Cocoa butter as a base note

[Mobjack Bay]

I finally ordered benzoin to try with an unrefined cocoa butter soap recipe (Thanks @HowieRoll and @Zing ), When I was poking around looking for other ways to use the scent of cocoa butter to my advantage, I found a few interesting ideas here:

https://www.lisaliseblog.com/2017/03/stinky-skincare-ingredients-how-to-work.html
With the EOs I have on hand, I might try adding a tiny bit of cedar and some citrus as my first experiment.

What EOs do you like to use with fragrant cocoa butter?

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

I think of Cocoa & coconut would be nice but its hard to find a coconut fo thats a nice scent. Cocoa & any mint comes to mind. Cocoa & vanilla & cherry. cocoa & tobacco.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

I think of Cocoa & coconut would be nice but its hard to find a coconut fo thats a nice scent. Cocoa & any mint comes to mind. Cocoa & vanilla & cherry. cocoa & tobacco.

For right now, I’m trying to think of blends with EOs, but thanks for the ideas!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

For right now, I’m trying to think of blends with EOs, but thanks for the ideas!

Your most welcome.

 

[dibbles]

Orange (yum), or a little peppermint.

 

[Arimara]

What @dibbles said. I don't like herbaceous scents in conjunction with a chocolatey scent.

 

[Zing]

I finally ordered benzoin to try with an unrefined cocoa butter soap recipe (Thanks @HowieRoll and @Zing ), When I was poking around looking for other ways to use the scent of cocoa butter to my advantage, I found a few interesting ideas here:

https://www.lisaliseblog.com/2017/03/stinky-skincare-ingredients-how-to-work.html
With the EOs I have on hand, I might try adding a tiny bit of cedar and some citrus as my first experiment.

What EOs do you like to use with fragrant cocoa butter?

Orange 10X!

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

For right now, I’m trying to think of blends with EOs, but thanks for the ideas!

I was referring to Spearmint EO, Peppermint EO, Coconut EO co2 method. just a few suggestions

 

[ResolvableOwl]

What EOs do you like to use with fragrant cocoa butter?

I like to use none at all, but that's both my subjective attitude, and unhelpful for you.

Some guesses just as food for thought:
Rosemary and/or thyme ± lemon/yuzu
Peru balsam EO – though, both Peru balsam and the cocoa residual scent are very “smooth”, soft, and well rounded, sweet odours; but a more “edgy” base note might complement CB just as well/better. I'm thinking of juniper or cedarwood.
Inherent smells of red palm, poppy seed, or sesame oil
Spices: cardamom, anise, caraway, fennel, ginger
Clary sage, hyssop, catnip, origanum
Tea tree, elemi


PS: I assume you're aware that your LisaLise link deals with fragrant cocoa butter as-is, but saponification distorts the smell profile cocoa butter significantly.

 

[Tara_H]

Great article! I love IrishLass' creamy Shea and cocoa butter LS, but I find it tricky to scent because it contributes some strong notes of its own.
I found sandalwood worked surprisingly well.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@peachymoon I have not ventured into using absolutes, so I guess it’s time to look more closely!

@ResolvableOwl I’ve already made a few batches of this recipe. One unscented batch has a soft cocoa butter scent that is almost masked in a couple of other batches made with FOs.

I think my revised strategy will be to make six test bars in cavity molds using different EO combinations. With cocoa as a base note, my growing knowledge of blending tells me I also need a middle note and a top note, possibly in the ratio of 3 top, 6 middle and 1 base. (If this is right for soap, I’ve made a lot of base note heavy soap over the last two years ). My EOs need sorting! The chart towards the bottom of this page by Chagrin Valley Soap seems like a good place to start. Do their classifications look about right?

I have orange 10x, rosemary, cedarwood, tea tree, ginger, peppermint and spearmint, as well as my treasured bottle of clary sage. For whatever reason, I do not have many of the EOs listed by RO, but I have many others: vetiver, amyris, petitgrain, black pepper, ylang ylang, lavender, geranium, palmarosa, lime, litsea, lemongrass, eucalyptus and lemon eucalyptus, basil and probably a few that I’m not remembering. Blending with grassy scents isn’t appealing to me, but geranium or lavender might work.

 

[Mobjack Bay]

@ResolvableOwl - your food for thought ideas started sounding more and more like the delicious chocolates I received on my birthday last year.

Yet another rabbit hole later, here are more scenting ideas based on chocolate confections.

bergamot, lavender vanilla, rose geranium link
coconut ginger link
ginger rose, juniper lavender, chamomile lavender, citrus licorice (anise?), frankincense & myrrh, rose cardamom, cardamom black pepper link
lavender peppermint, cardamom fennel link

 

[maryloucb]

I haven't noticed a cocoa smell at all after saponification in my soaps (and I use unrefined, strong smelling cocoa butter,) but I do think that orange, clove, cardomom or other spicy EOs would be good in small amounts in combination with cocoa.