Sugar Cookie Perfume {DIY Recipe}

Indulge your senses with this decadent sugar cookie perfume! This solid perfume recipe captures the aroma of freshly baked sugar cookies with all the sugary, buttery goodness. If you love gourmand scents, this one is for you!

Essential perfume that smells like cookies

If you have a sweet tooth, this homemade sugar cookie perfume will delight you! The opulent aroma captures the sweet scent of warm, buttery cookies topped with a creamy vanilla frosting. It’s a surprisingly authentic flavor rendition and a beautiful patisserie scent!

When I was a kid, my auntie Christine gifted me a flacon of Demeter’s sugar cookie perfume. I would douse myself head-to-toe in the scent (to the very dismay of my mom) and feel like a proper lady. In reality, I probably smelled like a walking snack, but I loved it regardless!

I first created a sugar cookie blend for my holiday essential oil collection. As much as I love floral scents, I find gourmand scents very intriguing. It’s fascinating how mixing different essential oils can produce fragrances that smell like your favorite sweet treats.

My recipe was the very first sugar cookie blend to use tonka bean absolute and butter essential oil. This duo, together with vanilla, Peru balsam, and copaiba, creates the most realistic sugar cookie scent.

Because this scent is so delicious, I decided to craft it into a homemade perfume! But unlike commercial products, which are full of synthetic fragrances, my perfume recipe is natural, made with essential oils and moisturizing plant oils and butters.

For more gourmand goodies, try our sugar cookie lotion, sugar cookie body scrub, and sugar cookie candle recipe.

And if you love sweet scents, have a look at my cotton candy, candy cane, gingerbread, and pumpkin spice essential oil recipes.

Sugar cookie scent

What does sugar cookie smell like?

If you have ever taken a warm tray of freshly baked sugar cookies from the oven, you surely remember the enticing scent. The sugar cookie fragrance is a sweet medley of sugary notes mingled with warm butter aroma and vanillic accords.

The scent is reminiscent of the ingredients you’d typically find in cookies, such as sugar, butter, and vanilla extract. Baking caramelizes some of the sugar and creates these warm, toffee-like notes characteristic of cookies.

Frosted sugar cookies take it even further. The comforting cookie scent is further enriched with sweet butter notes from the buttercream icing.

And let’s not forget about all the tasty sugar cookie flavor variations, such as chocolate, citrus, or spiced cookies. I’ve included tips on how you can create those in the variations section further down.

What essential oils smell like sugar cookies?

Luckily, we have a good selection of sweet-smelling essential oils that are perfect to replicate the scent of treats and desserts. I used the following oils to create my sugar cookie blend:

• Vanilla absolute or botanical vanilla extract – Vanilla is the main component and dominant scent in this natural perfume recipe.
• Copaiba oleoresin – Copaiba lightens up the scent and balances the sweetness with a woodsy, slightly spicy aroma.
• Tonka bean absolute provides a decadent, caramel-like note. It accents the scent and gives the striking aroma of baked goods.
• Balsam of Peru has a sweet, vanilla-like note that lingers on the skin. Peru balsam is a fixative and increases the perfume’s tenacity. The oil has smoky undertones that fade after a while.
• Butter CO2 extract has a buttery scent reminiscent of classic sugar cookies. It’s the best oil to replicate the aroma of buttery cookie dough. Butter CO2 is animal-derived, not made from plant materials, unlike all other oils in this list.

How to make sugar cookie essential oil

I have included two cookie blend recipes. One is a simple, three-ingredient blend composed of essential oils you probably already have in your collection. The other scent is a bit more complex and requires specialty oils.

Both scents are highly concentrated. You cannot use them as is but must dilute them first. I’ll show you how to turn them into sugar cookie perfume in the next step.

Simple sugar cookie blend

This blend uses easy-to-find materials. The mixture is sweet with a strong vanilla aroma. Feel free to play with the ratios according to your preferences. You’ll need:

• 80 drops / 4 g / 0.14 oz botanical vanilla extract or vanilla absolute
• 12 drops / 0.6 g / 0.02 oz copaiba oleoresin
• 8 drops / 0.4 g / 0.01 oz tangerine essential oil (can sub for sweet orange or mandarin)

Instructions

• Mix. Pour the oils into a small amber glass bottle. Close the bottle tightly and shake until everything is well combined.
• Age the blend. For the best scent, let the blend rest for 1 to 2 days before making the perfume.

Complex sugar cookie blend

To me, this is the most realistic cookie essential oil blend. It starts off strong with vanilla and has those sugary and buttery notes that everyone loves so much about sugar cookies.

• 50 drops / 2.5 g/ 0.09 oz botanical vanilla extract or vanilla absolute
• 30 drops / 1.5 g / 0.05 oz copaiba oleoresin
• 18 drops / 0.9 g / 0.03 oz tonka bean absolute
• 10 drops / 0.5 g / 0.02 oz butter CO2 extract
• 6 drops / 0.3 g / 0.01 oz Peru balsam essential oil

Instructions

1. Blend. To make the scent, combine all ingredients in a small glass beaker. Warm the butter C02 in a lukewarm water bath for a few minutes if it’s too viscous to pour from the bottle.
2. Store. Transfer the mixture into an amber glass bottle and seal airtight.
3. Age the scent. Keep the scent oil in a dry, dark location for at least 2 days. The oils need time to blend and harmonize.

Sugar Cookie Perfume

Now that we have our sugar cookie scent oil, it’s time to make perfume! I opted for solid perfume because it has more tenacity than alcohol-based perfume. The balm-like formula melts into the skin and provides a long-lasting scent throw. And as an added bonus, it also moisturizes your skin!

Sugar cookie perfume ingredients

We already talked about the materials for our scent blend. Next, I want to highlight the other ingredients in this sugar cookie perfume recipe.

• Cookie fragrance blend: You need the simple or complex sugar cookie blend I showed you above.
• Shea butter makes the main component of the perfume base. The plant butter has a moisturizing effect and lends the scent great tenacity. I used deodorized shea butter because it has almost no smell and won’t interfere with the sugar cookie scent. You can also use raw shea butter if you don’t mind the slightly nutty scent.
• Jojoba oil is used to dilute the cookie fragrance blend. The oil is a great choice for making solid perfume because it doesn’t oxidize and become rancid. You can use fractionated coconut oil if preferred.
• Olivem 1000: Solid perfume recipes often call for beeswax, which creates a waxy texture. I prefer Olivem because it provides a soft and creamy consistency that melts readily into the skin.

Packaging

Aluminum tin containers are excellent storage vessels for solid perfume. They come in different sizes and color options. I chose these golden 1-oz containers to store my sugar cookie perfume.

DIY sugar cookie perfume is a lovely gift idea, especially for the holidays. To perfect your perfumery gift, Cyna created printable labels that fit perfectly on the round tins. You can download them below!

How to make sugar cookie perfume

Vanilla cookie perfume is easy to make. All you have to do is melt the shea butter and Olivem and then mix everything together. Then the perfume is ready for pouring and cooling. Let’s go over the process step-by-step!

Quantities

• 100 drops / 5 g / 0.17 oz cookie fragrance blend (see recipes above)
• 3 tbsp / 26 g / 0.91 oz refined shea butter
• 1 tbsp / 12 g / 0.42 oz jojoba oil
• 1 tbsp / 5 g / 0.17 oz Olivem 1000

Instructions

1. Melt shea butter and Olivem. Place the shea butter, jojoba oil, and Olivem 100 in a double boiler and gently heat over low flame until everything is melted.
2. Cool perfume base. Take off the heat and carefully dry the outside of the double boiler with a kitchen towel. Let the perfume base cool for 5 minutes. The essential oils would lose scent if added to the hot liquid, so I recommend cooling first.
3. Add essential oils. After the perfume base has cooled for a moment, add your essential oil blend of choice and stir the mixture 25 to 30 times. Tip: Butter C02 extract has a relatively thick consistency and may be semi-solid at room temperature. Put the essential oil bottle in a bowl filled with warm water until it liquifies.
4. Pour perfume. Pour the mixture into a tin jar or small storage container. Seal the container with the lid and let harden. The recipe makes enough to fill two to three 1-oz / 30 g containers or one 2-oz / 60 g container.
5. Age perfume. If possible, let the perfume age for 2 days to a week. The scent will intensify as the perfume matures.

How to use sugar cookie perfume

In case this is your first time using a solid perfume, read through my tips and tricks to get the most out of your vanilla sugar cookie perfume!

• How to use: Dip your finger in the perfume to warm the mixture up. Once your finger is coated, gently massage it into your skin.
• Reapply: If you feel the scent fading, simply reapply. Solid perfume is portable, and I love keeping it in my purse to freshen up throughout the day.
• Skin: You can apply the perfume to any area you’d like. The back of the ear, down the neck, chest, and pulse points like the inside of the wrists or elbows are good locations.
• Hair: You can also massage a small amount into your hair. Since the perfume balm is oil-based, it can make fine hair greasy, so try to apply it to the ends of your hair or at the lower back of your head, not the top.
• Clothes: Some people also swear that putting solid perfume on clothing makes the scent last longer. Since the product is oil-based, proceed with care – I don’t want you to ruin an expensive piece.

Variations

Once you smell the classic sugar cookie scent, you will be tempted to create variations. And I support this choice! Here are a few ideas for customizing your sugar cookie perfume to reflect different cookie flavors.

• Chocolate chip cookies: Enrich the scent with 25 drops of cacao absolute.
• Lemon drops: Add 20 drops steam-distilled lemon essential oil to the sugar cookie blend. Feel free to substitute other citrus oils.
• Honey oatmeal cookies: Warm 0.5 g honey absolute and stir it into the perfume base. Beeswax absolute is made from honeycomb and features a rich honey smell with hay-like undertones.
• Snickerdoodles: Add 20 drops cinnamon leaf essential oil to the sugar cookie blend.
• Christmas cookie: For a spiced holiday scent, mix 15 drops cinnamon leaf, 8 drops clove, and 5 drops allspice into the mixture. This scent isn’t suitable for sensitive skin.

Storage & shelf life

How to store sugar cookie perfume

Store your homemade solid perfume in a dry, cool location such as a drawer or box. Keep the container airtight, and avoid direct sunlight and any heat sources.

How long does sugar cookie perfume last?

Sugar cookie perfume should last for at least 1 year.

BONUS CONTENT: Body Spray & Roll Perfume

Before ending this post, I want to share 2 simple variations, a sugar cookie body spray and a cookie perfume roller.

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FAQ

What is a fixative in perfumery?

I keep mentioning the term “fixative,” but I still owe you an explanation of what a fixative is and why it’s important.

Fixatives are substances that provide tenacity. They slow down the evaporation rate of more volatile scents, making them last longer. Vanilla, Butter C02, and Balsam of Peru have excellent fixative qualities.

Can I use the sugar cookie scent for skincare recipes?

Yes, you can use the blend to scent bath and body products, like a sugar scrub, body butter, and lotion.

Can I use the sugar cookie blend for aromatherapy?

The sugar cookie blend is intended for perfumery and skin care. Instead, use my sugar cookie essential oil for aromatherapy, diffusing, and other home fragrance applications like candles or wax melts.