Fresh EO blend that holds up after cure

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cascarral

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Hello!

I'm making an Activated charcoal brine soap and want it to smell herbaceous, minty, uplifting, fresh! However I've had a hard time making this EOs stick, even by the time I'm unmolding I can barely smell the blend.

I've been using 3% of oil weight, which is what I use for my other soaps and it works great, I'm guessing this particular category of EOs fades more easily? Right now my idea is to use rosemary EO paired with any of the following: eucalyptus, bergamot, thyme, sage, tea tree, lemon, lemongrass. However I'm open other options. My favorite blend so far has been rosemary + bergamot 1:1 but it completely faded at 3%.

Does anyone have any ideas/experience with blends of this nature?

There are tons of rosemary soaps in the market, it's driving me crazy that I can't make this scent work for me!

I use a blend from the EOCalc website called “Revive.” It has tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender and ??? It sticks around for at least three months. For my earliest soaps, which are only 5-6 months old now, the lemongrass and patchouli seem to have held the best. I was using very low concentrations back then, usually < 1%.

The bergamot and lemon fade too quickly for soap in my experience. It sounds like you have a great collection of oils. Try using something more like 5-6% if it is safe with your EOs.

I use a blend from the EOCalc website called “Revive.” It has tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender and ??? It sticks around for at least three months. For my earliest soaps, which are only 5-6 months old now, the lemongrass and patchouli seem to have held the best. I was using very low concentrations back then, usually < 1%.

i agree! My lemongrass parchouli Is almost too scented! I LOVE that blend. Wish I could find something like it with a minty scent.

The bergamot and lemon fade too quickly for soap in my experience. It sounds like you have a great collection of oils. Try using something more like 5-6% if it is safe with your EOs.

Aw I didn’t know this about bergamot, this is too bad :( well, I’ll try with something else then. Thank you!

Aw I didn’t know this about bergamot, this is too bad :( well, I’ll try with something else then. Thank you!
I love bergamot too :(

I use most EO's at 6% PPO, except basil, thyme, Petitgrain and spicy EO's that irritate the skin. Be very aware that Thyme and Basil are very very strong and will overpower almost every eo so use very tiny percentages and work up. Lavender with Patchouli is very nice and sticks well.

I love bergamot too :(

Do you ever use it? If so, What do you pair it with and in which %?

@cmzaha does petitgrain stick for you?

@cascarral I've tried bergamot on its own with no luck, but I think it held a little longer blended with cedarwood and patchouli. It was a nice blend! I think roughly equal parts of each. Cedar and patchouli work well as a backdrop to many other EOs too.

I loooove petitgrain with french lavender, afraid it won't stick though.

Cascarral, have you ever tried eucalyptus with peppermint or spearmint? I enjoy those combos. I think rosemary with peppermint is a popular blend too, if you are looking for something minty. The mints hold ok for me, but not as long as patchouli.

I loooove petitgrain with french lavender, afraid it won't stick though.

Cascarral, have you ever tried eucalyptus with peppermint or spearmint? I enjoy those combos. I think rosemary with peppermint is a popular blend too, if you are looking for something minty. The mints hold ok for me, but not as long as patchouli.
Actually, the missing EO in the Revive blend I mentioned above is peppermint. I’m not usually a big fan of eucalyptus and tea tree, but I like the blend.

I find Petitgrain sticks like glue and is very overpowering. I have used it with Brazil Lime in using very small percentage of the petitgrain and it is lovely. Brazil Lime with Litsea is also very nice. Another favorite of mine is Brazil Lime, Litsea, and Cedarwood in equal parts. It really blooms when the warm water hits it.

@cmzaha does petitgrain stick for you?

@cascarral I've tried bergamot on its own with no luck, but I think it held a little longer blended with cedarwood and patchouli. It was a nice blend! I think roughly equal parts of each. Cedar and patchouli work well as a backdrop to many other EOs too.
Thanks a lot :) I will try! Not a fan of cedar, though, I think it’s too “manly” is it just me?
Actually, the missing EO in the Revive blend I mentioned above is peppermint. I’m not usually a big fan of eucalyptus and tea tree, but I like the blend.

Nice! Do you have the ratios of this blend? I’ve got all the EOs so might try tomorrow
 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is the link for the blend on the EOCalc website: https://www.eocalc.com/blends/revive/
I haven’t tried many of the blends, but many of the ones I read about sound great to me. My EO collection is a bit limited due to the cost of EOs.
Thank you so much :) Yeah! I know what you mean, it’s taken a while for me to gather my eos and it makes me so mad when I finally buy one I’ve been looking forward to try and hate the smell! So many 30 ml bottles I’ll never use.
 
OOOPPS
Sorry about all the above posts in one, I was merging casarral's two posts and it's merged the lot o_O. I can't unreverse the action. At least you can still read it.
 
Hehe thanks Relle :hippo: sorry, I had some posts that needed merging too :oops:

Yes cedarwood is kinda masculine. A little cedar with a lot of lavender is really nice though....<3

Cool EO calc
 
My favourite refreshing blend that sticks is Peppermint, Spearmint, Rosemary & Lemongrass. Lasts for more than a year. If you want a bottom note add Patchouli.
I've tried a blend of the last four. Haven't hit the one year mark but it's almost there (Christmas), and I can still smell it.

I love spearmint btw.. In my opinion it tones down a lot of the "manly" scents in well blended proportions.
 
I feel like especially fresh/citrussy notes of EO's hold up better in HP than CP.. so you could consider a dive into the world of HP for this onone
 
Yesterday I tried Rosemary 2, eucalyptus 1, peppermint 1 (actually was going to try rosemary, spearmint, peppermint -rosemary mint twist eocalc- but mistaken spearmint with eucalyptus and ended up liking this combo better, maybe because I'm not a fan of the mouthwash minty scents) and eocalc blend "karate penny" which is eucalyptus 2, rosemary 1, teatree 1. Let's see how it goes!

Next week I'll try other blends you've recommended :) will keep you posted! Thank you all :)
 
I just remembered my icy landscape soap was CP and still smells really strong and icy fresh after 3 months cure. The EO blend was 45% pine, 40% peppermint, 13% ginger, 2% clove. I was using a very slow moving recipe and I felt like the ginger and clove did speed things up a little. Not sure if icy fresh is what you're going for, but it does seem to stick;)
 
@szaza That sounds like a nice blend! I hadn't thought to use spices with the mint, and have been wondering how to use my ginger EO....
 
I just remembered my icy landscape soap was CP and still smells really strong and icy fresh after 3 months cure. The EO blend was 45% pine, 40% peppermint, 13% ginger, 2% clove. I was using a very slow moving recipe and I felt like the ginger and clove did speed things up a little. Not sure if icy fresh is what you're going for, but it does seem to stick;)
That one will last a lot longer than 3 months IMHO!
 

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