the Soap Making Forum

[rugrat8020]

Good day,
I have been making really lovely soaps but find that the fragrance, althought I use only pure 100% Essential Oils, does not stay for very long which is so disappointing.
Could you please tell me how to fix or preserve the lovely essential oil fragrances in CP soap.
Buyers want the smell to be fixed.
Please help.
Thanks
Rugrat.

[ilove2soap]

Although I am fairly new to soaping myself, my understanding is that it is a good idea to have a combination of top, middle and base notes of essential oil fragrance blends in a soap. Many of the base note oils will act as a fixative oil and help to anchor and compliment the fragrance of the other oils. Some common base or fixative oils are peru balsam, patchouli, sandalwood, litsea cubeba, oakmoss, vetiver and ylang ylang.
One wonderful essential oil combo I have used in the past is lavender, palmarosa, and patchouli. Also sweet orange, lemongrass, and patchouli was another favorite. Both of these combos remained highly fragrant long after a 4 week cure.
Good Luck!

[honor435]

ive done lemongrass and it stayed well, how much are you using per lb? are you opposed to fos? they stay really nice.

[tasha]

I found this too! I have a soap that has been curing around 3 weeks which I used EO in and the scent is completely gone.
I did use a good amount.. about 4-5% of my recipe was EO. I wanted a really strong smell, like a Zum bar or something. (I realize now that they use fragrance oils as well ... )Not a trace of the scent is left in the soap.
It's a cp soap.