How to make perfume oil

A perfume oil is the same concentrate a spray perfume uses, diluted in a carrier that does not evaporate instead of in alcohol. It wears closer to the skin, opens more slowly and usually lasts well. Making one is weighing, dissolving and resting, like any perfume; what changes is the carrier and the strength.

Which carrier oil is best for perfume?

One with no smell of its own that does not go rancid.

• Jojoba oil is a liquid wax rather than a true oil, so it keeps for a very long time and barely smells. It turns cloudy or even solid in the cold and clears again at room temperature; that is not spoilage.
• Fractionated coconut oil (MCT) is odorless, thin, stable and stays liquid in the cold. It does not smell of coconut; Virgin Coconut Oil does.
• Isopropyl myristate is a light, odorless ester that spreads easily and dissolves perfume materials well. Many commercial perfume oils use it.

Avoid kitchen oils such as olive, sunflower or sweet almond for anything you want to keep: they oxidize, and the rancid smell arrives before the perfume is finished resting.

How strong should a perfume oil be?

Most perfume oils sit between 10 and 30 percent concentrate in the carrier, and some traditional attars are stronger still. A carrier holds the smell close to the skin, so a perfume oil usually needs more concentrate than an eau de parfum to be noticed. Start at 20 percent, make a second small bottle at 30, and wear both.

How do I calculate a 10 ml roll-on?

By weight, like everything else. Jojoba oil weighs about 0.86 g per ml, so a 10 ml roll-on holds about 8.6 g.

1. At 20 percent: 8.6 g multiplied by 0.2 is 1.72 g of concentrate.
2. The carrier is the rest: 8.6 minus 1.72 is 6.88 g of jojoba oil.

Weigh the concentrate into the bottle first, then the carrier, cap it and roll it between your hands until it is clear. With a different carrier, use its own density; the perfume making calculator does this arithmetic for you.

What does not dissolve well in oil?

Alcohol is a better solvent than any carrier oil. Crystals such as Vanillin or Coumarin, and solids such as Ambroxan, can stay as specks or settle out. Dissolve them first in a little Dipropylene glycol or Triethyl citrate, or keep them as 10 percent dilutions, and add them to the concentrate before the carrier. Gentle warmth helps; heat does not, because it drives off the top notes.

Does a perfume oil smell different from an eau de parfum?

Yes, even with the same concentrate. Without alcohol to lift them, the top notes arrive slowly and briefly, so citrus-led formulas lose most of their opening. Woods, ambers, musks, resins and florals carry well. A formula written for oil often has a smaller top and a larger heart than the same idea written for a spray.

How long should perfume oil rest?

A perfume oil benefits from rest too: at least a week or two, sealed and in the dark, so the materials settle into one smell. Shake it a few times while it rests. Oils do not usually need chilling and filtering the way alcohol perfumes do, but if something settles at the bottom, that material needs a solvent, not more time.

Do IFRA limits apply to perfume oils?

Yes. Fine fragrance in IFRA Category 4 covers perfume without alcohol as well as with it, and the limit is a share of the finished product, carrier included. Enter the concentrate's share of the oil as the concentration in the IFRA calculator: a 20 percent oil is checked at 20. The carrier counts as solvent, not as an aromatic material.

In PerfuMate the carriers are catalog materials marked as solvents, so a perfume oil is a formula like any other: type the grams, and the percentages, the dilutions and the IFRA check follow while you compose. How to make perfume at home covers the rest of the bench. Start a formula, free.