As its name implies, cinnamon perfume is perfume that has cinnamon as its foundation scent. It is made from cinnamon-scented oil or cinnamon essential oil. The aroma of the cinnamon is spicy and pungent, and it lingers after the other scents of the perfume have faded. People have used forms of cinnamon perfume since Biblical times.
In any perfume, there are three layers of individual scents, which are known as notes. The top layer is the aroma that a person smells first, but it quickly dissipates. The middle notes blend the upper and base notes, lasting longer than the top notes. The base note is the scent that really describes the perfume, because the base note outlasts the top and middle notes. Any perfume that has the fragrance of cinnamon as a base is a cinnamon perfume, regardless of what other scents are used with it.
Cinnamon has a spicy odor. Therefore, it pairs well with citrus scents as top notes. Citrus aromas include scents such as orange or lime. Other spicy fragrances also work, however, because members of the same scent family almost always complement each other. Examples of other spice fragrances that one could use in cinnamon perfume are nutmeg — which is commonly paired with cinnamon in apple pie recipes — juniper and clove.
Although manufacturers sell cinnamon perfume commercially, people also make it at home. The advantage of doing this is that the person making the perfume can create a custom blend that might work better with natural body aromas than anything found in stores. Homemade cinnamon perfume also is relatively inexpensive to make.
A basic recipe for any perfume uses a 3-2-1 ratio of oils and a carrier such as low-scent grain alcohol or mineral oil. Ideally, the carrier would be perfume alcohol. Using this recipe, one would mix three drops of cinnamon-scented oil or cinnamon essential oil with two drops of a middle note oil and one drop of a top note oil. The final step is mixing the oils with the carrier and letting the perfume develop, adjusting by adding more oil as needed.
Like any perfume, cinnamon perfume can cause allergic reactions in some people and can result in contact dermatitis. It can be difficult to determine whether it is the cinnamon oil, the middle or top note oils or the carrier oil that is the source of the reaction. Cinnamon perfume, however, is available with a wide variety of oil types, so most people can find a cinnamon perfume that causes no problems. Additionally, allergic reactions can be minimized by using the cinnamon oil in a lower amount or diluting the oil in a larger amount of carrier oil.