Mikes fragrances and more

Alright so I was lured in by the sale prices. At $12/16oz it sounds too good to be true. Well so far it is, I ordered 6 scents to try. Gingerbread, woods/lagerfeld, vanilla sandalwood, depression relief, and apple pie. So first off OOB there is an odd synthetic scent. However I never let oob scare me and forged ahead. Lagerfeld smelled pretty decent when added to the soap but less than two days later nearly all the fragrance is gone... Gingerbread does not smell like gingerbread but like a very weak vanilla cookie it to is nearly unscented less than a day later, and vanilla sandalwood has a very odd smell almost plastic like. I haven't tried the other three yet. I soaped these at low temps and at 1oz per pound (quite high for me) on a positive they didn't give me any issues soaping... But I have a feeling I'm going to have some unscented soaps to rebatch. Has anyone else used this supplier? Perhaps I just chose their worst scents.

I never heard of Mikes Fragrances, but I'm sorry for your luck. :-| I'd hate to have that happen to me. I'm glad you posted since I now have a heads-up.

I'm curious though: would the scents fade if you were to rebatch using the same scents? I have no idea if the lye in the CP batch had an affect on the scent disappearing.

I'm not sure Luna I will experiment a bit with what I have. But will not order again from them as I prefer not to rebatch. Lol

Soapalooza has the best vanilla sandalwood in my humble opinion

I really like elements bath and body vanilla sandalwood. Just was lured by the price. Lol lesson learned

At that price I would wonder if they are diluted...that would explain the lack of scent.

My thoughts exactly, but I believe in giving the "little guy" a chance. The few reviews I've found on them are positive. And I will still do some test batches of the remaining scents to be sure. I hate to give a negative review on a company, when it may just be a couple of bad fragrances

Actually I have ordered several from Mike and they are holding well.

The ones I have soaped with {CP} so far are:

Amaretto Fudge Affection - A blend of coffee, chocolate, and cherry..def has some vanilla in it as it discolors..no noticeable acceleration.. I like it even tho it discolors. Strong

Peppermint- Strong, no acc, and no discoloring that I can tell..used a bit of TD, but not much, and some kaolin clay. I like this one

Mike's Birds - Fairly strong, No accel, however it did morph my Vibrant Pink and Purple Mica to a more faded color. -Fruity, Powdery, but nice

Coconut Bay Rum - More Powdery than coconut and rum, Morphed my Vibrant Blue mica to a more light blue, Rices but can be beat into submission fairly easily..no noticeable accel.

Mike's Pomegranate - Fruity, No discolor that I can tell, and did not morph my Vibrance Pink mica, No Accel, stays really well..I added Kaolin clay to mine and it seems to anchor the scent. I will be ordering the lb's of this from now on..it smells wonderful

Sandalwood- Powdery, woodsy - Discolors, no accel. Nice, but not my fave.

Now, I have only ran these in my small 1/2 lb molds since that's what I do with new fragrances from anywhere, so I did not do the 1 oz ppo..more like 3-4 tsps..and the fragrances are fairly strong, and have not lost much since July of this year, and they have been in open air.

I have a few others I haven't gotten to use yet..but I will be doing more soon.

I have talked with Mike many many times, and he will def work with you if you are not happy with something. He manufactures his own scents..he does not get his fragrances from somewhere else and resell like some FO suppliers, so he knows whats in them.. He has 2 perfumers that is at his disposal, so if you have something you want and can't find, you can tell him and he'll do his best to match it for you.

He will also tell you to order 1 oz'ers to test with if your unsure of something.

There is also another reviewer on youtube that gives some more info on some I have not tried yet..she does really well at craft shows every weekend, and sells everything she has..she is the one who I was watching when I found Mikes..

Devinelites1 on youtube.

Here's a pic of my testers:

Bottom Tier - L-R Clockwise

Amaretto Fudge Affection
Sandalwood
Coconut Bay Rum

Top Tier - L-R Clockwise

Mike's Birds
Peppermint
Mike' Pomegranate

That is good to know! I am happy that there are some that work well. The ones I got unfortunately have not and the couple that did stick ugh wish they wouldn't have. I ordered Christmas kitchen- extremely chemically smelling and yet buttery. To be honest I'm sadistically obsessed with smelling this one. Apple pie- nothing like apple pie oob or in cp kind of pungent, gingerbread not bad smelling but has faded to almost nothing, depression relief- decent smell HORRIBLE acceleration. I sent an email to them over two weeks ago expressing my concerns over EVERY one having issues and haven't heard a word from them. I may try a couple of the scents you recommended.

I also tested lagerfeld woods which smells divine but just like the gingerbread is nearly undetectable and vanilla sandal wood which is awful oob and in cp. Very chemically smelling. Like I said I may in the future try it again. Just I'm too busy right now to mess with untested scents from a company I haven't had good experiences with. 6/6 with problems isn't good.

Sinful7 said:

That is good to know! I am happy that there are some that work well. The ones I got unfortunately have not and the couple that did stick ugh wish they wouldn't have. I ordered Christmas kitchen- extremely chemically smelling and yet buttery. To be honest I'm sadistically obsessed with smelling this one. Apple pie- nothing like apple pie oob or in cp kind of pungent, gingerbread not bad smelling but has faded to almost nothing, depression relief- decent smell HORRIBLE acceleration. I sent an email to them over two weeks ago expressing my concerns over EVERY one having issues and haven't heard a word from them. I may try a couple of the scents you recommended.

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He just moved to the new location not too long ago, {He was in Tyler Tx, but moved to Dallas now..and I don't know if he has had the chance to hire more ppl yet or not, so it may just be him and his dad right now..I think they do better with phone calls TBH...sometimes I can email him and he will completely miss it, but he always answers the phone...just heads up for ya

I do hope if you decide to try more from him that you get some that work..I guess maybe I have just been lucky so far. I did just soap with the 'Rain Water', and it actually came out really well..nice clean smell, no discolor or accel..so I'll be ordering more of that.

Out of all of them that I have used so far, I would have to say my fave so far is Mike's Pomegranate

Thanks Jstar, and maybe I just randomly picked all the problem child fragrances. I may try a few of the ones you recommended after my holiday rush is over.

I love to give the smaller businesses a try.....heck, I'm a small business too! And it sure would be nice to be able to get a price break on FOs. But unfortunately, over the years I've found that every time I try to find a bargain in FOs, I end up slinking back to the big dogs in the end. With a few exceptions, the cheaper FOs just don't cut it. It's a shame.

Does he advertise his fragrances as tested in soap and skin safe? It may be that they do better in other applications. I'm sorry that your money was wasted. I would communicate with the vendor and see if an exchange might be possible.

I made sure to buy ones listed as soap safe.

I know he soaps, but I don't know if he has time to test them all ...but he does appreciate feedback so he can improve.

Since he manufactures all his own fragrances, he knows what is skin safe, and what isn't so I always order the ones that he has listed as soap safe..that way I can put them in anything and not worry

Alright Jstar I am thinking of making another order from mikes to give him a second chance. What would you reccomend as favorites?

I will say this, as horrid as depression relief was to work with.. It is a hugely popular scent.

I just ordered a couple of hundred dollars worth of EO's and FO's. One of the orders I placed was at Mike's. I'll check them out and let you know what I find.

This is a place I order some harder to find stuff. Think they're trying to get away from EO's and go with their Natural FO's. Really interesting concept, for those that want to stay, All Natural. They're based in Austin, Tx. They tend to be a little higher than most of my suppliers, but the quality of their stuff is phenomenal. Never had a issue with any of their stuff.

http://www.texasnaturalsupply.com/default.asp

By the way, they're having a 50% off sale on in stock EO's right now.

Sinful7 said:

Alright Jstar I am thinking of making another order from mikes to give him a second chance. What would you reccomend as favorites?

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Sorry, missed this post..

My faves from him so far, are:

Mike's Pomegranate {make sure to get the 'mikes' one, not the regular cuz I haven't tested that one}

Peppermint {strong}

Rain Water

Amaretto Fudge Affection- be careful with this one..it is 'knock you down' strong, and it smells like coffee and fudge, with a hint of something...almost cherry

I dont care for his coconut bay rum..it rices on me but is manageable, but what I really don't like is that it faded my vibrance micas.

I have a few more I haven't gotten to soap with yet so will post more when I do..but those so far I really like, and they have staying power. I use kaolin clay in my peppermint and pomegranate, so I dont know if that helps in those two, but the fudge affection has no anchors, and it was made over 6 months ago and its still just as strong as it was on day 1.

Mike is also having a 'shipping sale' right now..all orders within the US are a flat rate shipping of $6.50 USD