HOW TO MAKE SOLID PERFUME

Tired of TSA throwing out your perfumes or relegating them to a checked bag and spilled contents? Then have I the tutorial for you. We've talked about making perfume oil and eau de parfum, so it feels right that we should now discuss solid perfuming.

Making solid perfume is incredibly easy and fun! Once you get the process down, it only takes about 15 minutes and you're left with endless gift possibilities. You can put your perfume in a locket, compact, tin, pocket watch...seriously, any kind of small compartment will do.

No complicated maths this time around (HECK YES) so let's get right to it!

What You Need

3 essential oils or fragrance oils depending on what you want. If you want all natural perfume, only use essential oils. Fragrance oils can contain synthetics but have already been diluted in carrier oil so they tend to be less irritating. When choosing essential oils, make sure to look up any health advisories they may have as not all EOs are skin safe. Brambleberry has a nice, affordable selection of both EOs and fragrance oils. If you would like just one specific scent (lavender, jasmine, etc) it's ok to just use one essential oil.

3 pipettes or glass droppers

2 small bowls - use ceramic or glass as you will be melting the wax. I put the glass bowl over a candle and melt but you can use a stove or microwave.

Measuring spoons

1 tablespoon beeswax

1.5 teaspoons of Jojoba or Sweet Almond Oil. Trader Joe’s has a nice Jojoba in their spa section that is both affordable and great for dry skin beyond your perfuming needs.

Locket or container for your perfume

Let's Do This!

In our other tutorials we talked about a perfume being made up of base, heart, and head notes. If you need help deciding what essential oils to use and in what order, refer back to the sections "The Basics," and "How Do You Pick the Right Oils to Go Together?" in the tutorial on making perfume oil.

Alright, in this recipe, we are going to use 40 drops of essential oils. As we learned previously, the ratios of base, heart, and head are:

2 parts base : 1 part heart : 1 part head

That means we will have 20 drops of our base note and 10 drops each of our heart and head. Math, we have conquered you!

Using your pipette, count out 20 drops of your base essential oil. When finished, put the oil and the pipette aside. Next, use a clean pipette and count out 10 drops of your heart essential oil. Finally, using your last clean pipette, count out 10 drops of your head essential oil. Put your pipettes and oils to the side, they are done.

Next, measure out 1.5 teaspoons of Jojoba or Sweet Almond oil and mix with your essential oil concoction. Stir it up and sniff to make sure you like the scent. If you don't like it, toss it now and repeat the process until you've found a combination you like. If it smells heavenly, then let's move on to wax melting.

That site I mentioned earlier, Brambleberry, carries beeswax or you can find it at your local health food store. Slice off a tablespoon of beeswax and place it in your empty ceramic/glass bowl. Melt the beeswax thoroughly so that it is completely liquid. I prefer to do this over a candle but however you can melt it is fine. Once it has been liquefied, pour your essential oil/jojoba mixture in with the beeswax and stir over low heat. If you see solids form when you pour the perfume into the beeswax just gently stir it until the mixture is liquid again. Once your perfume/beeswax concoction is stirred and thoroughly liquid, pour it into your container. If you have a small locket I advise using a pipette to transfer the perfume so that it doesn't spill. Be advised that the wax will start to harden so if you do use a pipette make sure it's one you don't care about as it's hard to get wax out.

Let your locket or container sit open for the next 15 minutes. Marvel at the wonders of science as you watch your liquid perfume slowly solidify. Once it has cooled down and looks hard, close the lid. It's ready for immediate wear/use, but solid perfumes tend to smell amazing after they have sat untouched for a week. I'm not telling you what to do, but I am. Wait. It's worth it.

If your perfume comes out mushy that means you might not have added enough beeswax. The beautiful thing about making solid perfume is that if you mess up... you can just re-melt it and fix.

Clean Up

As you have no doubt noticed, melted wax is messy! Soak your bowl for a bit and then rub it down with a paper towel. Try to scoop all the wax out with the paper towel before putting it in the dishwasher.

I hope your solid perfume came out amazing and that it was a fun experience. I got into perfumery after making a solid perfume locket for a friend as a birthday gift. You never know where life will take you.