ISO vanilla essential oil

Hi,

I'm trying to only buy essential oils and NOT fragrance oils. My sister has requested a lightly scented vanilla soap for Christmas. I've bought most of my essential oils from Wholesale Supplies Plus. They only have a fragrance oil.

I found a Vanilla Oleoresin, Water Soluble from MMS...I have no experience with this type of fragrance additive. Is it natural or synthetic? It appears to be quite expensive. Has anyone had any experience with it? Should I simply break my rule and buy an FO for a family member gift?

Has anyone used vanilla extract (maybe a glycerin based one?) in a hot process soap? What about real vanilla bean?

evergreen said:

Hi,

I'm trying to only buy essential oils and NOT fragrance oils. My sister has requested a lightly scented vanilla soap for Christmas. I've bought most of my essential oils from Wholesale Supplies Plus. They only have a fragrance oil.

I found a Vanilla Oleoresin, Water Soluble from MMS...I have no experience with this type of fragrance additive. Is it natural or synthetic? It appears to be quite expensive. Has anyone had any experience with it? Should I simply break my rule and buy an FO for a family member gift?

Has anyone used vanilla extract (maybe a glycerin based one?) in a hot process soap? What about real vanilla bean?

Click to expand...

HA! You sound like me a while ago. Just to let you know, there is no such thing as a 'natural true vanilla' that is NOT synthetic that smells great for a good price. True Vanilla is very very expensive...Like hundreds of dollars an ounce. I work with the Lebermuth and they have a 'natural vanilla' using vanallin but the fragrance is very weak. They are working on formulating a 'natural vanilla' scent wether it has true vanilla in it or not. I just love that vanilla smell. The best synthetic vanilla I have ever smelled is called Vanilla 5th. It is the best! But it is synthetic with phthlates in it

I like to use all natural fragrance oils and EOs too so I feel your pain...but you cant please everyone. Let her know that you cant do a natural vanilla scent so if she wants vanilla you will have to use synthetic FO so she will have a soap that is 98% natural, instead of 100% natural. Lately I have been using both synthetic and natural oils because some poeople just dont care about being all natural like I do. And for those people who dont care, you get to explore the yummy smelling world of synthetic fragrance oils!!!

Also make sure she is aware that it won't be pretty and vanilla color. ANYTHING with vanilla with change the color to some shade of brown. The more vanilla (even fake vanilla) the darker the color.

Our Vanilla Oleoresin is a natural product. It is a viscous fluid that is also used in the baking supplies industry to make vanilla extract for baking by diluting with alcohol. It is very expensive, but we have tested it and 5 mL of Vanilla Oleoresin will scent a gallon of lotion. We prefer this in applications that do not go through a pH change.

Vanilla does not carry well in soap, cold or hot process. Vanilla fragrance oil will be fit what your sister has requested while keeping the price down and having a GOOD scent that will last.

Here are a couple of posts that I wrote after testing the Vanilla Oleoresin in cold process soap.

http://blog.thesage.com/2010/07/07/vani ... cess-soap/

http://blog.thesage.com/2010/07/08/cutt ... esin-soap/

http://blog.thesage.com/2010/07/20/vani ... aluations/

I hope this helps!
Andee

The Lebermuth has a Vanilla Non-Discoloring that smells fantastic! And it is clear!!! It doent smell as good as the Vanilla 5th but it is a great sub if you want a white soap!

This could be very interesting!!!

Hmm...

Just wondering if it would be possible to make a batch from vanilla beans? I know 3 beans from Penzys Spices (we have one locally, I LOVE the place) is $7.25 but if someone I knew really wanted a naturally scented vanilla soap for a present, that wouldn't be too much for me. I think it might be enough for a 1 to 2lb batch...

I was thinking maybe it was possible to infuse the vanilla over several weeks/months in your superfat oil, open the pods, scrape out the seeds, and use the seeds in the soap too. Sort of like how you make creme brulee.

Or maybe go light on the superfat or lye discount, rebatch and add vanilla-infused oil and seeds at that time??

I'm guessing it's going to end up some shade of brown, but the seeds might create an interesting look to the bar...

Beckis19 said:

Hmm...

Just wondering if it would be possible to make a batch from vanilla beans? I know 3 beans from Penzys Spices (we have one locally, I LOVE the place) is $7.25 but if someone I knew really wanted a naturally scented vanilla soap for a present, that wouldn't be too much for me. I think it might be enough for a 1 to 2lb batch...

I was thinking maybe it was possible to infuse the vanilla over several weeks/months in your superfat oil, open the pods, scrape out the seeds, and use the seeds in the soap too. Sort of like how you make creme brulee.

Or maybe go light on the superfat or lye discount, rebatch and add vanilla-infused oil and seeds at that time??

I'm guessing it's going to end up some shade of brown, but the seeds might create an interesting look to the bar...

Click to expand...

This doesnt work either! I have tried it! I had 1 Litre of Vanilla infused EVOO which sat with the beans for 6 months! The oil smelled fantastic and it was loaded with beans! I used it to make soap and the smell was completely gone! I was sooo sad! Months of waiting for the perfect vanilla smelling oil and the scent was lost in the soap making proscess.

You can call Heather at the Lebermuth and she will send you samples of the vanillas she has.

Beckis19 said:

Hmm...

Just wondering if it would be possible to make a batch from vanilla beans?

Click to expand...

The vanilla scent will not make it through from just beans. I'm sorry to break it to ya! You'll have to buy vanilla fragrance oil or do without.

Vanilla beans do make a neat addition to soap, visually, as long as you use a vanilla stabilizer with your FO (if you don't, you won't be able to see them, vanilla FO discolors to a very dark brown usually).

Thanks for the test posts Andee.

I tried using vanilla bean 2 years ago and was very disappointed. It barely had any scent at all, and faded quickly, but it looked pretty because I used a 100% coconut oil soap, so it was white with the little flecks from the vanilla bean all over, like breyers vanilla bean ice cream. Too bad no scent though. This thread is urging me to give up on this super expensive experimenting.

? :?:

http://www.texasnaturalsupply.com/produ ... tid=VAN5EO

From what I understand, you can buy a Vanilla EO, but the scent doesn't make it through the soaping process. I'd explain that to her and see if a FO would suffice. I wish there were a way to get a genuine Vanilla scent. It's so hard to find a good one and then there's the discoloring :cry:

Where do I purchase Vanilla 5th?

Balsam Peru EO has a nice vanilla scent. I know it can be a sensitizer, so check usage rates and to see if it is acceptable for a wash off product like soap. Probably not a good choice for lotions or other leave on products.