# Overall quality of fragrance oils from company to company



## Dxray123 (Jun 10, 2017)

So I received my order from rustic essentials last week and decided to try out some of the fragrance oil's that I ordered.  I ordered about 40 of the 1 to 2 ounce bottles and there are only about eight I like.  Either they don't smell like the description or smell perfumey, chemically, etc. Of the eight I like, I have used for in bath bombs today and two of them have hardly any scent to them despite  using half the bottle in my batches.  The only other oils I've ever used are from Xen  and maybe I'm spoiled because Xen's oils are all super potent.  I have a cart full of items at Bramble Berry but I'm afraid to pay another $150 on oil's that I'm not going to be able to use does anyone have any advice as far as quality  from one company to the next?


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## shunt2011 (Jun 10, 2017)

I've used their oils in soap and bath and body an have never had an issue. However, there are always hot or misses wherever you purchase. It's a matter of finding scents you 
One. That's why I purchase from 5-6 different companies and from co-OPs.  Never heard of xen before.


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## Nao (Jun 10, 2017)

To me it seems that most soaping sites sell the same FOs, though they may rename them, so the quality should  be pretty consistent between different sites. 

Also synthetic fragrances will smell synthetic a lot of times. I know I got disappointed on most FOs I bought before because I thought they would smell as good as the EOs I bought.


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## navigator9 (Jun 10, 2017)

Some suppliers FOs just seem to smell nicer than others. Like you, I've bought many that sounded amazing in their descriptions, only to smell nothing like that when I got them. And it wasn't just that they didn't smell like their descriptions at all, they just smelled, not necessarily awful, but not good, either. And so I have lots of little bottles of FO that I've never used. I think you have to kiss a lot of frogs so to speak, and do just what you're doing, trial and error, until you come up with a list of standards that you like. Another sad fact of FO suppliers is that as soon as you find a FO you can't live without, the supplier goes out of business! And for me anyway, I always seem to find that if the price seems too good to be true, chances are I probably won't like the FO. That being said, I probably buy the majority of my FOs from Brambleberry or WSP. And lately, I'm finding some nice ones at Nurture Soaps, too. Hope this helps.


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## Dxray123 (Jun 10, 2017)

Well thank you for all the good advice. I have researched the fragrance oil chart and narrowed down a few from each company. So far most of the fragrance oils I'm using will be in bath bombs so I don't know if I should post my findings on the chart on fragrance oils since I don't know how they act in soap


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## anjouwu (Jun 11, 2017)

As much as I embrace the convenience and variety that online shopping provides, this is really one area where I would love to walk into a store and smell the actual product. Relying on the reviews here is fine, but I don't want to order 40 samples to find less than a dozen that I like! Some descriptions take a bit of untangling (Actual FO text: "This fragrance  features the heart of cherry blossoms, dewy citrus splash, and floral notes of lily  of the valley, neroli, and chrysanthemum. Finished with a vanilla musk  and sandalwood" - OK, _but what does it actually smell like_?)

While I don't mean to single out Rustic Escentuals, because their customer service is great and I know they offer some awesome scents, I've had a few more duds with them than, say, Nurture or BB. While I am a little biased (they're based in my state) Sweet Cakes rarely disappoints, but generally you end up paying a bit more.


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## NsMar42111 (Jun 11, 2017)

In my experience most of Rustic's lose the artifical undertones once in soap. Straight out of the bottle, I like Aztec's line but in soap they turn chemically-maybe for bath bombs it'd be better?


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## Rusti (Jun 11, 2017)

anjouwu said:


> While I don't mean to single out Rustic Escentuals, because their customer service is great and I know they offer some awesome scents, I've had a few more duds with them than, say, Nurture or BB. While I am a little biased (they're based in my state) Sweet Cakes rarely disappoints, but generally you end up paying a bit more.



Yeah, I'm finding my RE scents don't hold up like BB or WSP (I need to give some of Nurture's a whirl). I used their 'Fresh Peach' just last weekend in a fan blend soap and the peach scent is GONE. Like, it was gone overnight, nonexistent when I cut the soap. I am hoping that it comes back out during cure, but I don't think I'll get that one from them anymore. it'll be WSP's Georgia Peach from now on.


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## Zany_in_CO (Jun 11, 2017)

Seek and ye shall find. (That's the best I got )


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## Dxray123 (Jun 12, 2017)

I totally agree and thank you for your responses.  I ended up trying to use five fragrances yesterday in bath bombs in and I was very disappointed .  I can't wait to give reviews, lol!  I used the purple cow scent in four bath bombs and the only way I know how to describe the scent is that it smells like urinal cakes.  Birthday cake, buttercream, and sugar cookie all smell the same with that artificial vanilla scent.  I ordered a bunch of islands scents and not one had  any notes of coconut.  The rest were just really perfumey  and fake smelling


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## Soapmaker145 (Jun 12, 2017)

FO descriptions tend to be based on the actual notes the supplier uses to create them.  I doesn't mean they're going to smell anything like the description once all the notes are mixed together.  Fragrance testing takes a lot of time and effort.  We all smell things differently.  No matter how carefully you chose FOs, you'll have hits and misses.  It's helpful to spot a little of the FO on a piece of absorbent paper and let it air for an hour or 2.  It gives a better idea of how it'll smell in a B&B product.  Also, it'll give an idea of the longevity.  A well blended FO can last for hours or days on a piece of paper.

Some FOS don't have much dry throw but you'll smell them fine when wet.  Others have a great dry throw but they are lost once wet.  

I was surprised at how well the RE FOs I tested survived a 6 month cure.  I thought most were going to disappear shortly after I poured them.  The FOs I got from BB did much worse in soap than RE's.  I won't use them except for soaps that are going to be used within 6 months.


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