Natures Fragrance

[math ace]

@SoaperForLife
"It hasn't been 60 days (why 60 days?) yet but Sea Salt & Orchid definitely. Sweater Weather most probably. "

It has been 60 days since the sale occurred. That is why 60 days. That being said, if the scent is good and strong at 60 days, then the odds are good that it will still be nice at 4 months and even longer.

At the moment, I would appreciate any feedback on how well the scents the cp soap making process. It doesn't have to be 60 day old soap. It looks like you liked the sea salt and orchid, so I'll add that to my wish list.

 

[MGM]

MGM said she LOVED the Twisted Peppermint OOB. Perhaps she will get a batch curing soon (hint...hint... hint..)

I have to say, between the discolouring and the fact that I have such a little bottle and I like it so much, I may just save this one for lotion and such.
Long weekend coming up though and I'm determined to get a couple of batches done with my NF haul...maybe I'll go through this list and choose one that no one else has tried yet, to get more data

 

[math ace]

@MGM ,

That would be awesome!

 

[MGM]

Good morning Nature's Fragrance Fans!
Today I will be making a two-colour confetti soap using one of my new NF fragrances!
As far as I can tell, people on this thread have reported soaping with:

• Route 66,
• Mahogany Teakwood (x2)
• Cocoa butter cashmere
• Sweater Weather,
  
• Woodsman,
  
• Sea Salt & Orchid
• Tobacco and Bay Leaf
  
• Baja Cactus Blossom

I couldn't find any mention of NF in the spreadsheet, not even under the list of suppliers, let alone any reviews. Are they new?
Guess we need to fill up the spreadsheet!


So, here are the ones I have left to soap with having taken out those listed above (listed also are my initial thoughts about them OOB). I'll be making my decision based on votes of people who get to this thread before I start, and also what I feel like doing anyway


Aladdin's Wish Fragrance Oil: nice, but weak and a bit nondescript.
Balsam & Cedar Fragrance Oil: Yes! Woodsy! Was looking for woodsy (see later comments)
Cafe Mocha : nice enough
Champagne Toast : very good! Fruity!
Driftwood: nice!
Lavender & Spring Apricot: this one sounded very appealing, but it seems weak. Will have to revisit.
Leather Fragrance Oil: smelled like leather!!
My Dear Watson : don't remember much...must revisit
Mystical Gathering : same ^^^
Oatmeal Milk & Honey: didn't like it off the bat; hopefully will warm to it---too almondy for me.
Roasted Coffee Beans: nice! sharper than the Cafe Mocha. Neither as good as my Coffee EO (which isn't very strong and is pricey)
Shave & Haircut : Like this too!!
Storm Watch: nice enough
Sweetgrass: nice one
Tabac & Leather : don't remember but i think it was ok.
Twisted Peppermint : LOVE THIS. All of the bottles I ordered were 2oz, but I was tempted to get a full 16oz of this one (they were out of the 4 and the 8) because I love the B&B version so much. But I was restrained, just in case. But it is just great. Too bad it discolours....
Woodsman: This was good, but not as woodsy as I'd hoped.

I'm also still pleased as punch with myself for doctoring the overly-cinnamony Into the Woods with some piney EOs. I've been using the lotion for a week now and I am sorely tempted to contact Nature's Fragrance and sell them my new formulation

Vote early and vote often!!

 

[math ace]

@ MGM

Champagne today
And shave and a hair cut

Get my vote!

I'm looking for a man's scent and love fruits. Is it tropical fruit, strawberry or blueberry fruit, or more cranberry fruit?

 

[Millie]

Champagne toast please! I keep adding it to my cart and deleting it....

 

[MGM]

Oh well that was easy Champagne and Shave were my top two choices already!!!!
What kind of fruit? I was going to say "peach and maybe apple a tiny bit" and look, this is the official description:

• Top – Champagne
• Middle – Nectarine
• Bottom – Black Currant

Definitely nectarine. Champagne? If you say so....

Shave and Haircut I'd describe as fresh and soapy. Officially:

• Top – Spices, Bergamot
  
• Middle – Orange zest, Clean notes
  
• Bottom – Cedarwood oil

In preparing my choices, I went through all the bottles again and will update my OOB views. Overall, other than the teakwoods and a few of the more masculine scents, they all seem overwhelmingly weak. Hard to imagine they're going to hold up in CP soap. Maybe there's something magical that will happen:

Aladdin's Wish Fragrance Oil: weak and nondescript. Hard to tell apart from Storm Watch, My Dear Watson ad Mystical Gathering.
Balsam & Cedar Fragrance Oil: Yes! Woodsy! One of the best of this batch.
Cafe Mocha : Now I think this one is cloying. A bit of coffee but too creamy or something. Don't like.
Champagne Toast : very good! Fruity!
Driftwood: nice! Fresh.
Lavender & Spring Apricot: Nice but weak. Not really getting either lavender or apricots...
Leather Fragrance Oil: smells like leather!!
My Dear Watson : weak and nondescript. Hard to tell apart from Storm Watch, Aladdin's Wish, and Mystical Gathering. Says it's Bergamot, Wood
Musk, Leather. Maybe it's the leather that' s overpowering, but it smells like plastic.
Mystical Gathering : same ^^^, a bit of caramel.
Oatmeal Milk & Honey: Too almondy for me.
Roasted Coffee Beans: nice! sharper than the Cafe Mocha. Neither as good as my Coffee EO (which isn't very strong and is pricey)
Shave & Haircut : Like this too!!
Storm Watch: nice enough, but nondescript
Sweetgrass: nice one
Tabac & Leather : VERY nice. Along the lines of the teakwoods.
Twisted Peppermint : STILL LOVE THIS.
Woodsman: This was good, but not as woodsy as I'd hoped. More spice than pine or musk.

Now, just need to find the time to DO this. Day's already going off the rails a bit...

• 
  
  

 

[MGM]

@Millie @msunnerstood @cmzaha @SoaperForLife
At what percentage were you using the fragrances? the Nature's Fragrance webiste has an incredible level of detail about behaviour, etc etc and even gives their testing recipe, BUT doesn't say how much fragrance they used....1 oz ppo? more? Less?
What did you all use?
(need to figure out how big a batch i can make, since I only have 2oz bottles...)

 

[Millie]

I'm a 1 oz ppo kinda gal. I figure if it is a bit too strong at first, it can always have an extra long cure and become extra lovely soap. No pressure though

 

[msunnerstood]

@Millie @msunnerstood @cmzaha @SoaperForLife
At what percentage were you using the fragrances? the Nature's Fragrance webiste has an incredible level of detail about behaviour, etc etc and even gives their testing recipe, BUT doesn't say how much fragrance they used....1 oz ppo? more? Less?
What did you all use?
(need to figure out how big a batch i can make, since I only have 2oz bottles...)

I used between 3 and 6% depending on how strong the scent was and what the usage rate was. For example, Mahogany Teakwood and Black Teakwood are fairly strong so I used 3% ppo.

 

[SoaperForLife]

When I'm testing new fragrances I always use 1 oz. per pound of soap - it's just easier to use the whole sample bottle with the way I test them. When I first learned how to soap, the general rule was .5 ppo for fragrance oils and I still generally stick to that when making a batch for sale. My test batches aren't overly strong at this point in time but I have bars of Mahogany Teakwood and Sweater Weather in the bath and I can smell them when I walk into the room if that helps at all. I will wait a few more weeks before making the final judgment...

 

[MGM]

@Millie & @math ace Ok it took a while, but I did it! (Ok, the making didn't take as long as the photo-taking and posting....)
Champagne Toast...I thought the colours would be more vivid, but they're a nice pastel. My oldest said the top looks like an infection...what??? NOT what I was going for. Gawd, who asked him?? He loves the fragrance though...weaker and softer than OOB, but still fruity (nectarine!). I haven't tested it wet yet.
Shave and Haircut--good! Strong! Whole basement smelled of this until the cocoa peppermint soap arrived. Here's the funny thing about the pour...I was going for a barbershop pole, so had divided out my lots of white and a bit of red. At the last minute, I googled barbershop pole to confirm that the stripes were on a slant, and discovered that all barbershop poles have blue in them! Whaddya know! So I quickly made a small portion of blue. I actually made this soap in 2 batches because I wanted my colours to be liquid enough to pour and settle well. But also, I was a bit silly in how I propped up my mould for the slant, and then the pouring was rather sloppy, so it doesn't look near as good as it should given how much time I spent on it. And, because I never properly calculate batch size, I had some extra to pour into a cream container. That one, I just slopped everything in willy nilly. Paid no attention to angle, ratios or anything (unlike with the "proper" mould). And you can barely see a difference! If anything, the four on the left (sloppy job) look more interesting than the ones I worked so hard on!
One final thing....you may see all sorts of different bar shapes in my photos....I cut all sorts of shapes and sizes for two reasons: 1. I have a heck of a time consistently cutting bars, and 2. I find that I like to have different shapes and sizes for different people/purposes ("She doesn't deserve a whole bar! I'm giving her a halfie!"). I personally find the classic loaf size too big and cumbersome and quite like the narrower bars (small hands maybe? @Dawni ), so those little one are usually for me!

Anyway, so far so good---no discolouration nor acceleration on either, very strong fragrance on Shave & a Haircut and nice pleasant one on Champagne. I had 2oz bottles and I used it all up for Shave, at slightly less than 1 oz ppo, IIRC. Champagne was pretty much 1oz ppo.

Next up: Into the Woods, Cafe Mocha and a Teakwood!

 

[Millie]

I find that I like to have different shapes and sizes for different people/purposes ("She doesn't deserve a whole bar! I'm giving her a halfie!")

Haha I get that!
The soaps look great. Love the barbershop one.
Thanks for reporting on those fragrances. Can we have another scent update in a month? *batting eyelashes prettily*

 

[SoaperForLife]

Anyway, so far so good---no discolouration nor acceleration on either, very strong fragrance on Shave & a Haircut and nice pleasant one on Champagne.

I really like your shave and a haircut soap!!! Very nice..

 

[math ace]

@MGM

Have you ever tried rustic escentuals Barbershop 1920's fragrance?

If so, is Nature's shave and hair cut like RE barbershop 1920's Fragrance?

 

[MGM]

@MGM

Have you ever tried rustic escentuals Barbershop 1920's fragrance?

If so, is Nature's shave and hair cut like RE barbershop 1920's Fragrance?

No, I haven't. TBH, this one shipment from NF is the first time I've tried any non-New Directions FO (I do have some from WSP waiting for my at my mother in law's).
I can tell you it's still sticking well (it's perhaps been a month? Can't exactly remember...) and is very fresh.

 

[MGM]

Haha I get that!
The soaps look great. Love the barbershop one.
Thanks for reporting on those fragrances. Can we have another scent update in a month? *batting eyelashes prettily*

Definitely! I wish I could remember when exactly I made all of these....my records (not to mention my memory!) are failing me big-time. Apparently the weeks are just flying by!

 

[Marilyn Norgart]

My oldest said the top looks like an infection...what??? NOT what I was going for. Gawd, who asked him??

thanks for sharing that--it made me laugh. you soaps are very nice and I like the blue in your barbershop soap

 

[MGM]

thanks for sharing that--it made me laugh. you soaps are very nice and I like the blue in your barbershop soap

Thanks!
Maybe you can help me understand why the red oxide is bleeding but the blue oxide isn't a bit! What's up with that??

 

[msunnerstood]

Lavender & Spring Apricot - I normally dont like Lavender at all but this one with the Apricot is Nice. Scent is holding and have now used it in Soap, Room Spray, Sugar scrubs and bath salts. Just ordered a bigger bottle yesterday