Best woods balsam / pine / Christmas tree fragrance

[Vicki C]

The colors are pretty And I bet it smells great.

You’re kind…

Okay team here is a summary of all your helpful input. Lmk if people have other thoughts. Last fall I was using 1/3 balsam from NG and 2/3 Woodland Themes but of course I don’t have good notes on results. I think the fragrance was satisfactory - the balsam bumped up the fragrance of the woodland themes.

Pine / balsam / woods fragrances
Fragrance	Vendor	Notes
Woodland themes	NDA	Weakish to my nose
Balsam pine	WSP	Amazing - pricey
Lemon eucalyptus EO		Blend with pine or amyris
Winter wonderland	Nurture	Nice, accelerated for me new usage rates 2.11%
Balsam	Natures garden	Good fragrance. Ash? Bad note taking. Glenda says it has changed.
	NY Scent
Alpine	MMS	Maybe discolors?
Alpine Frost	Nurture	Not as strong as Winter Wonderland from WSP
Apple Balsam Pine	WSP	Less expensive than balsam pine

 

[dibbles]

I’ve been looking at Scent Memory latel, but haven’t tried any of the FOs yet. There are several that pop up on their site if you put pine in the search on their site. No soaping notes but @contrinokathy might be able to help. She was the one that I first saw mention this company and has tried quite a few of the FOs. You can join the FB group for soaping notes. I wish they were listed on the site. I can check for you too if you are curious about any of them.

Another one I have a small amount of but haven’t used yet is Woodland Elves from Bramble Berry. If it sounds good to you, I can test it.

 

[Vicki C]

I’ve been looking at Scent Memory latel, but haven’t tried any of the FOs yet. There are several that pop up on their site if you put pine in the search on their site. No soaping notes but @contrinokathy might be able to help. She was the one that I first saw mention this company and has tried quite a few of the FOs. You can join the FB group for soaping notes. I wish they were listed on the site. I can check for you too if you are curious about any of them.

Another one I have a small amount of but haven’t used yet is Woodland Elves from Bramble Berry. If it sounds good to you, I can test it.

Oh, that’s right I saw their site too. Love the artwork. I’ll join the fb group.
I was reading about woodland elves too. Some of the reviews say it accelerated, which won’t work for me with these big batches, the pouring takes too long. But, Brambleberry is having a 20% off sale right now.

 

[dibbles]

Oh, that’s right I saw their site too. Love the artwork. I’ll join the fb group.
I was reading about woodland elves too. Some of the reviews say it accelerated, which won’t work for me with these big batches, the pouring takes too long. But, Brambleberry is having a 20% off sale right now.

I’ll try to do a small batch tomorrow. If you end up ordering from Bramble Berry anyway, I would also recommend Lingonberry Spice. It discolors to light tan, but behaves well. Not very pine/balsam, but there are some of those notes. It’s one that I will have in permanent supply. It’s lovely.

What oils do you use? I’ll try to test with what you use.

ETA: I just went to see how much Woodland Elves I have, and there is plenty. It smells so good OOB. It's fir/piney enough to make the museum happy (since that is what they want), but there is a lot more to it than just the wood/pine notes. Lingonberry spice has some background pine, but definitely not pronounced.

 

[Vicki C]

Thank you! I actually put in an order with brambleberry for a few small bottles but the sale will be over by the time I try them. I went back and forth on the woodland elves, ended up not buying, but I did buy the lingonberry. Looks well liked by everyone. (But that might not be for the museum.)
I also bought some of the WSP balsam. I think I am going to mix it with Woodland Themes - it will be evergreen without being too Christmas-ee. With the free shipping it wasn’t as bad price-wise as I was thinking. So no rush on trying the woodland elves but if you do I’d love to hear what you think.

 

[glendam]

@Vicki C would love to hear your results after you test those fragrances and the blend. I usually wait for WSP sales (they had one a couple weeks ago) but with a standing order from the museum, I can see how that would not be a practical option.

 

[dibbles]

@Vicki C I made a small batch with Woodland Elves. I used a slow tracing lard (35%) recipe because I know what to expect from it. The starting temp of the combined oil/lye solution was 89F. The batter stayed pretty fluid for a good five minutes. I was planning a mantra swirl and there was plenty of faffing about with math and batter splitting and color mixing. The batter started to thicken, and continued to thicken and I couldn't do the intended design by the time I was ready to pour. There was definitely some plopping, but the batter never got to the point that it couldn't be swirled. So I wouldn't say it's as well behaved as the description, but it isn't terrible to work with either. Maybe not the one for your museum project. It does smell nice - it reminds me of Winter Wonderland actually. I just made a batch of WW, and I think it will be interesting to see how similar or not the two are in cured soap.

 

[Vicki C]

@Vicki C I made a small batch with Woodland Elves. I used a slow tracing lard (35%) recipe because I know what to expect from it. The starting temp of the combined oil/lye solution was 89F. The batter stayed pretty fluid for a good five minutes. I was planning a mantra swirl and there was plenty of faffing about with math and batter splitting and color mixing. The batter started to thicken, and continued to thicken and I couldn't do the intended design by the time I was ready to pour. There was definitely some plopping, but the batter never got to the point that it couldn't be swirled. So I wouldn't say it's as well behaved as the description, but it isn't terrible to work with either. Maybe not the one for your museum project. It does smell nice - it reminds me of Winter Wonderland actually. I just made a batch of WW, and I think it will be interesting to see how similar or not the two are in cured soap.

Thank you! Great info. Might be nice to get for a project that doesn’t require any faffing. I am filling nine eight-cavity molds for each batch and I definitely need fluid batter.

 

[contrinokathy]

Soaping notes for scent memory fragrances are found In the Facebook group. Many soaper are on the site. I myself have used nearly 20 of the fos for soap. The new one - trim the tree is a fabulous scent but I have not put it into soap yet.
A few fragrances are being reformulated into soap friendly like mossy Forest path and angels share. I can help answer any questions you have

 

[dibbles]

Soaping notes for scent memory fragrances are found In the Facebook group.

Is there a place in the FB group where all the soaping notes are? I've just been able to find information by searching individual FOs - I'm hoping for a better way.

 

[contrinokathy]

Yes. The soaping notes are on the fb groups. There is a soap group and even posting will get a response.
I have soaped with Black Forest, Palo santo, and so on. I do hot process but there was no discoloration or other problems
I made Black Forest with cold process - no problems whatsoever

 

[TashaBird]

Did they change the formula for Winter Wonderland for it to have such a drastically reduced usage rate? Is it more concentrated now? I loved it at the previous strength! And, they were very popular!!

 

[Zany_in_CO]

Anybody have a recommendation for a reliable non-accelerating reasonably priced woodsy pine fragrance? I’m not looking for that Michaels store smell with cinnamon etc. just a clean evergreen smell. In fact just like EB&B balsam pine. But cheaper.

TRIM THE TREE by a new kid on the block, Scent Memory Fragrance.

 

[dibbles]

Did they change the formula for Winter Wonderland for it to have such a drastically reduced usage rate? Is it more concentrated now? I loved it at the previous strength! And, they were very popular!!

IFRA guidelines changed, not the FO formula. I love that one too. It's pretty strong, but I haven't used it at the lower rate yet.

Yes. The soaping notes are on the fb groups. There is a soap group and even posting will get a response.
I have soaped with Black Forest, Palo santo, and so on. I do hot process but there was no discoloration or other problems
I made Black Forest with cold process - no problems whatsoever

Where though? Just individual random posts? Or is there a files section or something in the group I'm just not seeing.

 

[contrinokathy]

There is a file but it is sometimes hard to keep up with the soaping notes. If you don’t find the fragrance your interested in the searching the main and soaping site is best. Some are very new - like trim the tree. So may not be available.

 

[Carly B]

There is a file but it is sometimes hard to keep up with the soaping notes. If you don’t find the fragrance your interested in the searching the main and soaping site is best. Some are very new - like trim the tree. So may not be available.

Is there anywhere else that has the soaping notes? I'm not, and never have been on FB (or any social media, for that matter, unless this forum counts as social media), so I can't get to them.
I'm interested, as I just placed my first order, but not interested enough to join FB.....

ETA: Whoops. I thought this was in the Scent Memory thread. Sorry....

 

[contrinokathy]

Is there anywhere else that has the soaping notes? I'm not, and never have been on FB (or any social media, for that matter, unless this forum counts as social media), so I can't get to them.
I'm interested, as I just placed my first order, but not interested enough to join FB.....

ETA: Whoops. I thought this was in the Scent Memory thread. Sorry....

Facebook is the only place where the soaping notes are. Sorry. If you have any questions about specific fos you can ask me.

 

[Carly B]

Facebook is the only place where the soaping notes are. Sorry. If you have any questions about specific fos you can ask me.

Thanks. I'll put what I ordered in a post on the Scent Memory thread.