The first time you smell a fragrance or essential oil out of the bottle is definitely memorable. A fragrance can immediately inspire designs, colors and additives for your next soap recipe. But, sometimes the fragrance and essential oils can fade or change in cold process soap. The pH level of cold process soap can attack components of the oil, causing them to smell differently. It can be very disheartening! All Bramble Berry fragrance and essential oils are tested to ensure the scent sticks to cold process soap for months after making the soap. That being said, there are tips and tricks to make scents last even longer.
How much fragrance or essential oil used in the recipe plays a big role in scent retention. For a strong scent, with regulations taken into account, you can add .8 ounces of fragrance or essential oil per pound of cold process soap. For melt and pour, you can add .25 ounces of essential oil per pound, or .5 ounces of fragrance oil. This number will vary based on the scent selection. For instance, Almond Fragrance Oil is on the stronger side. Just .16 ounces per pound of cold process soap will provide a hefty scent. To find out exactly how much to add to the recipe, check out Bramble Berry’s Fragrance Calculator. Find out how to use the calculator here.
The Bramble Berry Fragrance Calculator amounts are based on safety guidelines created by IFRA (International Fragrance Association) and RIFM (Research Institute for Fragrance Materials). Each fragrance and essential oil have a maximum usage rate that is deemed safe for bath and beauty products. The “strong,” amount of fragrance recommended by the calculator is based on this maximum usage rate recommended by IFRA and RIFM. Using more than this amount can cause skin irritation.