ProudMarineMom

Some other very nice fragrances are Sweet Amber Musk, Blackberry Bliss, and Pumpkin Creme Brulee. I'm not a bakery person but that one smells wonderful and is strong. I also use their Country Christmas all year-round. I rename it to Cranberry Spice.

Keeping good thoughts for you. I know I have all of your stuff bookmarked so I can find it easily.

Pretty!! Did you have any problems getting it out of the loaf mold? Looks like the ones from the co-op.

Is there a chemical smell to the oils overall? (Excluding the alcohol smell that you mentioned in the apple Cloverleaf.)

Do the scents smell realistic? (They may not be what you are looking for, but do they smell true?)

How strong are they OOB compared to other companies that you have used?

There isn't a chemical smell to all of them, but I get that vibe from the Apple and TW Breeze and slightly from the Honeysuckle. Maybe the Bamboo ingredient they use? Here is the additional info for OOB throw and whether the smell true.

Btw, the oils are in plastic bottles with nice, clearly marked labels.

TW Breeze - Medium; True based on their description of the scent; Dry-down - A bit faint but still there. It's starting to remind a little bit of MW Midsummer Night. Although this one is stronger with the orange scent where as MW has more grapefruit I think. I'm on the fence about this one. Might really need to be in product to get the full benefit.

Apple Cloverleaf - Light; Not really; Dry-down - This has really faded on the test strip. It is a fresh and clean scent. Not sure if it will come back with a cure in wax or soap. Or, if you could smell any apple. Wondering if it's leaning more towards a green apple scent and I'm expecting something sweet like red apple.

Bamboo Teak - Strong; True; If you are familiar with Tony's Cedar Leaves, this smells almost like that. Knew I smelled something like that fragrance before. Dry-down is still strong and I'm getting some sweetness. I'm going to assume this one will be a very stong hot-throw based on similar FO's.

Honeysuckle Violet - Strong; True; Dry-down - Strong and sweet. I put some of this in my plug-in warmer in the bathroom with some DPG. Outstanding hot-throw through the house. It does lean towards pretty sweet and reminds me of a laundry detergent of some sort.

Blackberry Fig - Medium; True; Dry-down - Very nice on the strip. Getting some sweetness and wood. Put some of this in a tealight warmer. Not as strong as the Honeysuckle, but that may be because it's a measly Walmart tealight and not a bulb. It is filling my kitchen and I gotta tell ya, I really like this one. I think it's going to be a keeper if it does well in other things. I don't think it will be a blow-the-doors-off scent but has a subtle warmth and fragrance that is very pleasant and not over-powering.

Hope that helps - J

Ok, just got the fragrances and here is my OOB impressions. I also put some on test strips and letting those dry down to see how the scent changes.

Tradewinds Breeze - I get a lot of citrus out of the bottle. I can tell there are other notes, just unable to discern them. Definitely a green layer somewhere, possibly the bamboo. Unless it does fabulous things in product, this is so-so for me.

Apple Cloverleaf - I pickup the apple scent and some of the cloverleaf. But, also an alcohol type of smell? Maybe the green apple is dominant OOB? If you were to pickup the bottle for a test you would know it was fruit and green, but probably couldn't say exactly which scents. Unsure about this one.

Blackberry and Fig - I get the Fig and some Cedar. Not smelling a lot of Blackberry at this point. Although every so often Blackberry Sage pops into my head. Warm, nice scent I think. Maybe the Blackberry will come out with dry-down.

Honeysuckle Violet - Just a note. I love the smell of fresh honeysuckle. But, I haven't really found a honeysuckle FO that wasn't too sweet and cloying after a while. This is definitely honeysuckle, but I'm not getting that overlysweet note from this. I think the Violet, Ylang and Jasmine kind of ground it. Very interested to see how this one does in product.

Bamboo Teak - This is my favorite but I'm partial to the more masculine scents. This is a very warm teak, more so than CS Caribbean Teakwood. I think the Cedar and Sandalwood really come through to give it a complex scent. Not getting much of the Bamboo but it could be because I really lean toward the musks, cedars, sandalwoods, etc. Woody, a little earthy, I like it.

As I said before, I'm not the best person to describe scents, don't have the best nose. Other than the Bamboo Teak none of the them really wowed me OOB. But we all know that can change once it's in wax, soap or lotion. I'll let you know how the test strips are going later. :smiley2:

Wow, very nice work!

Yay Candybee, way to go!! Congratulations on your first batch of CP. I'm still reading and taking notes and hope to make my first batch before too long. Keep us posted on how it's going. I'm excited for you!

J

WhooHoo! Just got the UPS notice from Tradewinds. Fragrances should be here tomorrow.

Fingers crossed and happy thoughts!!

Boy, I misread that. I thought it said EO in CO. The AND is definitely meaningful in this case and makes a difference to the CO abbreviation. I'm blaming it on cleaning all day :lipsrseal

What is EO and CO?

I'm thinking Essential Oils with Coconut Oil as the carrier?

Pengu, don't know if you are familiar with Susan Barclay-Nichols, but she has a wonderful blog where she discusses all types of ingredients, their chemistry, and has numerous recipes and helpful tips. There is a ton of information on the site, including toner and serum recipes. But, it does require some searching to find things. Might be worth your time to look through the site.

http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/

Soap Queen has a recipe as well

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/soaks-and-scrubs/healing-eye-serum/

Hmmm... I hope this is not the beginning of a new set of excuses for them. I'm trying to be positive and give them the benefit that they are really, really, ready to start their FO biz again and not toying with us.

I know what you mean. They were already out of business (or pretty close to it) by the time I really started into this craft. But while doing research I found many threads where people loved their FO. And, they are not too far away from me and I'm hoping they allow pickups. Possibly do a co-op at some point to get price breaks. Also read about the problems they had as well and keeping a good thought it was due to the health issues.

Since they are just starting the FO biz again I'm willing to give them some leeway. I know it took a while for them to get the Select Shades to me when I ordered them last year. But again, they had just opened back up and were not really setup yet. Guess we'll see...

Did you get your order from Tradewinds yet? I'm dying to find out what you think. Also, what did you order?

I went ahead and grabbed a small bottle of all them since there were only 5. And, I'm indecisive sometimes

And no on getting the oils, it's now supposed to go out this week because of issues with their shipper last week.

Same here, Castor Oil

I do what Judy does as well. But like she says, it's just to determine if I'm moving in the right direction with the wick. Once I find the one that looks good, I'll make a new container/wick combination and start testing again.

I went round and round on what I wanted, so many wonderful sounding scents, too little money!! I had Sweet Lodge Smoke and Alo Ani on my list originally then took them off. May have to grab some 1oz samples to try them. Same with Lemon London Curd. I also wanted to pick up some more masculine scents and some that were a little different. So I ended up with

Polo Black, Sanguigno Orange and Patch, Fine Young Cannabis, Starfruit Pavlova, Kerala Spice Amber, Fata Morgana, Rebellious, Lost Empire's Incense and True Lilac (for DH). Nope they smell as amazing as the descriptions.

Ack, you got your stuff from Scentworks??! I got a shipping notice yesterday but it still doesn't look it's at the post office yet. I was hoping I would get it by Saturday if it went out. I don't think they are all that far way from CS and I usually get stuff in 2 days from there. So, what did you get, hmmm?

I can certainly do that. I'm not very good at describing scents but I'll do my best. After initial OOB what would be the most helpful? Wax or B&B?

I bought some samples but they have not shipped yet. They were supposed to go out this week but they had a miscommunication with their shipper. So, the won't go out until next week. I'm only like 2-3 hours away so should hopefully get here quick once it does ship.

Oh, good call Georiga. I totally did not look at them. I like those, may have to get some to store supplies.

OMG! That poor man, I do feel sorry for him. I hope he is able to find someone that will be able to help him out. I did get my refund yesterday but like others would rather have had the products. Everything that I had ordered from him in the past was good quality. Will keep him in my thoughts.

I was trying to do something else, don't remember what, not cupcakes. Tried this and it was pretty fluffy and creamy, just don't know how it would setup overnight because I scrapped it for what I was doing.

Basically, just melt the M&P with the double broiler technique. Add your FO and incorporate into the soap. Put the bowl with the melted soap into an ice bath and start whipping. However, this might still dry too hard. I also added some liquid Castile Gel (Camden Grey) and it was sort of buttercream like. Again, not sure how hard it will dry.

Other than that, maybe using a whipped body frosting or whipped sugar scrub. But, that's not soap and would eventually go bad.

This is from the Soap Queen's Blog from Brambleberry. Maybe it will give you some help.

http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/melt-and-pour-soap/foaming-bath-whip-frosting/

Like Moonshine said, Oakmoss is definitely stronger than the Teakwood, especially when burning. I would consider both of them more masculine, not perfumey. The Oakmoss is actually a pretty good blender with other fo's as well. My favorite is definitely the Teakwood, it is subtle but the scent is wonderful. Unfortunately, it is not B&B safe and would love to put this in soap or body butter.

Ah man, just looked at CS and they have a new fo, Egyptian Amber. Like I need more fragrance oils...

Have you looked at Container and Packaging Supply?

http://www.containerandpackaging.com/catalog/plastic-containers/1/