Cotton Candy Perfume (DIY Perfume Recipe with Essential Oils)

Learn how to make cotton candy perfume. With notes of tonka bean, vanilla, and pink sugar, this sugary-sweet DIY perfume recipe evokes the delicious scents of fresh-spun candy floss. Also discover tips for making designer perfume recipes using essential oils.

If you love candy scents, but don’t love the headaches that can accompany artificial fragrances, this natural perfume recipe is for you.

This cotton candy perfume emulates all the decadent, gourmand aromas of candy floss. Only, without the synthetic ingredients in most designer perfumes.

Read on to learn how to smell like cotton candy, naturally. This essential oil perfume tutorial makes it easy, no matter your skill level.

I’ve included 5 ways to make your own cotton candy fragrance, including perfume spray, roll-on perfume oil, and natural scented body spray.

You’ll find simple recipes for perfume making beginners, and more complex blends for those with larger perfumery collections. Plus, tips for making a long-lasting DIY perfume.

But if you’re looking for a cotton candy fragrance for your home, or a natural fragrance for DIY skincare and beauty products, see my cotton candy essential oil blend.

Perfume that smells like cotton candy

What comes to mind when you imagine the smell of cotton candy?

I spent a lot of time smelling different brands of candy floss in my quest to achieve the perfect fragrance. For many of us, it’s connected to childhood memories and carefree summer days.

Its sugary scent also reminds me of all the cotton candy scented beauty products I enjoyed back then, including perfume and body mist.

But this isn’t your childhood cotton candy fragrance. With a base of sultry tonka bean and creamy vanilla, this DIY cotton candy perfume reinvents candy floss as a grown-up scent anyone can wear.

It’s made for anyone who would like to smell like cotton candy in a mature, elegant way, reminiscent of designer perfume. But it’s still a sugar rush in a bottle – so if you enjoy ultra sweet, edible smelling perfumes, you won’t be disappointed.

And even though cotton candy is associated with summer carnivals, you can wear sweet gourmand fragrances any time of year.

Before we move onto the DIY, let’s take a closer look at what exactly goes into a cotton candy fragrance.

If you can’t get enough sugary-sweet candy scents, you might also enjoy my sugar plum perfume recipe. But if you prefer fruity floral to gourmand, see my aromatherapy perfume recipes.

Designer cotton candy scented perfume

Candy perfumes are wildly popular. And cotton candy, in particular, is a common note in sweet fragrances.

There’s a wide variety of perfumes based on the fluffy confection, each with their own unique, sweet-smelling take. Many of them blend cotton candy notes with florals, woods, and musk.

Popular designer cotton candy perfumes include:

• Juice Bar Cotton Candy: The original 90s cotton candy scent, this perfume is pure and simple cotton candy sweetness.
• Demeter Cotton Candy: Very on the nose cotton candy fragrance, with notes of caramel, strawberry and vanilla, like classic pink candy floss.
• Bath and Body Works Cotton Candy Clouds: Another classic candy floss scent with spun sugar, pink berries and creamy vanilla.
• Delicious Cotton Candy Perfume: An interesting fragrance combining cotton candy with notes of orange, bergamot, clementine, lily of the valley, fig leaves, plums, licorice, cedarwood and musk, among others.
• Body Fantasies Cotton Candy Fragrance: A sweet cotton candy scented perfume with the typical spun sugar, vanilla and berry notes, but with a twist of grapes and musk.
• Victoria’s Secret Candy Baby: Cotton candy meets creamy vanilla cupcakes with this popular fragrance mist.
• Aquolina Pink Sugar: This classic gourmand favorite features cotton candy in a base of tonka bean, vanilla, caramel, and musk, with a plethora of berry and citrus top notes. Now discontinued, many are on the lookout for a Pink Sugar dupe.
• Ariana Grande Sweet Like Candy: This candy perfume blends cotton candy with blackberry, pear, marshmallow, and vanilla, along with floral jasmine, honeysuckle, and frangipani.
• Guerlain La Petite Robe Noir Intense: This fruity floral gourmand is a complex amalgamation of cotton candy, blueberry, raspberry, cassis, bergamot, Bulgarian rose, orange blossom, jasmine, vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, and white musk.

Natural cotton candy perfume with essential oils

As lovely as these fancy cotton candy fragrances sound, there’s one problem – they all contain synthetic scents and the endocrine-disrupting chemicals that accompany them.

Most store-bought and designer perfumes aren’t suitable for anyone who is sensitive to artificial fragrances. And they’re not suited for anyone aiming to live a more non-toxic lifestyle, either.

But that’s where this DIY perfume recipe comes in. As someone very sensitive to scents, I’ve been making my own perfumes at home for years out of necessity. Most store-bought perfumes are off the table, except my favorite LaVanila Vanilla Grapefruit fragrance.

I couldn’t find a candy floss perfume with essential oils, and even the handcrafted options on Etsy contain artificial fragrances. So I wanted to offer a natural alternative for anyone who wants to smell like cotton candy, without the headache.

What is cotton candy fragrance?

Before we make a cotton candy perfume, it helps to ask – what does cotton candy smell like?

Cotton candy is the sweet-smelling fragrance of fluffy spun caramelized sugar, often with added vanilla and strawberry flavorings.

The caramelized sugar is the main event, but the added flavorings are what create that classic pink cotton candy flavor and aroma, otherwise known as “pink vanilla”.

So, when you break it down very simply, candy floss smells like sugar, caramel, and vanilla, with subtle hints of fruit and berries.

What is cotton candy flavor, and how does it relate to perfume?

In flavoring terms, cotton candy is said to be sweet, caramellic, vanillic, jammy, and fruity, with notes of strawberry.

Cotton candy’s flavor and fragrance are very much intertwined, because the same compounds used in its flavoring are also used to create candy floss notes in perfume.

The most prominent of these is ethyl maltol, a flavor component which gives cotton candy its characteristic caramelized sugar flavor and aroma. So when you think of cotton candy’s aroma, you’re likely imagining ethyl maltol.

Strawberry furanone is another main note – it adds a delicious strawberry jam-like quality that’s characteristic of pink cotton candy. In perfumery, this can also be achieved with strawberry aldehyde or a strawberry isolate.

But while using fragrance compounds might give you the most realistic scent, they’re off the table if you’re looking for a truly all-natural candy perfume.

How do you create a cotton candy fragrance with essential oils?

So, how exactly do you bottle the sugary scent of cotton candy in a DIY perfume, without using a synthetic fragrance oil?

Well, there’s no one essential oil that smells exactly like cotton candy. But with the right combination of essential oils, you can create a candy floss scent, or the illusion or one.

Combining essential oils to make perfume is a special kind of magic. By mixing certain aroma compounds, you can cause completely new fragrances to emerge, like the sweet, decadent aromas of spun sugar.

Here are the essential oils needed for each cotton candy perfume note:

• Caramel notes: tonka bean absolute, Peru balsam, cedarwood essential oil
• Sugar notes: vanilla absolute, ylang-ylang essential oil, bitter almond oil
• Vanilla notes: vanilla absolute, Peru balsam
• Fruit notes: ylang-ylang essential oil, benzoin resin, grapefruit essential oil
• Cream notes: butter CO2 extract

You may not need every single one of these essential oils – it depends on which recipe you’d like to make. The simplest perfume blend contains only 2 essential oils.

Does this essential oil combination smell exactly like sticking your nose into a bag of fresh-spun candy floss? Well, not quite. For a true cotton candy scent, you’d need ethyl maltol.

This is just my take on cotton candy perfume. It suggests candy floss in a natural, sweet-smelling, imaginative way, without using artificial scents.

But that’s the fun of making natural DIY perfumes – taking a concept and coming up with your own interpretation (like this whimsical sugarplum perfume). So with that, let’s get into how to smell like cotton candy.

Cotton candy perfume ingredients

To make this homemade perfume, you will need the following ingredients:

• Cotton candy essential oil blend
• Everclear grain alcohol for DIY perfume spray
• Fractionated coconut oil, MCT oil, or jojoba oil for roll-on perfume oil
• Vegetable glycerin for scented body spray

You may also need a few perfumery tools, depending on which perfume recipe you’re making:

• Mini cosmetic scale
• Glass pipettes to dispense perfume ingredients
• Small glass lab beakers to weigh perfumery materials
• Mini stainless steel whisk for mixing
• Pretty perfume spray bottle or roller bottle
• Small funnel to fill bottles

Everclear perfume base

Everclear pure grain alcohol is the gold standard for natural homemade perfumes, room sprays, deodorant, and other alcohol-based DIY recipes.

Real perfumer’s alcohol is cut with potentially toxic and skin-irritating denaturants, so I prefer to avoid it. For me, point of making natural DIY perfume is to avoid toxins in the first place.

Use the highest proof Everclear you can find, preferably 189 or 190 proof, but at least 151 proof to ensure your perfume ingredients dissolve completely.

Fractionated coconut oil or MCT oil

Not all liquid carrier oils are suitable for making DIY perfume oil.

Certain oils, especially those high in PUFAs, are unstable and spoil quickly. And if you’re going to go to the trouble of crafting the perfect cotton candy fragrance oil (with expensive raw perfumery materials), you want it to last a long time.

I typically use fractionated coconut oil or MCT oil for my homemade perfume oils. They are two of the most stable liquid carrier oils, giving your roll-on perfume the longest shelf life. (And there may be other benefits to using low-PUFA oils on your skin, anyway.)

If you don’t like coconut oil, jojoba oil is another long-lasting option with a long shelf-life – depending on the source, some say it lasts between 2-5 years.

Tip: to add even more sweetness and luxury to a scent, I like to use vanilla-infused jojoba oil as a perfume carrier oil. It’s infused with vanilla CO2 extract, the most expensive and sweetest-smelling vanilla for perfumery.

Essential oils for cotton candy perfume

Now, let’s move onto the essential oils you will need to make a DIY perfume that smells like cotton candy. For a more in-depth fragrance explanation, see my cotton candy essential oil.

Tonka bean absolute

If there’s one key to recreating copycat designer perfume recipes with essential oils, it’s tonka bean. And if you’re making your own perfume, you’re likely very familiar with this gourmand perfumery staple.

Where vanilla is just sweet, tonka bean is complex, alluring and incredibly sultry. And I think that’s partly because it smells like baked goods – after all, gourmand scents are proven to make you more attractive.

Not only does tonka bean smell decadent, but it’s an excellent fixative, so it’s one of best ways to make a DIY perfume that lasts.

Tonka bean absolute is thick and viscous, so it truly stays on your skin (and clothing). One of the best parts of tonka bean perfumes is how long they last on seldom washed items, like jackets.

When it comes to choosing the right tonka bean for your perfume, you have a few options.

Best tonka bean absolute for perfume oil

To make a cotton candy scented perfume oil, you’ll need an oil-based tonka bean oil or solid absolute – the thick, highly fragrant tonka bean paste reserved for perfumery.

Natural tonka bean absolute smells very complex – sweet and powdery like vanilla, rich like caramel, with some spicy aromas like rum balls, caramelized sugar, and cinnamon buns.

Even this is only scratching the surface of its decadent aroma profile. Overall, it’s downright edible, and the spicy notes mellow themselves out when blended into a fragrance.

Pure tonka bean absolute will give you the best, most delicious, and most long-lasting cotton candy scent. This stuff truly has staying power, and its fragrance stays on your skin until you wash it off.

However, it’s also pricey. It’s my perfumery splurge, and if you can get your hands on some at a price point that’s doable for you, it’s worth it.

I use it in almost all of my homemade perfumes, including the sugar cookie perfume I wear most of the time (recipe coming soon).

You can find tonka bean absolute on Etsy, but you’ll likely get the best deal through perfumery suppliers such as Eden Botanicals. You may want to locate a supplier in your country.

Best tonka bean essential oil

If you don’t want to splurge on perfumery absolute, you can also use an oil-based or oil-soluble tonka bean liquid.

Plant Therapy tonka bean essential oil is soluble in both alcohol and oil, so it works well for both perfume oil and perfume mist.

It’s not quite as long-lasting or full-bodied as the other absolutes, and it lacks the characteristic tonka bean spice. This is also reflected in its color – a pale yellow oil rather than a dark brown liquid extract or brown paste.

But this isn’t an issue, because it has a decadent and mouthwatering gourmand aroma that’s perfect for cotton candy. It’s sweet and powdery, with a smooth and buttery quality that reminds me of rum tarts and other delicious baked goods.

I love the scent so much that I also wear it straight as a perfume oil. Plant Therapy likely doesn’t condone it being used this way, but their product is already diluted with a natural solvent (triethyl citrate), and it doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin.

As yet another alternative, you can also incorporate tonka bean infused oil or tonka bean butter into your perfume base. Eden Botanicals carries both products, and they smell incredible.

Best choice for tonka bean perfume spray

For the DIY perfume spray, you’ll need an alcohol-soluble tonka bean dilution. Again, you have a few options.

The best one I’ve used is from Living Libations. It’s an extra strong 50% dilution of tonka bean in ethanol that smells incredibly rich and decadent.

I’ve also used Simplers Botanicals tonka bean essential oil in the past, but it’s been out of stock for a while and appears to be discontinued.

The Silky Scents brand is likely comparable. I checked with the company, and it’s 30% tonka bean absolute to 70% ethanol, just like the Simplers brand.

As another option, I also included a perfume blend with Plant Therapy’s tonka bean oil. It’s not quite as spicy or strong as an alcohol-based absolute, but it still creates a sweet and delicious cotton candy fragrance.

Vanilla absolute

A must for gourmand perfumery, vanilla sweetens everything it touches for a sweet and decadent bakery scent.

Not to be confused with vanilla oleoresin, vanilla absolute has a thick, syrup-like consistency, and a rich, balsamic vanilla aroma that mellows out beautifully in a perfume blend.

Once blended with a carrier oil, I think it smells like an original Body Shop vanilla perfume oil dupe. So if you were a fan, it’s just another reason to get your hands on some vanilla absolute!

Vanilla absolute is preferable for perfumery for its staying power and complex fragrance. It’s not always cheap, but a little goes a long way, and you’ll be able to make multiple perfume recipes.

It’s still cheaper than decadent vanilla CO2 extract – which I would use instead if it were less expensive.

Note: vanilla absolute can make perfumes a little cloudy, but this will not affect the fragrance.

Ylang ylang essential oil

Ylang ylang essential oil’s sweet aroma is perfect for creating candy scents such as cotton candy and bubblegum.

Its floral notes fade into the background in this perfume, leaving only a sweet, sugary quality. Combined with tonka bean, I think ylang ylang helps emulate the smell of cotton candy sugar.

(I wanted to add more ylang ylang for this reason, but kept the amount low to stay within its recommended dermal limit of 0.8%.)

A very sweet-smelling ylang ylang oil is key here. Typically ylang ylang extra is the sweetest and best for perfumery. Plant Therapy has a very sweet-smelling ylang-ylang extra, but I find Simply Earth ylang-ylang oil smells just as sweet.

If it’s in your budget or your collection, ylang ylang absolute would make an even more luxurious addition to this DIY perfume recipe.

And if you’re lucky enough to have precious heliotrope absolute, its sweet and powdery aroma would make a gorgeous variation of a cotton candy scent. Which makes perfect sense, since heliotropyl acetone is another component found in candy floss fragrance.

Peru balsam

A small hint of Peru balsam adds depth and complexity to this cotton candy perfume.

It has a rich, vanillic, and slightly smoky aroma that reminds me of caramel and cooked sugar. So it’s perfect for creating caramel scents, like the caramelized sugar in candy floss.

But Peru balsam can be sensitizing, so it has to be used with care. It’s recommended you don’t exceed 0.4% for topical use, so there’s only a drop in this perfume recipe.

Benzoin resin

Benzoin resin’s sweet, unique scent is perfect for all sorts of gourmand and candy fragrances. High-quality benzoin essential oil is thick and syrup-like, with a syrupy-sweet aroma to match.

Besides the usual descriptions like rich, balsamic, and vanilla-like, benzoin’s aroma also reminds me of fruity drink syrups, like grenadine with a touch of spice.

Aside from its delicious fragrance, benzoin is an excellent perfume fixative. Like tonka bean, it helps anchor the scent for a truly long lasting DIY perfume. As an added bonus, benzoin acts as a natural antioxidant, helping your fragrance last a long time.

The thicker the benzoin, the better – that means it’s mostly benzoin, and will give you the strongest fragrance. A thin benzoin means it’s mostly solvent, which is usually either ethanol or benzyl benzoate.

If making the perfume oil, you’ll need an oil-soluble benzoin resinoid. This can be difficult to source, so benzoin is optional for the perfume oil. You can replace it with equal amounts grapefruit essential oil.

Grapefruit essential oil

Pink grapefruit oil has a sweet and candy-like citrus aroma that incorporates beautifully into sweet scents.

But its tangy citrus qualities are hidden by large amounts of sweet vanilla and tonka bean, leaving only a fruity fragrance. I imagine it as the “pink” quality in pink vanilla cotton candy flavor, or pink sugar.

Any variety of pink grapefruit essential oil will work for this designer perfume recipe. But for the sweetest scent, choose steam-distilled grapefruit oil over cold pressed. It has a slightly less tart aroma that’s perfect for candy fragrances.

Butter co2 extract

If you’re making the cotton candy perfume oil, you’re in for a treat. Gourmand aficionados will be familiar with butter essential oil, or butter CO2 extract, a staple in gourmand perfumery.

It adds a delicious, buttery quality that elevates perfumes to the next level of decadence, and it smells exactly how you’d expect: rich, creamy, and fatty, like real melted butter.

Butter CO2 extract is the reason I call this perfume “cotton candy cupcake.” Vanilla and tonka bean smell lovely on their own, but they smell downright edible when paired with butter, like frosted cupcakes.

As a bonus, butter is another excellent fixative, helping these fragrances last a long time on skin. So if you love long-lasting perfumes that smell like dessert, you’ll want to get your hands on some butter CO2.

The good news is that it’s relatively inexpensive compared to other perfumery materials. You can find butter essential oil on Etsy, but you’ll likely get the best deal through perfumery suppliers such as Eden Botanicals. You may want to locate a supplier in your country.

For more buttery dessert scents:

• Cotton Candy Cake Essential Oil Blend
• Lemon Pound Cake Body Butter
• Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Blend

Also stay tuned for my sugar cookie perfume.

Atlas cedarwood oil

A single drop of Atlas cedarwood essential oil adds even more depth and realism to this cotton candy perfume.

Cedarwood might not sound like it belongs here – but despite its dry, woody qualities, it also has a subtle sweetness that incorporates beautifully into candy scents. And like Peru balsam, its smokiness ties in with the smell of caramelized sugar.

In small qualities, cedarwood helps dampen some of the sharper fruity aromas in the perfume, rounding out the scent to a softer, more mellow cotton candy sweetness.

Bitter almond essential oil

With notes of cherries and sugary marzipan, bitter almond oil is one of the sweetest-smelling essential oils there is. So sweet, in fact, that it can quickly overwhelm a perfume blend.

These perfume recipes are already sugary to begin with, but if desired, you can add a drop or two of optional bitter almond oil to add even more sweetness.

Its saccharine aroma may be too cloying or sickly sweet for some people, so I suggest allowing your perfume to age the full week before deciding whether you want to add the bitter almond oil. You can also use purified benzaldehyde for perfumery.

For more ways to use bitter almond essential oil:

• Sugar Plum Perfume
• Sugar Cookie Body Butter
• Honey Almond Soap

Cotton Candy Perfume Recipes

Cotton Candy Cupcake Perfume Oil

8g MCT oil or fractionated coconut oil
0.7g vanilla absolute
1.4g tonka bean absolute
0.5g / 10 drops butter CO2 extract
0.21g / 5 drops grapefruit essential oil
0.1g / 2 drops benzoin resin
0.08g / 3 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
0.04g / 1 drop Peru balsam
0.05g / 1 drop atlas cedarwood
0.05g / 2 drops bitter almond essential oil

At a little over 30% fragrance, this cotton candy cupcake perfume oil is the strongest and most long-lasting DIY perfume of the bunch.

If you enjoy Aquolina Pink Sugar, you might also enjoy this fragrance. Sometimes you’ll get whiffs of candy, other times vanilla frosting or cake batter. It’s a decadent combination. And in terms of staying power, this recipe can definitely compete with designer perfumes.

Sultry tonka bean absolute takes centre stage, creating a rich and long-lasting caramelized sugar base note that lingers on skin all day long. It’s softened by syrupy vanilla absolute for an irresistible sweetness.

Butter CO2 adds a rich, buttery quality that will make you smell like frosted cotton candy cupcakes. A touch of sweet and slightly smoky Peru balsam deepens the fragrance, emulating the slightly burnt spun sugar that collects in a candy floss machine.

There’s a faint ylang-ylang heart for another layer of sweetness. And for pink cotton candy’s subtle fruity nuances, syrupy benzoin combines with a juicy pink grapefruit top note.

Finally, a single drop of Atlas cedarwood essential oil mellows out the sharper fruity notes. It adds a barely detectable smokiness that complements the aromas of caramelized sugar, tying the whole fragrance together.

For the optional finishing touch, you can add a couple drops of bitter almond oil for an extra punch of sugar. Some may find its sweetness overwhelming. So I recommend making the perfume, letting it age for a week or two, then deciding whether you’d like to try adding the bitter almond.

Cotton Candy Perfume Spray

~8ml Everclear
25 drops vanilla absolute
12 drops alcohol-based tonka bean absolute
2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
1 drop grapefruit essential oil
1 drop benzoin essential oil
1 drop Peru balsam
1 drop bitter almond essential oil

This simple cotton candy perfume spray is like a sugar rush in a bottle.

First, it hits you in the face with sweet benzoin and grapefruit. But it dries down to a smooth, long-lasting base of tonka bean and vanilla that will make you smell like caramel and sugar.

The tonka bean is key for a strong and long-lasting DIY essential oil perfume. It also has a rich and slightly spicy quality, so you don’t need any cedarwood in this perfume blend.

The bitter almond oil is optional, but I like what it adds to this perfume – it smells like cotton candy cookies on the drydown. Like the cupcake perfume, I suggest aging for a week before deciding whether to add it.

Cotton Candy Sugar Perfume Oil

~7ml vanilla-infused jojoba oil or liquid coconut oil
20 drops vanilla absolute
20 drops tonka bean essential oil
10 drops butter essential oil
2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
2 drop grapefruit essential oil
1 drop Peru balsam
1 drop Atlas cedarwood essential oil
1 drop benzoin resin

This easy cotton candy perfume oil has many of the same qualities as the more complex cupcake fragrance. But it has a softer, more powdery quality, like spun candy floss sugar.

Instead of solid tonka bean paste, this perfume oil contains Plant Therapy’s tonka bean oil for its creamy gourmand sweetness. It’s also a more cost-effective alternative to tonka bean absolute for perfumery.

For an even sweeter cotton candy scent, I recommend making this perfume recipe with a base of vanilla-infused oil.

Candy Floss Perfume Spray

~8ml Everclear
20 drops tonka bean absolute
15 drops vanilla absolute
2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
2 drop grapefruit essential oil
1 drop Peru balsam
1 drop cedarwood essential oil

This cotton candy perfume evokes all of the delicious scents of candy floss: creamy vanilla, sweet fruit, and rich, caramelized pink sugar. It’s another simple scent variation using Plant Therapy tonka bean essential oil.

If you have a small EO collection, you can omit cedarwood and Peru balsam. Optionally, if you don’t have vanilla absolute, you can make an even easier cotton candy scent by replacing it with more tonka bean.

Candy Floss Perfume Oil

~8ml vanilla-infused jojoba oil
40 drops Plant Therapy tonka bean essential oil
2 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
1 drop grapefruit essential oil

This is the easiest perfume oil recipe to smell like cotton candy naturally. I made it for those with small essential oil collections, or who don’t have access to vanilla absolute for perfumery.

The simplest way to achieve a cotton candy smell is to combine Plant Therapy’s tonka bean absolute with ylang-ylang essential oil. So the grapefruit oil is optional if you don’t care for its fruity aroma.

You can add a drop of cedarwood essential oil for smoky depth. Or, you can also mix the blend with Everclear to make a perfume mist.

Finally, those with sensitive skin might benefit from making this fragrance at half strength.

Cotton Candy Body Spray

2 tsp vegetable glycerin
~1oz vodka or Everclear
Cotton candy perfume blend of choice

You can turn any of these candy perfumes into a scented body spray, simply by mixing one of the perfume blends with vodka and a small amount of skin-moisturizing glycerin.

The nature of a body mist means it’s not strongly scented. So if you’re looking for a stronger, more long-lasting DIY body spray that smells like cotton candy, you can double the fragrance load.

Instead of Everclear, you can also simply use regular vodka.

How to make cotton candy perfume oil

1. Before you begin, prepare your perfumery tools. Clean and prepare your beakers, and place your bottles of vanilla and tonka bean absolutes in a bowl of hot water to soften them for use.
2. In a small lab beaker, carefully weigh tonka bean absolute and vanilla absolute. If you’re using liquid tonka bean oil instead, don’t add it during this step.
3. Then, weigh your perfume carrier oil into the same beaker.
4. Using the double boiler method, heat the beaker over medium-low heat until the absolutes have melted and dissolved into your perfume oil. Stir gently to ensure everything is evenly incorporated. I use a tiny stainless steel whisk to mix the perfume oil as it melts.
5. Once the absolutes have melted, promptly remove the mixture from heat. You want to heat your oil just enough to ensure the ingredients are melted. Give the mixture another quick stir and leave it to cool to room temperature before moving onto the next step.
6. Once the oil has cooled, it’s time to add the rest of the cotton candy perfume blend: butter CO2 extract, ylang-ylang essential oil, grapefruit essential oil, benzoin resin, Peru balsam and atlas cedarwood essential oil. If using a tonka bean liquid oil, add that during this step as well.
7. Give your cotton candy perfume oil another quick whisk to incorporate. Then, it’s time to cover it and leave it to age. You can either place it into a small bottle with a lid, or cover the beaker with cling wrap. Place your perfume oil in a cool, dark area for at least a week.
   
   You can sniff your perfume every few days as it ages to follow its fragrance evolution. You’ll find that it slowly transforms from individual notes to a smooth amalgamation of cotton candy sweetness. See section on how to age your perfume.
8. Once your perfume oil is finished aging and you’ve experienced the finished fragrance, you can opt to add a couple drops of optional bitter almond essential oil for more sweetness. I recommend adding one drop at a time and waiting a few days to see how it affects the fragrance.
9. Finally, once the fragrance is to your liking, transfer your perfume oil to a perfume roller bottle and enjoy. Store in a cool, dark place between uses.

How to make cotton candy perfume spray

1. Before you begin, choose a bottle to make and age your perfume in. I like to use 10ml glass bottles to make perfume samples – afterwards, simply replace the cap with a spray nozzle.
2. Carefully drop your essential oil perfume blend into your bottle: tonka bean absolute, vanilla absolute, ylang-ylang essential oil, grapefruit essential oil, Peru Balsam, benzoin resin, and optional cedarwood essential oil (depending on which perfume you’re making).
3. Replace the lid of your bottle and give it a gentle shake to mix the essential oils. Then, place your perfume concentrate in a cool, dark area to mature for at least a week.
4. After a week, add your Everclear. Replace the lid and shake well to incorporate. I recommend leaving your perfume spray to age for another week before use, as the fragrance will mature even more once added to alcohol.
5. After another week, your candy floss perfume is ready. Store in a cool, dark area and enjoy smelling like cotton candy.

How to make cotton candy body spray

1. To make a cotton candy scented DIY body spray, follow the same steps as the perfume spray. Mix your cotton candy fragrance blend in your body mist bottle.
2. Allow the fragrance concentrate to age for at least a week before adding vegetable glycerin and vodka. Shake well to incorporate the essential oil blend.
3. Let sit for at least another week to allow the scent to develop before enjoying your body spray.

Cotton candy fragrance formula notes

• Each recipe makes 10ml cotton candy perfume.
• The cupcake perfume formula is listed by weight, as this is the most accurate way to measure solid absolutes. But I kept the other perfume recipes intentionally simple for beginners, which is why they’re measured in drops.
• Tonka bean absolute is one of the keys to making DIY perfume last longer. However, please be aware that large amounts may be skin-sensitizing to some people. See safety notes below.

Tips for the best perfume that smells like candy floss

• Don’t expect your perfume to smell like cotton candy right away – letting the fragrance mature is key! See notes on aging your perfume below.
• The perfume sprays have sharper scents, while the fragrance oils are sweeter, smoother, and more long-lasting, with a stronger sillage. I like both formats, but the perfume oils are by far my favorite, especially the buttery cupcake scent – butter CO2 extract adds an irresistible creaminess.
• Both perfume formats will make you smell like cotton candy all day long, but the perfume oils last even longer, especially if you use solid tonka bean absolute.
• A perfume oil’s scent is immediately apparent, but the alcohol-based perfume sprays take a bit longer to dry down and reveal their true fragrance.
• Please note that your cotton candy perfume may smell different to you, depending on a variety of factors, including your brand of essential oils and unique skin chemistry. But as long as you follow the recipes, I’m confident you’ll end up with a delicious perfume that smells something like fresh-spun candy floss.

Safety tips for using essential oils as perfume

Skin irritation is always a risk, even with a properly formulated perfume. You never know how your skin will react to a particular oil, so it’s important to be cautious when using essential oils as perfume.

Please patch test your perfume before use, and discontinue use if any irritation occurs.

I am not liable or responsible for any skin reactions, as that’s a risk you take when you make your own perfume with essential oils.

How to age your homemade perfume

When it comes to making perfume, aging is one of the most important steps – it’s the finishing touch that ties everything together.

You can’t know a perfume’s true fragrance until you age it, which is why it often takes so long to perfect a recipe.

Allowing a perfume to rest softens any sharp edges, mellowing out the fragrance to a more cohesive blend of scents. In particular, the cedarwood and grapefruit notes can be overwhelming until everything settles together.

To age your cotton candy perfume, leave it in a cool, dark place for at least a week after mixing. For the perfume spray, you can age it twice – leave the essential oil blend alone for a week (maturation). Then, age the perfume again after adding alcohol (maceration).

If you have the patience, you may even wish to stretch the aging time up to two weeks. With time, your cotton candy fragrance will smell even better, richer, and sweeter, allowing you to enjoy each stage of its evolution.

More essential oil perfume recipes

Also see our other homemade and copycat designer perfume recipes with essential oils:

• Essential Oil Perfume Recipes for Spring
• DIY Sugar Plum Perfume with Essential Oils
• Sugar Cookie Perfume Recipe (coming soon)

More sweet-smelling blends for perfume, body spray, and other homemade fragrance recipes:

• Cotton Candy Essential Oil Recipe
• Gumdrop Essential Oil Blend
• Sugar Cookie Essential Oil Recipe
• Caramel Essential Oil Blend
• Bubblegum Essential Oil Recipe

For more EO recipes, follow us on Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.

Pin it for later