“Gingerbread and Fir Natural Perfume Oil” by Tara Aveilhe is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Most commercial, synthetic perfumes are loaded with harmful toxins, some of which have been shown to be cancer-causing. Since I have tried to live a more natural and healthy lifestyle, I have not worn synthetic perfume for several years now. To be honest, I don’t miss it – at all! I actually love experimenting with different natural perfumes. My husband teases me, because I frequently order samples from various organic companies, trying to find my perfect perfume. I am often waving small perfume samples in front of his nose, asking for his opinion.
The pros to wearing natural perfumes: you smell lovely and NATURAL. When I smell synthetic fragrance on other people now, all I can smell is chemicals, and I want to sneeze. The essential oils used in natural perfumes is much easier on the nose, and depending on the type of oils used, will bring healing effects to the body as well as influence your mood. Synthetic fragrances can’t do that!
The cons to wearing natural perfumes: they can be pricey, especially if you’re buying high-quality perfumes. They also do not last as long as synthetic fragrance, so you have to reapply more frequently. This means that you will go through perfume more quickly, and with the high price-tag, it can really start to add up.
So, I decided to take a whack at creating my own natural perfume in order to cut down on the cost, yet still enjoy the benefits of natural essential oils. I decided to try making my own version of Misaki by Tsi-La. I absolutely love the smell of this perfume! You can read my review of Misaki here. At a whopping $128 per bottle, I rarely have the budget to splurge on this award-winning perfume.
I looked at the listed ingredients for the perfume and did some research on the proportions each ingredient would typically have in a perfume. I learned about top, middle, and base notes used in perfumes. It sounds complicated, but it only required identifying which ingredients were either top notes, middle notes, or base notes and then doing some basic math to determine the amount of each ingredient I would use.
Here are the ingredients I used for my Misaki dupe:
Top Notes (10-30%)
- Bergamot
- Mint
- Tea
Middle Notes (30-60%)
- French Lavender
- Neroli
- Honey
Base Notes (15-30%)
- Vanilla
There were some ingredients listed in Misaki I did not use such as green tree moss, juniper berry, clary sage, or ylang ylang.
Misaki is a perfume infused into sugar cane alcohol in a traditional spray bottle. I decided to infuse my fragrance in jojoba oil instead and use a roller ball applicator.
Misaki Perfume Dupe:
- 1 Vanilla bean chopped up
- 100 drops of French Lavender essential oil
- 100 drops of Neroli essential oil
- 40 drops of Bergamot essential oil
- 1 black tea bag
- 1/2 mint tea bag
- 1 honey stick
- 1 mason jar
- 0.5 ounces of Jojoba oil
- Glass cobalt roller ball bottle
Break open tea bags and put tea leaves into the mason jar.Place vanilla bean, essential oils, and honey into the mason jar. Pour jojoba oil into the jar and stir. Store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 weeks. Pour the mixture through a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer to extract the perfume-infused jojoba oil. Pour into the roller ball bottle. The dark cobalt will help preserve the essential oils, and allow your perfume to last longer. Apply to pulse-points as often as you would like and enjoy!
I was AMAZED at how great this perfume came out. When compared to the actual Misaki perfume, the scent came pretty darn close! The toughest part was having the patience to wait a few weeks for all the ingredients to infuse into the jojoba oil. It was much cheaper to make this perfume myself, and I won’t feel guilty reapplying as often as I want. The small roller ball bottle is also much more travel-friendly compared to the larger spray bottle.
There are enough leftover ingredients to make this perfume several times over, so it’s totally worth the cost of the ingredients. I will probably experiment with some of the other ingredients I left out so see if I can get the scent even closer to Misaki perfume.
Overall, I am extremely happy (and surprised) with how well this turned out. You can try this technique with any of your favorite natural perfumes as long as the main ingredients are listed. Have fun experimenting and share your perfume recipes with me!
