Fragrance Suggestions For Face Creams

[Geoff]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and live in Lancashire UK.
I have been making my own lotions for about a year and just starting to experiment with face creams. I have formulated a base that I'm happy with however, I'm struggling to choose a fragrance. I have tried a huge array of essential oils but if I'm honest, I've not really found one that I like. Any suggestions would be great. I use vitamin A in my base so cannot add anything with citrus ( artificial fragrance oils are ok) My creams are also unisex.

Many thanks
Geoff

 

[toxikon]

Welcome! This may not help you at all, and I don't know what your target audience wants, but I will not buy any face creams that are fragranced. Finding unfragranced leave-on cosmetics makes me sooo happy. Between my deodorant, perfume, lingering scents from laundry and shampoo, I don't feel the need to have a fragranced face as well. Plus, my skin is sensitive.

Anyhoo! That's my two scents. I'm sure others will be more helpful.

 

[icg]

I personally love the scent of rose essential oil and I hear it's great for your skin and face. I think it may work great unless you already tried it.

 

[Geoff]

Thanks guys

I was thinking about not adding any fragrance but was unsure if this would be appealing. I have tried rose oil and it's a little feminine for my taste. Beautiful though it is

 

[sephera]

Try fragrance free?

 

[Susie]

I do not make face creams, nor do I live in the UK, but, many people have skin and/or other health issues that prevent them from using any sort of fragrances. If I were you, I would definitely keep the option open to offer fragrance free for those people. You see the response above, right?

However, if you really want a unisex fragrance, what about some lemongrass essential oil? It is non-irritating (at a proper usage rate), and it smells fresh and clean.

 

[Geoff]

So that's 2 votes for fragrance free.

Mmmmmm interesting. I actually make fragrance free for myself. Any more votes for fragrance free?

 

[artemis]

I'll vote for fragrance free!

 

[dixiedragon]

I love love love fragrance, so maybe the rose plus a little wood or patchouli or cedar.

 

[MySoapyHeart]

Unfragranced facecreams is always my first choice.

With an overwhelming surplus of creams and lotions everywhere that are scented, I always, always go for the fragrance free face cream every single time.

I am someone who are very sensitive to fragrances in facecreams, but not perfumes and fragrances in general. But I have rosacea - and no matter what the comercial say as it being made specifically for sensitive skin - if it is fragrance in there I will get a whoooole lots of redness.

A tomato is very red.

Ever seen a sunburnt tomato?

Add some glasses and you got a picture of me.

 

[Obsidian]

I don't care for unscented lotion but I have a very sensitive nose and can smell the oil used in the cream.
Vanilla is a good unisex scent, so is lemongrass or oatmeal milk & honey.

 

[DeeAnna]

If there is a fragrance, it needs to be a very light and clean aroma if I'm going to put it on my face. No heavy, foodie, strong floral, or sweet scents. I have to say that even vanilla or OMH would be too much for me, but I appreciate that everyone's mileage may vary especially about those two scents.

When I've used rose EO in a facial lotion, it's been just a whisper -- rose can quickly overpower the scent if used freely. The blend I used was 1 g frankincense EO, 1 g mailette lavender, and 0.1 g rose EO in 200 mL of lotion. That might be too girly for a masculine or unisex product, but this blend is more spicy and warm than you might think -- not overly floral.

 

[milky]

Either unscented or use very small amounts of dual-purpose EO's, ones that have skin benefits and smell nice. It's tough to please all noses that way though. I like using tea tree and lavender for acne but greatly prefer the scent of lemongrass.

 

[earlene]

Normally I don't use anything on my face except Noxzema for washing in the morning. It has Eucalyptus Globulous Leaf (I assume an essentional oil) and Camphor and Menthol on the ingredient list. They do provide a certain scent to the lotion-like cleanser. Of course this is not a leave-on product like your face cream is, but it is the only fragranced product I ever use on my face, so I list it as something I know I can use in the proportions used in that product. Of course I cannot know the exact percentages used other than they are low on the list of ingredients.

Other than that, if I were interested in a face cream I would definitely want a fragrance-free product. For the most part my face is just a bit too sensitive to use most products, so I have to avoid all kinds of additives when it comes to my face & neck and even hair products (because it tends to aggravate my face when my hair touches my face or neck.)

So I would suggest fragrance-free as an option. Then if you want a fragrance, perhaps go to a store where you can do scent testing of essential oils. There is a company here called Vitamin Shoppe that has an essential oils sniffing station where customers can evaluate the scents of all of their EOs they have in stock. It's great. There's a bottle of coffee beans to 'cleanse the palette' so to speak, between each sampling. It really helped me choosing which EOs fragrances I wanted to purchase. Of course I only purchased maybe 3 or 4 there in the store, then went home and ordered others online for more reasonable prices.

 

[Geoff]

Thank you all for your valuable comments.

I have not quite launched my products to the general public yet as still tweaking my formulations before sending off for safety assessment.

I'm happy with my base but still experimenting with active ingredients. Q10 coenzyme is a firm favourite with my friends and family with ageing skin along with vitamin A

It would appear that fragrance free is the preferred choice so will go with that.

Thanks again everyone

 

[snappyllama]

I'm late to the party but that's never stopped me from barging in!

For face products, I either like unfragranced or something that matches the formulation but is also very lightly fragranced. If it's something watery/gell-ish, I like cucumber or aloe. For milky things, I like sweetcream (more milk notes than sweet). For clarifying things, I like mild citrus scents. Anything on the lips: something sweet or berry-ish.

Of course, unfragranced is always the safest way to go.

 

[navigator9]

I love fragrance! But not in face creams. I have to add my vote to those above who said they avoid scented face creams. Fragrance is one of the most likely culprits as far as irritating skin goes. And with the skin on our faces being more sensitive than other parts of our bodies, I would avoid adding fragrance. If I want to smell nice, I'll wear fragrance, but I don't want to put it on my face. :smallno:

 

[Misschief]

I've been making all my own facial and body products (personal use only) for years. The batch I most recently made is very lightly scented with jasmine and lemongrass (4 drops and 2 drops respectively in an 8 oz batch). My husband uses the same cream as I do. It isn't overpowering at all, just fresh. The face cream my daughter prefers is scented with fennel (it's meant to be an eye cream but she uses it all over).

 

[Geoff]

Thank you all once again.

As nobody in my circle of friends or family make their own skin care products, it's difficult when faced with an important decision like this when your on your own.

I'm so glad that I have found SMF. I know I'm not a soaper like the majority of members however if I can be any assistance with creams/ Lotions questions I'll gladly share my thoughts and offer any advice

 

[Luviesmom]

If I could choose anything for fragrance of facial products, it would be rose. But very costly. Camden Grey:
Anatolian rose, damascena
Plant Part:
Flower petals
Country Of Origin:
Morocco
Method Of Extraction:
Solvent extraction

Weight:

1/32 oz. ($5.99)