I’ve had some requests for more scent blends for solid perfume, so here we go. This simple blend has notes of citrus and tea, with a soft woodiness from the cedar, and a bright spicy sparkle from the cardamom.
Like all solid perfumes, it comes together in a flash, and makes fantastic gifts. This recipe will perfectly will one quarter-ounce tin.
Cedar & Palmarosa Solid Perfume
8g grapeseed oil
2g beeswax (USA / Canada)
8 drops cedarwood essential oil
4 drops palmarosa essential oil
4 drops cardamom essential oilMelt the grapeseed oil and beeswax together in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Stir in the essential oils and pour the mixture into a quarter-ounce tin. Let set.
To use, rub the perfume behind the ears, on the inside of the wrists, or wherever else you’d like a pleasant fragrant hit!
Is there a general solid perfume recipe? I want to use Neroli and Sandalwood.
This could be one, just replace these EOs with the ones of your choice 🙂
You shouldn’t put the essential oil in while the mixture is still on the heat. You’re likely to lose some of the aromatics if you do that.
Yup, that’s why the directions state that you should remove it from the heat & let the mixture cool a bit before adding the EOs 🙂
Hi,
Can’t wait to try this once I get the cardamom ordered. Is there anything I can add to solid perfume that would make it last longer. I love using essential oils but really wish the smell would hang around longer.
You should try an alcohol based perfume—they last much longer because they use far more essential oils 🙂
I would like to try making this. However, grapeseed oil is not available. What might be a good substitute? Olive oil? Thanks in advance!
Any carrier oil with a low scent and a relatively quick absorption speed would be a good choice—sweet almond, apricot kernel, safflower, sunflower, and olive are all good choices 🙂
I’ve been wanting to make some solid perfume, but I was wondering – what is the shelf life for this sort of thing? Is there a need for any kind of preservative? Thank you for the wonderful recipes, as always!
Sadie – the shelf life will be as long as the ingredient with the shortest shelf life. In this recipe that’d be the grapeseed oil, so I’d try to use it within 3-6 months or so. If you wanted a product with a longer shelf life, you could easily substitute a different carrier oil that had a longer shelf life but similar properties. And for this recipe you shouldn’t need a preservative since it’s all oils. Hope that helps! 🙂
I’ve never had grapeseed oil spoil on me, and I generally take close to a year to go through a 1L bottle. Perhaps it’s my rather chilly environment, but 3–6 months seems awfully short—even NDA cites an estimated shelf life of 1 year for grapeseed oil. If you want to ward off rancidity, though, a bit of vitamin E would be a good addition 🙂
Since it’s totally oil based, the shelf life will be quite long, assuming it’s stored somewhere relatively cool (i.e. not the dashboard of your car in the summer, haha). I’ve had entirely oil-based concoctions last for upwards of 2 years 🙂 You can help ward off rancidity with a bit of added vitamin E if you’d like, though.
I made this a few weeks ago, along with your lemon and lavender recipe. Love both. I was a little heavy-handed with the cardamom tho’ but it didn’t spoil the overall scent. My boyfriend loves it, too, especially as he now no longer gets asked to pick up a bottle of my favourite perfume at duty-free.
Oooh, lovely! And I’m not sure there’s such a thing as too much cardamom 😉 Enjoy!
Hi, Is there a substitute for cardamon? I have almost every other E.O. except that one. Am itching to make this perfume. The over-the-counter stuff gives me a whopping headache, so I’m looking forward to making my own. Excellent work, Marie, as usual.
Eh… not really. If you have the spice, give that a whiff and you’ll see how it’s very unique. It’s the bright top note of this perfume so you could try a citrus (perhaps grapefruit) for a very different, but likely still nice effect, but do beware of photosensitization if you go that route. Happy making!