# Some Fragrance trouble/



## SoapMakingTommy (Jan 15, 2014)

Hello everyone ive recently purchased a bunch of essential oils, I never used essential oils before, I gave it a try once but was a failure.(scent wasnt present)

Anyway i bought what sounded good, Some of them i did not even know what to expect.

So i just wanted to list some that i got , and tell you guys what i think of some experiments and some troubles i cant think of.
Essential Oils:
4oz Pink Grapefruit
4oz Blood Orange
4oz Java Citronella
4oz Lemmon
4oz Lime 
4oz Spruce Hemlock 
4oz Rosemary
4oz Patchouli
2oz Palmerosa
1oz Cinnamon (madagascar)
3.4oz Caraway
16oz Cederwood(chinese)
.5oz Frankincense(egyptian)
1.5oz Eucalyptus

So my idea is to blend a fruity smell or flowery smell(sweet) with something a more earthy like the spruce or the the only exception would be maybe in a pine tar soap.

I dont have many combinations since i dont have a lot of essential oils that others have for there blends. but i can make some.

If you guys have ever tried Caraway or palmerosa i sure would like to know what goes well with it.

If there are any other combinations i have that you think might work nice i sure would like to hear it.

I am curious about that the least amount of eo i might be able to use for any smell at all, The reason im asking is because i only bought .5 oz of the frankincense an even tho its pretty strong im not sure it will be strong enough for a 5lb batch?
I am no perfumest but due to the expense of essential oils, If i am choosing to use more then one eo per 5 lb batch, I would be dumping a lot of money by doing so? Since a 5lb batch using 2 scents would have to put in around 10oz of eo for a 5 lb batch using 3 scents i might need 15-20oz eo ?

Thank You


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## lsg (Jan 15, 2014)

I usually go with at least .5 oz per pound of oils. Sweet orange and cedarwood makes a great combination. Use a little cosmetic grade clay along with citrus essential oils to anchor the scent.  I often use palmarosa or rosewood along with geranium to replace the more expensive rose otto.
Here is a link to blends, it will help get your started.

http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/scent-blending.html


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## MirandaH (Jan 15, 2014)

I am super new and probably should't be commenting at all, but 15 - 20oz of EO sounds like an awful lot to me! I have only used scents a couple of times, and .5 oz ppo is about what I do as well.  It is my understanding that you shouldn't use more than 3% ppo, but I might have misunderstood that. It is also my understanding that not all EOs are safe in high quantities.  I can't imagine using over a pound of EO or FO in a 5lb batch.  I would look into it more before doing anything.  EOs are expensive and you don't want you or anyone who uses your soap to have a bad reaction.

Also, when using more than one scent, it is my understanding that you use less of each kind.  

I could be totally wrong on all of this and if I am, someone will come along and correct me and if they do, please disregard all of it.  I just would be very concerned about using 15 - 20 OZ of any scent in a 5 lb batch of soap.


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## cmzaha (Jan 15, 2014)

I am no perfumest but due to the expense of essential oils, If i am choosing to use more then one eo per 5 lb batch, I would be dumping a lot of money by doing so? Since a 5lb batch using 2 scents would have to put in around 10oz of eo for a 5 lb batch using 3 scents i might need 15-20oz eo ?

Thank You[/QUOTE]
Not sure where you have come up with 15-20 oz for 5lbs of soap. You want to keep most essential oils about 3% of total oil weight and some such as cinnamon, peppermint, clove down to approx 1%. For 5lbs for my 5lb batches I use approx 2 oz essential, some higher depending on the eo's, but I never go over 6% which is 1oz per pound of oils. At 15-20 oz you would be treating them as a base oil


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## MirandaH (Jan 15, 2014)

cmzaha said:


> I am no perfumest but due to the expense of essential oils, If i am choosing to use more then one eo per 5 lb batch, I would be dumping a lot of money by doing so? Since a 5lb batch using 2 scents would have to put in around 10oz of eo for a 5 lb batch using 3 scents i might need 15-20oz eo ?
> 
> Thank You


Not sure where you have come up with 15-20 oz for 5lbs of soap. You want to keep most essential oils about 3% of total oil weight and some such as cinnamon, peppermint, clove down to approx 1%. For 5lbs for my 5lb batches I use approx 2 oz essential, some higher depending on the eo's, but I never go over 6% which is 1oz per pound of oils. At 15-20 oz you would be treating them as a base oil[/QUOTE]

I think the OP is under the impression that when using 2 EOs that you would double the amount of EO total and when using three EOs, you would triple the amount of EO used and assuming that you would use about 1 oz ppo if I am understanding their post correctly.


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## SoapMakingTommy (Jan 15, 2014)

MirandaH said:


> I think the OP is under the impression that when using 2 EOs that you would double the amount of EO total and when using three EOs, you would triple the amount of EO used and assuming that you would use about 1 oz ppo if I am understanding their post correctly.



Yes thank you that is exactly what i meant, Apparently i was wrong, Thanks cmzaha, you guys help explain it a bit better.

So if i am to understand correctly, depending on the essential oil and its potent fragrance one might have to use less <-- I think it would be a good idea if we start putting how many oz or weight we use for the essential oils in our recipe's .

Ive only made 100% olive oil soap that came out fantastic and ive bought some supplies to make some more so im trying my hand in more more flavorful recipe's.


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## MirandaH (Jan 15, 2014)

SoapMakingTommy said:


> Yes thank you that is exactly what i meant, Apparently i was wrong, Thanks cmzaha, you guys help explain it a bit better.
> 
> So if i am to understand correctly, depending on the essential oil and its potent fragrance one might have to use less <-- I think it would be a good idea if we start putting how many oz or weight we use for the essential oils in our recipe's .
> 
> Ive only made 100% olive oil soap that came out fantastic and ive bought some supplies to make some more so im trying my hand in more more flavorful recipe's.



I wish I could help, but I don't feel confident or comfortable telling anyone how much EO to use, as I have only made a couple batches with EOs or FOs at all.  Maybe someone else could give you a better idea than I could.  I know that some, like peppermint and eucalyptus are said to be very strong.  I think it all depends on what you are using and how potent it is and you just adjust to get a good scent, but not use too much of anything.  I also think it is difficult to go on what one person says and that it is probably a lot of trial and error.  Some EOs have different strengths, based on the brand (Ex: Peppermint from one brand may be stronger than peppermint from another brand) and some people like having a scented soap, but can't handle much due to headaches, etc. So it also has a lot to do with personal preference. I am really scared to work with any of it, and am starting with the less expensive FOs for learning about scenting my soaps and will move on to EOs once I have a firmer grasp of it all.


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## lsg (Jan 15, 2014)

Yes, it is always a good idea to look at the usage rates suggested by the supplier.  I would not go over 1 ounce total of essential oils for each pound of oils.  As I said before I usually go with .5 oz total even for a blend for each pound of oils.  Some oils such as cinnamon and cloves are very strong and can cause your soap to sieze if too much is used.  Go easy on these oils.  The best advice I can give you is to research the use of essential oils in cp soap.  There are several good sites on the Internet.


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## TVivian (Jan 15, 2014)

In my opinion .5 per pound of oils seems to be enough. It really doesn't take a lot to get a nice scent.


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## Lindy (Jan 16, 2014)

Because essential oils are thereapeutic you should be staying at or below 3% (0.5 oz per 16 ounces of oil).


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