How To Make A Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne

Natasha Bruce-Carline
How To Make A Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne

As soon as spring flowers begin to smile at the warmth of the sun,  I have the urge to concoct new floral eau de colognes.

I yearn for sunny warmth after such a long stretch of gloomy greyness. Those dainty flowers that gaily welcome spring back into the garden; those chartreuse, bright new leaves. I just want to carry all of that with me, and the perfect method of transportation for those dreams has got to be perfume! 

The Nuanced Art Of Perfume

It is very easy to make perfume at home, and this post will be the first in a series of three articles designed to help you capture moments of beauty in springtime atmospheres, that early glimpse of life peeping through the earth, the blossom filling the trees, and that full eruption into glorious blooms right across the garden. 

Simultaneously, each post will also teach you how to make the different strengths of perfume, which are Eau de Cologne, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Parfum, and a heavier Extrait de Parfum. The only difference between each of these is down to the ratios of fragrance concentrate you add to the alcohol base. Naturally, then, how much oil or fragrance you add to your blend will impact how strongly people will be able to smell it and how long the scent will remain on your skin.  

Eau de Cologne (EDC)

    • Concentration: 3–5%
    • Longevity on skin: 1–3 hours 
    • Projection: Strong but very short-lived — a bright, fresh burst that disperses quickly

Eau de Toilette (EDT)

    • Concentration: 4–8%
    • Longevity on skin: 3–5 hours
    • Projection: Moderate to strong (especially initially) — lifts quickly and diffuses well; often more noticeable in the opening

Eau de Parfum (EDP)

    • Concentration: 8–15%
    • Longevity on skin: 6–8 hours
    • Projection: Moderate — creates a clear scent aura; easily noticed in conversation without being overpowering

Extrait de Parfum / Parfum (EP / P)

    • Concentration: 15–30%
    • Longevity on skin: 8–12+ hours
    • Projection: Low to moderate — rich and dense, sits close to the skin; noticeable up close rather than across a room.

So within this series, we’ll make 

    • Early Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne
    • Springtime Floral Eau De Toilette
    • Late Springtime Floral Eau De Parfum

But of course, once you start to understand the ratios, you will know how to make a late springtime eau de cologne, or an early springtime eau de cologne. Additionally, you’ll be able to create a whole range of wonderful new aromas, including bespoke Signature Scents by mixing up blends a little.

VINEVIDA Springtime Soaps & Candles Fragrance Oils 

VINEVIDA Springtime Soaps & Candles Fragrance Oil

VINEVIDA’s Soaps & Candles fragrance oil collections are bursting at the seams with glorious options for making floral spring eau de colognes. All the hard work of balancing top notes, heart notes, and base notes has been done for you by industry professionals, and they are ready to use.

You can also blend fragrance oils with other fragrance oils, and of course, with essential oils. The world is your oyster here, and we thoroughly encourage you to explore, experiment, and create blends of your own. By blending your own creations, you will learn so much more.

Bursting With Spring Blossoms & Flowers 

Bursting With Spring Blossoms & Flowers

These fragrance oils are veritably bursting forth with spring blooms and blossoms. They offer you a range of versatile, different flower scents to choose from, so you will see many of these popping up in the blends.

Vibrant Energy

Vibrant Energy

These fragrance oils are vibrant, energetic, and bring invigorating and refreshing notes to your blends. Some are more subtle, and some are like rays of sunshine. You will find plenty of revitalising green notes in these, too. 

Fabulously Fruity & Floral

Fabulously Fruity & Floral

These mouthwatering fruity aromas can create interesting accords and bring balance, body, and depth to your springtime floral eau de cologne.

Perfect Pairings

Perfect Pairings

These might not be your first choice, but they make wonderful companions to those fabulous florals. Many have those uplifting green notes or vibrant fresh air energy, some add luminosity, radiance,e and warmth to emulate that waxing sun. 

Wow! That is so many choices, and by no means is your only choice. These are the fragrance oils I thought would offer you the most versatility for this project. So don’t feel you have to confine yourself to just these if you wish to explore further and develop bespoke springtime floral blends of your own. I want more! Take me to discover more Spring Fragrance Oils!

How To Make Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne

How To Make Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne

With the right ingredients, equipment, and safety advice, making eau de cologne is pretty simple to do at home. You can get extremely pleasing results that will soon have you questioning why you are paying big-ticket prices for scent. Gain a little confidence, and you will be making your own bespoke scents to suit every season in a heartbeat. The first step is always starting with the safety advice. It informs every decision you make thereafter. 

Start by working out the IFRA Skin Safety Dilution Rates.

Start by working out the IFRA Skin Safety Dilution Rates

This article presumes that you will have read and understood Craft Your Scent: Cologne With Essential Oils, which shows you how to make perfume, start to finish. I’ll point out that that article is about making perfume with essential oils, whereas here we are working with fragrance oils, but many of the same principles apply to both. Since we are making a product that goes on the skin, we need to consider exactly what the maximum amount of a particular oil is that we can use without irritating the skin. Fragrance oils can be difficult to guess because they contain so many combinations of compounds. Therefore, this is reviewed and calculated to be the specific amount you can use of EACH fragrance oil, based on its combined chemical composition.  You can always find links to the IFRA documents under the picture on our product page, and open the tab that says “documents”. The products we are making (Perfumes) may be applied to skin that has been made sensitive through shaving. These are found in categories 3A and 4A of each IFRA report. First of all, you need to decide if you are creating an eau de cologne to use on shaved or unshaved skin, simply because the IFRA maximum skin safety dilution rates will be different.

For example:

NO. 141 - Pink Lilac Bouquet has IFRA guidelines as follows:

In categories 3A and 3B, which cover fine fragrances and EDT on shaved skin, the maximum skin safety dilution rate is 6.15%, which, by comparison to others, is pretty high and great for making an EDC. In categories 4A and 4B, which cover fine fragrances and EDT on unshaved skin, the maximum skin safety dilution rate is a massive 91.66%. You would never want to use this much anyway, especially for an EDC. NO. 140 - Dreamy Lavender in comparison is 0.66% in 3A&B and 7.76% in 4A&,B which is a marked difference. This is why it always pays to research your IFRA data before you even start! There is nothing more disappointing than wanting the perfect fragrance only to find that you can only use a tiny percentage and that it might not give you the intensity of aroma that you want in your particular blend or project. Take NO. 140 - Dreamy Lavender as an example. I probably would not consider it for an EDC to be used on shaved skin, but the dilution rate is more than enough for an EDC to be used on unshaved skin.  It is worth exploring the safety data before you even put the fragrance oil in your shopping basket, because you may find you need to choose an alternative. This helps you shop sustainably and economically and alleviates potential disappointment. 

Getting Started

This simple recipe will make 100ml of Eau De Cologne with the fragrance oils at a 5% dilution. The IFRA safety of the blends has already been worked out for you, so you can simply crack on with these!

It is your choice if you wish to add carrier oil or not. I prefer it, as it nourishes your skin and helps fix the scent on your skin for a little longer. 

You Will Need:

None of this equipment should be used for food.

    1. Glass measuring jug - plastic will absorb the scent.
    2. Stainless steel spoon or glass blending stick
    3. Stainless steel funnel - again, plastic will absorb the scent.
    4. 100ml decorative fragrance bottle with an air-tight lid (to stop evaporation)
    5. Oil and waterproof label 

Ingredients:

EDC Base Without Carrier Oil
    • 70 ml of Perfumer’s Alcohol
    • 25 ml of Distilled Water
    • 5 ml of Soaps and Candles Fragrance Oil Concentrate (recipes below)
EDC Base With Carrier Oil
    • 60 ml of Perfumer’s Alcohol
    • 10 ml of Jojoba or Sweet Almond carrier oil  
    • 25 ml of Distilled Water
    • 5 ml of Soaps and Candles Fragrance Oil Concentrate (recipes below)

Method:

    1. If you are using a carrier oil, combine your carrier oil and fragrance concentrate into a large glass measuring jug. 
    2. Measure out and add in your perfumer’s alcohol and stir well to mix.
    3. Don’t panic, it will look cloudy at first; this is completely normal. Eventually, it will settle and become clear.
    4. Lastly, add your distilled water and stir well.
    5. Use a stainless steel funnel for ease and decant the eau de cologne into a decorative fragrance bottle.
    6. Add your airtight lid to reduce the chance of it evaporating.
    7. On an oil and waterproof label,l list all ingredients for safety reasons. It is well worth spending the time to create a really beautiful label.  
    8. You need to allow your springtime floral Eau De Cologne to sit for at least 24-48 hours before use. Please be patient, you know you can if you really have to!
    9. Ideally, it is best left for up to 6 weeks to allow the scent notes to fully meld together and mature; it is well worth leaving it that long if you can bear to. 

Springtime Floral Eau De Cologne Fragrance Concentrate Blends

You can choose any of these delightfully uplifting and joyful recipe blends to make your springtime floral eau de cologne. They are all made with the Soaps & Candles fragrance oil variation. They all make a 5ml fragrance concentrate where the IFRA safety has already been worked out, enabling you to use it as a 5% dilution rate in 95ml of eau de cologne base. It can be used on both shaved skin and unshaved skin, apart from Vivid & Vibrant Greens, which is for unshaved skin only. The blends are not designed to exceed this 5% dilution rate; they are not suitable for creating an eau de toilette or eau de parfum. You cannot simply double it up and hope for the best, as it will likely exceed skin safety limits. If you want to make EDT and EDP, look out for the coming blog posts over the next few weeks. 

Nodding Flower Bells

Nodding Flower Bells

There is nothing more joyful than a stand of bright yellow daffodils swaying in the breeze or a carpet of bluebells dancing under dappled sunlight. Personally, I love the dainty white bells of Lily Of The Valley, and the fragrance brings back happy memories of my grandmother.

Here, I am focusing on Bluebells and Lily Of The Valley to create a refreshing and romantic springtime floral eau de cologne. Carefully balanced with the greenery and vital freshness of Bamboo and Aloe.

Safety:

    • Do not use it directly on the skin; this fragrance concentrate must be diluted in 95ml of eau de cologne base before use on the skin.

Fields Of Tulips

Fields Of Tulips


I’m quite excited for the coming spring, a local farm has newly planted fields of tulips, and I cannot wait to see them bloom. Evoking the colorful tulip fields of the Netherlands, this springtime floral eau de cologne is designed to be mysterious, vibrant, vital, and alive.

It is texturally complex with unusual citrus, dark fruit, and heady floral accords to echo the rainbow of colourful tulips, all standing to attention in vast, earthy fields. 

Safety:

    • Do not use it directly on the skin; this fragrance concentrate must be diluted in 95ml of eau de cologne base before use on the skin.

Blossoming Boughs

Blossoming Boughs

Little gladdens the heart more in spring than to see trees festooned in thousands of blossoms. Indeed, Japan celebrates the occasion with Hanami, or ‘flower viewing’. So popular and well attended are these events that Fujiyoshida, on the slopes of Mount Fuji, has cancelled events this year because of overtourism and the threat to the precious local environment. 

There’s no need to step out of the house with this stunning springtime floral eau de cologne bursting with a million blossoms. The luscious lilac tones remind me of my sublime 4711 Lilac Cologne, and I wanted to share that delight with you, too. 

Safety:

    • Do not use it directly on the skin; this fragrance concentrate must be diluted in 95ml of eau de cologne base before use on the skin.

Radiant Sunshine

Radiant Sunshine


Nothing is more welcome after a long, cold winter than the light and warmth of the sun. Faces turn to it, and we bare our skin to it, to create precious Vitamin D from its rays. While the sun here is arching back towards its zenith in the northern hemisphere, it still feels distinctly low on the horizon and lacks any meaningful warmth. 

Some years ago, I designed an aura spray that was called Sunshine, which was bursting with those luminous citrus notes, and so does this! It’s invigorating, reviving, and revitalising; you are sure to smile at this one.

Safety:

    • Do not use it directly on the skin; this fragrance concentrate must be diluted in 95ml of eau de cologne base before use on the skin.

Vivid and Vibrant Greens

Vivid and Vibrant Greens

If you are anything like me, you like plenty of fresh, verdant greenery with your spring florals. I find this reflected in my scent choices, too. I wore Cristalle Eau Vert on my wedding day, which was light, diaphanous, and fresh. This eau de cologne has those gorgeous springtime florals beautifully balanced with those invigorating and reviving green accords that are so welcome at this time of the year. 

This eau de cologne blend is only suitable for use on unshaved skin.

Safety:
    • Do not use it directly on the skin; this fragrance concentrate must be diluted in 95ml of eau de cologne base before use on the skin.
    • This eau de cologne blend is only suitable for use on unshaved skin.

Next Steps

Next Steps

If you wish to create your own fragrance concentrate blends, then by all means have a go! Just remember that 20 drops of essential/fragrance oil is roughly equal to 1 ml, and you will need 100 drops of essential/fragrance oil to make 5 ml of fragrance concentrate.

Please don’t forget to stick within your IFRA maximum skin safety dilution rate,s too! It’s really important.

Look out for the other posts to come, where we will be looking at taking things up a notch and creating a floral spring Eau De Toilette and Eau De Parfum.

If you wanted to know how to make perfume at home, start to finish, you have your answer. Enjoy one of the loveliest projects you can make with fragrance oils. Just give your results a little patience and allow some maturation time for the best results. 

You are going to smell scentsational this spring!