All it takes is your favorite essential oils and a splash of alcohol to make these spring-ready perfume recipes. Using Everclear for perfume to dissolve and preserve the fragrance is an inexpensive and customizable way to find a scent that suits you perfectly without a lot of legwork. So, grab your lab coat (or, let’s be honest, your comfiest sweater), and let’s dive into the process of making your own perfume with essential oils and alcohol.
Finding a new signature scent isn’t easy, especially when you factor in the expense of trying out several store-bought perfumes before you finally find the one. That’s why we love making our own perfumes at home—you can customize the blend to create a fragrance that is uniquely you!
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How To Make Perfume with Essential Oils and Alcohol
All it takes is distilled water, your favorite essential oils, and Everclear Grain Alcohol to make these DIY perfumes.
- Everclear grain alcohol (190 proof is ideal): Acts as the base of your perfume and dissolves the other ingredients.
- Essential oils: You can mix different oils to create a custom fragrance.
- Distilled water (optional): Used to dilute the perfume if desired.
Step 1: Pick Your Fragrance
To create a well-balanced perfume, you need to include top, middle, and base notes.
- Top notes are what you notice first, but that scent tends to dissipate quickly.
- Middle and base notes have much more staying power and add depth and fullness to your signature scent.
That’s why it’s important to get the essential oil perfume mix just right. But don’t let that intimidate you! We did lots of experimenting to create our three favorite spring scent mixes:
1. Warm & Sweet: Sandalwood + Vanilla
For fans of warm and sweet scents, the Sandalwood + Vanilla perfume is a great choice. Its earthy coffee undertones keep it from smelling overly sweet.
The addition of bergamot, sweet orange, and a hint of cedar creates the perfect anytime blend that will take you from day to night.
2. Uplifting Floral: Rose + Neroli
If a happy, citrusy floral scent is more your speed, try the Rose + Neroli essential oil blend. With top notes of grapefruit and bergamot and hints of rose, neroli, and vetiver, we found it to be an ideal uplifting scent for daytime wear.
3. Spicy & Sensual: Cardamom + Frankincense
If you’re looking for a new scent to wear at night, the sensual Cardamom + Frankincense blend combines notes of frankincense, patchouli, and cedarwood with a bright top note of lemon. The result is a perfume that is earthy and a bit spicy—a blend that’s great for nighttime use
Step 2: Mix the Essential Oils
To make any of these essential oil perfumes, start by mixing your oils in a small glass container. Begin with the base notes, then add the middle notes, and finally the top notes. The ratio of base:middle:top notes is typically 20:50:30, but feel free to experiment.
Use a pipette or dropper for precision, and add the oils drop by drop, smelling as you go to adjust the fragrance to your liking.
Feel free to scale the recipe up or down, depending on your bottle size.
Step 3: Dilute With Alcohol
Once you’re happy with the scent of your oil blend, add the Everclear to the essential oil mixture. The essential oil blends above are roughly 30-40 drops, so how much alcohol you add depends on how strong you want the perfume to be:
- Perfume (15-30% fragrance): Add ⅛ ounce
- Eau de parfum (8-15% fragrance): Add ¼ ounce
- Eau de toilette (4-8% fragrance): Add ½ ounce
- Eau de cologne (2-5% fragrance): Add 1 ounce
We used Everclear for perfume to dilute the essential oils. We added 1 ounce of alcohol for each 30-40 drops of the essential oil blend for a roughly 5% dilution.
Why Use Alcohol for Perfume?
Essential oils aren’t the only key ingredient at play here. As you may already know, many commercial perfumes use alcohol as a fixative because it evaporates quickly and helps to lift and diffuse a perfume’s scent.
A high-proof alcohol also dilutes the essential oils used in these recipes, and acts as a preservative, ensuring your perfume lasts for months to come.
Alcohols for Perfume Making
The alcohol you use can impact the fragrance’s scent, longevity, and overall quality. The three most common types of alcohol bases are:
- Perfumer’s alcohol
- Pure grain alcohol (like Everclear)
- Vodka
Let me stop here to say: Do not use rubbing alcohol!
Of the alcohols you should consider using, here are some pros and cons:
1. Perfumers Alcohol
Pros:
It’s specifically designed for perfume, ensuring it has a neutral odor that won’t interfere with your fragrance or overpower the essential oils. Additionally, perfumer’s alcohol often contains additives such as glycerin or fixatives, which can help stabilize and prolong the fragrance’s aroma.
It’s also generally considered safer for skin application compared to denatured alcohols.
Cons:
It’s expensive and hard to find, so you may need to buy it directly from specialty suppliers.
2. Pure Grain Alcohol
Pros:
It’s an affordable pure alcohol with minimal impurities that could affect the fragrance’s scent. Its potency also means that it can effectively dissolve essential oils, helping to distribute them evenly throughout the perfume.
Cons:
Since it’s not made for perfume, it lacks the stabilizing additives found in perfumer’s alcohol, potentially resulting in a shorter shelf life.
Using Everclear for perfume can have a strong odor that competes with the essential oils. Aging your Everclear perfume for 2-3 weeks so the essential oils have time to permeate the blend and diminish the alcohol scent.
3. Vodka
Pros:
Vodka is commonly used because it’s affordable and easy to find. If you go this route, make sure to choose the highest proof you can find.
Cons:
Vodka may contain impurities or flavors that could alter the scent of the cologne. And the cheaper brands may not be very pure, which means that you’ll have a hard time masking the scent with essential oils alone.
Step 3: Age Your Perfume
Transfer your perfume to the dark glass bottle using a funnel. Let the mixture rest for 24-48 hours (or, ideally, 7-14 days) to let the scent fully develop.
This allows the scents to meld and mature, deepening the complexity of your perfume.
Step 4: Test + Adjust
After aging, test your perfume. If the scent seems too strong after it rests, you can dilute it further with distilled water. A common ratio is 2 parts alcohol to 1 part water so if you used 1 ounce of alcohol then add ½ ounce of water.
If you want to make a body spray or hair perfume, add 3 ounces of water for a lightly scented sweet water.
If it’s too weak, you can add more of your fragrance blend. Then close the bottle and shake well to combine.
Storage + Usage
Be sure to shake the bottle before each use and apply to pulse points (like the insides of your wrists or behind your ears) to further activate the scent with your body heat. Use your perfume within 3 to 4 months.
When you’re choosing a new perfume, do you gravitate more toward a cheery citrus scent or perhaps something more spicy and sensual? Test out the blends below and let us know which one you’ll be wearing this spring!
FAQ
Everclear is favored for perfume making because of its high alcohol content, typically 190 proof (95% alcohol) or 151 proof (75.5% alcohol) where 190 proof is not legal. This high alcohol content makes it an excellent solvent for essential and fragrance oils, helps to preserve the perfume longer, and evaporates quickly on the skin, leaving the fragrance behind without a residue.
Yes, other types of alcohol like vodka can be used, but they should be as high in alcohol content as possible and neutral in odor. Lower alcohol content or flavored alcohols can affect the fragrance’s purity and longevity.
Yes, aging your perfume for several weeks to months is crucial. Aging allows the scents to meld and mature, resulting in a more complex and harmonized fragrance. The exact aging time can vary, but a minimum of 4 weeks is recommended.
Yes, fragrance oils, which are synthetic, can be used instead of essential oils. Fragrance oils often offer a wider variety of scents, including those that cannot be extracted naturally.
3 Spring-Inspired Essential Oil Perfume Recipes with Alcohol
Create your own perfume at home using distilled water, your favorite essential oil blend, and Everclear® Grain Alcohol.
Materials
- 2 tablespoons Everclear® Grain Alcohol
- 30-40 drops essential oil (see blends below)
- Distilled water
Instructions
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Add essential oils to a glass jar or spray bottle.
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Add the Everclear.
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Close the bottle and shake well to combine then let the perfume age 2-3 weeks to allow the scent to develop.
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Adjust scent with distilled water or more Everclear, if needed.
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Shake before each use and apply to pulse points. Use within 3–4 months.
Essential Oil Blends
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Sandalwood + VanillaA warm scent that smells sweet and somewhat earthy, with noticeable coffee undertones.Top notes: 8 drops bergamot, 4 drops sweet orange, 3 drops coffeeMiddle notes: 12 drops vanillaBase notes: 8 drops sandalwood, 2 drops cedarwood
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Rose + NeroliAn uplifting spring scent with notes of grapefruit and vetiver.Top notes: 7 drops grapefruit, 6 drops bergamotMiddle notes: 7 drops neroli, 15 drops roseBase notes: 3 drops vetiver
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Cardamom + FrankincenseA soft and spicy fragrance featuring earthy notes of frankincense, patchouli, and cedarwood. Top notes: 9 drops lemonMiddle notes: 5 drops cardamomBase notes: 12 drops frankincense, 4 drops patchouli, 6 drops cedarwood
Notes
Feel free to scale the recipe up or down, depending on your bottle size. Use your perfume within 3–4 months.
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