Perfume has the power to shift moods, evoke memories and even attract others. However, not everyone can handle the strong alcohol used by modern perfumers. I have friends like this, who can’t wear regular spray perfume.
So, this week, I set about trying to make perfume without alcohol. One that is made purely from natural oils and can be rolled on the skin at various pressure points. A roll-on essential oil perfume recipe, to be exact. Like several of my other DIY perfumes, this was a roaring success, if I do say so myself.
Introduction
In this post, I’m going to teach you how to make my Island Haze Perfume, step by step. Then ‘ll show you my Tutti Fruity Roll On. Unlike a cologne or ‘Eau de Toilette’ spray, the fragrance from these roll-on essential oil recipes will last all day. A little goes a long way.
In fact, that’s my favorite thing about making a roll on essential oil perfume. Alcohol-based perfumes evaporate very quickly. While that can give your fragrance more presence, it doesn’t last as long.
Whereas oil based perfumes will hold the fragrance against your skin. This makes the scent long-lasting, and much more intimate.
I have chosen this particular blend of essential oils as I just loved how the individual fragrances come together to make this sweet yet earthy aroma. The vibrancy of ylang-ylang and the sandalwood undertones make this combination of oils a perfect perfume blend.
So let’s take a look at what goes into my first roll on essential oil perfume.
What Goes Into The Island Haze Perfume?
Fractionated coconut oil
Fractionated coconut oil is clear and odorless. It’s ideal for blending with essential oils as it has no effect on your scent profile.
This carrier oil also helps to reduce skin sensitivity due to its soothing nature. If you do not have fractionated coconut oil then jojoba oil is a good alternative.
Both oils also have an excellent shelf life, perhaps the longest of all the carrier oils.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is a great fixative which means that it will help your perfume fragrance last longer. This was important to me, because I wanted the roll on essential oil perfume to last at least a full day. It’s a woody base note which comes from one of the most treasured trees in the world.
You will find this classic scent in many perfumes with its warm and smooth aroma. This essential oil also has powerful abilities to calm the mind, perfect for my roll on perfume!
Orange
Using orange essential oil as a top note in this perfume brings a bright and uplifting vibe through its citrus aroma. Its fragrance is also quite uplifting, which will bring a mood-boosting benefit to my perfume.
Ylang Ylang
This is an extremely popular essential oil when it comes to perfumes with its sweet and fruity scent. It has also been known to reduce anxiety and lower blood pressure.
Patchouli
Patchouli is a commonly used base note and fixative in perfume. It is a very intense scent, so a little goes a long way. It will add a strong, unique floral fragrance (sweet, earthy and a little bit spicy) to the perfume.
The Bottle
We decided to use a dark glass bottle for this perfume recipe. The reason for this is because essential oils can seep into plastic and break it down, often causing ‘leaching’ (a process where plastic begins to seep into your product).
Sunlight will also destroy your essential oils, causing their fragrances to fade away really quickly. Dark tinted glass enables us to maintain the properties and scent of the oils by protecting it from sunlight and removing the possibility of plastic leaching.
We have chosen a roller bottle for convenience of application, but a dropper bottle would work just as well. As this is an oil based recipe, we decided it was best to use a roller to apply directly to the skin to avoid damage to clothes.
Ok, it’s time to make some essential oil perfume.
After several tests and trials, the recipe below was my personal favorite blend. But this is not necessarily the right one for you. So below this recipe, you will also find a handy guide that should help with formulating your very own blends.
How To Make Roll On Essential Oil Perfume – Island Haze Recipe
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Equipment
- Small Funnel or Pippett
Ingredients
- 9 grams Fractionated Coconut Oil
- 2 drops Orange Essential Oil
- 8 drops Sandalwood Essential Oil
- 1 drop Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
- 1 drop Patchouli Essential Oil
- 1 10ml Glass Roller Bottle
Video
Instructions
- Fill your roller bottle to just over ¾ of the way up, with the fractionated coconut (liquid) carrier oil. You may find it easier to use a funnel or pipette dropper for this job.9 grams Fractionated Coconut Oil, 1 10ml Glass Roller Bottle
- Add the essential oil drops to the roller bottle.2 drops Orange Essential Oil, 8 drops Sandalwood Essential Oil, 1 drop Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil, 1 drop Patchouli Essential Oil
- Pop the roll ball onto the bottle, making sure it's clipped on tightly.
- Give the bottle a good shake so that the oils are well mixed together. Then leave in a cool dark place, for around two weeks before using. This will give the essential oils time to fuse together and mature. After several tests and trials, this was my personal favorite blend. But it's not necessarily the right one for you. So below I created a handy guide that should help with formulating your very own blends.
Choosing Your Own Essential Oils
- As a basic rule, choose 3 or 4 essential oils using at least 1 from each note, top, middle, and base from the perfume scents Piesse Scale below.
- Place a few drops of your chosen oils in the proportions that you wish to use onto a strip of blotting paper
- Leave for about 5 minutes then take a sniff to see if you have reached your desired effect, then correct if needed.
- Pour the 2 teaspoons of your chosen carrier oil into the glass bottle using a funnel or eye dropper if needed, each teaspoon equals approximately 40 drops.
- Add your chosen essential oils. You will need about 10-15 drops of essential oil in the proportions you have worked out.
- Cover and then give it a good shake and then sniff to test, correct if needed adding only one extra drop at a time until you reach your desired fragrance.
- Leave the homemade perfume to blend and mature in a cool dark place for around a week before using.
Perfume Scents – The Piesse Scale
For more info on essential oils and their uses: Essential Oil Use Chart
Top Notes:
Are light and fresh smelling, they are usually the first scent that you will detect in a blended perfume, and often the most volatile.
Anise, Bergamot, Eucalyptus, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Spearmint, Peppermint, Sweet Orange, Petitgrain.
Middle Notes:
Form the main body of the perfume. They have a lasting fragrance that becomes noticeable after the top note.
Angelica, Bay, Black Pepper, Cardamom, Chamomile, Cypress, Clary Sage, Geranium, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Neroli, Palmarosa, Pine, Rose, Rosemary.
Base Notes:
Are rich and heavy, although they are the last to detect in a perfume they linger the longest and work as a fixative to the lighter top and middle notes, helping them to retain their aroma for longer.
Benzion, Carrot Seed, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Jasmine, Myrrh, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Vanilla, Violet, Ylang Ylang.
Final Thoughts
That’s all for today. I do hope you love this roll on essential oil perfume profile as much as I do. But if you take away one thing from this page, it should be that not all perfume needs to be alcohol-based.
Making perfume with all oils is a time-old tradition. Cleopatra, the pharaoh and legendary beauty of Egypt, will have likely used an oil-based perfume. While alcohol may be better for some, others rave about how good their essential oil perfume is.
If you have any amount of dry skin, I recommend using one of these over a spray perfume. Alcohol can be intensely drying. A little fragrance immersed in carrier oil will do the absolute opposite.
If you want to learn more about how to use your essential oils and how you can benefit from them, take a look at our essential oil use chart. Did you know they also have amazing benefits for our skin and can be used in a whole range of DIY beauty products?
Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful world and educating! I have a favorite perfume I’d like to turn into a body spray using all oils with coconut being the base. Is this possible? Thank you in advance!
Hi Kymberleigh,
Absolutely you can, but you’d want to make use of fractionated coconut oil. Regular coconut oil is very thick, and won’t really work on a roller. However, fractionated coconut oil is a liquid at room temperature, so you should be able to use this just fine.
Hi,
Thanks for sharing your beautiful recipe.
Would it be possible to do 8g Coconut oil + 1g perfumer’s alcohol so that it has more projection like a perfume?
Hi Benzito,
I’m not quite sure about this one, although you could for sure try it! 😀
I love reading everything that I learned about making perfumes, colones and the solid body creams. All very interesting. I have the bottles but not sure he is on funnel.
I’ll check Amazon. Now I’m ready to make some perfumes, colones and body creams.
Thank you so much, Miss. Angela
Ok
Can’t wait to give this a try…. really like the name too, I bet this fragrance would transport me to a far flung tropic paradise!