Lance Carson
Creating your own fragrance is an easy and fun process that allows you to design a unique, custom scent. While perfumery has traditionally been a mystical practice reserved for elites, it has evolved over the centuries and is now accessible to anyone. With the right ingredients and a bit of creativity, you can make your own signature fragrance at home. The basic process involves combining essential oils, fragrance oils, and carrier oils, such as jojoba or almond oil, in the right ratios to create a well-rounded scent. You can then add alcohol to help merge the ingredients and preserve your fragrance. By following simple steps and experimenting with different scents, you can design a personalised perfume that is not only inexpensive but also healthy and free from toxins.
How to Make Fragrance at Home
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Container | Glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid |
| Container Colour | Dark glass |
| Container Size | 10ml |
| Container Type | Spray bottle, roller bottle, atomizer bottle |
| Carrier Oil | Jojoba oil, almond oil, apricot kernel oil, avocado oil, fractionated coconut oil, sweet almond oil, grape seed oil, olive oil, vitamin E oil |
| Alcohol | Vodka, Everclear, grain alcohol, rubbing alcohol, grape alcohol |
| Alcohol Percentage | 80-100 proof (40-50% alc/vol) |
| Alcohol Quantity | 7ml, 140 drops |
| Distilled Water | 20 drops (optional) |
| Essential Oils | Lavender, coriander, palmarosa, marjoram, basil, rosemary, rose geranium, pettitgrain, patchouli, vetiver, frankincense, cedarwood, sandalwood, citrus, woody, spicy, floral |
| Essential Oil Quantity | 20% of 200 drops (40 drops), 30 drops |
| Ratios | 30% top notes, 50% middle notes, 20% base notes |
| Notes | Top notes: lemon, orange, grapefruit, lime, bergamot, spearmint, peppermint; Middle notes: floral, oriental, woody, fresh; Base notes: patchouli, vetiver, frankincense, cedarwood, sandalwood |
| Cost | A few dollars for a roller bottle, $12+ for a perfume bottle |
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What You'll Learn
Choosing a container
Choosing the right container for your fragrance is essential to preserve its quality and scent. Here are some key considerations when selecting a container:
Material
The most suitable material for fragrance containers is glass. Glass protects the product from solid and gaseous contaminants. However, clear glass can allow sunlight to pass through, causing the fragrance to break down and lose its quality. Therefore, it is best to opt for dark or amber-coloured glass containers, which can lengthen the fragrance's life by shielding it from light. Infinity Jars offers glass containers that are specifically designed to maintain the freshness of your fragrances. Alternatively, you could consider using ultraviolet glass, which blocks harmful light from penetrating the container.
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Avoid using containers that previously held food items, even if they have been washed out. Residual scents can remain in the glass and transfer to your perfume, altering its fragrance. The only exception to this is if you intentionally want to incorporate the scent of what was previously in the container.
Airtight Seals and Caps
Choose bottles with airtight seals and caps to prevent unnecessary exposure to air, which can cause the perfume to oxidize and deteriorate. Cheaper bottles often have poorly fitted caps, leading to leaks or stale perfume.
Storage
Store your fragrance bottles upright rather than on their side to reduce the risk of leaks and preserve the quality of your perfume.
Design
While the design may not be the most critical factor, it can enhance the overall appeal of your fragrance. You may opt for a simple or elegant design, or even customise the container with labels to showcase your creation.
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Picking a carrier oil
When creating your own perfume, carrier oils play a crucial role in the process. Carrier oils, also known as base oils, serve as the foundation upon which essential oils are built. They are generally unscented and used to dilute concentrated oils and aromatics that can irritate the skin. They also help to carry and disperse the aromatic molecules of essential oils, allowing the scent to linger on the skin and release its fragrance gradually. Carrier oils are made from plant or vegetable sources and are used to dilute essential oils for massage oils as well.
There are many carrier oils to choose from, each with its own unique characteristics, so you can tailor your perfume to your preferences and skin type. Jojoba oil is a popular choice among perfume enthusiasts due to its similarity to the skin's natural sebum, making it ideal for blending with essential oils. This oil is highly stable, ensuring that the fragrance it carries maintains its integrity over extended periods. Sweet almond oil is another popular option, known for its light and easily absorbable nature, and is rich in essential fatty acids and vitamins, making it nourishing for the skin.
Sunflower oil is a good choice for perfumes with floral, herbal, or citrusy scents as its mild aroma provides a neutral base for various essential oils, allowing the top notes to shine. Virgin coconut oil is also lightweight and fast-absorbing, allowing the perfume to blend seamlessly with the skin and creating a lingering scent. Mango seed oil has a great exotic mango aroma and its light texture ensures easy absorption, making it an excellent choice for daytime and summer-inspired perfumes.
Rosehip oil, derived from the seeds of wild roses, is renowned for its elegant and delicate scent, adding a touch of sophistication to fragrances. It is a favourite among perfume connoisseurs for its ability to impart depth and complexity to any perfume composition. It is also prized for its skincare benefits, making it a dual-purpose choice.
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Blending essential oils
Step 1: Understanding Essential Oils
Firstly, it is important to understand the basics of essential oils. Essential oils are often grouped into categories based on their aromas, such as floral, woody, menthol, herbal, and citrus. These groups are called "families" or "notes". The notes refer to the different levels of scent in a blend, with top notes being light and subtle, middle notes forming the core of the fragrance, and base notes being the heaviest and slowest to disperse.
Step 2: Selecting Essential Oils
Choose a variety of essential oils, including top, middle, and base notes. You may also want to include some special oils like organic rose or organic helichrysum. Blends can be as simple as a well-proportioned mix of just two oils. Consider the desired outcome, such as creating a masculine or feminine fragrance, and select oils that complement each other.
Step 3: Categorisation
Categorise the essential oils based on their aromas. Some oils may fall into one category, while others may belong to two or three categories. You can refer to books or websites that provide essential oil profiles to help with this step. List out the categories for each oil to easily combine them based on their categories later.
Step 4: Creating Balance
When creating a blend, aim for a balanced and harmonised fragrance. Pay attention to the notes of each essential oil and how quickly their scents fade after exposure to oxygen. The ideal ratio for blending notes is 30% top notes, 50% middle notes, and 20% base notes. However, feel free to experiment and adjust the ratios to create your desired fragrance.
Step 5: Testing and Adjusting
Start by creating small blends for testing, using only 10-15 drops of essential oil total. This allows you to experiment without wasting precious oils. Mix the oils in a clean bowl or bottle, preferably a small amber glass bottle to protect the oils from direct sunlight and evaporation. You can also use glass containers with tight-fitting lids to store your blends, ensuring they are clean and haven't previously contained food items to avoid residual scents.
Step 6: Dilution and Application
If you plan to use your blend on the skin, it must be diluted with a carrier oil, as pure essential oils should not be applied directly to the skin. Common carrier oils include jojoba, sweet almond, grape seed oil, or even olive oil. For skin application, add one drop of your essential oil blend to one teaspoon of carrier oil for normal skin or one tablespoon for sensitive skin.
Step 7: Final Adjustments
Test your blend by applying a small amount to a perfume blotter or cotton ball. Inhale and assess how the aromas evaporate. Make adjustments as needed by adding new oils or boosting certain ingredients. Retest the blend after 24 hours to ensure the fragrance develops as desired.
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Adding alcohol
Perfume is an art form and a difficult one to master. It is not the method that makes it difficult, but the designing, refining, and adjusting of your fragrance blend. However, with patience and passion for blending fragrances, you can create your own unique scent.
Alcohol is a popular choice for perfume-making as it evaporates quickly and helps to diffuse the perfume's notes. It is best for fully diluting your ingredients and functions as a preservative. The alcohol carrier will carry the scent further because the alcohol evaporates and takes some of the fragrance with it. The type of alcohol you use is important. You should use pure, undenatured ethanol, specifically for use in perfume. Denatured ethanol is widely available and often cheaper, but it is usually mixed with methanol, which can cause adverse reactions when applied to the skin.
You can use vodka, which is typically 80- to 100-proof (40% to 50% alcohol by volume). However, if obtaining alcohol specifically made for perfumery is too difficult, you can use 190-proof Everclear. You can also use cosmetic-grade Trade Specific Denatured Alcohol (TSDA), which is made specifically for use in cosmetic products. The most widely used and recommended variant is SD-40b.
To make your fragrance, you will first need to add your base notes to the alcohol. For a standard mixture, use about 10-30% essential oil or fragrance oil in total. Finish with 10 drops of top notes to 30ml of alcohol. If you are using fragrance oil, you can start with a ratio of 3ml of fragrance to 30ml of alcohol. This is a 10% fragrance usage rate, but you can use more or less depending on the desired strength. Swirl gently to mix.
Let your perfume sit in a cool, dark place for at least 48 hours, or up to a month for perfumes made with essential oils. This aging process allows the oils to meld with the alcohol, enhancing the depth and longevity of your fragrance. Once your perfume has matured, filter out any sediment using a coffee filter or a fine-mesh strainer. Funnel the liquid into your final storage bottle, preferably dark glass to protect the oils from light. Your custom perfume is now ready to wear!
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Testing and refining
Once you've created your fragrance, it's time to test and refine it to perfection. Here are some detailed instructions on how to do just that:
Begin by dilute your fragrance. Add a small amount of your fragrance concentrate to a carrier, such as neutral-scented oil or perfumer's alcohol. The general rule is a
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Frequently asked questions
The basic ingredients for making perfume are a carrier oil, essential oils, and alcohol. The carrier oil carries the scent of the essential oils onto your skin. Popular choices for carrier oils include jojoba oil, almond oil, and grape seed oil. Essential oils are what give the perfume its scent, and popular choices include lavender, lemon, and rosemary. Alcohol is added to help merge the ingredients together.
First, obtain a clean glass container with a tight-fitting lid. Then, add your carrier oil to the container, filling it about halfway. Next, add your essential oils. The ideal ratio for blending notes is 30% top notes, 50% middle notes, and 20% base notes. Finally, add the alcohol and seal the bottle tightly. Shake the bottle well and store it in a cool, dark place.
When choosing essential oils, it is important to look up any health advisories as not all essential oils are skin safe. You can find affordable essential oils at places like Brambleberry. It is also important to consider the scent you are trying to create. For example, if you want a floral scent, you might choose rose or lavender essential oils. If you want a woody scent, you might choose cedarwood or sandalwood.
