Essential Oil Recipes for Summer

There are so many great ways to use essential oils in the summer, from diffuser blends to rollerballs, sprays, lotions, and more.  There are ways to use essential oils to keep mosquitoes, gnats, and other bugs away; ways to use essential oils to keep cool in the hit summer months; ways to use essential oils to get swimsuit and sandal ready.  There’s more than 40 summer DIY projects with essential oils in this blog post.  To help you find what you’re looking for I’ve organized the summer essential oil recipes into these nine categories:

1. It’s hot & sunny – Use Essential Oils to Help Keep Cool & Protected
2. Use Essential Oils to Bring the Scent of Summer Indoors with Diffuser Blends, Room Sprays, and DIY Hand Soap
3. Use Essential Oils to Get Swimsuit & Sandal Ready
4. Use Essential Oils to Keep Bugs Away
5. Keep Sweat under Control – Use Essential Oils to Make Deodorant, Lush-Copycat Powder, Stinky Shoe Spray, and Dry Shampoo
6. Summer Essential Oil Roller Bottle Recipes – Bug Repellent, Itch Relief, Deodorant, Beat the Heat, Motion Sickness, Jet Lag, Foot Cooling, Tummy Tamer, Cellulite, Varicose & Spider Veins, Muscle Soother, and more.
7. Use Your Empty Essential Oils to Make a Travel Set of Oils
8. Keep Clean on the Go with Essential Oils
9. Feel Like You’re at the Beach (even when you can’t get to the beach)

1.  It’s hot & sunny – Use Essential Oils to Help Keep You Cool & Protected

Homemade essential oil sunscreen recipe. It’s water resistant, protects against UVA and UVB , and SPF 30+.  Plus it rubs in completely, and it’s not sticky or overly greasy.  Find the recipe for this DIY sunscreen here.

I’ve used a lot of this DIY after-sun spray this summer. LOVE it!! It moisturizes, soothes, & rejuvenates summer skin.  Made with witch hazel, aloe vera gel, fractionated coconut oil, vitamin e, lavender essential oil, and peppermint essential oil. It’s a great way to cool and restore skin after hot day in the sun.  Get the recipe for this essential oil after sun spray here.

This simple essential oil DIY is like air conditioning in a bottle.  It keeps you cool and refreshed even in the heat and humidity of summer.  Find the recipe for this peppermint cooling spray here.

2.  Use Essential Oils to Bring the Scent of Summer Indoors

40 favorite summer diffuser recipes that smell like the beach, lemonade, a summer hike, time at the lake, a chilled mojito, a sea breeze, and more! find recipes for all 40 summer essential oil diffuser blends here along with a free printable of all the diffuser recipes

I love using essential oils to make my home smell great. It’s so much better to make my own air fresheners than using the chemical-filled, artificial air fresheners from the store. All it takes is water, witch hazel, and essential oil and you can whip up your own homemade all-natural room spray in about 30 seconds.  Includes great blends like Just Beachy, Lemonade, Bugs Be Gone, Summer Sunset, Happy Vibes, Herb Garden, Mojito, Chill Out, Hammock Time, Northern Lights, Island Living, Lake House, California Coast, Sea Breeze, and more.  Find recipes for 15 favorite summer room sprays (and a free printable of all the recipes) here.   

DIY foaming hand soap made with essential oils– with ideas for 21 spring and summer scents like lemon-basil and eucalyptus-spearmint.  find the recipes for the summer hand soap here.

3. Use Essential Oils to Get Swimsuit & Sandal Ready

Do you struggle with sugar cravings? Here are the best essential oils to help kick sugar cravings, feel satiated, and stop from binging plus 5 of my favorite sugar-busting diffuser blends, how to make personal inhalers (a.k.a. portable craving kickers), 4 roller bottle recipes to curb sugar cravings, and more!  find all the recipes here

Essential Oil Tip — Protect your feet from unwanted germs the next time you get a pedicure by massaging a little diluted tea tree (melaleuca) essential oil onto your toes, nail beds, and feet before and after you go to the salon. Easy pedicure protection!

Do you have dry, weak, brittle nails that split and break easily? With just a few ingredients and in about one minute, you can make this natural essential oil nail serum. It nourishes and strengthens fingernails. Plus it stimulates healthy nail growth. And it restores moisture to make nails more flexible and resilient.  Find the essential oil nail serum recipe here.

I absolutely love my recipes for ultimate sugar scrub and exfoliating sugar scrub cubes. They smell great and leave my skin smooth and super soft.
But when it comes to my feet, I need a little extra “oomph”. My dry, cracked heels need some extra scrubbing power to get them sandal ready. And that’s where this homemade foot scrub comes in.
It has both Epsom salt and sugar to exfoliate, smooth, soften, and rejuvenate my tired toes and tough soles.  Find lemongrass & chamomile foot scrub recipe here.

This is the BEST diy sugar scrub I’ve EVER used! It combines two types of sugar for great exfoliation as well as a blend of super moisturizing oils. Leaves skin super soft, smooth, and radiant! Plus there’s even a free printable of the recipe and 15 essential oil blends so you can customize your own scent!!  Find sugar scrub recipe here.

Homemade shaving cream with essential oils – It’s naturally rich and creamy, making legs and underarms silky smooth. With built-in moisturizers, skin is soft, smooth, and perfectly moisturized. Great for sensitive skin.  Find the essential oil shaving cream recipe here.

This beach waves hair spray not only smells amazing it also does all these wonderful things for my hair. Love it!
– mimics the amazing way your hair looks after spending the day at the beach
– enhances natural waves and curls – with a look of perfectly imperfect beachy waves
– add softness and conditions without weighing hair down
– builds volume and fullness
– fights against the drying effects of the summer sun as it moisturizes both the scalp and hair
Plus it’s all natural and cheap. Bottles of similar store-bought beach waves sprays cost $13-$30+. But this homemade DIY version costs only pennies.

Find the beach waves hair spray recipe here.

4.  Use Essential Oils to Keep Bugs Away

DIY kid-safe bug spray that really works!  Great for mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and ticks. Homemade, natural, and made with essential oils.  Find the bug spray recipes here along with FREE PRINTABLES for recipes, charts, and bottle labels

I love these DIY bug repellent lotion bars! Made with organic butters, oils, and essential oil, they’re all-natural and deet-free. Simply glide the lotion bar over skin and rub in to help keep mosquitoes, ticks, flies, and other bugs away. They really work, smell great, aren’t greasy, and leave your skin silky soft. Give this recipe for homemade “bug away” lotion bars a try. I think you’ll love them as much as I do.  Find the essential oil bug repellent lotion bar recipe here.

These “Bug Away” essential oil luminary candles are a simple and beautiful DIY project to keep those mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and other bugs away from your summer fun.  Find the recipe and instructions for these simple essential oil bug candles here.

Keep bugs away from your summer fun for this easy essential oil diffuser blend.  Find 25 more favorite summer diffuser blend recipe here.

Got a bug bite, rash or other itchy nuisance? Here’s my favorite homemade anti-itch stick recipe (a.k.a. Bug Bite Balm). It’s all natural and made with soothing goodness of essential oils. Carry one of these handy sticks around with you while hiking, camping, swimming or just hanging out in your yard this summer. Just rub over bug bite and it will start calming skin. Itch relief in no time.  Find the anti-itch bug bite balm recipe here.

5.  Use Essential Oils to Keep Sweat under Control

I’ve tried lots of natural deodorants, and I’ll be honest, most of them don’t work very well. But THIS essential oil deodorant really does work. It stops the stink and keeps everyone smelling fresh. It’s summer tested and husband approved.  Find this cream deodorant recipe here.

It’s hard to find natural deodorants that really work. And even harder to find effective ones that don’t cost a fortune. That’s why I’m really excited to share one of my favorite natural deodorant recipes with you! It stops odor, keeping my smelling fresh & clean all day. It’s a super easy and cheap DIY made with essential oils and milk of magnesia. Yep, just 2 ingredients. But it REALLY DOES WORK.  Find this spray deodorant recipe here.

2 ingredients and water is all you need to make this homemade stinky show spray. With it being so simple to make, you could think that it might not work that well. But it works as well (or better) than any store-bought shoe deodorizer that I’ve ever tried! Here’s why it makes even the smelliest shoes smell fresh and clean again — it’s a powerful deodorizer, disinfectant, antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antifungal.
And it couldn’t be easier to use. Knock shoe and foot odor out with a couple quick sprays of this all-natural powerhouse.  Find the stinky shoe recipe here.

Easy, 3-ingredient natural solution to my stinky-shoe woes. Simply mix, shake, and sprinkle.  It naturally removes odor and stink from bacteria. It disinfects and deodorizes. It also helps to prevent new shoe stink. It’s kinda like a shoe “deodorant”.  Find the shoe deodorizing powder recipe here.

This luxurious homemade dusting powder gives skin a soft & silky feel. Use it straight from the shower or after applying a dry body oil or whipped body butter for the smoothest skin you ever had.
Plus it helps you keep cool, dry, and smelling-fresh all day – perfect year round, and especially in the heat & humidity of summer.  Find this Lush-copycat dusting powder recipe here.

I love this homemade dry shampoo! It’s a simple, all-natural way to add volume to your hair, give an instant lift to roots and oily hair, and it smells amazing!
Plus it’s easy to customize for blondes, brunettes, and redheads.  Find my dry shampoo recipe here.

6.  Summer Essential Oil Roller Bottle Recipes

21 favorite roller bottle recipes for summer – Bug Repellent, Itch Relief, Deodorant, Beat the Heat, Motion Sickness, Jet Lag, Foot Cooling, Tummy Tamer, Cellulite, Varicose & Spider Veins, Muscle Soother, and more.  Find all 21 summer rollerball recipes here.

7.  Use Your Empty Essential Oils to Make a Travel Set of Oils

Do you have favorite essential oils that you like to travel with?  Use your empty (or nearly empty) bottles to create a set of travel essential oils.

Here are some of my favorite essential oils to travel with:

• lavender (sleep, calming, tension relief, minor cuts & burns, bug spray and more)
• tea tree (wipe down hotel room switches/door knobs, deodorizer, immune support, and more)
• lemon (wake-me-up, focus, immune support, treats grease stains, anti-itch, odor eliminator, sanitizer, and more)
• peppermint (tummy tamer, tension relief, wake-me-up, focus, jet lag, bug repellent, and more)
• bergamot (uplifting, relieves stress, energizing, jet lag and more)
• lemongrass (muscle soreness, bug repellent, deodorizer, immune support, clear breathing, muscle relaxer, tension relief, and more)
• eucalyptus (clear breathing, immune support, stress relief, muscle soreness, cleaning/sanitizing, and more)
• frankincense (jack of all trades– great for pretty much everything)
• fractionated coconut oil- carrier oil so I can easily dilute essential oils while on the road

find more clever and creative ways to use your empty and almost-empty essential oil bottles here.

8.  Keep Clean on the Go with Essential Oils

It only takes 2 minutes to whip up these all-natural essential oil cleaning wipes. I use them for cleaning pretty much everything – kitchen counters, shopping cart handles, car interior, sinks, mold and mildew, microwave, toilets, doorknobs, remote controls, and more.  There also great to take on the go in the summer to wipe down picnic tables, park benches, hotel room doorknobs and light switches, and ice cream drippings.  Find the homemade cleaning wipes recipe here.

Germs are everywhere. When you can’t get to a sink to wash your hands, keep clean with this natural hand sanitizer gel. With just a few ingredients, it’s very easy to make.  Find the essential oil hand sanitizer recipe here.

Germs are everywhere, and while hand washing is best, sometimes you just can’t get to a sink. So I keep these little essential-oil hand sanitizers everywhere. — Super simple recipe mixes up in no time. Learn the benefits of each ingredient as well as which essential oils are best for antiviral, antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antiseptic properties.  Find the essential oil hand sanitizer spray recipe here.

9.  Feel Like You’re at the Beach (even when you can’t get to the beach)

Step-by-step instructions for how to make the perfect bath bombs. So easy, even I can do it!  My favorite is the sea breeze blend.  It smells just like being on the beach.  So relaxing.  Find the bath bomb recipe and instructions here.

Use this essential oil diffuser blend to transport you to the beach.  It’s a wonderful combination of fresh-smelling as well as relaxing and uplifting.  A great way to get rid of summer stress.   Find 25 more favorite summer diffuser blend recipe here.

A couple summers ago, my family spent several weeks exploring along the California coast.  Being from the middle of the United States (Kansas) I sometimes find myself missing that ocean scent.  When I do, I put this blend in my diffuser and I’m transported back to the scents and views of Big Sur, Monterey, and Caramel.  Find 25 more favorite summer diffuser blend recipe here.

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