Plumeria (Floral)

Our Plumeria oil has a fresh picked, subtle and sexy fragrance. It is perfect for light and airy blends, but also makes a fabulously darkened fragrance when added to any of the Woodsy scents.

Plumeria is a flowering tree, or bush, discovered by a seventeenth century French botanist named Charles Plumier. It is native to Central America, Mexico and Venezuelaand is also grown in Australia and the Cook Islands. It generally grows no more than 2 feet tall and has dark green, shiny leaves. There are four variations of plumeria: white flowers with yellow centers, yellow flowers tinged with pink, a deep pink flower with yellow centers, and white flowers with yellow centers and red or pink tips.

Plumeria is often called Frangipani because it is reminiscent of a fragrance developed in the sixteenth century by Italian perfumer, Marquis Frangipani. Urban Botanic has both Plumeria and Frangipani—and they are delightfully different.

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Day Dream

Day Dream is one of our all time most popular fragrances. I haven't met a single soul who hasn't gushed over this refreshing, cheerful scent.

Perhaps the reason it's such a crowd pleaser is because it works with just about everything. It's appropriate for ages infant to 101.

It works best in Spring and Summer, but also in Fall and Winter. It won't bug you if you hate those nectar-sweet scents, food scents, or way-too-floral scents.

It's a great fragrance for parfum, lotion, shower gel, bubble bath... do you catch my drift?

If you're new to making custom bath and body products at home, start with this fragrance and you're sure to be pleased.

You can purchase it pre-mixed, or mix it up yourself.

Naked: 5 parts
Green Apple: 2 parts
Violet: 2 parts
Honeysuckle: 2 parts

Use this recipe in any of our bath and body products or as a home scent with our fragrance warmers.

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Frangipani (Floral)

Frangipani, often confused with Plumeria, was developed in the 16th century by Italian perfumer, Marquis Frangipani. He marketed this to women of the upper class as a fragrance for scenting glove boxes 100 years before the plumeria flowers were discovered. However, when these flowers became popular among the elite, it reminded them of the frangipani fragrance, and therefore plumeria was nicknamed "frangipani."

This can make for a lot of confusion in the world of perfumery. Plumeria is more of a floral scent, while Frangipani has a slightly more fruity base. Urban Botanic has both Plumeria and Frangipani—and they are delightfully different.

Our Frangipani oil is very delicate and pretty. It blends well with every single UB scent! Use it to calm a dominating Herby or Spicy, or to cut down excess citrus in your scent.

A funny story: At one of my parties, a guest used Frangipani in her signature scent. She struggled with the pronunciation. When I said "frahn--juh--pah--nee" she responded, "What? French panties?!" Guess what she ended up naming her scent?

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Put de Lime in de Coconut...

Coconut Lime Verbena has always been one of my favorites from Bath & Body Works, so I thought I'd play around with the theme a little bit.

This recipe is very similar, but I don't like to do knock-offs, so all the recipes on this site are original.

I like this one better than B&BW's because it doesn't have quite as much of a lime kick, which means I can wear it as a perfume while also wearing something other than a lava-lava and a swim top, as opposed to only using the B&BW version in the shower as a wake-me-up.

Coconut: 4 parts
Verbena: 1 part
Frangipani: 4 parts
Vanilla: 1-2 parts (can't decide which version I like best)

Use this recipe in any of our bath and body products or as a home scent with our fragrance warmers.

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Plumeria and Frangipani—The Story

Once Upon A Time...

During the 16th century there was an Italian nobleman named Marquis Frangipani. He was a perfumer who created a fragrance just for scenting glove boxes. So when women wore their new gloves, they would smell like the perfume. He named this perfume after himself, "Frangipani."

A century later, a French botanist, Charles Plumier, discovered or created/cross-bred? (not sure which) the Plumeria flower... which he named after himself.

The smell of the Plumeria flower reminded people of the popular Frangipani perfume that had been around for about 100 years, so they nick-named the Plumeria plant "Frangipani."

Now that we are able to extract so many more fragrances than in the 16th and 17th centuries, and because our olfactory senses are much more developed, it's easy to detect differences between the popular Frangipani perfume and the Plumeria flower smell. But the name association remains the same.

So... in short, Frangipani and Plumeria were people before they were smells. Frangipani is a perfume, Plumeria is a plant. The names got crossed along the way, but the two scents provided a lovely contrast to each other and lived happily ever after in the world of U.B.

The End!

(Courtesy of McKenna Gordon, founder of Urban Botanic.)

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Freesia (Floral)

Freesias are among the most popular cut flowers in the world. Named after German physician, Dr. Friedrich Heinrich Theodor Freese, freesias are known for their intensely sweet and citrusy perfume.

In bloom, freesias make for great aromatherapy. In a perfume, freesia is often used as a middle note, rounding out other scents in the recipe. You'll find freesia in many popular perfumes, such as Acqua di Gio by Giorgio, Intuition by Estee Lauder, Rapture by Victoria's Secret, Red Door by Elizabeth Arden and Paris Hilton by Parlux Fragrances.

Freesia is a light and airy floral, clean and crisp. This fragrance is fantastic on its own or blended with nearly any other fragrance to give it a fresh and sweet accent. Guaranteed to delight your scentsitivities!

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Hawaiian Punch

This fragrance recipe is really ripe! Fresh and cheery, perfect for any pre-teen perfume or a fun bubble bath for kids. It's easy too!

Passion Fruit: 1 part
Guava Fruit: 1 part
Strawberry: 1 part


Use this recipe in any of our bath and body products or as a home scent with our fragrance warmers.

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I Wonder If It Smelled Like Cake

According to legend, at the height of the French Revolution in 1791, the French royal family attempted to flee France disguised as commoners. They may have made it were it not for Marie Antoinette's signature fragrance, designed by Charles Francois Houbigant.

When the family's coach was stopped in Verennes, Marie Antoinette was recognized as royalty because of her Houbigant perfume, which only royalty could afford. They were immediately returned to Paris, and we all know the rest of the story.

While it didn't turn out so well for Marie Antoinette, having a signature fragrance is a great idea for us regular gals!

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Wisteria (Floral)

Wisteria is a climbing vine that grows native in the Eastern United States, China, Korea and Japan. It has lovely flowers in purple, pink, blue or white. Chinese Wisteria is the most fragrant, but they all smell wonderful.

Wisteria has a somewhat exotic and musky scent, sharp and alluring. It is fantastic and unique all on its own, but when mixing with other florals, it yields deep, leafy garden or cool meadow type scents.

Wisteria can act as a mediator scent, to balance and round out the other scents in your recipe.

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Forever Young

This recipe makes an awesome fragrance for lotion or perfume for tweens and teens alike!

Also great for us oldies (20+) as a lotion or shower gel.

It's so simple and you'll be surprised at the ingredients:

Garden Mint 3 parts
Coconut 8 parts

Unlikely pair, wouldn't you say?

Garden Mint is a mix of several mints. It's not harsh, but has a sweet undertone.

Coconut compliments it wonderfully. So fresh and young.

Use this recipe in any of our bath and body products or as a home scent with our fragrance warmers.

Spearmint (Herby)

Spearmint is thought to be the oldest of all mints. It is grown for its aromatic oil, which has many uses, such as flavoring teas, candies, gum, toothpaste and medicines. It's used as a breath freshener and for the treatment of stomach ache and headache. As a tea, it helps to calm and relax frazzled nerves.

A lighter scent than peppermint, spearmint is a mouthwatering, crisp and refreshing fragrance which is lightly stimulating. Spearmint is generally considered to be a top note, and it mixes well with all of the herby fragrances and is a fun addition to many floral and fruity scents as well. Use it to make your fragrance a clean and fresh feeling.

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