You can find fun diffuser blends for every mood, day, and situation. All it takes is a few drops of creativity and the right combination of favourite oils and aromas to bring back magical memories or complement your day.
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 favourite essential oil blend!
Diffusing essential oils
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 favourite 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!
Choosing the right ratios for your oil blends
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 favourite 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.
YL tip: Did you accidentally add too much to your diffuser and now the scent is overpowering? Turn the diffuser on intermittent diffusing if it has that setting. Next, place the diffuser in a larger room or open a window until your diffuser has space for extra water.
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. 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 favourite 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.
- 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.
Already amazing blends
When you hit a creative roadblock, let us do the heavy lifting and choose one of our custom blends. Try Present Time when you want to help leave the past behind and live in the moment or Transformation™ to inspire you to replace negative beliefs with uplifting thoughts.
Some of our other popular blends include:
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.
What are your favourite diffuser blends?
Share the love in the comments!
This post is also available in: French
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