I’ve been intrigued by perfumes ever since I was a kid. Scents are closely linked to memory, and I’ve found that many of my earliest memories are tied to specific smells. For example, I remember my great aunt’s hand lotion when she sang me to sleep, the scent of the medicine I had to take as a baby, and the tempera paint from crafts my mom did with us when I was just two.
When I was six, my friend and I got the idea to start our own perfume business. We tried making perfumes using flowers, water, and other natural materials. We quickly learned that mixing live plants and water in a sealed jar creates a smell—just not a pleasant one!
By high school, I started saving up to buy my own perfume and realized how expensive it is to smell like a celebrity. I had one bottle that lasted six years because I barely used it.
Now, as a mom with young kids, I’m often lucky to find time to shower, and I’m more focused on choosing non-toxic beauty products than wearing a specific perfume. Still, there are days when a natural perfume would be nice, especially considering that many conventional ones contain numerous undisclosed chemicals.
Since I already make most of our beauty products, I thought I could tackle making perfume too, using essential oils for their scent and aromatherapy benefits.
This curiosity led me deep into research about the perfume industry and how fragrances are crafted. While creating my own perfume took considerable patience, it was definitely cheaper than buying store-bought ones (and I have a knack for falling for the priciest perfumes without knowing the cost).
Perfumes typically consist of fragrance oils in an alcohol base, with base notes, mid-tones, and top notes. The top notes are usually the first thing you smell, followed by the middle and then the base notes. When making your own, you add these in the order of base to top.
The alcohol alters the oils, and as the components blend, they change over time. Some combinations that initially smelled fantastic to me didn’t appeal after two weeks, whereas others that seemed awful turned into scents I loved after a while.
My favorite recipe includes a particular combination of oils, but the key is to find the ones and ratios that work for you. It’s helpful to add a few drops at a time and note down how many of each you use. Once you discover a blend you love, you’ll easily replicate it in the future.
These are the oils I used at each scent level…
I ultimately chose this fragrance because it worked best for me. I sourced all my oils online, but if you don’t have them, you might ask a friend who loves essential oils to sell you a few drops.
While I photographed my perfume in a nice glass bottle for Pinterest, I suggest storing homemade perfume in a dark, inexpensive container to preserve the scents. My perfume appears blue-green due to three drops of blue chamomile oil, but you can skip this if you prefer a neutral color—it’s never stained my clothing, even white ones.
While you can use the perfume immediately, I highly recommend letting it mature for at least a month. The wait is truly worth it!
Have you ever tried creating your own perfumes? How did it work out for you?
