Christmas Gift Ideas: Frankincense And Myrrh Solid Perfume You Can Make

Be honest. Is your Christmas list still a blank note on your phone?

You know the one. A candle for the neighbour, socks for somebody, and a lot of “something nice” for everyone else.

I’m sure you’ll agree that the hard part of Christmas gift ideas isn’t finding them. It’s finding one that doesn’t look like it came off the last shelf of the supermarket on 23 December.

Search “things to get for Christmas” and you get the same ten scented candles, again and again.

So here’s a different one.

A solid perfume made with frankincense and myrrh, two of the three gifts in the Nativity story. (The third is gold, and that comes from the tin.)

It takes about 20 minutes. It’s vegan. It fits in a stocking. And it’s one of those cute Christmas gifts that looks far more expensive than the effort behind it, which is exactly what you want from xmas gifts when the budget is already stretched.

By the end you’ll have the exact recipe, the scent blend, some simple Christmas wrapping ideas, a fix for every batch that goes wrong, and the safety checks most homemade perfume recipes skip.

I’m Patri Hernández, a certified organic skincare formulator and dermocosmetic technician with a background in health coaching. Resins, essential oils and balm bases are the everyday material of my work, so I can tell you what these two oils do well in a perfume and where I would be careful.

Some links in this post may be affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. They never influence what I recommend, and I only point you to things I believe are genuinely useful.

The quick answer

• Base: jojoba oil, shea butter and candelilla wax (no beeswax, so it is vegan).
• Scent: frankincense, myrrh and a little sweet orange, about 1.7% of the total weight.
• Method: melt the base in a water bath, cool briefly, stir in the oils, pour into tins.
• Setting time: one to two hours to firm, 24 hours before wrapping.
• Shelf life: around 12 months, kept cool.

If you only read one section, read the safety one. Both oils are classed as potential skin sensitisers on supplier safety data sheets, and a gift deserves a patch-test note.

Why it earns a place on your Christmas list ideas

Two of the three gifts in the Nativity story are tree sap. Frankincense and myrrh are both hardened resins, tapped from the bark of Boswellia and Commiphora trees, which belong to the same plant family (Burseraceae). The gospel of Matthew names the three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. The three kings and their names came later, through tradition.

That story does a lot of work for a very small tin. It gives the gift a reason to exist, which is half of what makes any present feel thoughtful.

A solid perfume also suits a wide range of people: a sister, a colleague, a teacher, a friend you only see at Christmas. Among Christmas gifts for women who insist they want nothing, a small, useful, non-cluttering tin tends to go down well.

It also answers the Christmas wishlist items that people are too practical to buy for themselves, the small luxuries that feel indulgent in a shopping basket but lovely when someone else hands them over.

The recipe makes two tins, so you can give one to the person on your list and keep the other, or wrap both as a pair.

What you need (and why this base is plant-based)

Makes about 24 g, enough for two 15 ml tins:

• 15 g jojoba oil
• 5 g shea butter
• 3.5 g candelilla wax
• 6 drops frankincense essential oil
• 3 drops myrrh essential oil
• 5 drops sweet orange essential oil

Kit:

• A digital scale, ideally accurate to 0.1 g
• A heatproof jug and a saucepan for a water bath
• A wooden skewer or small spatula
• Two 15 ml metal tins
• A label for each tin

Most solid perfume recipes online use beeswax. This one doesn’t, which matters if you are making it for a vegan friend. Candelilla is a plant wax that is harder than beeswax, with a higher melting point (suppliers quote around 70°C), so you need less of it. That is why the amount looks so small.

Jojoba is technically a liquid wax rather than a true oil. It is very stable, which means it is slow to go rancid, and it carries scent without smelling of much itself. Shea adds the creamy glide.

Weigh the wax and butter in grams. Scoops and teaspoons are too unreliable for a recipe this small.

How to make it, step by step

1. Weigh the jojoba, shea and candelilla into your heatproof jug.
2. Melt the jug in a pan of gently simmering water. Stir until you can see no wax beads at all. Candelilla is the slowest to melt, so allow 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Cool briefly. Lift the jug out, wipe the bottom dry and leave it for two to three minutes. Essential oils are volatile, so adding them to a very hot base sends some of the scent into the air.
4. Scent it. Add the drops and stir for about 20 seconds.
5. Pour straight away into the tins, roughly 12 g in each.
6. Set. Leave the tins undisturbed at room temperature, lids off, for one to two hours. Put the lids on once they are fully firm.

Notes worth knowing:

• The mixture starts to thicken as it cools, so pour promptly.
• Shea can turn grainy if it is overheated or cools very slowly, so melt gently and set the tins somewhere cool.
• Leave the finished tins for 24 hours before wrapping, so the surface is properly hard.

Scent notes: how three oils make one perfume

Note	Oil	What to expect
Top	Sweet orange	Bright and sweet, and the first thing you smell
Heart	Frankincense	Fresh, resinous and slightly lemony, with a woody edge
Base	Myrrh	Warm, balsamic and a little bitter, and it lingers longest

The proportions matter. Myrrh is strong, so it gets the fewest drops. Frankincense carries the middle, and the orange keeps the whole thing from smelling like a church cupboard.

Solid perfumes sit close to the skin. They are softer and less far-reaching than an alcohol-based spray, which is part of their charm.

Claims that frankincense or myrrh perfume “heals” or “anti-ages” skin are not supported by good evidence. Oral boswellia supplements are studied for inflammation, but that is a different product from a perfume. The reason to use these oils here is the scent.

Christmas packaging and Christmas wrapping ideas

A small metal tin looks gold-adjacent without trying. Choose a warm brass or gold finish if you can find one. Good Christmas packaging for something this small is mostly about restraint.

Simple Christmas wrapping ideas

• Tie the tin with a gold or cream ribbon and a sprig of dried rosemary or a cinnamon stick.
• Wrap it in plain kraft paper with a hand-lettered tag that says “gold, frankincense and myrrh (gold sold separately)”.
• Tuck the tin into a small cotton bag, then slip the bag into a stocking.
• Pair two tins in a small box lined with tissue paper for a shared gift.

What to put on the tag

• The ingredient list: jojoba oil, shea butter, candelilla wax, frankincense, myrrh and sweet orange essential oils.
• The date you made it and “best within 12 months”.
• A line that says patch test before use.
• A note that sweet orange naturally contains limonene, one of the fragrance allergens that EU rules require brands to declare. It costs nothing to list it.

Troubleshooting

• Too hard to swipe: remelt gently and stir in 1 to 2 g of jojoba oil.
• Too soft or sweating oil: remelt with an extra 0.5 g of candelilla wax.
• A sunken dip in the middle: top it up with a little warmed leftover mixture.
• Grainy texture: this is usually the shea, so remelt, warm it a little more gently, and cool it in a cooler room.
• Scent seems faint: don’t add more oil to the tin. More drops mean more sensitisation risk. A thin second swipe on the skin is enough.

Variations

Christmas gifts for women: the classic orange blend

The recipe above is the crowd-pleaser. Bright, warm and a little festive, it is an easy choice when you are not sure of someone’s taste.

Christmas gift ideas for boyfriend: the woodier version

Swap the sweet orange for cedarwood and keep the frankincense and myrrh as they are. You get a drier, smokier, more woody scent. Scent preference is personal, so if you are building Christmas gift ideas for a boyfriend or partner, lean on what he already wears and keep the dose gentle.

Fragrance-free version

Leave out the essential oils entirely for anyone who reacts to scent. You still have a lovely, simple balm base.

A few other swaps: mango butter instead of shea for a softer feel. And a word on citrus: if you want bergamot, choose a bergapten-free one, because standard bergamot can cause photosensitivity on skin.

Safety, patch testing and shelf life

Key point: frankincense and myrrh are natural, and natural is not the same as hypoallergenic.

Supplier safety data sheets that I checked classify both oils as potential skin sensitisers. Some retail descriptions claim the opposite, which is why I trust a safety data sheet over sales copy. A laboratory study on human skin-derived cell lines found Indian frankincense resin to have moderate to low toxicity on skin cells. That is useful, but a cell-culture result is not the same as a guarantee for every person.

Fragrance allergy is common, affecting around 1% of adults according to DermNet, and it develops with repeated exposure. Plenty of blogs share recipes like this without formulation training or any look at the safety data, and that gap is where problems start.

• Patch test a small dab on the inner forearm and wait 24 to 48 hours.
• Avoid it on broken or irritated skin.
• Skip the myrrh in pregnancy, as a precaution, because safety data for topical use are limited.
• Don’t gift it for use on babies or young children.
• Store it somewhere cool and out of direct sun, not in a car. Because the recipe contains no water, it needs no preservative.
• Use it within about 12 months.

FAQ

Can I use beeswax instead of candelilla?

You can, but the ratios change because beeswax is softer. This recipe is built around candelilla, so stay with it unless you are prepared to rebalance it. I’m vegan so I prefer you use candelilla 🙂

Can I use resin instead of essential oil?

Not for this method. The resin would need to be infused into oil first, and the scent is much quieter.

How long does the scent last on skin?

Solid perfumes stay close to the skin and fade sooner than alcohol sprays. Reapply on pulse points if you want it to last through the day.

Can I leave out the shea?

Yes. Use 20 g of jojoba and the same amount of candelilla, and expect a slightly firmer, less creamy balm.

Is it safe to wear every day?

If your patch test is clear, it is a light, low-dose product. Stop using it if you ever notice redness or itching.

Your Christmas list, sorted

The best things to get for Christmas are rarely the most expensive. They are the ones that feel chosen. Two tins, a handful of ingredients and an old story are enough, as long as the safety details travel with the gift.

Make it a couple of weeks before Christmas so you have time to fix a batch, and write the patch-test line on the tag. Once the first tin is done, you will probably want to add a few more xmas gifts like it to the list.

References

• DermNet: Fragrance allergy
• Fragrance contact allergy: a clinical review (Am J Clin Dermatol, 2003, PubMed)
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center: Boswellia
• WebMD: Frankincense
• Burlando et al.: Irritation potentials of Boswellia serrata gum resin and AKBA on human skin-derived cell lines (University of Eastern Piedmont research portal)

Love, Patri xx