35, 36, 37... Whew, the things I do to make nice smelling soap

[Juxtapose]

Before I start, yes, yes I am crazy.
But I figure I'm in good company.

So, here's the deets.
Ordered 37 (yes, 37) 1oz fragrance oil bottles from Candlewic.
Just got done (with super awesome help from my daughter) making 37 - 8oz sample soaps from the same base recipe to test each of the FO's for how they behave.
We used no colorant and added sugar to the lye water only because it's something I do put in my base.

Each was numbered to keep track, on the cup and on the sheet.

Already noticed a few of them had coloring and acceleration reactions.
Now they get to sit in my "state of the art" soap closet till it's time to pull them out and give them a slice and a sniff.

I'm hoping to whittle the list down to 16-18 "winners".
But I can tell it's gonna be hard.
(Except for maybe "Slate"... man it stunk in the mix)

And now, I get to smell like a perfume shop for the rest of the day. LOL

I'll post again on this thread for their unboxing and initial thoughts.

Cheers and happy soaping all!

- Shannon

 

[dmcgee5034]

Wow, that is some testing! Super cool!

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm a huge fan of White Tea - let me know what you think of it : )

 

[VikingChick]

Your systematicness (is that a word?) makes me envious. Great experiment!

 

[The_Phoenix]

Fragrance oil testing is so much fun. And ends up saving you headaches in the future. One idea is to scratch the test # on the surface of the soap then unmold.

 

[Juxtapose]

Small update. All but #13 was ready to come out. The rest are marked on top of each bar with number.

Most smelled pretty good in different ways. Some much stronger than others, of course.
Still not a big fan of the Slate.

Gonna let them dry for a couple weeks and see what happens.

Oh, the tiny square ones are left over base. Figured I’d make some unscented and non colored ones. Plus, can’t waste it, right?

Stay tuned.

 

[Shirley-D]

You are not crazy. I love this! You are very methodical. Can't wait for the final report. Infact, think I will do this myself-- but maybe on a smaller scale, ha ha.

ETA: Did you put the whole 1oz in the 8oz of soap? That would be about a 12% rate. If so, was that to keep things simple for the test and get a strong whiff?

 

[Juxtapose]

You are not crazy. I love this! You are very methodical. Can't wait for the final report. Infact, think I will do this myself-- but maybe on a smaller scale, ha ha.

ETA: Did you put the whole 1oz in the 8oz of soap? That would be about a 12% rate. If so, was that to keep things simple for the test and get a strong whiff?

Oh no, sorry. I should have included that in my post. Each 8oz sample had .5 oz of FO in them. I typically do 1oz per lb (16oz). My loaf molds typically hold 36oz of soap.

I really didn’t want to do 37 pounds of soap. Lol

The cups worked out pretty well. Once pulled I sliced them in three round discs each.

And yes, every now and then I stick my head in the closet for a sniff. Whoooo. Lol

Shannon

 

[Shirley-D]

Ah, I get it!

 

[Carly B]

Oh no, sorry. I should have included that in my post. Each 8oz sample had .5 oz of FO in them. I typically do 1oz per lb (16oz). My loaf molds typically hold 36oz of soap.

I really didn’t want to do 37 pounds of soap. Lol

The cups worked out pretty well. Once pulled I sliced them in three round discs each.

And yes, every now and then I stick my head in the closet for a sniff. Whoooo. Lol

Shannon

How do you manage not to go nose blind? I have discovered after I sniff about 4 or 5 FOs, I don't smell them anymore, or they barely smell of anything. Of course, allergy season doesn't help. Neither does snuffling coffee beans.

 

[Juxtapose]

How do you manage not to go nose blind? I have discovered after I sniff about 4 or 5 FOs, I don't smell them anymore, or they barely smell of anything. Of course, allergy season doesn't help. Neither does snuffling coffee beans.

To be fair, doing this many at once will be a very rare occurrence. I’m just kickstarting my business. Once I’ve found my scent groove I’ll settle down, mostly.

As far as resetting my sniffer. If coffee isn’t helping I just walk away for a while.

Shannon