Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same product?

[quirky_rikku]

Hi there!

I'm very, very new at all this. I was just wondering, actually. Is it possible to use EO's and fragrance oils in the same product? I am wondering because I made a beeswax lotion out of my leftover chapstick material (I made chapstick and what hardened in my measuring cup I added more oil and melted back down..voila! thick and creamy lotion goodness) and I re-added some more EO's since I think remelting it lost some of the scent, but you can't hardly smell it at all..(kinda smells like plastic, actually). I mean would it be beneficial at all to, for example, use a lavender FO in conjunction with a lavender EO, or do you think it would be pointless? My goal would be for the product to still be theraputic, but yet have a stronger scent. What do you think? Sorry if it's a dumb question, I've only been doing this for a few weeks and have been experimenting..I am so glad I found this forum so maybe I can learn so much more!!

thanks for listening and blessed be!

 

[quirky_rikku]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

Oh! another example of this would be like, if I had a sandalwood FO because i cant afford the real thing and i wanted to blend it with an EO in the same product would it be worth it? i guess it would be the same kind of thing...

 

[Hazel]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

It's been said before - the only stupid question is the one that isn't asked. I've used a blend of EO and FO in soap and lotions. It worked fine for me. But you want to make sure you're using skin safe FOs for the lotion and a lip safe FO for your balm. Your sandalwood question is a good example of blending FO and EO. As for the EO being therapeutic, I don't know how much benefit you'd get from the lavender EO. But be patient! Maybe someone else will be able to answer this question.

Just a reminder - if you ever choose to sell later on, you cannot claim anything you make is therapeutic. This would put your product in the drug category and the FDA frowns on it.

 

[judymoody]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

Hazel pretty much said it all.

I prefer EOs but I also use single note FOs that are too expensive, or too endangered, don't hold up in CP soap, or are non-existent in EO form. The sandalwood example is an excellent one as are many florals, vanilla, coffee, etc.

 

[Genny]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

I agree with what Hazel and Judy Moody said and I just had to also add, are you sure the lavander eo smell is gone? Or have you just sniffed it too much? That is a regular problem that many people end up having when they're making things. They sniff the fo/eo so much that they've become desensitized to it and can not smell it any longer.

But yes, you can use fo's & eo's together.

 

[quirky_rikku]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

Genny you might be right about the sniffing. I made a beeswax lotion from what had hardened up from the balm i made in my measuring cup (added a little extra oil and remelted)...at that point i added more EO to make up for what was probably evaporated during reheating and after it cured I felt like I couldn't smell anything so I added more and I still felt like I couldnt smell anything -- yeah..I was getting dropper happy at that point, probably not a good idea...I think I might have a skin sensitivity to geranium that I found out because of this. I still felt like the lotion smelled like, well, beeswax (which to me smelled like plastic) but other people said it didn't smell bad ( they didnt say it smelled good either though..) ...is there anything that can be done in order to "get the smell out of your nose" so you don't add wayyy too much fragrance unknowingly? Like something you can smell? It's like when you eat something spicy, and everything tastes spicy afterwards, you can eat a cracker or put some salt on your tongue to "erase" the taste...same principle type of thing??

 

[Hazel]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

You could try sniffing coffee. Sometimes that helps me. Usually I have to back off and stay away for awhile. However when I'm blending, I wait about 24 hours or so to let the aromas marry together. But also my sense of smell isn't the best.

 

[countymounty22]

Re: Can you use essential & fragrance oils in the same produ

Good tip on using the coffee Hazel. Some higher end perfume stores will have little cups of coffee beans to smell in between smelling the perfumes.