Making Your Own Perfumes

Making solid perfumes is very rewarding. They make gorgeous gifts – especially if you source something unusual and beautiful to use as the container!  If you have design skills you can make attractive labels also.

Making Your Own Magical Blends

Where it gets really exciting is that you can create your very own unique “blend” by choosing your own favorite essential oils!
You will find that the aromas of some oils go well together, and others just seem… strange. Sometimes, the ones that work well together are some unexpected combinations – so you’ll have to dive in and experiment!
You can get some basic ideas as to what might work simply by opening the tops of two (or more) essential oils together and breathing the “mixed” fragrance. Also, you don’t have to use equal amounts of each oil: one or two drops of certain oils like citrus will give a “lift” to a perfume, without necessarily being immediately identified.
Other essential oils can add an “earthiness” to an aroma – sandalwood, cinnamon, vanilla. Ah, these are truly the secrets of the perfumer! There are many natural aromas considered aphrodisiac since ancient times – and these have found their way, secretly, into the seductive charms of the ladies of many centuries. What’s interesting is that these “aphrodisiac scents” – or derivatives of them – are also found in many of the world’s most famous perfumes.

The Recipes…

Our super-simple solid perfume recipe calls for only pure and natural ingredients:
100% pure beeswax
Jojoba oil
Essential oils
That’s it! You will need to be careful and focused (and have adult supervision if appropriate!), as preparation does involve the use of very hot / boiling water and hot wax. Here is the tutorial:
1) Measure 1 1/2 tsp of jojoba oil into a small glass or cup.
2) Add the essential oils to the jojoba and mix well. Use a total of 25 drops of essential oil – so for example:
7 drops frankincense
7 drops ylang ylang
5 drops ginger
6 drops sweet orange
or
7 drops sandalwood
2 drops cedarwood
5 drops amber (if you can find real oil of amber!)
6 drops vanilla
or
7 drops jasmine
6 drops gardenia
6 drops neroli
4 drops costus / tuberose / rose
2 drops bergamot
Try these – or use your favorite essential oils. Please feel free to post your own recipes in the comments!
3) Melt 1 tsp of grated beeswax. It is important to use a “double boiler” when melting beeswax, with the inner pan being non-metal. This is because if the beeswax is just melted in a pan, it can very easily be ruined by the too-high temperature. Grating it first speeds up the process. Beeswax starts to get soft around 90ºF and melts at around 145-147ºF. (It starts to go brown at around 170ºF, so I read). One of those tiny non-metal pans is ideal, placed inside a larger pan of water. Heat the water in the bigger pan first, then place the “inner” pan holding the beeswax inside it (don’t get any water in the beeswax!) until the beeswax melts. If you can keep the temperature of the water around 150-160ºF – so that the beeswax is melted but the water is not yet boiling – you are doing well.
4) Add the jojoba / essential oil mix to the beeswax and stir well.
5) Remove from heat and pour into your container(s). Be very careful not to splash onto skin / eyes!
6) Allow to cool at least 15 minutes. You’re done!
Notes –
a) if you are making larger amounts, simply keep the ingredients in the right ratio i.e. “double everything”.
b) if the final product seems too soft or too hard, adjust the amount of beeswax (a little more beeswax in the recipe will make the end product harder).
c) if you desire a stronger scent, add a little more essential oil… don’t skimp on the jojoba though.

Resources:

I’ve sourced all the ingredients for you on Amazon:
100% Organic Hand Poured Premium Quality, Cosmetic Grade, Triple Filtered Bees Wax
Desert Essence Organic Jojoba Oil 100% Pure 4oz
Essential oils (use organic, therapeutic grade for best results!) The ones I like are Eden’s Garden Organic Essential Oils range – they are getting rave reviews and are amazingly well priced. You can buy individual oils or boxed sets of various sizes.
A huge thank you to Design Sponge for kindly granting us permission to use their photos. Their AWESOME original tutorial, with lots more pics, can be found here: Diy project: solid perfume pocket watch locket | Design*Sponge
That’s it! Any thoughts? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page.