Homemade Perfume Recipes Are a Heavenly Scent You Can Afford

Homemade perfume recipes allow you to make perfume, cologne or toilet water at home, providing you with a wonderful product so simple and so cost-effective, you may never want to buy a perfume from the department store again. 

Use pretty bottles to store your homemade perfumes.

Store your homemade perfume in a pretty bottle like these, available here.

I recently obtained the book, Perfumes, Splashes & Colognes by Nancy M. Booth, and have had a ball trying out the different recipes as well as coming up with a few recipes of my own.

These perfume recipes are really quite simple to make, although if you plan to pursue this as a hobby or - better still - use these homemade perfume recipes frequently to make gifts, you would do well to invest in special equipment that you will use solely for your homemade perfume recipes.

The savings will be well worth the initial investment. Think rich, lovely gifts for friends and loved ones, not to mention the perfumes you will enjoy at a fraction of the cost.

How to make your own perfume.

Not only can you make perfume with these homemade perfume recipes, you can also make perfumed oils that not only nourish your skin but leave a lovely, lingering scent.

What You Need

Here's the equipment you need for your homemade perfume recipes:

  • Glass measuring cup
  • Plastic measuring spoons
  • Glass rod
  • Glass droppers
  • Plastic funnels
  • Electric coffee grinder or mortar and pestle should you choose to add dried flowers to your perfume
How will the world explain away the Rapture?

Storing Your Perfume

You will need to store your perfume in a glass perfume bottle, preferably in the colors of blue, amber or green (you can find some online here) because they cut out the light, which can cause your oils to deteriorate. Mom did my shopping for me and found only two glass bottles, one clear and one red. I have three children, and two of them are under the age of four, so I'm not big on driving all over town for things.

Glass bottles are best when using this homemade perfume recipe.

Glass bottles are best. (Find some here).

(Mom has headed to the craft store anyway, so I hit her up). Next time, I plan to order my bottles online for my homemade perfume recipes. Store your creations in glass bottles. The high-density polyethylene or HDPE frosted plastic bottles will likely collapse if filled with your fragrance. Besides, you'll be saving so much money with these homemade perfume recipes, you can splurge on pretty glass bottles. Plastic containers are okay for bath and massage oils, but overall, glass is your safest bet.

That may seem like a lot, but you use very little of the oil, and it will last you for years - plenty for other homemade perfume recipes you may want to try. Heck, I might even make perfume for my husband's boss for Christmas with these homemade perfume recipes!

Before You Begin

Before you begin to use these homemade perfume recipes, make sure your bottles are as clean, dry, and sterile as possible. Nancy Booth recommends boiling your bottles in water for ten minutes, if possible, and then making sure they are completely dry.

Storing Your Creations

Store your essential oils and the mixtures you create in a cool, dark place. Heat and light can damage your oils and fragrances. Never store your perfumes in the bathroom as the heat and steam will wreak havoc with your precious creations.

If your perfume changes color or viscosity, that means it has become old. Throw it out and make a new batch.

Label Everything and Take Notes

Whenever you use a homemade perfume recipe, make a label for your bottle with the date you made it.

Also, when you try a new homemade perfume recipe, take careful notes of the combination of oils you blend. That way, whether you love it or hate it, you'll have a record to work with.

Stay Away From Metal

Never use metal spoons or other instruments, and never mix anything in a metal container. The metal could react with the oils, changing their composition.

A Word of Caution

Never put essential oils directly on your skin. Always dilute your essential oils with a carrier oil, such as jojoba oil or sweet almond oil.  Dilute your perfume mixture with alcohol or oil.

The Ingredients for
Homemade Perfume Recipes

They couldn't be more simple:

  • Essential oils of your choice
  • Fragrance oils of your choice
  • Vodka - use 100 proof vodka
  • Distilled water - for colognes and splashes
  • Jojoba oil - if you plan on making perfumed oil

The Amounts and Putting Them All Together

The following recipes are based on the assumption that you are putting 30 to 40 drops of essential oil in your fragrance.

If You're Making Perfume: After choosing your essential and/or fragrance oils, mix them together and add 1/8 ounce of 100-proof vodka.

If You're Making Eau de Perfume: After choosing and mixing your oils, add 1/4 ounce of 100-proof vodka.

If You're Making Eau de Toilette: After choosing and mixing your oils, add 1/2 ounce of 100-proof vodka.

If You're Making Sweet Waters: In a four-ounce glass bottle, mix your oils and add one ounce of 100-proof vodka. Then fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water. Shake and then let it mellow for two weeks, gently swirling the contents every day.

If You're Making Perfume Oil: jojoba oil is the best base for perfume oil. It disappears into the skin and leaves the scent behind. Plus, it won't go rancid the way other oils will. To make perfume oil, substitute the oil for vodka and do not add oil.

What Oils to Use?

When it comes to homemade perfume recipes, really the sky's the limit to what oils you can use.  Choose essential oils you like (you can find some here), blend some different types, and write down what you prefer. Work with your recipe and adjust it until it suits you to a tee. A unique fragrance all your own - isn't that the coolest?

Here's a Recipe I Came Up With

This fragrance is light, yet spicy.

  • 8 drops Bergamot Essential Oil
  • 14 drops Rose Absolute
  • 4 drops of Frankincense Oil
  • 3 drops of Sandalwood Essential Oil
  • 2 drops clove bud essential oil.

Put one-eighth of an ounce of 100-proof vodka in your glass bottle and then add the essential oils. Shake well and let it mellow for two weeks before using.

A Fragrance That's Pure Joy

And finally, here is a recipe that is supposed to smell just like the very expensive perfume Joy. The Eau de parfum version sells for over a hundred dollars. The pure perfume costs a whole lot more than that. The recipe comes from a book I bought at a yard sale years ago entitled Cosmetics From The Kitchen. The book itself is no longer in print, but you can get used copies from Amazon.

At the time, the ingredients seemed impossible to find. Ah, but that was before the internet! Now all of the ingredients are available, including the elusive heliotropin. However, the photos I saw of heliotropin showed large barrels of a synthetic chemical which doesn't thrill me. From the research I have done, heliotropin smells very similar to vanilla, so I would substitute vanilla fragrance for heliotropin. The rest of the ingredients can be found through the links I have listed below:

Pure Joy

Blend all the ingredients.  This will make about 3 and a half ounces of perfumed oil.

More Great Make it Yourself Recipes

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