This a DIY unisex natural perfume project you could try at home. We are using 7 simple essentials that you could get online easily or at your health food store. These oils not only provide an array of delightful scents but also offer therapeutic benefits, making your fragrance a sensory experience with potential well-being advantages. This recipe is a guide to make a reasonable long lasting natural perfume oil as a oil based massage oil, handy perfume oil wherever you go. You can use alcohol instead of oil as well.
Understanding the Basics: Notes in Natural Perfume
Before diving into the recipe and process, it’s crucial to understand the concept of “notes” in perfume making. Perfume is typically composed of three layers of scent: top, middle (heart), and base notes. These layers work together to create a balanced fragrance that unfolds over time as the perfume interacts with your skin and the air.
Top Notes: These are the lightest and most volatile scents that you smell immediately after applying the perfume. They evaporate quickly, usually within the first 5–15 minutes, and set the first impression of the fragrance. Top notes are often fresh, crisp, or citrusy.
Middle Notes: These emerge as the top notes fade and form the “heart” of the fragrance. Middle notes make up the core of the perfume and last longer, usually for 30–60 minutes. They are typically more rounded and mellow, with floral or herbal scents being common.
Base Notes: These are the foundation of the perfume, providing depth and staying power. Base notes are richer and more intense, lasting for several hours. They emerge slowly after the top and middle notes have dissipated. Base notes are usually woody, musky, or earthy.
A well-balanced perfume should have a harmonious blend of all three types of notes, creating a fragrance that evolves throughout the day.
Evaluating Odor Impact in your ingredients in your UNISEX natural perfume
While balance is key in perfume making, it’s essential to understand that balance doesn’t necessarily mean using equal amounts of each type of note. Some essential oils have a much stronger scent than others, so their impact on the overall fragrance is greater even if they are used in smaller amounts. For instance, base notes like vetiver and patchouli are usually very potent and long-lasting, so only a few drops are needed to give the perfume a strong foundation. In contrast, light and fresh top notes, such as grapefruit, may need to be used in larger quantities to make their scent noticeable and to create a vibrant opening to the perfume.
Ingredients You Need for making this UNISEX natural perfume
The following essential oils are included in this natural perfume oil formula:
Grapefruit Oil (Top note): A bright, citrusy essential oil, grapefruit brings freshness and a zesty punch to your perfume. It works well as a top note, providing an uplifting and energizing first impression.
Lavender Oil (Top note): Lavender is well-known for its calming and balancing properties. It has a clean, floral aroma that pairs beautifully with both the citrus notes of grapefruit and the earthy, woody notes of patchouli and vetiver.
Lemon Oil (Top note): A fresh, citrus essential oil, lemon adds a sharp, invigorating brightness to your perfume. Perfect as a top note, it provides an uplifting and energizing first impression with its clean, zesty aroma that instantly awakens the senses.
Ylang Ylang (Middle note): A rich, floral essential oil, ylang ylang adds a sweet, exotic depth to your perfume. It works beautifully as a middle note, offering a soft, romantic aroma that balances and enhances the heart of the fragrance. Known for its calming and sensual qualities, ylang ylang brings warmth and complexity to the blend.
Palmarosa Oil (Middle note): With a soft, floral, and slightly citrusy, lemongrass like scent, palmarosa is often used in natural perfumes to add warmth and depth to the middle note. It also offers a hint of sweetness.
Vetiver Oil (Base note): Vetiver is a deep, earthy essential oil with a woody scent. It acts as a grounding base note, giving the perfume longevity and richness. Vetiver is often associated with both masculinity and sensuality, making it ideal for a unisex fragrance.
Patchouli Oil (Base note): Another strong, earthy essential oil, patchouli is known for its intense and lingering scent. It’s often used in combination with vetiver to create a robust, long-lasting base note.
Tools You’ll Need
7 pipettes for measuring essential oils. It is good to replace the plastic cap and stopper with a pipette top. This makes it easier to be precise and each essential oil must have its own pipette without contamination.
A carrier oil (such as jojoba oil or fractionated coconut oil) or pure alcohol if you can get. Don’t use vodka it won’t dilute the essential oils very well. Both jojoba oil and fractionated coconut oil have very long shelf life, I have experienced both almost not going rancid for over a decade, I believed fractionated coconut oil if you store well will last almost forever.
A glass stirring rod or toothpick to blend the oils
A small glass beaker
A small, dark-colored glass bottle (30 ml) to store your perfume and a roll on bottle 10ml if you are making your natural perfume oil base.
For alcohol base natural perfume get a spritzer bottle that will hold 40ml.
Unisex natural perfume Formula
This unisex natural perfume formula strikes a balance between fresh, floral, and earthy tones, creating a fragrance that is suitable for everyone, regardless of gender. It is designed for 40ml base solvent.
16 drops of grapefruit oil (Top note)
8 drops of lavender oil (Top note)
4 drops of lemon oil(Top note)
16 drops of lemon oil(Top note)
4 drops of palmarosa oil (Middle note)
8 drops of vetiver oil (Base note)
8 drops of patchouli oil (Base note)
7 Step-by-Step Process
1. Sterilize Your Bottle: Clean and sterilize the glass bottle in hot water. Ensure it is completely dry before adding your ingredients to avoid contamination.
2. Measure Your Carrier: Pour your carrier oil or alcohol into the glass beaker.
3. Add the Base Notes: Start by adding the strongest scents—your base notes. Using your dropper, carefully add 12 drops of vetiver oil and 8 drops of patchouli oil into the bottle. Base notes are the most long-lasting components of your perfume, so ensure they are well-blended.
4. Add the Middle Notes: Next, add the heart of the fragrance by including the middle notes. Add 8 drops of lavender oil and 4 drops of palmarosa oil. These scents will become prominent after the top notes evaporate, giving your perfume warmth and character.
5. Add the Top Notes: Finally, add your top note—grapefruit oil. Use 16 drops of grapefruit to create a bright, citrusy opening. Top notes are the first scents to evaporate, so using a larger quantity ensures their presence is felt.
6. Blend and Test: After adding all your oils, stir the mixture gently with a glass rod or toothpick. Let the perfume rest for at least 24 hours, allowing the scents to meld and develop fully. The longer you allow the mixture to sit (up to two weeks), the more the oils will blend and harmonize, creating a well-rounded perfume.
Adjust If Needed: After testing the perfume, you can adjust the formula to suit your personal preferences. For example, if you want more of a citrus punch, add a few more drops of lemon or grapefruit oil. If you prefer a deeper, earthier scent, increase the vetiver or patchouli.
7. Final Touch: Once you’re happy with the scent fill them to your final bottle or bottles.
Why is this UNISEX natural perfume well balanced?
It is not about having equal number of drops at each note level, consider how each ingredient interconnects. The lemon bridges well with palmarosa, continue the zingy theme. The bitterness of grapefruit, a molecule call nookatone pairs well with vetiver together they create a structure and longevity to the natural perfume composition.
Top tips for making beautiful unisex natural perfume
The sophistication of this unisex natural perfume depends heavily on the types of vetiver you use. If you have java vetiver it is going to quite smoky with a coffee top note this could impact the citrus top note. If you are willing to hunt down Haiti vetiver then this is a much smoother product with a less intrusive top note. You can therefore increase the amount of vetiver to make your unisex natural perfume last longer without overwhelming your top note.
Safe dilution for UNISEX natural perfume
This composition is around 3.2% whether you use oil base or alcohol. 24% of concentrate is ylang ylang by weight not by drops. This translates to under 0.768% of ylang ylang which is under the 0.78% safe limit recommended by IFRA. This is reason why you will not find a strong ylang ylang perfume on the market unless it is a cologne. Try our perfume Paper Flower Fan natural cologne for reference.
When you are ready to make unisex natural perfume more professionally
Others may teach you to have equal drops at each level, but equal amount by weight is a better measure to make sure your composition is balanced. If you measure by weight 1 drop of ylang ylang is far less compare to 1 drop vetiver.
Sometimes it is also just about aesthetics, you start from the base and may add more to the top to make sure the top note is beautiful and not overwhelmed by the heart or base notes.
Conclusion for unisex natural perfume
This unisex natural perfume formula is a rough guide, you may substitute palmarosa with geranium if you find palmarosa too harsh. You may add more vetiver if you want the perfume to last longer, but that will impact the soft top note and getting the best quality of vetiver is absolutely crucial to your success. For an example of vetiver perfume check out Lantern Reed.
