How to Cut Fragrance Oils to Make Perfume
Frangrance oils come in many scents and are used to make perfumes. Sometimes they can be concentrated or have a stronger scent than one would like, or come in too small amounts. Fragrance oils can be "cut" or diluted to make the fragrance last longer or have a more subtle scent. Cutting fragrance oils involves mixing it with a diluting oil, most often dipropylene glycol (DPG).
Things you'll need:
- Fragrance oil of your choice to be cut
- Dipropylene glycol
- Plastic bottle for mixing
- Dispensing bottle
- Paper towels
- Lay out several paper towels where you are working. While pouring, it is likely a few drops will spill, and DPG can harm many surfaces including finished wood and painted surfaces.
- Pour the dipropylene gylcol into the mixing bottle. Fill about three-quarters of the way full with just the DPG. Be sure you are using DPG labeled as fragrance grade, not industrial grade.
- Add the fragrance oil and fill up the bottle the rest of the way. You should have a mixture of about 1 part fragrance oil to 3 parts dipropylene gylcol.
- Close the lid tightly on the bottle. It is best to use a bottle that has a screw on cap to reduce spills while mixing.
- Shake the bottle for 30 seconds to mix up the DPG and fragrance oil.
- Transfer the mixture from the bottle used for shaking to the bottle that will be used to dispense the perfume. Roll-on dispensing bottles can be found at many beauty stores and are easy to fill. You can also use spray bottles or other bottles designed to dispense perfume. Always use a clean bottle, which can be purchased at beauty stores.
- Store the bottle at room temperature. The shelf life of DPG is approximately two years.