Testing Egyptian Amber Fragrance Oil from Candle Science in Cold Process Soap

I have recently decided to start soap-making again and I will be testing some FO's again. 1st up is Candle Science's Egyptian Amber Fragrance Oil.
I used a very basic recipe with Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil & Castor Oil and soaped at 80 degrees and here are my findings?

Did the Fragrance Oil accelerate trace?  No, as you can see in the picture above, the soap is still fluid while being poured into the mold.  (Good FO for swirling)

 
Did it discolor the soap? My soap recipe makes a pretty white/cream color bar and as you can see in the picture above it does discolor the soap to a golden amber hue.  Titanium Dioxide would help to keep the soap lighter for coloring and swirling techniques.

any other issues with the Fragrance oil? No, the dots on the top of the soap are just condensation from me not putting plastic wrap on top of the soap during the soapnification process.  I will remove these with my bevel or just a potato peeler.

Up next....I am testing the Coffee FO from Candle Science.  I will be using coffee as my liquid and also adding coffee grounds for an exfoliating property. 

Do you have any FO's that you would like me to test?

Do you test your FO's before buying?

Thanks in advance for commenting.

Video about testing Fragrance Oils in soap.

Check Out my other YT Video's about soap making and Helen's Hands

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!