistake of rubbing your wrists together, as this disrupts the molecules of the fragrance. Instead, press your wrists into the pulse point on your neck so that the cologne sits below the skin. This will help the scent to last longer.

If you're going out to a noisy social event, you might want to apply a small amount of cologne behind your ear. That way, when people lean in to speak to you, they'll be able to smell your attractive scent.

When applying cologne to your collarbone, spray once towards the upper centre of your chest. This will allow the cologne to reach your collarbone, neck, and possibly your face, depending on the atomizer.

Remember, the number of sprays and the specific application will depend on the strength of your cologne and your personal preference. It's always better to start with fewer sprays and slowly add more as needed.

Frequently asked questions