We are quickly rounding the corner on summer here and you know what that means! Warm days of swimming, barbecues, and… mosquitos.
For some reason, I always have mosquito amnesia each year. I get so excited for summer and forget that it comes with annoying (and let’s be honest, useless) insects. It just takes one balmy evening for me to get eaten alive and end up with itchy oozing, unsightly bumps all over my body.
I even get horrible reactions to the bites where the area around the bite gets raised and red and hard. It is the worst!
One weekend when I was a kid, our family and another family rented a house on the Oregon coast. In one day, I got 37 mosquito bites all over my body (obviously it was pretty traumatizing since I remembered the number so vividly). Since then, I have been a mosquito magnet every summer!
No amount of pesticides or DEET ever got in the way of the mosquitos finding me and feasting. And as I got older, I only wanted to use natural products.
I already knew that citronella was sometimes used as a repellent but then I read that lemon eucalyptus essential oil could be even more effective than DEET and I knew I had to try it out for myself! The EWG (Environmental Working Group) has a great summary of various insect repellent ingredients if you want to get more information!
Last summer I made this recipe and was amazed when I only got 3 mosquito bites all summer. And they were all at times when I hadn’t used my repellent!
This recipe is super easy to make and actually smells good (if you’re into herbaceous lemony scents)!
Ingredients
¼ cup vodka
¼ cup water
20 drops lemon eucalyptus
15 drops citronella
15 drops lemongrass
Directions
Fill a glass spray bottle with the mix. I always have a few small spray bottles lying around or reuse an old spray bottle. I love the bottles that the hydrosols from Mountain Rose Herbs come in so I usually reuse those for any homemade sprays.
When you’re ready to use this just shake and spray! I would suggest trying on a small area of skin first since some people are sensitive to the naturally occurring compounds in essential oils.
This really is a summer essential for me now and I wouldn’t go anywhere without it.
Make sure you pin the recipe so you have it this summer! Already tried it? Please let me know how it worked for you!
Thanks for sharing! What size bottle is your recipe for?
Oops. Sorry. Never mind the silly question, but the “thanks” stands!
This looks great! It would be a nice thing to make for wedding or grad party guests!
Where do you get your lemon euc oil??
Hi Suzanne – I get all of my essential oils from Mountain Rose Herbs – they are a great company!
DoterrA
Great idea!
Thanks for sharing! Does it last long?
Hi Vanessa, I usually spray it every couple hours. We don’t have a ton of mosquitoes here but the ones we do love me! I would just use as needed.
Does it have to be lemon Eucalyptus or can I mix lemon and Eucalyptus individually?
I have the same question!!
Is this safe for kids? I have a friend whose daughter gets eaten alive even with repellent on. Her daughter is 3.
Can witch hazel or rubbing alcohol be used in place of vodka? I rarely have vodka around and when I do it’s for different intended purposes lol