Testing Fragrances for Cold-Process Soap making

When I began Soap making I would just order supplies without really thinking about it. I was just trying to buy them inexpensively, after all the more inexpensive your ingredients, the greater your profit margin (if you are selling your soap).  But, as I got more savvy I realized the importance of testing your ingredients before purchasing that ingredient in bulk. Especially fragrance oil because as most soap-maker's know the addition of a fragrance oil can be the perfect addition or the beginning of a science experiment gone horribly wrong. Fragrance oils are notorious for cause ricing & seizing in cold process soaps and trust me, having 8lb's of a fragrance oil that you cannot use is a waste of money no matter how good the price was.

So when one of my favorite suppliers Nature's Garden started a VIP Customer Testing Program, I jumped at the chance to get a free sample of a fragrance oil that they were considering adding to their extensive line of fragrance oils. Please go to their website for all of the details about the program.  With my latest order I received a 1oz sample of Pear Tart Fragrance oil that was safe for Bath & Body products and candles.  The scent is very sweet but not overpoweringly sweet, instead of Pear Tart a better name would be Anjou Pear because I associate Anjou Pears with a sweetness that definetly comes through in the fragrance.

When testing an FO for Cold-Process soap I make 1 or 2 pound batches, no larger.  Because in the event that the FO does something funky (i.e ricing, seizing, soap on a stick) The last thing I want to be doing is fighting a 10lb batch of soap into a mold as it fights me back.  That is not my idea of fun.  So to test this FO I made a standard 1# batch using Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Coconut oil, Shea Butter, Soybean and Castor Oil; with a 7% Superfat. My temps were about 85 Degrees for both oils and lye.  When testing an FO I do not add colorant because I want to see if the FO is going to discolor the soap.  This is what the soap looked like in the mold:

As you can see there is very little discoloration and the scent is strong.  I used the entire 1oz for the 1# batch.

Here are some pictures of the soap cut into bars.

This FO accelerated trace a little; not enough to be in danger of becoming soap on a stick, but after adding the FO it took only 2-3 pulses with my stick blender to obtain a thick trace.  It was then put into the mold, insulated for 12 hours and then cut.





I give this Fragrance Oil 5 out of 5 stars for cold process soap.  If you are looking for a sweet Pear fragrance, look no further.  I am hoping that Nature's Garden adds this to their line as this will make a great addition to my Spring Line.  

What is your favorite Fragrance oil?


A brief update from yesterday's post. I completed 2 things of of my To Do List from yesterday! So Operation Stop Procrastination is in full swing!