How to create your own essential oil diffuser blends (2024)

We’ve shared tons of fun diffuser blends, with scents that fit every mood, day, and situation—a pumpkin pie scent for the holidays, a beachy combination for summer days, a playful aroma for kids, and even diffuser blends inspired by U.S. National Forests.

Want to know the secret to creating your own unique, personalized scents? Give our guide to custom diffuser blends a look and learn how you can discover your new favorite essential oil blend!

Diffusing is one of the most popular ways to enjoy essential oils. However, there’s more to it than simply making your space smell fantastic. We’ve discussed the science behind aromatherapy and its benefits, but here are a few we wanted to call out as you decide what should go into your custom diffuser blend:

Make your space truly yours. Diffusing is the perfect way to cultivate a made-for-you environment in your space. Want to create an environment of calm as you wind down at the end of the day? Diffuse soothing and calming oils. Looking to enhance your daily yoga practice or meditation? Diffuse grounding oils. Diffusing can be exactly what you need to add purpose and focus to your daily tasks.

Surround yourself with fond memories. Our sense of smell is extremely powerful. Did you know that smells trigger more intense and vivid emotional memories than pictures? Diffusing your favorite oils can trigger those positive memories and emotions you want to keep close at hand.

If you’re curious about different types of diffusers or the ways to diffuse essential oils, check out our diffuser guide to find your perfect diffuser.

Creating custom diffuser blends

Whether your essential oil collection includes just a few oils or dozens, the diffuser blends you can create are limited only by your imagination.

How to get started blending essential oils

As you begin creating your own diffuser blends, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

Identify and balance aromatic notes. Essential oil blends consist of “notes” that we refer to as base notes, middle notes, and top notes. Top notes are the scents you’ll smell first. These usually include light, fresh oils like Grapefruit, Orange, or Cinnamon Bark. Middle notes make up the heart of your blend. Some oils you can consider middle notes are Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, and Rose. Last but not least, you’ll catch the base notes, which are the undertones of a blend, should complement the top and middle notes, and often linger the longest. A few base note oils include Patchouli, Cedarwood, and Frankincense. Not every blend you try will have all three notes, but it’s important that you develop a feel for the oils that are more dominant so you can add the correct amounts and create truly balanced blends.

Determine your scent preferences. Everyone experiences a different reaction to a scent. As you create your own diffuser blends, start with the scents that you’re familiar with and prefer. As you introduce yourself to a wider selection of oils, you can begin adding them to your custom blends.

Consider the properties of each oil. When you combine essential oils into a diffuser blend, consider the effect you want it to have. There are many types of oil scent profiles, including earthy, woodsy, fruity, minty, floral, spicy, citrusy, resinous, camphoraceous, and herbaceous oils. Each of these types of oils will affect the impact your diffuser blend has. Also keep in mind that we all have different emotions and memories, which means that each of these oils will affect each person a little differently. As a general rule, however, each of these scent types typically offers the following benefits and influences:

• Earthy oils: Grounding, stabilizing, and calming
• Woodsy oils: Centering, steadying, strengthening, and empowering
• Fruity/citrusy oils: Reviving, mellowing, harmonizing, and cheering
• Minty oils: Stimulating, energizing, enlivening, and vitalizing
• Floral oils: Relaxing, sensual, nurturing, and uplifting
• Spicy oils: Invigorating, warming, comforting, and motivating
• Resinous oils: Settling, quieting, consoling, and meditative
• Camphoraceous oils: Stimulating, revitalizing, and renewing
• Herbaceous oils: Clarifying, pacifying, regulating, and balancing

Learn more about these scent profiles here.

How to find the perfect balance in blending

So you don’t waste any of your precious essential oils, we recommend you bypass the trial-and-error phase by performing smell tests before creating your diffuser blend. Choose oils you think blend well together, remove their lids, hold them in one hand, and waft them beneath your nose to get a sense of what they’d smell like together.

YL tip: Oils can smell strong directly from the bottle. Try sniffing the lids instead to get a lighter, more diffused scent.

While you can use as many oils as you’d like in your diffuser blend recipes, we usually stick to 3–5 oils per blend. Of course, what matters most is your personal preference. If you find a blend you like that calls for a single drop from 10 different oils, go for it!

To find the right ratios, bring one oil closer to your nose and move others farther back. The one that’s closest will be the oil with the most drops in your diffuser blend. The ones farther away will require fewer drops in the mix. Remember that the oils won’t smell quite so strong when they’re diffused with water.

If you’ve assembled a scent combination you love, get diffusing! If it’s not quite right, switch out one or more of the oils until you find one that hits all your favorite notes.

YL tip: Balance the scents. Some essential oils have stronger scents than others. Basil, Black Pepper, Nutmeg, and Cinnamon Bark, for example, all have powerful aromas. Add just a drop or two of these to keep their scents from overpowering your blend.

How many drops of essential oil should I put in my diffuser?

Once you’ve chosen your oils, you’re ready to start diffusing! But wait! How many drops of each oil should you add?

In Young Living diffusers, our recommendations range from 5–25 drops per blend, so be sure to adjust according to your diffuser’s specific instructions.

If you like subtler scents, ease up on the number of drops. If the instructions call for 6–8 essential oil drops, start with 5 and work your way to stronger scents.

Amazing blends for every occasion

New to diffusing? Start with an oil that has an aroma you already love. Obsessed with Lavender? Diffuse it on its own to enjoy the sweet, floral scent and then use it as the framework to create new combos.

A few essential oils that blend well together

Choose essential oils you use frequently, such as a group of citruses or florals. Go with classic pairings like:

• Thieves® and Lemon
• Peppermint and Lavender
• Cinnamon Bark and Orange
• Frankincense and Cedarwood
• Eucalyptus Radiata and Rosemary

You’ll soon learn which scents you prefer, so you can start experimenting with more varieties. To venture out further into the essential oil blending world, see our mix-and-match infographic to create more delectable pairings.

Don’t be afraid to get creative! You never know what kind of amazing blends you’ll create with a little imagination.

Essential oil combos that’ll whisk you away to the season or holiday you love

Looking to relive that summery feeling or the coziness of the holidays? Using seasons, holidays, and even food as inspiration for your diffuser blends is a great way to start.

• Spring into the season of blossoms with spring essential oils like Roman Chamomile and Geranium. Try out some of our favorite DIY spring blends to find ideas for your custom blends.
• Want to create a summer blend? Start with bright, uplifting scents like Lime or Grapefruit and then add in the smells that remind you of sunshine and warm weather. Not sure where to start? Check out our DIY summer blends for inspiration.
• If fall is more your flavor, start with warm Nutmeg, Cinnamon Bark, or other fall essential oils and build your cozy blend from there. Need a few ideas? Try out some of our DIY autumn blends.
• We love winter’s chilly freshness. Recreate the feelings of the season with oils like Peppermint and Pine. Check out our take on DIY festive blends.
• Are holiday scents at the top of your list of favorite smells? Replicate Halloween’s spooktacular scents, create the smells of freshly baked holiday pie, or even spark the romance of Valentine’s Day with romantic blends.

Check out our blog for more DIY diffuser blends to inspire your custom creations!

Already amazing blends

When you hit a creative roadblock, let us do the heavy lifting and choose one of our custom blends. Try Brain Power™ when you want to create a focused environment or Rise Above™ for an energizing, transformational aroma.

Some of our other popular blends include:

• Abundance™
• Aroma Siez™
• Citrus Fresh™
• Joy™
• RutaVaLa™
• ™
• Stress Away™

Looking for blends to diffuse around your children? Check out our KidScents® and Seedlings® Calm™ blends. We’ve taken the guessing out of creating diffuser blends with custom blends that are perfect to diffuse around your little ones.

YL tip: When in doubt, visit the blog. We’ll keep creating more diffuser blends for you to try!

Now that you’re a diffusing fanatic, keep your diffuser clean so each blend you try is fresh.Learn how to take care of your diffuserby swinging by this recent blog post.

What are your favorite diffuser blends?

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