where do you buy your fragrance oils? Reasonable price + good quality! Any bulk company you recommend? Thak you friends!
I buy mine from several different vendors. While it would be nice to have one perfect, exclusive FO vendor from which I could buy all my FOs, I've found that to be an impossibility, because when it comes to scents, each vendor has their own hits or misses (according to my nose). For what it's worth, here are some the vendors I use (in no particular order). They all are great companies and the FOs I buy from them are quality FOs, although prices do vary: SweetCakes Oregon Trails Wholesale Supplies Plus Rustic Escentuals Natures Garden Daystar Peak (now available from Keystone Candle ) IrishLass
Soapsupplies.net California Candle Supply (ask me before buying and I will tell you if I have tested the fragrance you are considering.) Oregon Trails_Bonsai Rustic Escentuals WSP_Nag Champ, Tabacco & Amber are must-haves for me Natures Garden Peak (Keystone) Rose Bouquet is a lovely rose Fragrance Laboratory for Patchouli
I've used saveonscents with good success. I stopped using fragrances so I've got to go through my old suppliers. I'll be back once I've done that. So did peaks close? I've bought a lot of their fragrances in the past.
Nurture Soap is my main one. Great fragrances, info on acceleration, etc., fantastic customer service, free shipping over $30. The ones below also have a few fragrances I have to have: Fragrance Buddy Oregon Trail
Nature's Garden is my favorite because of their reasonable prices, extensive selection, and pretty good notes on FO behavior in soap. I also buy some from a local soap supply store (arizona soap supply) but that probably doesn't help you much.
I concur with @IrishLass, it would be nice if there was a single company that we could purchase all our stuff from if only for convenience and to save on shipping, but that's just not realistic as it would impossible for any single company to please all of the people all of the time. I have to date purchased from BeScented, Brambleberry, Nurture Soap and Rustic Escentuals. I was very fortunate to hit on RE's annual Scent Sale and was able to purchase 20 [1 oz] FO's for $20.00 USD (plus shipping) which gave me an opportunity to try a wide rage of scents I might still be waiting to try. Having learned the hard way...purchasing an 8 oz bottle that turned out to be a massive accelerator (which I have since learned to work with)...I only purchase 1 oz bottles the first time around. Not every purchase is a hit and I have a spreadsheet with each EO and FO purchase so I know to repurchase a larger size or stay away from.
[QUOTE="TheGecko, post: 796709, member: 33279" I have to date purchased from BeScented, Brambleberry, Nurture Soap and Rustic Escentuals. I was very fortunate to hit on RE's annual Scent Sale and was able to purchase 20 [1 oz] FO's for $20.00 USD (plus shipping) which gave me an opportunity to try a wide rage of scents I might still be waiting to try." I have only used EO's sparingly but this seems like it would be a great opportunity to try out FO's. Do you remember the time of year for RE's scent sale? I have been hesitant to try blended scents rather than just single EO's that I know I like. But it sounds like a great deal, fun and adventurous! Can you share?
It was July 28th when I ordered. I like EOs, but they can be expensive and it would be years, if ever, for me to learn to blend them. So I use FOs and I haven’t had too much of a problem, but you want to pay attention to the descriptions and reviews. And even then, get a 1 lb mold and make a small batch the first time so you can test it them. And keep notes. I came close to reordering a FO that I had previously tried but didn’t like. And when I find a FO that I really like, I put it on my desk to make sure I include it with my next order.
Candle science ... 2 sales a year for .99 -1 ounce samples and shipping is reasonable. Rustic escentuals... 1 sale a year with 20 one ounce bottles for $20, must buy in increments of 20. Shipping is HIGH unless you order 2 or 3 lots of the 20 bottle samples. Bramble Berry... Good quality, honest customer reviews, shipping is SLOW and expensive. WSP... Good quality fragrance, overpriced, but has sales year around... Just had a 30% off all fragrances sale... They have had 3 sales on fragrances in the last 5 months.... Shipping fixed at $6 per order. Shipping can be slow! My order from 9 days ago still hasn't shipped. Fragrance Buddy... Quick ship, reasonable prices Winners and loser fragrances from each of the above. GREAT customer service from candle science and WSP. Good customer service from Bramble Berry and Rustic escentuals. Haven't ordered enough from Fragrance Buddy to speak to their customer service!
Another vote for Nurture, plus they have wonderful micas. Candle Science Rustic Escentuals Majestic Mountain Sage, super fast shipping and have other oils I use. Pretty much have stopped using Brambleberry because of SLOW shipping
Nature's Garden Nurture Soap Element's Bath & Body Rustic Esscentuals Soap Supplies.net Soapalooza Peak (Keystone) Fragrance Lab
Wow! Ask and ye shall be given! I've made a list and will go to all the sites. I can't believe how much help I have been given here. Love this site. I lurk more than join in but will add some pics of my very first CP soap tomorrow or the next day. Been soaping about 10+ years but always HP. Thanks to all.
That's also what sets one soap maker apart from another IMHO - knowing what oils are the best and using that supplier to source them (I hope that makes sense). I usually stay with companies that I know have good quality oils - companies that I've purchased from for years and years but lately I've been branching out and trying a few different ones. I don't see Nature's Fragrance on anyone's list and I have been pretty impressed with their oils - prices are reasonable as is shipping and turn around time is very good.
I started with Brambleberry because 1) it was a company that was mentioned often in my research, and 2) they had a Beginner’s Cold Process Soap Kit that contained everything needed without making a huge investment (ingredients for two batches of soap and a 2 lb mold) in case I decided that soap making wasn’t for me. The first three months I soaped I bought exclusively from BB, but I was looking for specific colors and someone mentioned RE and so I visited them and placed a small order and was quite pleased with almost everything I ordered. Same with BeScented and Nurture Soap. Of course the downside of branching out is your shipping costs go up as your starting ordering from different companies. LOL I have bookmarked them and will probably place a small order with them this weekend. After ordering an 8 oz bottle of untried fragrance with disastrous results that I found a workaround for, I now only order 1 oz bottles and run test batches.[/QUOTE]