Creating Solid Perfume Naturally

Craft the perfect solid perfume recipe with natural essential oils, herbs, and scents that speak to you!

When I began swapping my skincare, beauty, and cleaning products for natural choices years ago, I quickly discovered how expensive they could be. While I feel the expense of organic products is always worthwhile, unfortunately, I was greenwashed, again and again, by labels – perfume being the worst.

I challenge you to look at the label on your favorite perfume. You’ll likely need a chemistry book to understand every ingredient, but all it takes is one ingredient to threaten your health – “fragrance.”

The terms “fragrance” and “parfum” are a catchall for thousands of different ingredients (Heid, 2015). Thanks to trade-secret laws, perfume manufacturers are protected from divulging their formulas for scents, so there’s virtually no way to know what chemicals are included (FDA 2011).

As it turns out, unlike other countries, our regulations assume a chemical is safe until proven guilty. However, the Food and Drug Administration reports that most perfumes and scented beauty products contain a series of petroleum-based chemicals a.k.a. phthalates, known hormone disruptors (FDA 2011).

The third option is what I’m going to teach you today. If you’ve ever had a bottle of perfume leak into your suitcase or purse, I’m sure you’ll agree solid perfume is the way to go!

I know you’ll appreciate that it can also easily be applied throughout the day to vary the strength or to give you a quick refresh when needed. And unlike the liquid options that evaporate quickly, the scent of solid perfume is very, long-lasting in its balm form.

How to Use Solid Perfume & Where To Apply

A great benefit of using solid perfume is flexibility. You can apply solid perfume in multiple ways. You see, the level of scent is easily controlled by applying it until the desired amount of scent is achieved. This makes it a great place to start with perfume.

Let’s take a look at how to use solid perfume and key areas to apply it.

First Impressions

When we pick up something, greet someone, shake hands, or exchange something with another, our wrists become directly or indirectly in contact first. Thus applying perfume to our wrists is the start pointing for first impressions.

Wrist Application: To apply, swirl a clean fingertip in the solid perfume. Gently rub onto the inside of each wrist. You may also want to apply the perfume to your forearms to avoid washing off the perfume with regular hand washing.

For the Romantics

The sides of the neck and just behind the ears are traditional places to apply perfume for romantics. For every loving embrace, your scent will be passed. Compared to wrist application, this option gives you long-lasting results as it doesn’t come into contact with soap and water throughout the day.

Neck Application: To apply, swirl a clean fingertip in the solid perfume. Gently rub on each side of your neck, decollete, or behind the ears.

Chemistry

Speaking of first impressions and romantics, did you know wearing perfume is really all about chemistry? You see, when you apply perfume to a pulse point, the warmth of your blood raises the temperature of the perfume to the temperature of your skin. And in turn, it creates a scent unique to you.

In short, here are the five pulse points to apply perfume to for a long-lasting scent:

Crafting Your Solid Perfume Recipe with Essential Oils

Whether you prefer earthy, fruity, or floral scents – you can create a gorgeous natural solid perfume with essential oils that speak to you!

The following solid perfume recipe is a luxurious multi-layered scent of the heady, rich florals of jasmine and geranium with a top note of sweet, citrusy grapefruit. Blended with natural beeswax and oil, poured over delicate dried jasmine flowers into zero waste tins.

Craft the perfect aroma for YOU with an essential oil perfume note guide for the base, middle, and top notes in this article.

How to Make Solid Perfume:

Prep: Open each tin and distribute up to 1 tablespoon of dried jasmine flowers between the tins. Then set aside.

Option 1: Using a double boiler method, add 3 teaspoons of beeswax pellets to the double boiler. Melt on low heat. Next, add 1.5 tablespoons of sweet almond oil. Stir until thoroughly blended and remove from the stovetop.

Option 2: If you don’t have a double boiler add the beeswax to a glass measuring cup. Microwave in 30-second intervals for approximately 1 minute total. Remove from the microwave and add sweet almond oil. Stir until well combined.

After either option, let stand for up to two minutes or until the wax mixture cools to 120 degrees F. Then add each perfume note – base: 12 drops of jasmine essential oil, middle: 10 drops of geranium essential oil, and top: 10 drops of grapefruit essential oil. Stir or swirl to combine.

Carefully pour perfume into each prepared jasmine flower-filled tin. (see notes below for more container options) Allow to cool and solidify before use, approximately 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of your container.

Possibly the most splendid thing about solid perfume is how easy it is to transport with you. I poured a little extra from this natural perfume recipe into a vintage cameo locket to wear around my neck and apply anytime. But, you can put it into almost any container, including slide top tins or 5-gram glass beauty jars.

References:

FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 2011. Guidance for Industry: Considering Whether an FDA Regulated Product Involves the Application of Nanotechnology (Draft Guidance). Retrieved from
http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm257698.htm

Heid, M. Is Perfume Safe. Retrieved February 11, 2015. Retrieved from http://time.com/3703948/is-perfume-safe/