At last count, I think I've learned of almost 200 Fragrance Oil suppliers in the US. There are a number of forums for candlemakers, bath and body etailers, crafters, etc. and the Fragrance forums are always the busiest. Before I got into this business, I had no idea there were 200 suppliers. I knew of what I thought were the "big" ones of Daystar, Wholesale Supplies Plus and Brambleberry. Oh no no no. There are many, many "big" ones!
On the consumer side, I read about many of you labeling yourselves as tart addicts or wax heads. If you really want an addicting past time, try testing fragrance oils! I can't stop. I must stop. I won't stop. Some fragrance oil suppliers have truly gifted writers and their descriptions make you want to order everything. I have no idea what a Flowering Dogwood smells like but I want it!
Testing is fun and when you finally hit the right oil, it is heaven. But the road to heaven is paved with many duds. Horrible duds. My latest quest is for the perfect Lily of the Valley. Not to be found.....yet.
For many of our scents, we blend a little bit of magic into the formula. Sometimes you just can't find perfection and you have to create it yourself. Lots of failures in this formulation process. Sometimes you get the perfect scent but no matter what you do, you just can't get it to last or throw. Adding more oil is not an option because wax will only hold so much fragrance oil. We learned the hard way and our tarts came out with puddles of oil on the bottom which in turn left holes in the tarts.
The wax blend is also very important. Soy has great "cold throw" for sniffing it cold but some oils just have low "hot throw" in soy wax. More and more fragrance oil suppliers are starting to create oils especially for soy which is helpful but it is not yet perfect. Some waxes have great hot and cold throw but are too hard for a tart and the tart won't melt completely. Others are too soft and that makes it hard to get out of the tart melter even if you put it in the freezer to help the wax "pop" out. At Cozy Cottage Scents, we use a blend of waxes to get the best of all worlds. Not easy and lots of testing, testing, testing!
Another aspect of testing is how hot you "pour" the wax at. If the melted wax is too cool, the fragrance oil will not bind to it. If the wax is too hot, the fragrance oil will "burn" away before it becomes a solid tart in the mold. And then some oils need different pour temps and some waxes need different pour temps.
It's quite possible to get a wonderful tart without knowing any of this. However, when you are making tarts which customers pay for, to us, it is critical to not list any scent until it has our personal stamp of perfection. Thus, no Lily of the Valley on our scent list.....yet.
I think the very worst part of testing is testing a fragrance which is not a personal favorite. When you don't like something, you have to find someone who can give an honest opinion. I don't like chocolate scents but had to carry them during Valentine's season. We needed to get an outside tester who likes the scent of chocolate to give us an honest opinion of our scents and the cold and hot throw. I love eating it, just don't like it in wax at all!
Cheers!
Lulu
Its so neat to have insight on the process, makes me appreciate the tarts even more. :)
ReplyDeleteI've just received my order today and I'm so loving the first tart. It has wonderful scent and throw - its perfect in every way. Purple Pixie Stix, I hope this scent stays in your list for a long long while!