I am going to do this! That way I can go out in the garden in the morning and not smell like a camper at work all day. So helpful!

EXCELLENT tip!

But if I use catnip oil, won't I be swarmed by cats instead of mosquitoes?

ya...that's one of the drawbacks...trust me, I've got 6 cats...it's interesting

I love it when I get swarmed by cats!

FYI, not to dis making your own, but I do have a bottle of a commercially available natural repellent containing several of the oils you mention. Smells great and is a nice light lotion in a pump spray bottle.

It's called Natural Herbal Armor. I absolutely love it, and even find it takes the itch out of a bite even if you put it on after you get bit!

Let's see, now that I have my glasses on, it's got Soybean oil, and oils of Citronella, Peppermint, Cedar, Lemongrass and Geranium. It's not cheap, but then neither are the oils to make your own.

I've got one I bought somewhere with Lemon Eucalyptus. Then I added some other essential oils to it after it was half used. It's definitely not a fragrance I would normally wear! It helps some, but those pesky skeeters still get me some...I'm just totally irresistible to every single female of that species and they find some way of biting me anyway if I stay out long enough. You'd think that as dry as it is here (very dry), there wouldn't be so many skeeters. I've heard that in recent years they've discovered new compounds that work much better than even DEET. But of course, they still have to do all kinds of tests to find out if any are safe for humans, so I'll just have to wait.

Thanks for the tip.
What? No jokes about vodka?

Hey cabadanna - come over here and tell us about your sheltie!
http://cubits.org/ACuriousCubi...

If you are going to buy essential oils and then mix in vodka, why not take out the essential oil direct from the basic ingredient? You have to dip the basic ingredient in alcohol or water to get the essential oil out for a month or so. So put it into the vodka and keep the bottle aside for a month. That should get the cost down.
Regards,
Arif.

I wear mosquito repellent shirt with long sleeves and long pants. Around my ankles and wrists and I put on Tiger Balm, the white kind, so it will not stain my clothing. I also dap it on my neck and cheeks. Be careful not to get it in your eyes! The mosquitoes and gnats stay away from delicious me. The Tiger Balm is for me the only salve that can take away the itching and bumps from mosquito bites. If there is one mosquito, it sure will find me. When I had so many bites that I looked l had polka dotted skin, I used a lot of Tiger Balm and I noticed that I did not get bitten any longer. Since then I use Tiger Balm when I go out where there may be mosquitoes. I told a friend who had the same problem. It helped her too. It may be cheaper to buy Tiger Balm in Asian stores. Some Costco or BJ stores also carry them--near Ben Gay, etc. Tiger Balm also helps to ease sore muscles, head aches and stuffy noses. Someone told me that the plebes at West Point use Tiger Balm all the time.

You're right about Tiger Balm. It's full of camphor, menthol, and eucalyptus oil and it does act as a deterrent while it's alleviating the itching and pain of past bites. It's a little expensive for daily use, however. I use a generic anti-itch cream from Rite-Aid for the same purpose. It makes me less attractive to fleas and mosquitoes.

Its so nice to know I have company in the war against biting insects. I look like I have the measles even thought I cover up in a long shirt and pants, scarf and hat, boots when walking the dogs. I wear the netting when gardening. Still doesn't work. I will try some of your suggestions. DEET works great but if I'm too tired after it'd be nice to know I can take a nap.

My neighbors think I am crazy wearing all these clothes when the weather gets above freezing and into the 90. They have no idea how much we suffer.

I mixed eucalyptus and lemongrass organic essential oils that I happen to have on hand with olive oil and rubbing alcohol (because I don't have vodka on hand). I do have rosemary organic essential oil but topically it makes me itch.

It worked! I was able to stay out in the garden for about 2 hours. I still wore a long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots, scarf and a hat but no bites on my face, hands and arms.

This morning with 90% humidity, I slathered myself up, and it smells so good, before I walked the dogs. No bites! The flying biting insects stay away! I do notice that the bees like it but my dogs also stay away. They sneeze too.

I do put it on one of my dog's ears and back because she is attacked by flying bugs too. She is already high strung, bugs just add to the problem. Seems to work on her.

This is where I get my essential oils: https://www.luckyvitamin.com/ I found another site but I have not tried it yet: http://www.bulkapothecary.com/

The gnats are vicious here this year. They are even attacking the Spousal Unit, something that doesn't usually happen. The skeeters have a buffet on me too, along with the gnats.

The gnats are making it nasty for trying to enjoy our pergola this summer.