When it comes to scenting handmade soap, the possibilities are endless. There are so many amazing scents to choose from – so many that it can be overwhelming. Learn about the difference between essential oils and fragrance oils to help you choose the best option for your recipe.
Essential oils
If you prefer natural scents, essential oils are a great choice. They’re extracted from herbs, flowers, and plants, most often through steam distillation. That involves heating the components until a gas is released, then condensing the gas back into a liquid. It’s a gentle process that ensures the sensitive compounds don’t break down.
Our essential oils are 100% pure unless otherwise stated. Learn more in our Essential Oil Philosophy.
You can choose from tea tree, lavender, peppermint, and more. Find out how much to use in your recipe with our Fragrance Calculator. If you like more complex scents, you can blend them or try these premade blends.
However, not everything in nature produces an essential oil – you won’t find strawberry or vanilla. That means there are fewer options to choose from. It’s also important to read the descriptions before use. Citrus essential oils fade in cold process soap, oils like cinnamon and clove can’t be used in leave-on products, and others like juniper berry can’t be used if you’re pregnant or if you have kidney problems.
Pros
- Natural
- 100% pure
- Choose from favorites like tea tree, lavender, peppermint
- Can create blends for more complexity
Cons
- Fewer options
- Some can fade in cold process soap, some can’t be used in leave-on products, others can’t be used with certain health conditions
Fragrance oils
Fragrance oils are synthetic. They’re created with a mix of aroma chemicals and natural ingredients like essential oils, extracts, and resins. Learn more in the Fragrance 101 post.
Just one fragrance oil can be made up of 40-80 materials – luxury perfumes are often made with 5 times that number. You can choose from more than 200 scents with multiple notes, including Champagne, Coastal Rain, and Moonstone. You’re not limited to natural sources that produce essential oils.
We choose all our fragrances based on how they smell after 6 weeks of curing in cold process soap. If the scent is too light or if they’re too hard to work with, they’re not added to our collection.
Like essential oils, make sure to read the descriptions. Some fragrances accelerate cold process soap and others discolor. Not all of them work for certain designs.
Espresso Fragrance Oil discolors, so we chose a brown color palette for this Coffee Soap.
Pros
- Come in more than 200 varieties
- More stable in cold process soap
- Skin safe and can be used in soap, lotion, bath bombs, and more
Cons
- Synthetic
- Some can accelerate or discolor in cold process soap
Which option you choose comes down to personal preference. We recommend experimenting with both – you may find you prefer one or the other, or you like using fragrance oils and essential oils.
Hi. When I use essential oil blends, for example, lemongrass and peppermint or lavender and peppermint, only the peppermint sweetness remains in the soap (CP). Are there EO’s you can recommend that work well for cold process? Thank you
You might need to reduce the amount of peppermint you are using in your blends or add some clay to help the other scents you are using stick better. Most citrus scents tend to fade so you will want to stick with herbs and florals if you want something that will really hold.
Hi,
Could I combine both the essential oils and the fragrance in making hand wash soap or I have to choose between the two? Thanks
You can combine essential oils and fragrance oils in one recipe. Just make sure you are still staying within a safe usage range for both combined.
Find out more about blending essential oils here:
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-blend-essential-oils-safely/
Hi there. I’m going to be making bath bombs and melt and pour soaps for a women who is in her third trimester of pregnancy. Im unsure if I should use a fragrance, essential oil or leave it fragrance free? I have mango fragrance on hand as well as grapefruit and lavender essential oils. Just wondering if you can give any insight into what would be the safest option for me. Thanks in advance
You may want to leave it fragrance throw or check with a gynecologist just to be safe. Though of those two options I would stick with fragrance oils since they are synthetic.
WOW! This article really useful for me. I confused for choosing the Fragrance Oils information what would be the best for everything. But review this article my confusion has cleared. Thanks a lot for sharing such an informative article about Essential Oils vs. Fragrance Oils and I have pleased to get this blog page. I have read your valuable page and gotten much information. Thanks Anne and keep it up…….
Sorry for typing mistakes in my post.
Please HELP! 😪😪
All my trials frailed. This one seemed to be perfect until today I realized my soap bars have yellow stains. Here is the recipe. All ingredients of good quality and sodium hidróxide and essential oil from reliable and long time in business drugstore.
Bars are inside my closet away from light and just fan wind. I must say that here is very hot is around 96.8 F (36 C)
RECIPE USED
67.8 grs sodium hydroxide
1 teaspoon of sodium lactate added to cold (room temperature lye)
165 grs distilled water
143 grs de canola
125 grs de coco
232 grs olive oil
3.6 grs verbein esential oil.
This batch was made on sept 23 and Today oct 18 saw the yellow spots.
Should I expose the bars to regular light (not sunlight) I mean store it just on a table?
Is it true that If bars are exposed to light the oils get oxidation and then yellow stains show up?
I am So dissapointed and discourage😪😪 this was made with a Bramble Berry inspiration. PLEASE HELP
ME
Another small batch I made that also was going ok, after 2 weeks made, all pieces got a dark yellow color all over and I was scented with a mix of eucaliptus, lavender, mint essential oils.
THANK YOU BRAMBLEBERRY
I wish I could upload the pictures.
This sounds like it could be DOS in your bars. I would recommend reading this article to see if that looks similar to what you are experiencing.
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/dreaded-orange-spots/
Hi Anne,
Thanks a lot for sharing such an informative article about Oils and I have pleased to get this blog page. I have read your valuable page and gotten much information and now my confusion has cleared. But I have a little question that, which oils are the best for hair grow naturally? Could you please suggestion me? Then I will be benefited.
We have found our Ginger & Moringa Oil Hair Conditioner to be very hair loving. Though I’m not sure how well it will work for your specific hair and how it will affect growth.
DIY Ginger & Moringa Oil Hair Conditioner: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/moringa-ginger-hair-conditioner/
My God ! awesome articulation on differences between essential oils and fragrance oils. Until, now I was thinking of fragrance oils also to be natural only and a part of Entire range of essential oils. This post however, broadened my knowledge. The best, I am sure that addition of a synthetic chemical having aroma can turn any essential oils to be fragrant. All essential oils otherwise, do not have aroma and cannot be termed as fragrance oils. Only a few of the essential oils can be naturally occurring fragrance oils. Great resource to be visited again.
Thanks for sharing this resource. I was confused about this 2. I am now clear what should I need to buy.
I’ve found a lot of great recipes online for cp soaps, but when I run them through the lye calculator, they don’t match up exactly? What’s the cause for this?
Is there an acceptable margin of error? Mostly, I’m finding that the water is off by a an ounce or two.
Hi Patti, that depends on what calculator you are using. They all work with different water percentages and ours for example calculates the water at 22%
i would like to try an craft my own frankinscence and myrrh oil for a special soap for the holidays using the gum resins and either sweet almond or olive oil any suggestions on how this will affect CP soap?
thank you in advance
–Rick
We don’t have any experience with using gum resins in soap, check with the vendor you purchased it from for their recommendation in CP soap.
Oi gostaria de saber o valores de 50 ml please
We measure by weight instead of volume, 50mL will change amounts depending on the product.
I’m new to cold process soap making and I wonder if tea tree essential oil affects saponification.
Your essential or fragrance oil would not affect saponification. Those scents are considered additives and can be added in at trace.
Find out how much to use for your recipe with our Fragrance Calculator: https://www.brambleberry.com/Pages/Fragrance-Calculator.aspx
I always have problem with the scent always fading after the six weeks it takes to cure. What’s my problem
That can be due to a number of reasons – here’s a blog post we did with some tips and tricks to stop scent fading from happening with your CP recipes: https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/how-to-prevent-scent-fading-in-soap/
I used to not scent soaps because I give them away and scents are expensive and some hard to work with. Brambleberry’s free samples changed this so thanks again BB and your marketing strategy worked. I love essential oils, but they are too expensive for giving soap away. HOWEVER, Orange 10X essential is so awesome, I do buy it and my free sample of peppermint second distill impressed my wife so much, I am going to buy some. Otherwise, I use fragrance oils for the huge variety and lower cost. I only buy them from BB so I can use their fragrance calculator to use a safe amount. Thanks again!!
Hi, have you written an article to discuss what is in fragrances? Parabens, phalates, vanillin, musk, formaldehyde, and many allergens that make people sick? I have been looking for a bit and wondering if y’all have any that are nontoxic and that contain low or no allergens?
Our fragrances are phthalate free, formaldehyde and paraben free! Check out our new post about fragrances here: https://www.soapqueen.com/bramble-berry-news/phthalate-free-fragrance-oils/
Hi
My name is Hanna I live in Lebanon, I like to buy Bramble Berry products but unluckily you don’t deliver to my country, so I wonder if you have a dealer in the Middle East or if there is a way to buy your products. Thanks
Hanna Zohrob
We do ship to Lebanon.
International Shipping Policies: https://www.brambleberry.com/International-Shipping-Policies.aspx