At the cottage this summer my Aunt Karla presented me with a small tin of solid lavender lemon perfume. She’s a bit of a lavender junkie, and who can blame her? It’s relaxing and just wonderful. The ingredients for the perfume were quite simple—basically just cocoa butter (USA / Canada), almond oil, and lavender essential oil. And I thought to myself “I can do that”. As you may have guessed, I do that a lot.
I opted for a base of beeswax and almond oil rather than cocoa butter (USA / Canada) and almond oil, as the beautifully chocolate scented cocoa butter (USA / Canada) would interfere with the essential oil (and I do not see the point in owning unscented cocoa butter (USA / Canada)). From there I scented the blend with essential oils of lavender, rosemary, and just a hint of litsea cubeba (which has a great lemony scent, but none of the photosensitivity of lemon essential oil).
These little lavender lemon solid perfumes come together in mere minutes and make fantastic gifts (especially since it takes scarcely more time to make ten than two). They also cost about $0.20 each to make, so what are you waiting for?
Solid Lavender Lemon Perfume
12g | 0.42oz sweet almond oil (USA / Canada)
3g | 0.1oz beeswax (USA / Canada)15 drops lavender essential oil
5 drop rosemary essential oil
3 drops litsea cubeba essential oil (you can also use lemon myrtle or lemongrass)Melt the sweet almond oil (USA / Canada) and beeswax together in a small saucepan over low heat.
Remove from the heat and let it cool down for a minute. Add the essential oils and swirl to combine. Decant into little 1/4 oz tins. Fills 2 tins.
I love your site and really appreciate you sharing your wonderful recipes. My question regarding the Solid lavender and lemon perfume is what can be substituted for the almond oil? I am allergic to almonds and have had a reaction to the oil as well. Thank you very much for your time.
Cynthia
Hi Cynthia! You can use any lightly scented, quick-to-average absorbing carrier oil instead of sweet almond—grapeseed, safflower, apricot kernel, sunflower, and jojoba all come to mind. You can read more about carrier oil substitutions here 🙂 Thanks so much for DIYing with me!
I love to read your blog, that is fantastic and thank you for your sharing too. 🙂
Thanks so much, Angeline 🙂
I have always loved your blog! Another great post, I think I’m going to make these for stocking stuffers for the holidays!
Thanks so much, Sophia 🙂 I just sent one of these off to jolly ol’ England as a gift, they make brilliant stocking stuffers & are so easy to make in bulk.
I made these as Christmas presents for my girlfriends and topped then off with lavender buds, I didn’t want to give them away! I’m addicted. I usually make my own essential oil rollerball perfumes, but in the winter that extra moisture is much needed. Do you know of any other blends of essential oils I could try? Thank you!
Oooh, your perfumes sound just divine! I’m working on some new scent blends for solid perfumes, but for now you should peruse some of my soap scent blends (though be wary of ones that contain lots of spice or citrus EOs, which can be irritating or photosensitizing).
Hey Marie! I’ve feel like this is my 100th comment on your blog, haha.
But anyway, thank you so much for posting this, I had to make last minute Christmas gifts and was in need of a quick inspiration!
I made this, substituting litsea cubeba essential oil with lemongrass, then topping the perfume with little organic lavender petals. It smelled divine, I didn’t want to give it away! Do you have any other essential oil blends for perfume? Thanks!
Ooooh, lovely! I’m so glad I was able to help with your last minute Christmas gift needs 😛 As more more perfume scent blends, I’ve got 2 perfume recipes coming out before the end of March, so stay tuned!
WHOOPS! I can’t believe I forgot I posted pretty much the same thing, and didnt notice your reply. Haha, the holiday season drinking is getting to me. Thanks anyway!
LOL no worries! Enjoy that seasonal drink 😉
Great idea but one question from solid perfume newbie: how do apply this? Also is it ok to make a men’s version and what oils would you use?
Hi Tom! To apply you just rub a bit onto your finger, and then rub that bit in behind your ears or wherever you like, sort of like lip balm that comes in a pot. And you can definitely switch up the scents—my boyfriend recommends mint, patchouli, and cedar as a jumping-off point for manly scent blends 🙂
Where do you find the tins?
These ones are from Saffire Blue.
Have you ever had a problem with the solid perfume or the lip balm softening or melting if kept in jean pockets? I want to make these for the women / girls on my list & I know thats where they would keep them. Thanks
Hi Alonda! I haven’t tried carrying my solid perfume around in my pocket before, but I can speak for my lip balm—it’s sat in my pocket on the hottest of days and never melted 🙂 Beeswax has a melting point of about 64°C, which is well above body temperature, so you should be ok.
Hey Marie!
I’ve been loving the idea of solid perfumes since I got my first order of diy ingredients and started melting things, and I’m so going to do up this recipe once I find a suitable container ’cause it sounds awesome!
But, I’ve just fallen in *love* – and I mean big time! – with Bath & Body Works’ Twilight Woods scent. My bestie bought their body wash and lotion and I’ve snagged some to use as a kind of perfume, but I cringe and turn green looking at the ingredients on the back of the bottle. :p I *really* don’t want all that chemical junk on my skin, so buying the lotion is out.
So I looked it up online and, yay! they have a perfume and a cologne for the fragrance! I’m sure these are also full of yuckie things though, so my first thought was, “can I copy this?” The scent list is pretty intense, so that’d cost me a fortune. But, using the liquid perfume in a solid perfume might be a good compromise (especially since I’m really good at applying *way* too much of a liquid).
I found one page via google ( http://www.xovain.com/fragrance/diy-solid-perfume-with-your-favorite-fragrance ) that implied one could use a purchased perfume as the fragrance in a solid, but I’m wondering what your thoughts are.
Would that actually work?
Thanks,
KM
Hmmm. My only concern would be solubility. Most perfumes are in an alcohol base, which will likely require some encouragement to blend well with a base of oils. I know I’ve added vanilla extract, which is also in an alcohol base, to body butters before, and it didn’t incorporate at all—I just ended up with little brown bubbles of liquid in my body butter. So, I suppose I’d advise you to start small and see what happens since their website isn’t of much help when it comes to ingredients (unless I missed ’em).
I don’t think you missed anything. That page is very vague… :/ Thank you for the reply and input. 🙂 I always tend to do experimenting in extra small batches, but now I definitely won’t jump in head first.
Thanks again.
KM
Let me know how it turns out!
Can I use lemon essential oil instead of lemongrass?
Hi Andrea! As discussed in the entry, I don’t recommend it as lemon is photo-sensitizing 🙂
I’m going to make this tomorrow. I’ve been blending some scents and they’re just screaming for solid perfume. I can’t wait!
Enjoy!
Ooooh, I can’t wait to do these for Christmas, I’m so excited!! I just have one question though, and despite perusing lots of tutorials, I can’t find the answer. Beeswax is the single most common thing solid perfume DIYs use, but beeswax has a scent of its own, does it not? Do I have to factor in the scent it carries when I’m choosing my scents, or is it subtle enough that the oils overpower it?
Hi Charlotte! With the amount of essential oils that are used in solid perfume I’ve never had the scent of the beeswax come through 🙂 If you’re worried about it, though, you can always use bleached beeswax or one of the plant based waxes, which don’t really have any scent to them. Check out my quick guides to oil and wax ratios for guidance on those 🙂
Hi!
I really loved the receipe. Just wanted to know which beeswax is perfect for us and for kids also? like refined or non-refined? I would really look forward to your reply. Please mention the brand which I should buy.
If you’re buying beeswax with a brand name, you’re doing it wrong 🙂 Buy it from a local beekeeper!
Hi Marie!
Your solid perfumes are just making me jump into the kitchen to make one! I have made my essential oil blend and can’t wait to put it on solid but i have no cute tins 🙁 and i need to put this in something cute! Hehe ..
I have a tiny plastic thing lying around, do you suppose lining that with aluminum foil would work for this??
This definitely doesn’t need to be in a metal tin, but it should be in something clean. I don’t know what your “tiny plastic thing” is—if it is cosmetic or food grade plastic, it’s probably fine on its own as long as it is clean. I would not line anything with aluminum foil.
Hi Marie,
What would be a safe temperature to add Essential oils in the mixture? Given the precision of your work i thought you could help.
Thanks
With a project like this you’ll need to add them while the perfume is still quite liquid, so still quite hot—you’ll then want to cool the mixture as quickly as you can, perhaps by placing it in the fridge. Extended heat is the real problem with EO degradation (any kind of heat degradation, really) so while a higher temperature is required, we can reduce the length of the exposure as much as possible 🙂
Hi Marie can I use sweet orange eo almond oil and beeswax alone fr this perfume currently am having this in my hand
You can, but it’s obviously just going to smell like oranges then 🙂 Make sure you follow the dermal limits for sweet orange essential oil.
Sure thank u so much Marie
is it safe to store this in a steel jar?
I don’t think steel is really an accepted cosmetic packaging material, but stainless steel works wonderfully 🙂
Can I use Fractionate Coconut oil or MCT Oil instead of almond oil? would ratios remain same> Thanks