Scents and Soaping

[Miz Jenny]

When I first started soaping, I liked floral scents and my soaps reflected that. I vowed to never make patchouli or lavender scented soap or anything musky. Now, I always have to have both patchouli eo and fo and lavender eo and fo in my stash. Also have to have vanilla, lemon, honey, orange, something musky, and coffee in my stash. I use them to build my scents, but rarely as a stand-alone. I've also listened to my customers and weighed likes and dislikes when planning my inventory. Don't be afraid to step out of your box... You might be surprised. I was.

 

[cmzaha]

I really don't much care if I like a fragrance or not, I only care what my customers want.

 

[kikajess]

For me, the scent of a soap is equally important to the quality of the soap, maybe even slightly more important. I am my only customer, and I like all sorts of scents: earthy, florals, fruits, vegetables, foods...almost anything, really. However, I'm very picky, and I'm finding the scent part of soaping to be the most frustrating.

Problems I'm having:
1. The scent I ordered online smells terrible! I wish for a place I can go in town to smell them before I order them. Coffee and celery have been the worst; unusable even.
2. The scent doesn't come through in the final soap
3. The scent is too strong

I'm coming to the realization scents are what will take me the most experimentation to get right. One of my scent goals is a coconut lavender combination that blows my mind. I will keep working on it until I get it right!!!

 

[jenneelk]

Yep.. Scents are very much experimentation.. Even reviews aren't trustworthy.
I have done about 80 batches now and hardly ever does the scent end up as expected. I take lots of notes and even now realize that some I liked before have now changed some 5 months later.
I've been on a soaping blah and missed the 'good scent' time with a few. They now smell weird.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

My supplier is very good and will send me up to 5 scent samples per order, so I can always see how things smell in the bottle before buying. Of course, the sample is too small to use in a batch so I would need to buy a bottle to see if it changes in a soap but that is of course nothing out of the ordinary. I think I would always want a sample of an FO before buying - EO I think I'd be willing to take the chance as it is quite well balanced in the EU

 

[Saponista]

I'm interested to know who your supplier is eff, do they ship all over Europe? It would be handy to try before you buy rather than buying a big lot of something that smells awful.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

I'm interested to know who your supplier is eff, do they ship all over Europe? It would be handy to try before you buy rather than buying a big lot of something that smells awful.

It's http://www.waldehoe.at/ but they only ship to AT und DE

 

[Saponista]

Thank you for the link anyway, what a shame. More companies should do that to get business.

 

[seven]

I really don't much care if I like a fragrance or not, I only care what my customers want.

totally true!

that said, my best selling scent is still lavender. i dunno why, but the women here like it so very much. it's like they cant get enuff of it. followed by rose, frangipani, ya know floral floral, lol

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

+ to all who say it depends on what the customer wants! We may not like a soap personally, but unless we're buying all of our stock then it doesn't matter what we like. Give the people what they want.

Of course, it might be the case that the customer wants something that we really don't want to do which then makes one question if the right market is being targeted.

 

[Miz Jenny]

Don't know why this turned into a brouhaha because I said I listen to my customers and weighed likes and dislikes when planning inventory. I should have been more succinct and said "their" likes and dislikes. I had several who asked about both patchouli and lavender so I added both. When I have several people to exclaim their dislike of a certain scents, I don't use it anymore. it costs me money to have a scent that only sells one or two bars.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Don't know why this turned into a brouhaha because I said I listen to my customers and weighed likes and dislikes when planning inventory. I should have been more succinct and said "their" likes and dislikes. I had several who asked about both patchouli and lavender so I added both. When I have several people to exclaim their dislike of a certain scents, I don't use it anymore. it costs me money to have a scent that only sells one or two bars.

I think maybe we (at least I!) misunderstood the tone where you were saying how you said you vowed never to make certain things - which is a strange vow when people might well want it!

 

[cmzaha]

Don't know why this turned into a brouhaha because I said I listen to my customers and weighed likes and dislikes when planning inventory. I should have been more succinct and said "their" likes and dislikes. I had several who asked about both patchouli and lavender so I added both. When I have several people to exclaim their dislike of a certain scents, I don't use it anymore. it costs me money to have a scent that only sells one or two bars.

If you are referring to me, I was not turning it into anything, just making a comment. I have several good sellers that I hate and give me migraines when I make them but I still make them

 

[nframe]

It's http://www.waldehoe.at/ but they only ship to AT und DE

Hello,

I don't want to disagree with you but I contacted them a while ago and this is what they replied to me:

"Yes, we are happy to ship to the UK, but unfortunately our shop is not yet open for buyers outside of Austria and Germany.

So you have to order by mail and I will send a Paypal-invoice afterwards.
The shipping cost is € 11,80 for a small package and 16,80 for a large one. From a value of € 150,00 shipping is free."

So, although technically you are right, I am not wrong either!

 

[Saponista]

Did you order from them nframe? I'm wondering if you'd get slapped with a massive customs duty bill. That's the only problem with ordering from abroad.

 

[nframe]

Did you order from them nframe? I'm wondering if you'd get slapped with a massive customs duty bill. That's the only problem with ordering from abroad.

No, not yet although I intend to. I don't think that you get custom duty bills for goods that come from the EU. The only times that happened to me was when I ordered stuff from the United States. It never happened with stuff from the EU. Maybe we should do some enquiries before ordering.

 

[The Efficacious Gentleman]

Ah, that IS interesting - the blurb on their website indicates shipping only to DE and AT addresses, but clearly that's just a standard bit of info and they are willing to be flexible. Can understand it, as they are a great supplier and really helpful I find!

I don't think you'll get customs, just a larger delivery cost

 

[Saponista]

I guess it's in their interest to ship wherever as long as they can make a profit from it. I'll have to do a price comparison and see if they are cheaper even with the delivery charges.

 

[shunt2011]

I'm another one who really hates making some scents but my customers love them so making them I do. Honeysuckle Rose is one I can't stand it makes my house reek of old lady.. But, it's a good seller, as is Lavender and Lilac, I'm not a floral person. I've grown to love Patchouli though

 

[Saponista]

I hate the florals too shunt, they remind me of old ladies but people seem to love them, my mum asked for honeysuckle too which was just awful. Peg on nose while adding it!!!!