Scent Almanac
Room spray
A quick air freshener of fragrance, alcohol, distilled water and a solubilizer. The solubilizer keeps the oil from floating on top.
- Difficulty
- ●○○
- Time
- active 15 min · rest 24 h
Safety first
- Alcohol is flammable. Don't spray near candles, flames, heaters or lit cigarettes, and store it away from heat.
- Wear gloves when handling concentrated fragrance oil.
- Spray into the air or on fabric, never toward faces, eyes or pets. Don't spray around birds, and keep pets out until the mist settles.
- Water-based sprays can grow mold. Add a cosmetic preservative if you'll keep it longer than 2 weeks, or make small batches.
- Label the bottle with contents, 'flammable' and 'not for skin'.
Steps
- Weigh everything from the calculator.
- In the beaker, stir the fragrance and polysorbate 20 together until fully blended. This step is what keeps the spray clear.
- Stir in the alcohol.
- Add the distilled water slowly while stirring. Add the preservative now if you're using one.
- If it's cloudy, stir in a little more polysorbate 20, up to 3 parts per 1 part fragrance, until it clears or looks only faintly hazy.
- Funnel it into the spray bottle, label it, and let it rest for 24 hours so the scent blends.
- Shake gently before each use and mist high into the room.
Fragrance3.6 ml
≈ 72 drops
Polysorbate 207.2 ml
Alcohol30.0 ml
Distilled water79.2 ml
Mix the fragrance into the solubilizer first, then add the alcohol, then the water. Shake before each use.
Water-based sprays can grow mold within a few weeks. Make small batches, use distilled water, or add a cosmetic preservative.
If something goes wrong
- Cloudy spray
- Not enough solubilizer for the amount of oil. Raise polysorbate 20 toward 3:1, or raise the alcohol percentage. A faint haze is harmless.
- Oil floating on top
- The fragrance went into the water before being mixed with the solubilizer. Remake, blending the fragrance and polysorbate 20 first.
- Sticky residue on surfaces
- Too much solubilizer. Drop the ratio and spray into the air, not onto furniture.
- Scent fades fast
- Add more base notes, or raise the fragrance to 4–5%. Alcohol sprays are meant to be light and brief.