CelineEnilec
Member
I found a few titbits here and there regarding suppliers in Europe for us soap makers on the other side of the pond, but since a few of those recs are from a while ago I thought it might be useful to open up a new thread.
Here are are few suppliers that I found and have used on my end (including one UK based supplier and yes there's been breast-induced headaches). So without further ado, here goes:
- Eulenhof (website here): based in Germany, very reasonable shipping rates especially if you're ordering kgs of oils and butters. They have translation available on their website. There's a very decent selection of fragrance oils too (with quite a few Brambleberry, Nurture etc) however I do have a slight gripe as they do not have the IFRA/Allergens statements available for all their fragrance oils and have ignored all emails asking them for those statements.
- YouWish (website here): based in The Netherlands, I do find them to be quite expensive for fragrance oils but they do have a lot of choice (especially for Brambleberry). They also have quite a good selection of moulds and various clays and colourants as well as most soap making materials in different sizes.
- Bomar (website here): based in Ireland. More expensive than Eulenhof and YouWish however their NaOH is rather cheap (considering) and it's useful to be able to order locally in a pinch. They do seem to be out of stock of several things and have ignored a request for an expected restock date for an item that have been out of for quite a few months.
- Supplies for Candles (website here): based in the UK. I have actually discovered their fragrance oils through Eulenhof as I had ordered a small bottle of an FO with them, loved it and decided to try and order it directly from the manufacturer (which is much less expensive). Pricing is reasonable and shipping was lightning-fast, however there has been a tax issue at customs as I paid VAT when placing my order and once again to clear customs. Their customer service was however very efficient (and quick to respond) and advised I'd be refunded for the extra VAT paid so no complaint here (and let's be honest, good customer service makes it easy to forgive issues like that.). A small gripe is that as they are mainly for candles (duh, it's right there in the name) the vanillin content is not indicated in the product description.
- Fragrance Liaison (website here): based in the UK as well. Absolutely top notch customer service, great communication at all times. All their fragrance oils are filial-free (except a couple of them that are clearly indicated as such), and every single IFRA and Allergen statement is included on the product page. Shipping was also very fast and not too expensive, and no customs issues on my end. The fragrance oils do seem to be on the "light" side though, so for us soap makers limited to a max of 3% (or less, depending on the latest IFRA for the specific FO you want to use) it might lead to meh bars (meh being of course a very scientific measurement).
Finding good FO suppliers in Europe that are not charging over the top seems to be getting rather difficult, hence my not completely removing UK based suppliers (despite the whole Brexit clusteryouknowwhat) but I'd still like to vary my suppliers base so if y'all know of different suppliers for oils, butters, fragrance oils etc (well, the essential soap making raw materials) that do sell wholesale let's add them here!
Edit: just realising now that I originally titled this "suppliers in the EU", then added UK based ones so switched EU for Europe.... and left the "the". Duh.
Here are are few suppliers that I found and have used on my end (including one UK based supplier and yes there's been breast-induced headaches). So without further ado, here goes:
- Eulenhof (website here): based in Germany, very reasonable shipping rates especially if you're ordering kgs of oils and butters. They have translation available on their website. There's a very decent selection of fragrance oils too (with quite a few Brambleberry, Nurture etc) however I do have a slight gripe as they do not have the IFRA/Allergens statements available for all their fragrance oils and have ignored all emails asking them for those statements.
- YouWish (website here): based in The Netherlands, I do find them to be quite expensive for fragrance oils but they do have a lot of choice (especially for Brambleberry). They also have quite a good selection of moulds and various clays and colourants as well as most soap making materials in different sizes.
- Bomar (website here): based in Ireland. More expensive than Eulenhof and YouWish however their NaOH is rather cheap (considering) and it's useful to be able to order locally in a pinch. They do seem to be out of stock of several things and have ignored a request for an expected restock date for an item that have been out of for quite a few months.
- Supplies for Candles (website here): based in the UK. I have actually discovered their fragrance oils through Eulenhof as I had ordered a small bottle of an FO with them, loved it and decided to try and order it directly from the manufacturer (which is much less expensive). Pricing is reasonable and shipping was lightning-fast, however there has been a tax issue at customs as I paid VAT when placing my order and once again to clear customs. Their customer service was however very efficient (and quick to respond) and advised I'd be refunded for the extra VAT paid so no complaint here (and let's be honest, good customer service makes it easy to forgive issues like that.). A small gripe is that as they are mainly for candles (duh, it's right there in the name) the vanillin content is not indicated in the product description.
- Fragrance Liaison (website here): based in the UK as well. Absolutely top notch customer service, great communication at all times. All their fragrance oils are filial-free (except a couple of them that are clearly indicated as such), and every single IFRA and Allergen statement is included on the product page. Shipping was also very fast and not too expensive, and no customs issues on my end. The fragrance oils do seem to be on the "light" side though, so for us soap makers limited to a max of 3% (or less, depending on the latest IFRA for the specific FO you want to use) it might lead to meh bars (meh being of course a very scientific measurement).
Finding good FO suppliers in Europe that are not charging over the top seems to be getting rather difficult, hence my not completely removing UK based suppliers (despite the whole Brexit clusteryouknowwhat) but I'd still like to vary my suppliers base so if y'all know of different suppliers for oils, butters, fragrance oils etc (well, the essential soap making raw materials) that do sell wholesale let's add them here!
Edit: just realising now that I originally titled this "suppliers in the EU", then added UK based ones so switched EU for Europe.... and left the "the". Duh.
