You want to make sure that people are able to smell you when you walk into a room. No, I’m not talking about the bad, *you stink* kind of smell. Everyone should have a signature scent, and with one of these solid perfume recipes with essential oils, you can have just that. In a good way of course.
Ahhh, the smell of your brain slowly dying
I used to love the body spray aisle at the local big box store. And of course you could bet your socks I was at the annual Bath and Body Works sale at the mall every holiday season. I’d spray, sniff, and savor each aroma, completely oblivious to the fact that all those pleasant fragrances were actually killing my brain cells. This study even found that the brain damage was worse with repeated exposure to the fragrances! Looking for more scholarly sources on this topic? More resources can be found at the bottom of this recipe.
I haven’t stepped foot in one of those places for over 5 years. Now when someone else walks by wearing one of those fake fragrances, it sticks out to me like a sore thumb. What used to smell so appealing, now smells fake and literally makes me short of breath.
How to get a potent, natural scent
So what do you use when you want to smell good and not assault your nose? All natural solid perfume of course! Now while I love herb-infused oils (like this herb-infused body lotion and dandelion-infused hand lotion), the scent from these is so subtle, that it doesn’t work well in a perfume. I like using essential oils in solid perfume instead since they give a pleasing, natural fragrance, but they’re also concentrated enough to work well.
The trick here is using enough essential oil that you can smell it, but not so much that you’re irritating the skin. Then there are also certain oils, like bergamot and lime, that smell fantabulous, but can also cause photosensitivity. Contrary to what you’ve probably heard, not all citrus oils are phototoxic, which is why I’ve included orange in one of these recipes. You can read more about the truth about phototoxic essential oils here.
Essential oil safety
Both patchouli and lavender are safe to use undiluted on small areas of the body, like on a bug bite, or in a perfume. This allows us to have a noticeable scent to the perfume, without risking skin irritation. As always though, you can do a patch test on your arm to make sure you don’t have an issue with it.
The base for these solid perfumes comes from my book, Body & Skin: DIY Bodycare Gifts to make and give. You can find more solid perfume recipes in my book, along with plenty of other safe DIY bodycare projects like non-waxy lip balm, white chocolate orange body butter that isn’t greasy, and gingerbread lip scrub to name a few.
Also, you can grab one exclusive recipe inspired from my book right here on Scratch Mommy – A Gorgeous Rose-Infused Lip Scrub Recipe!
More than just a great smell
The lavender blend is more floral and feminine, while the patchouli is more of an Earthy unisex blend.
Lavender is calming and helps to destress, while the ylang ylang acts as a mild aphrodisiac. Patchouli is also a mild aphrodisiac and helps lift the mood. Orange energizes and uplifts the mood with its fruity fragrance. I absolutely love both of these blends!
- 2 Tbsp Organic Sweet Almond Oil or other liquid carrier oil of choice (learn ALL about carrier oils in this detailed post)
- 1 Tbsp + 2 tsps Beeswax Pastilles (naturally processed, sustainably sourced beeswax)
- 2 oz tin or about 5 of these handy lip slide tins
- Combine the carrier oil and beeswax in your tin and place this in your oven on a baking sheet.
- Turn the oven on to the lowest temperature, about 200 degrees, and let the beeswax melt. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes, so you want to keep a close eye on it. You don't want the oil to get too hot, just warm enough that everything melts together.
- As soon as the beeswax has melted, carefully remove the tray from the oven. Add the essential oils and carefully stir with a toothpick to combine. This hardens in seconds, so work fast!
- Immediately cap your tin to prevent the volatile oils from evaporating into the air.
- Use on your hair, or the pulse points, on your wrists for a pleasant perfume.
Further resources: Fragrance Alters Mood and Brain Chemistry, Neurotoxicity of Fragrance Compounds: A Review, & Fragrance in the Workplace is the New Second-Hand Smoke.
Comments 12
This recipe looks amazing! Lavender must smell amazing in the perfume. 🙂
Love this idea! I will definitely be trying this, thank you for sharing!
One question about the recipe – are you saying that you add 30 drops of patchouli and 20 drops of orange essential oil to each container? I wasn’t clear on that. Thanks!
Hi there! This recipe makes about 2 oz. We suggest using 30 drops of patchouli and 20 drops of orange essential oils to one 2 oz. tin. I hope this helps you!
Hi there,
great post and recipe on solid perfumes! I have been looking for recipes and fragrance blends for a few days now and your recipe has given me some great ideas.
However, the article you cited titled ‘Acute toxic effects of fragrance products.’ was published in 1998. Considering this post was published in 2016, the research is almost 20 years out of date and will not hold in an respectable institution. I 100% agree with you that chemical based fragrances are awful in every way but if you want to back up your opinions with scientific research, it is important to find current research and not something from almost 2 decades ago.
Hi Rachel. Thanks for your feedback. I have added additional studies at the end of the post.
I am definitely going to make some of these. Going to buy tins tomorrow. Thanks Dana
Great tips! Thanks for posting!
Can’t wait to try this. Thanks for the recipe.
I love your website design and this recipe. The recipe is printable as a single page to be saved as its own document. 99% of websites like this make printing and saving the recipe a mess and requires saving several pages of garbage ads, etc. Well done!
Oh, well…you are welcome. Happy DIYing for you!
Thank You