How To Make Your Own Perfume Oils

Natural perfumes are made up of Essential Oils diluted in a Carrier Oil to make them skin safe. These Essential Oils are typically divided into three scent categories: Head Notes, Heart Notes, and Base Notes.

Head Notes are aromas that are the strongest, but are released on initial application of the perfume and dissipate fairly quickly due to their high volatility (usually within 1/2 an hour).

Base Notes are longer lasting (about 2 to 4+ hours), have the lowest volatility, and are releast last- adding depth and richness to a perfume.

Heart Notes are mid-range mediators between the two, and often make up about 70% of a blend; their volatility is wide ranging, and give them lasting power from anywehre to 20 minutes like a Head Note, to 4+ hours like a Base Note.

Unfortunately no matter how well formulated a natural perfume is, they will never have the staying power of a synthetic perfume, and will always dissipate more quickly overall.

Creating your own basic natural perfume will require the following materials:

• 1 [one] 5 ml (0.2 fl oz) rollerball bottle
• At least 3 essential oils: 1 Head, 1 Heart, and 1 Base note
• An unscented Carrier Oil, like Jojoba or Almond Oil
• One plastic pipette or glass dropper for each Essential Oil and one for the Carrier Oil

Every milliliter of liquid is roughly 20 drops with a plastic pipette or glass dropper. Using a standard 5 ml bottle as an example, then: 5 ml x 20 drops = 100 drops total. So for a 5 ml bottle, you’re going to account for roughly 100 drops of liquid formulation total. The ratios of the notes, then, are calculated as 2 parts base : 1 part heart : 1 part head.

The rest of the formulation is a skin nourishing carrier oil such as Jojoba, Sweet Almond, etc. The addition of this Carrier oil is a process called dilution, and is ultimately necessary to make the perfume skin safe- especially when dealing with essential oils.

There is a large range of concentration levels (the ratio of pure essentials to diluting carrier oil) that vary across perfume brands, however. Each of these concentrations levels traditionally has a defined name and structure associated with it in Perfumery.

Eau Fraiche: 1% to 3% dilution- or 1 to 5 drops per 100 total (99:1 / 97:3)

Eau de Cologne: 2% to 4% dilution- 2 to 4 drops per 100 total (98:2 / 96:4).

Eau de Toilette: 5% to 10% dilution- or 5 to 10 drops per 100 total (95:5 / 90:10).

Eau de Parfum: 10% to 20% dilution- or 10 to 20 drops per 100 total (90:10 / 80:20).

Extrait de Parfum: 20% to 40% + dilution- or 20 to 40 drops per 100 total (80:20 / 60:40)

So let’s say you want to have a nice Eau de Parfum that's 20% fragrance. 20% of 100 drops is 20 drops. This means that your fragrance combination will amount to 20 drops and the remaining 80 drops will be your carrier oil. Since we have 100 drops to account for and we now know the percentages and ratios, the formula is easy to calculate:

• 80 drops of carrier oil
• 20 drops of essential oils, divided

  10 drops base : 5 drops head : 5 drops heart

Keep in mind, that is a basic way of dividing up the oils. Generally, once you’ve figured out your ratio / drop number, you don’t have to follow that to a T. You could have 12 drops base, 5 drops heart, and 3 drops head if you want to. It’s really dependent on the strength and smell of your oils; the perfumery process is all about experimentation.

Once you have your ingredients ready, follow these five simple steps:

1. Add 80 drops of carrier oil to the perfume bottle
2. Add in 10 drops of the essential oil base notes
3. Followed by 5 drops of head note
4. Then 5 drops of heart notes
5. Seal the bottle and shake well to combine
6. Label your creation with the date of bottling
7. Store in a cool, dark place for at least two weeks

In the case you want to recreate your scent later, don’t forget to record your custom recipe somewhere safe.