One thing I did notice about all the handmade soap I found is that they use a LOT of fragrance compared to me. I am thinking I need to double my fragrance amount!
Welcome back, glad you had a great time : )
How much fragrance do you usually use yourself?
The soapmakers over there, that you felt used a lot more fragrance than you;
were they the same people who did not label their soaps with the INCI?
I am just thinking that if they
were the same people who didn`t bother to label their soaps (either correctly, or at all), perhaps they didn`t bother sticking to the recommended safe levels of fragrance oils/ essential oils either, making their soaps smell a lot more.
That said, some fragrances are just really strong from the start, even at lower levels. Then you have others that are really weak, or medium, even with higher usage rate. So if we have the same recommended level of usage (i.e 5%) soaps will smell stronger or weaker depending on how strong the fragrance is from the get go.
I have a lovely scent from Nurture that is the
Oatmeal, Milk & Honey. I love it! I use that one at 6% and it is a very soft smell that gives soaps a sort of soft, creamy smell with caramel undertones. But that suits my oatmeal bars just fine.
I
can up it to 7% if I want, the usage rate is 100% (
uhm, oviously not going to do that)
Then I have an oposite fragrance, a scent from Natures Garden called "
Like a Boss", and that is 5% usage rate. I tried that
once, it was waaaay to much, the bars reeked for weeks on end, and I had to move them away from the others.
I have 1 bar of soap left from a 2 pound batch I made for the gentlemen in my family, a batch that I scented with the
Like a Boss scent, but with a lower 4% usage rate. It is now 7 months old, it smells
crazy strong still. I think I could even lower it some more, but these guys like it when they can get a stronger smell, so I stick with the 4% for this one.
