Cinnamon and Coffee scent

[Fireside]

What do people think about mixing a coffee fragrance oil (Crafter's Choice Fresh Brewed Coffee) with cinnamon leaf essential oil (also from Crafter's Choice)?

I have a batch of very fragrant coffee-scented soap that I want to partial-rebatch (failed attempt at peacock swirl) with a new batch of soap and I'm trying to decide what, if any, additional scent I should add. I'm thinking of trying some cinnamon EO but I can't imagine what that might smell like. I know I can do a test combining the two, but we all know that how some of these scents smell now isn't necessarily how they will smell later.

What do you think? Cinnamon? Something else? Nothing else?

 

[AliOop]

The coffee-cinnamon scent combo might be ok scent-wise. However, like any EO with a significant amount of eugenol, cinnamon EO will cause significant acceleration, even in small amounts. It's also a known skin irritant, so the skin-safe usage rate is very, very low - to the point that it's hard to pick up the scent very well in cured soap. If you decide to use it, follow the guidelines on EOCalc.com.

Other scents that go well with coffee are chocolate, vanilla, and OMH.

 

[glendam]

I have done a similar blend with the same FO (fresh brewed coffee from Crafters choice) and cinnamon Supreme from Nurture soap. (I split batter in three parts and added one fragrance to each portion, to the last third I added coffee beans from crafters choice. I realized that Freshed brewed coffee accelerates the soap batter so I was not able to do the design I wanted. I felt the cinnamon and coffee were fighting for attention, smell wise, it could be because they were in specific parts of the soap instead of blended together; either way I decided I would not blend them again. I prefer to blend coffee it with vanilla and Nut Fo. (Nut Fo is from crafters choice)

 

[KiwiMoose]

I'm a fan of cinnamon with coffee.

 

[Fireside]

The coffee-cinnamon scent combo might be ok scent-wise. However, like any EO with a significant amount of eugenol, cinnamon EO will cause significant acceleration, even in small amounts. It's also a known skin irritant, so the skin-safe usage rate is very, very low - to the point that it's hard to pick up the scent very well in cured soap. If you decide to use it, follow the guidelines on EOCalc.com.

Other scents that go well with coffee are chocolate, vanilla, and OMH.

I'm wondering now why I bought the cinnamon EO. I don't want to use it if it's a skin irritant (which I have previously read on here, but not until after I bought the stuff), and what's the point if it has to be used in such small amounts that it won't even be noticed in cured soap? I guess I was seeing some interesting scent combos that use cinnamon EO and got excited about trying it.

I don't have any chocolate or vanilla scents. I assume OMH stands for oatmeal, milk, honey. I don't have that, either, but I do have a honey almond FO/EO blend. Maybe I'll try that.

I realized that Freshed brewed coffee accelerates the soap batter

Yes, that's very disappointing, especially when the information about that FO states that it causes no acceleration. That must be what happened with my soap, too (that and maybe I'm just not good enough at swirls yet--I just started a few months ago and have mixed success). I guess the bottom line is to not use a FO when trying to do swirly soap since FOs seem to be the acceleration culprits most of the time.

 

[A-Polly]

Fireside, you can still use your cinnamon EO, just in small amounts! It's such a strong fragrance element that it can be overwhelming otherwise, even if it didn't happen to be irritating to skin. It blends very well with orange. A couple of years ago I tried an EO blend of Orange 10x, Cedarwood Atlas, and Cinnamon Leaf* (suggested by Dawn Organics, an Australian soapmaker on YouTube — although I think I recall that he used Cinnamon Bark instead) and the bars I have left still smell nice. Good luck with whatever new blends you try!

*66% orange10x, 26% cedarwood atlas, 8% cinnamon leaf — EO Calc.com will show the safe usage rates, and also other blends with cinnamon.

 

[AliOop]

Fortunately you have the leaf EO, which is less of an irritant. FYI about important differences between cinnamon bark EO and cinnamon leaf EO. Note the extra decimal space for safe usage of bark EO, which is extremely limited:

Safety​

Cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon bark oil is a strong dermal irritant and sensitiser. Tisserand and Young (2014) state the maximum dermal use level is 0.07% (1.5 drops in 100 ml of carrier oil). Cinnamon bark essential oil is contraindicated during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Caution is advised when using this oil for dermal purposes.

Cinnamon leaf essential oil has a moderate risk of skin sensitization, mostly due to its eugenol content, and also a low risk of mucous membrane irritation. Tisserand and Young (2014) state that the maximum dermal use is 0.6% (around 12 drops in 100 ml of carrier oil).

 

[KiwiMoose]

I use cinnamon leaf a lot and, as @A-Polly said, you don’t need much to get the scent. I made up my own blend which I sent to EOCalc to be included on their site. Patchouli, anise, cinnamon and orange - I call it Pink Musk

 

[Fireside]

I use cinnamon leaf a lot and, as @A-Polly said, you don’t need much to get the scent. I made up my own blend which I sent to EOCalc to be included on their site. Patchouli, anise, cinnamon and orange - I call it Pink Musk

Sounds very interesting. I'd love to try it, but I have patchouli, cinnamon and orange but no anise right now (I used to). That's my problem: I never seem to have at the same time all the EOs I need to make the blends that intrigue.

Update: I used my Honey Almond EO/FO in this new batch, into which I incorporated the grated coffee-scented failed peacock swirl soap. Right now (being minutes after I finished) it smells like the honey almond and no coffee, which might be okay since I don't like that coffee FO that much anyway. As far as looks go, it's not super pretty but I think it will end up looking much like my granite countertop.

 

[glendam]

@Fireside when I checked my notes I did see that a lot of reviewers reported acceleration for that coffee FO.
Also, I forgot to mention that The cinnamon supreme Fo usage rates have changed drastically since the last IFRA update.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I'm wondering now why I bought the cinnamon EO. I don't want to use it if it's a skin irritant

Fireside, you can still use your cinnamon EO, just in small amounts!

Cinnamon leaf essential oil has a moderate risk of skin sensitization,

I use cinnamon leaf a lot and, as @A-Polly said, you don’t need much to get the scent.

@Fireside Don't get hung-up on Cinnamon Leaf EO being a skin irritant. As long as you use it with a light touch you should have no problem. It is especially nice for adding a little "spice" to an ordinary blend.

EO CALC ~ CINNAMON LEAF BLENDS

 

[Fireside]

Thanks for the link to cinnamon leaf blends, Zany!