# Criteria for Selecting FO's



## Moose Wrangler (Jul 14, 2018)

I've been looking into FO's recently and purchased a couple. I'm curious what selection criteria folks use when picking FO's? I've been looking at:

-discoloration/acceleration/ricing tendencies
-IFRA usage rates
-reviews
-compatability with how I intend to use the product

I've also read through the SDS's but feel like there's probably some other factors that I'm missing. Anyone have any other qualities they examine or research before trying a new FO?


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## lenarenee (Jul 14, 2018)

Longevity of scent in cold process soap - which reviews often mention BUT you need to be aware when you read them because some people write a review immediately after soaping.


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## shunt2011 (Jul 14, 2018)

That’s pretty much the criteria I look for.  I don’t mind discoloration so much, bit depends on what I have in mind design wise.


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## IrishLass (Jul 14, 2018)

All the above, plus scent strength.....

In other words, if I have to use a lot of an FO in order to get decent level of scent from it in my soap, I'll look to see if another company sells the same kind of scent, but with a stronger 'scent throw' oz. for oz. No sense in throwing money down the drain by buying an FO from Company X that you have to use 1 oz ppo of to get a decent scent throw out of it, when Company Z has a version of the same scent that comes through strong in your soap at only .5 oz ppo.

For what it's worth, my cut-off point is 1 oz ppo. If an FO can't pull it's weight in terms of scent strength and longevity in my soap at 1 oz ppo, it's just not worth it to me to purchase. Happily, most of my FOs do quite well in my soap at .75 oz ppo, some even less than that. I only have a small handful that need to be used at 1 oz ppo.  


IrishLass


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## penelopejane (Jul 16, 2018)

1. Ricing, speedy acceleration etc  
2. longevity
3. strength/cost ratio
4. Discolouration depending on the soap


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## lsg (Jul 16, 2018)

Does not accelerate trace
Does not discolor soap
Something I will use more than a couple of times
Appealing to both sexes
Can be used to blend with other FOs or EOs
Good reviews
Long lasting scent in soap


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## Lin19687 (Jul 17, 2018)

Ditto Isg .  
My recipe traces fast so I have to be very careful on what I pick.  I am not a floral or bakery person so I stay away from those.  Mainly stay away from floral since they really accelerate trace.


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## SoaperForLife (Jul 18, 2018)

I don't really care about discoloration due to vanilla content but I steer clear of any that rice or accelerate trace.  I look for scents that don't fade away and that sell well for others.  I am fortunate that I can use the scent review board and I pretty much always check there before trying out new fragrance oils (even though the info isn't always up to date now).


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## cmzaha (Jul 18, 2018)

While I agree with all the above, I do have fo's that accelerate and are so nice I just learn to work with them. When beginning soaping it is best to try to steer clears of known accelerators or fo's that heat up. Coconut, from some suppliers overheat so much it has to be hp'ed which I hate doing. I use all my fo's at 2 oz ppo even a titch more except for some spicy, fo's. 

I find it advisable to buy test samples of fo's, even if I do not do what I recommend, so you can run little test batches. Florals are notorious accelerators although I have a lovely Rose Bouquet from Peak that does not discolor or accelerate badly.


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## Lin19687 (Jul 18, 2018)

Be careful of scent review board, if it is the one I am thinking of, as most of their reviews are  years old.
There has been too many re-formulations so I don't fully believe them all.
This is one reason I search for the scent on google or here.  Plus I like the NG reviews as they leave the bad ones up too.


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## dixiedragon (Jul 18, 2018)

ALL THE FOS. ALL! LOL.

I read the reviews. And for me, I find that I am drawn to certain verbal descriptions so I am overloaded in those categories, so I try to make myself drop one of the florals and add something different. Seriously, put the word rose, jasmine or lavender in a description and I'm like "SOLD!"


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## BrewerGeorge (Jul 18, 2018)

Life is too short to mess with overly-accelerating FOs.


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## Alfa_Lazcares (Jul 18, 2018)

BrewerGeorge said:


> Life is too short to mess with overly-accelerating FOs.



Yeah, but some of us dont have another choice...


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## jcandleattic (Jul 18, 2018)

Moose Wrangler said:


> I've been looking into FO's recently and purchased a couple. I'm curious what selection criteria folks use when picking FO's? I've been looking at:
> 
> -discoloration/acceleration/ricing tendencies
> -IFRA usage rates
> ...


This is pretty much what I look for as well. This and as others have said, scent retention. 

I honestly do not care one whit if a FO has discoloration or accelerates because I have long since learned to deal with that, however, it's always nice to know, so I can be prepared.


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## soapmaker (Jul 18, 2018)

cmzaha said:


> While I agree with all the above, I do have fo's that accelerate and are so nice I just learn to work with them. When beginning soaping it is best to try to steer clears of known accelerators or fo's that heat up. Coconut, from some suppliers overheat so much it has to be hp'ed which I hate doing. I use all my fo's at 2 oz ppo even a titch more except for some spicy, fo's.
> 
> I find it advisable to buy test samples of fo's, even if I do not do what I recommend, so you can run little test batches. Florals are notorious accelerators although I have a lovely Rose Bouquet from Peak that does not discolor or accelerate badly.


Am I reading right? 2 oz. per lb. of oils? With all the soap that's in my house, I would have difficulty breathing. The bees already come to the front door!


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## Moose Wrangler (Jul 18, 2018)

Dixiedragon, you had me laughing there! I haven't read too deeply into the descriptions because I don't think my nose is discerning enough to catch all the subtly notes. But, I've noticed that I have some definite preferences based on the name.


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## SoaperForLife (Jul 19, 2018)

2 oz. per pound of oil is way too much! Maybe you need to switch your suppliers or something.....


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## Arimara (Jul 19, 2018)

soapmaker said:


> Am I reading right? 2 oz. per lb. of oils? With all the soap that's in my house, I would have difficulty breathing. The bees already come to the front door!



She's also a vendor and it is important that her soaps smell on point. You know how people can get is soap does not smell like the bee's knee's. 

I corrected that in my head. 1 oz per pound is way more common.


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## soapmaker (Jul 19, 2018)

I use 2.5 to 3 oz. in my 5 lbs. of oil batch. Some fo's still burn my nose at that amount and I cure them in a friend's house. My customers aren't saying they can't smell my soap. There are some exceptions with weaker fo's that I use more.


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## shunt2011 (Jul 19, 2018)

I think Carolyn uses 1 oz. PPO......may be a typo.   Her and I use about the same if I recall correctly from previous posts.


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## lucycat (Jul 24, 2018)

Longevity of scent in CP is my most important criteria.   There are way too many scents that are faded out at 6 months in CP.   I think testing it the only way to know this, because as was said before too many reviews are done immediately after making the soap.

I am drawn to a fragrance based on a description.  There are some vendors who are terrible in describing a scent and they usually don't get my money.  I have to have a mental image of the scent before I want to try it.


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## amd (Jul 31, 2018)

I generally try to avoid scents with a lot of notes. I bought into BB's gemstone FO collection without reading the fragrance descriptions (impulse buy, I really just liked the gemstone names...) so far I've used two of them, and I dread putting them up for sale because I know people will ask me "what is that?". There are so many fragrance notes that nothing really comes through, it's a a blur to the nose. Maybe that's ok for some people to just like a scent without knowing what it is, but I like to smell something and think "oooh, patchouli" or "yum, funnel cake".


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## BrewerGeorge (Jul 31, 2018)

amd said:


> I generally try to avoid scents with a lot of notes. I bought into BB's gemstone FO collection without reading the fragrance descriptions (impulse buy, I really just liked the gemstone names...) so far I've used two of them, and I dread putting them up for sale because I know people will ask me "what is that?". There are so many fragrance notes that nothing really comes through, it's a a blur to the nose. Maybe that's ok for some people to just like a scent without knowing what it is, but I like to smell something and think "oooh, patchouli" or "yum, funnel cake".


I have the same gemstone collection and they're definitely just "Nice."  I haven't even used them all.


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## Primrose (Jul 31, 2018)

Alfa_Lazcares said:


> Yeah, but some of us dont have another choice...



Why dont you have another choice? There are oodles of FOs to choose from. 

A question for those that use 1oz FO ppo, what % does that end up being? I use 3-5% in most of mine, I like a strong scent


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## jcandleattic (Aug 2, 2018)

Primrose said:


> Why dont you have another choice? There are oodles of FOs to choose from.
> 
> A question for those that use 1oz FO ppo, what % does that end up being? I use 3-5% in most of mine, I like a strong scent


1oz per 16oz oils ends up very close to 6%. It's what I use in most of my soaps as well.


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## Primrose (Aug 2, 2018)

jcandleattic thank you - that's really interesting. Most FOs available in Australia are limited to 5% max use rate ... and I thought the same applied to many EOs. I also thought most people on this forum recommended 3% but I may have got the wrong idea. I've been using 5% mostly and tossing up whether to try 3% to save some money but from what everyone is saying here I think I'll stick to the 5%


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## msunnerstood (Aug 2, 2018)

I hate discoloration so unless its a scent I REALLY want to try, I stay away from ones that do. I did by some stabilizer for those rare occasions where I buy a scent with vanillan.


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## Alfa_Lazcares (Aug 2, 2018)

Primrose said:


> Why dont you have another choice? There are oodles of FOs to choose



I am not in the US. Your suppliers either dont ship here or they are waaaaay too expensive for a few scented soaps.


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## jcandleattic (Aug 6, 2018)

Primrose said:


> jcandleattic thank you - that's really interesting. Most FOs available in Australia are limited to 5% max use rate ... and I thought the same applied to many EOs. I also thought most people on this forum recommended 3% but I may have got the wrong idea. I've been using 5% mostly and tossing up whether to try 3% to save some money but from what everyone is saying here I think I'll stick to the 5%


I only use 3% on my cloying strong florals and some spice type bakery scents. More than that, and they can become too overpowering. 
I stopped using EO's very early on as they just do not last in my soaps. By the time the cure is complete, the scent with most EO's is gone. The ONLY EO I've ever been able to stick is Lime. I have a bar that is going on 4-5 years old and it is still lovely with the Lime EO scent. 
Some EO's have ridiculously high IFRA usage rates. (as high as 40-45%) and some ridiculously low (.01%) so it's important to look them up. 
FO's vary as well, and most suppliers do recommend 5%, but as a general rule, with almost everyone I see on most forums, (this one included) the average usage rate for FO (when allowed) is 1oz PPO - which is very close to 6%. 
it is also the general average for candles, but that is a whole different discussion. LOL


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