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Soap & Candle Making

Lotion bar loses scent when cooled and hard...

16 years ago

Hi, I have thus far made only a few batches of lotion bars, and this is the first I've had to lose it's scent! I used a basic recipe...equal parts of liquid oils, butters, and beeswax. I added 1.5 tsp of eos...eucalyptus and peppermint. It smelled wonderful when I mixed it, but when it cooled down and hardened, I couldn't smell the eos at all! So, I thought I didn't add enough. I then melted them back down and could immediately smell the eos still present when it was in liquid form...but I added another .5 tsp of eo anyway...it still smelled great (very strong scent), but the same thing happened when it cooled down...I can barely smell anything. Anyone have any clue as to what is going on? Any help would be appreciated!

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Comments (3)

sara-s
16 years ago
You haven't said what your total amount was. So I don't know if you have added enough scent for the batch you made.
Brent B
16 years ago
Usually eucalyptus and peppermint EOs are quite strong.

If making soap, I would have used less than 1/2 of an ounce for each EO (or less) for each pound of soap.

When you rebatched it, did you let the lotion cool a bit before adding your additional EO? If you didn't it'll burn off.
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sheryl_ontario
16 years ago
EO's will evaporate quickly anyway, no matter what you do, as they are all volatile. They don't last. It helps if you wrap each bar in plastic to help seal it until it is sold. Its the only way the EO scent will last. It will still evaporate if left in the air for long but at least it will smell when you sell/give it to someone until they unwrap it.

Fragrance oils are not organic, but they are made to last a long time, and they do, but you have to use a lot. I make large batches with about 1200g of fat and I use about 15ml of fragrance oil per batch. It smells overpowering right at first, but that fades quickly as it ages.

This year I am going organic. I am making my own organic colour and switching to EO's, but like I said above, I will have to seal each bar individually in plastic to keep the scent but its a lot of trouble.

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