Buying E/O for Soap

[Fire and Ice]

I posted this question in the F/O section of the boards but nobody bothered to answer so I'll post the question here.

I've been reading these boards and the soap boards at the Dish and have discovered that about 40% or more soapers use a large percentage of E/O when scenting their soaps.

This is something I need to read up on at the different sites that sell E/Os. I'm basically looking at the prices.

I was looking through Bramblberrys selection. Many of their prices seem good while others are extreamly high.

What are great E/O to have on hand for making soap?

I'm looking at:

Spearmint

Peppermint

Black Pepper

Rosemary

Clarey Sage

Lemon Gerainium

Lavender

I'd like to buy in pound increments instead of Ozs as the savings are better.

What are some good sites besides Brambleberry and Scent Works that I can explore?

Thank you,

Fire

[Scent Cellar]

The number one for me is patchouli but it is getting pricey. I also use sweet orange, 5 fold orange, lavender, lime, clary sage, peppermint, spearmint, lemongrass, tea tree, ginger, bergamont, anise, cassia, cedarwood, peru balsam, rosewood & ylang ylang.

I usually order from essential oil university or new directions.

[Fire and Ice]

Do you have links to those sites. They're not coming up when I type them it but I've not tried to google yet. I'll do that now and see what comes up. Thanks

Fire

[benthere-donethat]

Try EOU (Essential Oil University) -- www.essentialoils.org -- They have a great range of EOs and the prices are reasonable.

There's a wealth of information out there about the therapeutic value of EOs and the safety of some of them. There are varying opinions about how much of much lasts through the heat of saponification, etc. You can finds threads with much more specific info when you search for 'EO' on this forum.

As far as scents, you can blend almost anything together. Especially citrus (lemon, lime, orange), lavender, mint (usually peppermint--spearmint tends to me think of chewing gum), anything herbal... --you can't really go wrong.

For example if you have orange EO, you could blend it with other citrus, you could blend it with clove or anise or cinnamon, or you could blend it with vanilla or mint...so many possibilities. You could blend mint with lavender, citrus, patchouli, ginger...

www.aromaweb.com is a great resource for general learning and blending.

[Scent Cellar]

I don't think it's wise to buy all e/'s in pound increments as it will cost you a fortune. Buy a few in 2 oz bottles, learn to blend them and see how they work for you in CP soap.

I would say that most CP'ers have some e/o soaps as well as soaps that are made with fragrance oils. Unless you plan on kicking out soap at a good volume where you can purchase the e/o's in lb bottles it will be an expensive endeavor. Some e/o's are better done HP.

[Fire and Ice]

I don't think it's wise to buy all e/'s in pound increments as it will cost you a fortune. Buy a few in 2 oz bottles, learn to blend them and see how they work for you in CP soap.

I would say that most CP'ers have some e/o soaps as well as soaps that are made with fragrance oils. Unless you plan on kicking out soap at a good volume where you can purchase the e/o's in lb bottles it will be an expensive endeavor. Some e/o's are better done HP.

Actually, I was looking over the "Synergy" Blends! Some of those are a very good investment.

And I almost fell over when I looked at the price of Patch E/O! No thanks, I'll use Peaks Patch for now! Many of those I can't afford, but many of them I can.

And after looking and studying some of the prices, the prices are not nearly as bad as one might think.

Um, yes I'll be a soapin' quite a lot, although MOST of my soaps will be made with regular F/O. I will not be adding the E/O til I have a good recipe down pat and well rehearsed! Several months away!

And I would imagine some soaps will have no scent at all because many people don't want a scented soap.

I've done some combining of E/O in candles as well so I have a little experience, though not much, but that's why I always take tons of notes! LOL!:tiptoe:

Fire

[RobinInOR]

EOU is great, and I also like Liberty Natural, but that's further from you. You can start out with EOs that are in the price range of FOs and do wonderful things with blends.

Cedarwood is nice - it's a base note. Patch is getting so darned expensive, and I expect the FOs will increase in price as well. I've heard that many of the FOs have the EO in them, so they will have to follow along. I should auction off my 5#s of EO - what I paid $150 for is now worth about $500 Better than a fine wine!

Lemongrass and Litsea are usually pretty reasonable as well. The 5x orange, or even the sweet orange in a blend.

The nice thing is with a good selection of 10 EOs you can make lots of different blends.

[Fire and Ice]

EOU is great, and I also like Liberty Natural, but that's further from you. You can start out with EOs that are in the price range of FOs and do wonderful things with blends.

Cedarwood is nice - it's a base note. Patch is getting so darned expensive, and I expect the FOs will increase in price as well. I've heard that many of the FOs have the EO in them, so they will have to follow allow. I should auction off my 5#s of EO - what I paid $150 for is now worth about $500 Better than a fine wine!

Lemongrass and Litsea are usually pretty reasonable as well. The 5x orange, or even the sweet orange in a blend.

The nice thing is with a good selection of 10 EOs you can make lots of different blends.

I fully agree with you Robin. I also noticed that the prices depended on how they extraced the oils as well as the grade. I went through everything at New Direction and found they carry seven different types of Lavender E/Os but the one strictly for scent value~ 40/42, is the best value for scent. The same with many of the other E/Os on many sites. That's the sort of thing I was studying because Knowledge IS power!

Maybe I don't think some of the prices are so outragous because when I buy regular F/O, I buy at least 2-3 lbs at a time and sometime more. With E/O it would work out to be about the same price only for a single pound but you use less as well in the soap. But that's also why I was studying the "Synergy" blends as well!

The other reason I asked this question was because of a thread on the Dish about a company that was selling E/Os and many were NOT happy with the oils, though the prices were good! I needed to know who NOT to purchase from as well!

Fire

[cbv1]

Wow.... I didn't realize how expensive Patchouli EO has become! I ordered a 16 oz bottle from MMS a few months ago and I didn't remember it being expensive then. I just visited their website and sure enough, the price has skyrocketed! I was lucky to order when I did! I get my EOs from MMS, SnowDrift and GloryBee. I LOVE chamomile EO so I always keep my eyes open for the best deals for this. I usually get 4 oz bottles, except for Lavender. I always get 16 oz bottles since I use this EO a lot. When I first started using EOs I got the smallest bottle to experiment with. The majority of my CP soaps I use EOs, I only use a few fragrance oils. I also use:

sweet orange

tea tree

clove

lemon and lemongrass

lime

geranium

thyme

peppermint

clary sage

juniper berry

rosemary

basil

These are my main EO's that I use along with Lavender, Patchouli and Chamomile. I can only afford 4 oz of Chamomile at a time and I use it VERY sparingly!

[Vicki of Nubian Soaps]

http://soapmakingessentialoils.com/

Crazy as a loon, I think alot of scent gals are, it's a competitive business and all those fumes :tiptoe:

But Lillian's prices and quality are excellent. What I don't buy from her I buy from New Directions. I was lucky and Lillian announced the Patch problem about 2 years ago, I have enough to last for a long time, and it just gets better with age.

Join her forum, she is having a pre christmas backwards bidding sale right now. I get my Eucalyptus, Triple Distilled Peppermint, Lemon Grass, 5 fold orange, Tea Tree, and she makes a blend for me....Vicki

[Roxanne]

I like Liberty Natural, Camden Grey, and A Garden Eastward. Liberty has a $50 minimum; they also have a huge selection, good prices, and reasonable shipping charges, and I think they still use glass bottles, which are best for EO storage. Camden sometimes has lower prices on smaller quantities, which can be nice; they also have rather high shipping charges and package most sizes in plastic, meaning you should transfer your EOs to glass when you get them. I haven't ordered from A Garden Eastward in a while, but I believe their shipping is reasonable, as are their prices. I've always been happy with the quality of oils I've received from all three places.

[mystical_angel1219]

I loved the EO's from Goat's Milk Therapy. I don't see them on her website anymore, but they were top notch quality for soap. I like New Directions, EOU, A Garden Eastward and MMS.

Patchouli EO right now is way expensive!

Hoard it like gold.

[SOAPFREAK]

I love www.betweenfriendstoo.com. They have some of cheapest prices on eos but are very good quality.

[greensoaper]

EO's i absolutely cannot live without:

floral-lavender

earthy-patchouli

herbal-rosemary

fresh-spearmint

fruity-orange & lime ( I can't pick one over the other)

spicy-clove

beyond these I'd pick ylang, lemongrass, cedarwood, vetiver, rosewood, litsea, cinnamon, geranium, sage, bay, clary sage, lemon, bergamot, tea tree, black pepper, ginger, vanilla, peru balsam, juniper, etc...

I really recommend EOU as a supplier. The tat is lightening fast, cs is great and the prices are very competitive on most oils.

[CareBear]

I get mine from New Directions Aromatics. I love that company. They do ship from Canada, though, so the box can get hung up in customs for a few days - but I still love them.

[murphycat]

I always stock:

High Notes: Grapefruit, Lime

Middle Notes: Spike lavender, Rosemary, Geramiun, palmarosa, Spruce, marjoram, Litsea, Lemongrass, Juniper, bergamot, Lavandin, Clove leaf and Cinnamon Leaf, Rosewood

Low Notes: Basil Cananga, Atlas Cedarwood, Bay, Spearmint, Peppermin, Tea Tree and Anise

Since I use 2 to 2.5 ounces total for an 8lbs batch of soap, the combinations are 'infinite' which makes it all the more affordable. I think that most places recommend different usage rates for citrus eo's and so forth instead of concentrating on the usage rate of a blend which is the better way to do it. if the blend is balanced, the notes would be ratios of 3 parts high, 2 parts middle and one part low. I can tell you that citrus as a high note isn't going to stay for the long term regardless of how concentrated it is, but the if they are used to balance a blend, they do make an impression. I use Litsea and Lemongrass as the citrus notes that stick.

That's how I learned through trial and error and it works very well.