Sugar Plum Perfume (DIY Perfume Recipe with Essential Oils)

Learn how to make sugar plum perfume. Fruity, gourmand, and intensely sweet, this easy essential oil perfume recipe evokes the sugary scents of candy, plums, and holiday baking.

What comes to mind when you imagine the scent of sugar plums?

Sugar, spice, and everything nice? Candied fruit, nuts and spices?

Or maybe you mistakenly believe that a sugarplum is a Christmas plum candy. (It’s not, but you aren’t alone.)

In any case, as long as the sugary scents of candied plums, gumdrops, and fruitcake entice you, I think you’ll enjoy this natural perfume recipe.

So if you’re ready to smell like the Sugar Plum Fairy, read on to learn how to make DIY sugar plum perfume with essential oils.

And if you love gourmand scents as much as I do, stay tuned for my upcoming sugar cookie perfume recipe.

Natural sugarplum perfume with essential oils

Unlike classic gingerbread or candy cane, sugar plum is one of those elusive, whimsical holiday fragrances that’s open to your imagination.

And I had a lot of fun imagining my own version of “sugar plum” for this perfume spray, which is based on my sugarplum fairy essential oil blend.

But this isn’t just a Christmas perfume! Sugar plums may be associated with the holidays, but you can enjoy fruity gourmand perfumes year round. Besides, sweet candy fragrances are perfect for summer, too.

But if you prefer the scents of flowers to baked goods, see my fruity floral essential oil perfume recipes – I reach for those when I need a dose of aromatherapy.

Why I make my own natural perfume

I’ve been blending my own homemade essential oil perfumes for years, not only because I enjoy making them, but also because I have no other choice. I’m very sensitive to synthetic fragrances, as is my mom (and blogging partner).

So there are very few storebought fragrances I can tolerate, aside from Lavanila, whose perfumes still have a special place in my heart since I got into natural fragrances over a decade ago.

But these days, you’ll usually find me wearing some kind of homemade concoction that smells like sweets and tonka beans. (Which, by the way, is a key ingredient for this sugarplum perfume!)

My favourite part of making perfume is the creative aspect. It’s a lot of fun to take a concept, put your own unique spin on it, and figure out how best to create it with essential oils and other natural perfumery ingredients.

And with so many delectable, edible-smelling ingredients to choose from, like tonka bean, vanilla, and creamy butter, I think gourmand perfumes are by the far the most fun to work with.

Other sugar plum fragrances

I’m not the first to try bottling the elusive sugar plum. There are quite a few sugar plum fragrances already, like Demeter Sugar Plum, Bath and Body Works Sugar Plum Dream, and Tru Fragrance Sugared Plum Perfume (discontinued).

Demeter’s perfume is a nod to the traditional sugarplum desserts, with notes of dried fruit, honey and nuts, while Sugar Plum Dream is a more imaginative take on the scent.

But as lovely as these perfumes sound, they all contain synthetic fragrances and the endocrine-disrupting chemicals that go along with them.

I couldn’t find a sugar plum perfume with essential oils, so I’m excited to offer a natural alternative for anyone who wants to smell like sugar plums, without the headache!

But while headaches are unlikely, this fragrance may cause visions of sugar plums to dance in your head. (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

How do you create a sugar plum scent?

So, how exactly do you bottle the mystical sugar plum in a DIY perfume, without using a synthetic fragrance oil?

Well, there’s no plum essential oil (and no sugarplum oil, regrettably). Plum blossom oil is too floral, and the fragrant plum carrier oils (like kakadu plum and plum kernel) are only for skincare, not perfumery (save them to make a sugar plum body oil instead!).

However, you can create a DIY sugar plum scent, or the illusion of one, with a special combination of essential oils. You just have to get creative.

Something magical happens when you combine essential oils to make perfume. By mixing certain aroma compounds in alcohol, you can create entirely new fragrances that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible.

And when it comes to making fruity scents, there’s certainly no shortage of amazing perfumery materials at your disposal. Oils such as buchu, frangipani, green cognac, and massoia bark can create fruity notes like peaches, apples and plums.

But these oils are rare and difficult to source in some countries, and I wanted to take things in a more accessible direction. Because there’s no use in creating a perfume recipe with rare essential oils if most people won’t be able to make it.

So, I experimented with easy-to-find essential oils and absolutes to create my idea of the perfect natural sugared plum fragrance. The winning combination was sweet citrus, bubbly benzoin, and 2 specialty perfumery oils. More information on those in just a moment.

What does sugar plum smell like?

This sugar plum perfume evokes many delicious scents of the holiday season (many of which I already mentioned), but it mainly smells like a combination of candy, cookies, and fruit.

It hits you in the face with intensely sugary notes on the first spray, gradually fading to a more subdued sweetness on the drydown.

So you’ll detect the candy and fruit notes immediately, then the baked goods, thanks to that tenacious tonka bean. It’s a very light and fresh fragrance overall, and not the least bit overpowering.

But obviously fragrance profiles are a bit more nuanced than a few notes (and difficult to share over the internet). So I’ll do my best to describe some of the other things that come to mind when I sniff the bottle.

This sugar plum perfume smells like:

• Candy: marzipan, gumdrops, plum candy, grape candy, and red Twizzlers
• Fruit: sugared plums, plum preserves, cherries, peaches, and candied citrus
• Baked goods: freshly baked Christmas cookies, holiday fruitcake, and rum balls
• Soda: cream soda, grape soda, fruit punch, and sherbet punch

There’s a few more notes that emerge as the perfume ages – a hint of toasted coconut, and even something that could pass for pineapple (like a natural isolate). So it almost has a tropical feel if you catch the right whiff.

Of course, your homemade perfume spray will smell different to you, depending on a variety of factors. These include which brand of essential oils you use, how long you let the perfume age, and your unique sense of smell and skin chemistry.

It will also depend on the strength of each perfumery ingredient. For instance, a 50% dilution of tonka bean in ethanol will be much stronger than 30%.

But as long as you follow the recipe, I guarantee you’ll end up with a delicious-smelling fragrance straight from the Land of the Sweets.

That was my last joke, so let’s get into the recipe.

Sugar Plum Fairy perfume ingredients

To make this DIY essential oil perfume, you will need the following ingredients:

• Everclear grain alcohol
• Sugarplum essential oil blend

You will also need a few tools:

• Tiny funnel
• Glass pipette to measure alcohol
• Pretty perfume bottle for storage

Everclear

Everclear pure grain alcohol is the best perfume base. Its purity and potency makes it the gold standard for making all kinds of homemade concoctions, including perfume sprays and herbal tinctures.

Note: I avoid real perfumer’s alcohol, which is denatured with potentially toxic (and irritating) chemicals. The point of making your own natural DIY perfume is to avoid all those toxins in the first place.

Sugar Plum Fairy Essential Oil Blend

• Sweet orange essential oil (top note) 
• Benzaldehyde / bitter almond oil (top and middle note)
• Tonka bean absolute (base note and fixative)
• Benzoin resinoid (base note and fixative)

This easy blend of four essential oils creates a delicious sugarplum scent that’s fit for the Sugar Plum Fairy.

I’ll include a brief writeup of each oil’s role, but for a more detailed description of how the essential oils work together to make a sugar plum scent, see my standalone sugarplum essential oil post.

Tonka bean absolute

Tonka bean absolute adds the magic to this perfume. Not only does it act as a fixative that helps the fragrance last longer, but its aroma is absolutely decadent.

A perfumery staple, tonka bean is rich, sweet, and powdery, adding notes of marzipan, caramel, cherries, and baked goods to everything it touches.

I think tonka bean oil smells like cookies right out of the bottle, and it also adds something a little bit sultry and sensual, if that appeals to you in a perfume.

Note: Since publishing this perfume recipe, my usual brand of tonka bean oil appears to be discontinued. However, Plant Therapy now sells their own tonka bean essential oil.

It smells incredible, but it’s not quite as strong as alcohol-based absolutes. So if you use Plant Therapy’s product to make this DIY, make sure to double the amount – see notes after the recipe.

You can also find tonka bean oil on Etsy. For more information on the best tonka bean oils for perfumery, see my cotton candy perfume recipe.

Bitter almond essential oil

With sugary notes of marzipan, cherries, and almond liqueur, bitter almond oil (benzaldehyde) adds a gloriously sweet, delicate fragrance to this homemade perfume.

It truly puts the “sugar” in sugar plum, and sugar cookies too, which is also why it’s key for this sugar cookie essential oil recipe!

Bitter almond’s sugary sweetness hits you right in the face, and because it smells so edible, it tends to make your mouth water.

You can find bitter almond oil online or at cosmetic supply stores. However, it’s crucially important to look for rectified bitter almond oil, which is free of toxic prussic acid.

You can also use pure benzaldehyde, which is the natural aromatic compound that gives bitter almond its sugary scent. Whichever oil you choose, make sure it’s labelled as safe for cosmetic use.

Benzoin resinoid

Another perfumery staple, benzoin has a sweet, unique aroma that’s perfect for a sugar plum fragrance.

It’s sugary and bubbly like cream soda, with a rich and balsamic vanilla-like undertone. It’s also a perfume fixative, so it helps affix your fragrance. The notes of benzoin and tonka bean definitely last the longest.

Tip: Benzoin resin is a solid, so look for a bottled benzoin essential oil dilution in ethanol.

Sweet orange essential oil

Last but not least, I think sweet orange oil puts the “plum” in sugar plum. Its citrus top notes fade first, leaving behind a sweet and fruity trace of what could definitely pass for “plums”.

Since it’s so sweet, it definitely contributes to the candy and gumdrops notes. Sweet orange oil also has uplifting aromatherapy properties, which is an added benefit!

Process of making homemade perfume

The perfume making process can be broken down into a few simple steps:

• Mixing your essential oil blend
• Adding alcohol
• Allowing the perfume to age

However, these are very simplified instructions – you only have to spend a few minutes browsing fragrance forums to see that making perfume is an art form way beyond the scope of this post.

And natural perfumery is a far more nuanced process than simply mixing some essential oils!

I’ve kept this DIY perfume recipe intentionally simple and accessible. It’s meant for those who just want to make natural perfume at home to avoid chemicals, not more experienced perfumers (who certainly don’t need to come to my blog).

One more thing: expert perfumers work by ingredient weight, not volume. This recipe is in drops and millilitres for simplicity.

Before making or using your perfume, please see the section on essential oil perfume safety below.

Sugar Plum Perfume Recipe

• 9ml Everclear grain alcohol
• 8-16 drops tonka bean absolute* (see notes)
• 6 drops benzaldehyde or bitter almond essential oil
• 5 drops benzoin resin oil
• 1 drop sweet orange essential oil

How to make sugar plum perfume

1. Using a tiny funnel or a steady hand, carefully drop each essential oil into your perfume bottle.
2. Carefully add the alcohol base, then screw on the bottle’s spray nozzle.
   
   Note: If coloring your perfume, add the natural colorant during this step.
3. Shake well to combine the essential oils in the perfume.
4. Your sugar plum perfume is finished and ready to use! Please store in the refrigerator when not in use.

Tips for making DIY perfume with essential oils

Aging your perfume

You can begin using your perfume spray right away if you’d like, or optionally allow it to sit for 1-3 weeks to further develop the fragrance. This gives the aroma compounds time to mingle, allowing some more complex scents to emerge.

For more information on aging your perfume, see my cotton candy fragrance.

Measuring alcohol

For precision, you can use a glass pipette with markings to measure out 9ml. But you can also simply fill your perfume bottle to the top after adding the essential oil blend.

Perfume storage and shelf life

• This perfume recipe yields a tiny 10ml of perfume, which is enough to decide if you like the fragrance enough to make a larger batch.
• For storage, I like these beautiful, inexpensive 10ml gold perfume bottles.
• Please store both your perfume (and your bitter almond oil) in the refrigerator. Benzaldehyde is very delicate, and if stored improperly, it readily oxidizes to the skin irritant benzoic acid.
• Use your homemade perfume within 1 year.

Tonka bean absolute notes

• If using Plant Therapy’s tonka bean essential oil, increase the amount to 16 drops. It smells lovely, but it’s not as strong as an alcohol-based product.
• If using an alcohol-based tonka bean absolute, you can leave the amount at 8 drops.

Natural perfume coloring (optional)

You’ll notice the perfume in the photos is a light sugar plum purple. I used a pinch of pink beet powder and a tiny drop of natural blue food coloring to achieve this pretty shade.

Obviously coloring your perfume is optional, but it’s something you can do if you like the look.

Left as is, your sugar plum perfume will be a clear, light orange from the sweet orange, benzoin, and tonka bean oils.

Sugar plum perfume formula

This sugar plum perfume recipe contains 20 drops (1ml) of essential oils in 9ml alcohol, or a little under 10% fragrance (depending on your oils’ strength).

This places it in the less fragrant eau de toilette category rather than a true perfume, but this was intentional to reduce the risk of skin irritation.

Personally, I make my own homemade perfumes a lot stronger (20% fragrance or more). But I err on the side of caution when it comes to publishing recipes.

The essential oil perfume formula is comprised of:

• 4% tonka bean absolute*
• 3% benzaldehyde / bitter almond
• 2.5% benzoin resin oil*
• 0.5% sweet orange essential oil

*Since we aren’t working with raw materials, the actual percentages vary, and will depend on your oils’ strength. For instance, a 50% dilution of benzoin yields 1.25% total raw material, which is under the safe dermal use level.

All percentages are within the guidelines suggested by Tisserand & Young in Essential Oil Safety:

• Tonka bean oil is rich in natural coumarin, but there’s no evidence of toxicity when applied topically. So Tisserand & Young “see no need for a coumarin dermal limit, either for toxicity or skin sensitization.”
• Benzoin’s maximum recommended dermal use level is 2%.
• Tisserand & Young see no need for a dermal limit for benzaldehyde. It was not irritating at 4%, however, a small percentage of dermatitis patients reacted to 5%.
• Sweet orange oil is not particularly irritating, even at levels up to 8%.

Essential oil perfume safety

Making essential oil perfume is safe, as long as you you follow proper safety guidelines.

However, even with a properly formulated perfume, skin irritation is always a risk. You don’t know how your skin will react to a particular oil, so it’s important to be extra cautious when using essential oils as perfume.

Alcohol is a potent penetration enhancer, further increasing the chance of a reaction, and the risk also increases with each added essential oil in a perfume blend.

So, please keep these safety tips in mind when making perfume with essential oils:

• Always do a patch test before use. If you see any signs of irritation, don’t use the perfume. (You can use it as a room spray or to fragrance your clothes so it doesn’t go to waste.)
• Never under any circumstances use this perfume on sensitive skin, or if you have any skin conditions.
• Please use only freshly opened, properly refrigerated bitter almond oil or benzaldehyde to lessen the chance of irritation.
• Do not exceed the maximum safe dermal use level of any given essential oil.
• As always, it’s up to you to do your own research, and to consult your doctor or health professional to ensure this perfume, and essential oils in general, are safe for you to use.

How to use essential oil perfume

Apply your sugar plum perfume as you would any other fragrance (but don’t forget the patch test). Spritz on pulse points, and enjoy the sugary sweet fragrance that follows you throughout the day!

For the longest lasting fragrance, it’s always best to use a DIY perfume spray on freshly moisturized skin, which holds scent longer. So, moisturize first for best results.

However, an oil or body butter is more effective than a lotion. Oil-based products last longer on the skin, so they’ll hold your perfume longer. As an added benefit, they also create a buffer that reduces the risk of irritation from the essential oils. (Might I suggest our sugar cookie body butter?)

Even better, you can also layer your homemade perfume with an oil-based fragrance, such as a perfume oil or a solid perfume. Alcohol-based fragrances smell stronger at first, but oil-based fragrances last longer, so you get the best of both worlds.

If you like layering fragrances, I think this sugar plum perfume smells amazing with any kind of gourmand scent, preferably heavy on the tonka bean or vanilla! I like to layer mine with a sugar cookie solid perfume I’ve been making for years – one day I’ll share that recipe.

More ways to smell good naturally

For more ways to smell good with essential oils, check out:

• 5 Spring Essential Oil Perfume Recipes
• DIY Deodorant Spray with Essential Oils
• Sugar Cookie Body Butter

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