🌸 Fragrance

Fragrance Calculator

Work out exactly how much fragrance oil and alcohol go into a bottle, in millilitres, grams or drops. Choose the style, set the batch size and see the cost. Press Calculate.

Written and reviewed by SM Arijul Islam · Last reviewed 29 October 2026 · Editorial standards · Report an error

Style

Fragrance oil concentration (%)

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Bottle volume (ml)

Drops per millilitre Ordinary droppers give roughly 20 drops per ml; a fine pipette can be 40 or more.

Fragrance oil price per ml (optional)

How perfume concentration works

The named styles on a bottle are really just ranges of fragrance oil by volume. An eau de toilette is somewhere between 5% and 15% oil; an eau de parfum sits between 15% and 20%. The rest is almost always perfumer's alcohol, with a little water or a fixative in some formulas. Because the ranges overlap, the number on the label tells you the style, and the percentage tells you the strength.

Everything here is by volume, which is how perfumery is normally done. Fragrance oils weigh about as much as water — a specific gravity close to 1.0 — so millilitres and grams land within a few percent of each other, but the calculator reports grams at 1 g/ml as an approximation rather than a measurement.

Concentration by style

Perfume styles, their oil concentration and typical longevity
Style	Oil by volume	Longevity	Typical use
Parfum / Extrait	20 – 30%	6 – 10 h	Intense, applied with a dab or roller
Eau de Parfum	15 – 20%	5 – 8 h	The modern everyday default
Eau de Toilette	5 – 15%	3 – 5 h	Lighter, often fresher in character
Eau de Cologne	2 – 5%	2 – 3 h	Classic splash, citrus heavy
Body mist	1 – 3%	1 – 2 h	Large spray bottles, frequent reapplication
Perfume oil / roll-on	15 – 25%	6 – 12 h	Carrier oil base, no alcohol
Aftershave	1 – 3%	1 – 2 h	Alcohol forward, often with menthol
Reed diffuser	15 – 25%	weeks	Dowanol or DPG base rather than alcohol

Drops versus millilitres

Dipping a dropper is the fastest way to work small batches, but the drop size depends on the liquid's surface tension, the dropper bore and how hard you squeeze. Twenty drops per millilitre is the usual figure for a standard glass dropper with a thin fragrance oil; a viscous oil can run to 25 or 30 drops, and a fine pipette can halve that. If you intend to repeat a recipe, weigh it — a milligram scale removes the guesswork entirely.

Drops needed for a small batch at common concentrations
Concentration	In 10 ml	In 30 ml	In 50 ml	In 100 ml
3%	6 drops	18 drops	30 drops	60 drops
5%	10 drops	30 drops	50 drops	100 drops
10%	20 drops	60 drops	100 drops	200 drops
15%	30 drops	90 drops	150 drops	300 drops
20%	40 drops	120 drops	200 drops	400 drops
25%	50 drops	150 drops	250 drops	500 drops

Worked examples

A 50 ml eau de parfum at 18% needs 9 ml of fragrance oil and 41 ml of alcohol.
A 100 ml eau de toilette at 10% needs 10 ml of oil — 200 drops at 20 drops per ml.
10 ml of oil at 20% makes 50 ml of perfume; the same 10 ml at 10% makes 100 ml.
A 30 ml body mist at 2% needs just 0.6 ml of oil, which is 12 drops.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use perfumer's alcohol or vodka?

Perfumer's alcohol — usually 190 to 200 proof with a denaturant — is standard because it is odourless and evaporates cleanly. Vodka works at a pinch, but the water content makes the spray heavier and the scent often turns sour within months.

How long should it sit before use?

Two to four weeks for an eau de parfum, one to two weeks for an eau de toilette. The alcohol softens, the notes marry and the sharp opening fades — the process is called maceration, and it makes a real difference.

Can I add water?

A little, usually 5 to 15% of the total. Too much water and the oil separates out as a cloudy film, because the alcohol can no longer keep everything dissolved.

Do I need to worry about IFRA limits?

Yes, if you sell or give away what you make. IFRA restricts the concentration of many specific materials, and the limit changes with the product category. Fragrance suppliers publish the safe-use figures for each oil; the total oil percentage shown here is only part of the picture.

Common mistakes to avoid

Measuring oil in drops for a large batch. The drop error multiplies; use a syringe or scale instead.
Counting the oil as part of the alcohol volume. Concentrations are oil as a share of the finished bottle.
Assuming more oil always lasts longer. Past a saturation point the extra oil smells harsh and can stain fabric.
Filling to the brim. Leave a few millimetres of headspace so the sprayer and cap fit without overflow.

Sources and standards

Fragrance percentages are arithmetic, but the safe maximum for each material is not: the IFRA Standards set concentration limits by product category and are updated as new data arrives. The page applies the percentage maths and points to IFRA for the limits rather than inventing them.