Help! How to mix fragrance oils with lotion/cream bases?

[MonaWeeza]

I am trying to find information on how to mix fragrance oils with pre-made lotion or cream bases.  I have found a place to buy some of my favorite “type†fragrance oils and I would love to be able to make my own.  Can you just buy a pre-made lotion or cream base and just add straight fragrance oils and call it good? 

I have read some places about vanilla neutralizers? And also about carrier oils? I would love feedback from anyone who knows what the process is to make my own lotions at home.  I have read that 1% - 3% is a good balance for fragrance in a pre-made lotion/cream base?

Thank you in advance

 

[Audrey942]

I have not done it myself but I think any unscented lotion will do.  It is basically just an oil-to-oil mixing and re-agent.

The issue is if you have an alcohol based fragrance.  Then I think you need another re-agent so that the alcohol (the fragrance side) won't evaporate quickly and create an adverse reaction with lotion.  You might need another alcohol re-agent for alcohol-based fragrance.

You can try it first on very small trial scale and see what happens.  You can also calibrate the mix for your desired strength.

 

[Deareux]

Carrier oils are oils you use to dilute natural and synthetic aromatic oils in. You're using fragrance oils, which are synthetically made. If you decide to branch into natural oils, you'll need to do research first, some should never be applied to the skin ever. Natural aromatics (such as essential oils, CO2s, pomades, absolutes, etc) can also be incredibly expensive (I know, I have a few that costed a really pretty penny). But if you want scent vs natural, fragrance oils will be fine and are much more affordable.

Fragrance and essential oils (essential oils especially) shouldn't be used straight onto the skin. If you're going to make a perfume, a body spray, or a massage oil, you will need to put your scented oils into a carrier oil (like jojoba oil, coconut oil, alcohol, etc).

But since you're talking about using it in lotions, the lotion itself acts as a carrier since you're not putting the fragrance oil directly onto your skin. I am assuming that your fragrance oil is not pre-diluted.

Typically you will use your lotion base, which comes without fragrance, and add the appropriate ratio of oils into the base. If the manufacture states a maximum percentage, you shouldn't go pass that because a large ratio of fragrance oils can irritate the skin.

So say you're making 100 ml of lotion, you should add no more than 3 ml of combined fragrance to your lotion base. I say combined because it's not 3% per oil, it's 3% total.

If I were you, I'd make your fragrance oil blend first. Test out different formulas for fragrances until you get something you like (always write down your formulas, even failed ones). Then put it into your lotion base. This is so you don't waste lotion base on scents you may not like.

 

[MonaWeeza]

The fragrance oils I am looking at are not diluted.  They are all "type" oils that smell similar to something I could buy at like Bath & Body Works. Thank you so much for the information.  That is just what I needed to know.  Most of the oils do give a percentage for different smell levels.  Like 1% for slight scent and 3% for heavy scent.  I will make sure to read about the oils to make sure they are skin safe.  Do you have a place you would recommend to get quality oils?  The Bulk Apothecary is where I found the oils I like. 

 

[Deareux]

New Directions Aromatics is a great place to start. The have a large selection of natural and synthetic oils as well as various premade bases. If you want to go further, they also sell raw ingredients to make products on your own.