My insane attempt at FO reviews

[PrairieCraft]

Could someone please check this out, tell me I'm not crazy and encourage me to finish. I've been working on this on and off, more off than on. Every time I sit down to do it I get overwhelmed. What was I thinking starting this!? I made all of these samples and want a list to refer back to. Once I get started on something I hate to abandon it. I had to make a bunch of different controls because I kept running out of oil and just using what I had laying around. I have sooo many more to enter.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid= ... y=CPyg0qkF

 

[PrairieCraft]

I eventually want to add it all to the SSRB and have started to with pics of the controls next to the sample to compare color but what a lot of work. Describing the FO scents is so difficult. Most of my descriptions are just a like it or don't. Maybe I'll get better after the next hundred reviews.

 

[Hazel]

Wow! That's a lot of work! I don't blame you for getting overwhelmed. I think it's interesting that you didn't like the orange blossom from Peak and that it faded. I used orange blossom from NG and I really don't like the scent. I wish it would fade but it's still hanging in there as strong as before. I only used about .8 ppo and it's overwhelming. I've come to the conclusion that I like an orange citrus scent but I hate orange blossom scent.

Okay, I'm cracking the whip. Get back to work and finish this list.

 

[newbie]

Holy cats! What an undertaking! Reminds me of the Peak spreadsheet that was put out. Do you remember that? The nice part was that anyone who used one of the FO's could put comments in which meant that no one had to try out all the FO's. Would you consider opening it up for more public comments, so people can fill in the ones you haven't tried? WIth everyone here, you may be able to fill it in pretty well.

Here's the link to the spreadsheet I referred to.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key ... tswL#gid=0

 

[PrairieCraft]

That is a great idea, I will definitely open it up as soon as I get all of my descriptions in. Looks like I have almost a hundred sitting here. At this rate I might not ever get it all entered into the SSRB site which is the best place for it.

Peak's is the only orange blossom I've tried and judging from that I have no interest in trying any others. Florals are not my thing at all. They seem to be too sweet, or cloying and a lot of them have a very sour smell like fresh flowers that have been sitting out too long and are getting rotten.

Not only do I need to fill in all of the blanks on the sheet that I've already tried, I have at least 50 more FOs to sample. Can you say obsessed?

 

[Hazel]

Obsessed? That word didn't pop into my mind. The words addiction and intervention did but not the word obsessed.

 

[judymoody]

Hi Prairiecraft - you're not crazy at all. Your experiment actually inspired me to do the same. I've been posting reviews on SSRB but not with photos because, yes, it's too much work. I might add them later. I've tested well over a hundred FOs - all with the same recipe - 90% OO, 10% castor, full water, room temperature. (not the most useful, perhaps, because very little misbehaves under those circumstances). It has been incredibly useful to get a lot of information in such a short period of time, to know what I like and what I don't, what morphs and what doesn't, and what kind of colorant is possible/wise. I no longer feel overwhelmed by my stash!

I, for one, thank you. I have found your reviews to be very helpful. And I hope your injury heals up soon.

ETA: if you want my own (incomplete) notes on my own FO experiments thus far, PM me with your email addy and I'll send them along.

In my experience, I like maybe 20% enough to order again, there's another 20-30% that I like well enough to use but would not reorder, and the rest, blech. I have been moving towards EO and EO/FO blends. I've had the highest success rate with AH/RE thus far (phthalate free too) but haven't yet tried SC, SW, and Daystar because of price. I also do my research ahead of time on the SSRB.

 

[PrairieCraft]

Thank you, for the encouragement judymoody. That's what I need to hear, my DH thinks I'm nuts and as my sniffer started to burn and poop out last night, nuts sounded about right.

A lot of these FOs were purchased before my discovery of SSRB. I don't buy anything without consulting it these days. If someone says it fades or has a strong discoloration, I don't buy. You can only have so much brown soap.

I've been surprised at having full water and a high SF how many of the FOs have still accelerated trace. It's very interesting to see ash on some of the samples and no ash on others poured from the same batch. I think this has made me a little better at reading FO descriptions and picking out ones that I will like because my last few orders have been filled with goodies. Can't wait to sample them.

You might like more than I do. Going through these it seems like I hardly like any at all. Maybe 5% are lovely another 5 are nice but not what I want and the rest yuck, fade or discolor. I've had a handful that are downright nasty. I ordered a few from SW that are really nice OOB, and so far have been underimpressed with SC and hit or miss with DS. I'm not convinced that the more expensive vendors actually have better products.

 

[judymoody]

Looking back at my notes, it might be closer to 10% success rate. But my positives have gone up lately as a result of what you describe - researching on SSRB, figuring out what kind of scents I am more likely to enjoy (no overly complex perfumey scents with seductive hints of this and that, thank you).

However, my absolute favorite soaps are EO blends that I've researched and tweaked on my own. I have a lime/litsea/patch/cedar/clove combo that sends me over the edge.

That said, I would like some reliable single note FO basics - coffee, chocolate, almond, vanilla, honey, coconut, amber, pumpkin, apple, peach, pear, pineapple, cucumber, tea, etc to use alone or in blends. Even better if they don't cost an arm and a leg.

I sent you my notes. Enjoy!

 

[MeadowHillFarmCT]

THis is awesome for a newb like me. I need FO/EO but don't know what to get. I do CP and it is hard to spend money on something that may or may not work when you are not making any money on your soap yet...

A couple questions.. WHat is SSRB? and what is C# on the spreadsheet...

 

[PrairieCraft]

Hi Ruth. SSRB is the soap scent review board. You should sign up it is a great resource with thousands of FO reviews. Way better than my little spreadsheet.

I just wanted to have everything I've tried all together so hopefully when I enter all the info at the SSRB it will be a little easier. C is the control number for the batch the sample came from. Only useful to me because I had to use a few different oils for my samples. I started out using just OO but ran out and then decided to use up some of my excess oils on my sample project.

FOs have been the trickiest part of soap making for me. They can do all kinds of weird things to your soap so it is best to either know in advance what it will do from other peoples reviews or sample it yourself before wasting all kind of product on a whole batch. If the FO is going to turn your soap dark brown its better to know that before you waste money on adding a colorant. And, sooo many of them fade to nothing, then you end up with unscented soap and wasted your money on the bad FO.

 

[PrairieCraft]

Just updated my list. Finished with the reviews of the samples I've done and only have a few more to add. Yay, so glad to get this done and off my mind. Now I can make more samples and start the whole nutty process all over again.

These reviews were done after the soap had cured for over a month so should be pretty accurate.

 

[scouter139]

Prairie...you're doing fine...maybe put a little blurb from the description on the companies website...not the whole thing but just the basics...floral...bakery....musk...etc. kinda like you wrote for Hunter's moon where you described it as a leather scent....however if you look at Havana and you just have disliked oob..I wouldn't have a clue. Things I'd want to know...does it accelerate...does it discolor..how badly...did you try it with a vanilla stabilizer....does it rice, seize, extend trace...like Oakmoss on WSP website says... Blend of Oakmoss, Vetiver, Vanilla, Nutmeg...can you smell any of those scents in the soap? Something like....heavy on the vanilla...light on the the vetiver...you are reminding yourself what the combinations are so you can look for those smells in the soap. Another example would be a lime verbena, I have one that definately has more of a limey smell, the other heavier on the verbena...I have a similiar project although you are much farther along than I...great job.

 

[PrairieCraft]

Hi there scouter, long time no see. The list (not to sound selfish) is for me. I wanted to have everything I've ever tried compiled so as time goes on I don't forget where I've been. To go as far as adding any of the company info is entirely too much work (it's a hard life to be compulsive and lazy at the same time).

Every oil listed has notes on the acceleration and discoloration. There are columns named A and D, if there is a Y it does if there is a N it doesn't. If it was just a fast trace I didn't comment further on it and if it did something weird you will see either, applesauce (the consistency turned thick and lumpy) or rice (bits clumped up) or seize (if it all hardened very quickly). If there is a Y for the D column I have made an additional note as to what color it turned. So many of them did just slightly discolor so you will see a lot of ivory's and beige. Those were discolorations as compared to the control but not really enough to be a big deal. Some of these are FOs that I used in a batch that was colored so there might be a blank in the D column or a ? if I don't know.

Since scent is so subjective I didn't want to get too into describing the ones I don't like since it's a waste of my time. I only put this out to share as a general overview and maybe it will prevent someone else from buying something that is going to fade completely. A lot of the scents are so vague (if that word can be used to describe fragrance) boring, bland and common that trying to break them down into this note or that note is pointless (to me anyway). So you will see a lot of them described as clean which to me is a fresh light not perfumey unoffending type and there are some which to me smell like a clean bathroom. I can't place these scents but bathroom is what immediately comes to mind. Like scented toilet paper or wipes or a combination of clean things that someones nice bathroom might smell like. I think these are probably the 'blue', water, and ozone notes. There are a few scents that I have tried from various vendors and I've tried to note which one I liked more.

The Havana I don't have any additional info on, I disliked it so much oob that I didn't even bother to soap it. Something about the spicy, musky and there seemed to be an underlying ?milk? type scent, that might have been a sour smell that I get from a lot of the florals, there was just way too much going on in that one for me. There were a few absolute 'yucks' that I didn't even want to have my nose in long enough to figure them out.

If I hadn't hurt myself and been stuck on the couch then I probably wouldn't have made such progress on it. As I go on hopefully my sniffer gets better and I'm able to pick different notes out to describe them better. For my own needs, like or dislike is all I want to know. Maybe others can benefit from knowing if there is A or D or fade and then decide whether or not it's worth giving that particular FO a try. I did about 50 or so more the other night. Going to give them some time to cure and do their thing and then I will update the list. I've tried almost all of the more well known FO suppliers out there at this point. BCN is still on my to do list. Are there any other suppliers that I may not have tried that anyone wants to recommend?

 

[scouter139]

Been busy working and my home computer went bad so I've been dinking on the laptop. I come and read for a few minutes on some days, some days I don't even get on the computer.

I understand about not wanting to add something about the scent but it would drive me crazy...I want to know what it's supposed to smell like. Since my llikes are not necessarily what everyone else likes, I try to make other soaps with scents the family likes. That's why I add a little about the description. I don't think I have nearly as many as you and it definately isn't as complete as yours...mine is still mostly scribbled. in my book. I have had good luck with the vanilla stabilizer..you may want to have some on hand...too much brown soap is kinda yucky.

Hope you are feeling better. Question..what are you doing with all your little baby soaps? I now have a huge box!!!

 

[PrairieCraft]

I've been wanting to ask what you're doing with yours. What scents do you make that other people like and you don't? I'm not a fan of florals but my mother wants some and I've been having the hardest time finding nice ones. The few I've tried have been almost rank to me. The SC HoneySuckle Hollow that some members were talking about not to long ago was so disgusting. I narrow down the samples to the ones that didn't fade and then shop them around to all the fam and have them make a like, dislike and meh pile. Then I get a better idea of what a few people like versus just myself. Everyone gets tired of smelling after a couple dozen, wth. :roll:

 

[judymoody]

Hey Prairiecraft (and scouter too). If you don't mind me butting in to the conversation - I have gotten the most positive hits from AHRE thus far of the FO suppliers that I've tried. Your notes suggest you haven't tried them yet, might want to give them a shot. Historically they have a huge sale in early August on their one ouncers - might want to wait for that.

I have not yet tried the big boys (read expensive) so no DayStar, SC, TSW as yet. And I've only tried a handful of BB but found they were pretty decent (I did my homework on SSRB first). Of the AHRE, I really liked their Clementine Lavender, Satsuma, Bamboo Sugar Cane, BRV, Pineapple, Green Clover & Aloe (but it's called something else). There are a few others as you can see from the notes I sent to you.

What I found helpful was sniffing the soaps blind after a few weeks to see if I could identify them. If I couldn't, they didn't pass the test. You'd be amazed (or maybe you wouldn't) about the number that I could not identify. My 12 year old daughter came up with a term for "generically clean, soapy smell." She says "smells like hotel soap." (!) She's right.

I discovered I don't really like ozone type scents. I also don't like perfumey scents. If the description reads something along the lines of "citrus and floral blend with a dry down of patchouli, vanilla and musk" - well, I think I'll pass. Ditto for "herbal" or "green" scents that have eight or ten notes blended together. They smell sort of generic to me. Hate Lovespell and still can't wrap my brain around Pink Sugar. Don't like Green Irish Tweed or Black Vetiver Cafe.

I've found a decent coffee (CS), am still looking for a good chocolate (BB's chocolate espresso is quite nice, I've heard that SOS Chocolate Decadence is THE ONE but haven't brought myself to deal with their silly buying incentive plan and three grades of fragrances). Still searching for coconut - so far Peak is the best in a field of bad contenders. Most vanillas I've tried have morphed, still looking. Also hunting for a realistic ginger. I like fruity scents but not baked goods. Most "tea" scents I find sort of blah. Florals? I personally detest most florals other than lavender but AHRE and BCN make a decent jasmine and Peak's Rose Bouquet is alright. As I have friends and family that like florals I will continue to search for versions that I can bear to smell.

I am participating in an FO round robin on another forum. There is a box with about 80-100 ounces of FOs and EOs in it that is making the rounds. You get it, take the ones you want, substituting others from your stash that you don't want and pass it on to the next participant. I'm next in line to get it. Should be interesting. I'll get to smell a hundred FOs and it should be educational.

Basically, I find I'm leaning towards FOs for which the EO equivalent is too expensive. There are quite a number of EOs that one can get for $20-30 per lb, on par with good quality FOs. I've had fun and good results blending single note FOs with EOs.

Whew, that's enough for now.

 

[scouter139]

No Judy,
Don't mind at all. I have 2 big shoeboxes, I have the little soaps in an open ziplock bag with the name and maker on the outside. I have given some to family and friends and some I've tried. Unlike you both, I like florals...not so much floral combinations but the single notes...jasmine, honeysuckle, rose etc.

As for the fragrances that others like that I don't, very merry cranberry was a fragrance I think someone on this board recommended and someone on the scent review board also liked it, I bought it for Christmas and while it was ok, my sister in law loves it. I like alot of different types of fragrances, I like some bakery, I like the honey type scents, I like lemon and lime scents, I don't like patchouli but in certain blends, it's ok. I can't stand Twilight Woods and Brambleberry's sandlewood vanilla is horrid to my nose. Right now I'm using a Eucalyptus and Spearmint salt bar combination. I tried them on a suggestion on one of the boards and while I love the spearmint, I don't know if I like the Eucalyptus but it's Eucalyptus Leaf from Peak I think. I like Peak's Clean Cotton but not sure about WSP's April Showers...course I haven't made the April Showers in a soap, just used it in a liquid soap.
I don't like any of the fo's that say bamboo, don't like white ginger and amber, my favorite pumpkin is an off brand I get at a local craft store. I like bayberry smells and christmassy fragrances with pines. I got eggnog for christmas and it wasn't great at first but 2 months later smelled awesome. I just made the Tassi Lavender from MMS, never having smelled the one from SS and I missed the prebuy, I bought 4 oz and just used 2 the other day. It isn't bad and I'm hoping it mellows more as it ages. My grandmother requested that one...at 93, she gets whatever she wants. I gave her a large batch of mixed soaps for Christmas, but every time I go over she never has any in her shower or in her bathroom. I finally asked her since I stay over with her and my mom a couple times a month...she keeps them in her drawers with her clothes and won't use them. I'll have to take more so she has enough to use.

 

[scouter139]

My post was getting long so I figured I'd post it before I loose it. I got a free honeysuckle from a company recently and it said surplus honeysuckle, it was very nice.

I have tried 7 or 8 from Daystar, some of the lush dupes...yucko...course I've never been to a Lush store but not going there anytime fast because they were just gross.

I liked Black Canyon from Peak but could not stand the Brown Sugar Fig or the Amber Vanilla.

I liked Peak's sunflower..boy did that accelerate though...oh baby. I'm not a pink sugar lover from any company....I liked the Vanilla Bean Noel..it's not bad at all.

Prairie....I like the Beach Daisies you sent me...it's been 2 months and I think I might just buy some more and make a batch.


I really, really like the idea of a round robin...now that's a cool idea. I know Kelly from this board is getting a group of soapers together near Philly and I was thinking of suggesting that we bring our fragrances we don't like and swap for something different. You know what's even better about that round robin idea is that even if you don't take any, you get to smell them all. Me, I would put a dab of each on a cotton ball inside a baggie and smell it every week to see if I liked it.

I have gingergrass EO and I was thinking of buying new brown bottles and dividing some of the bigger bottles I have to pass around, I just have to get my butt in gear and do it. If you guys want some, let me know.

I did the little soaps Amanda did with the Chai Latte fragrance from Bramb leberry, they were cute as a button. I made them for my sister in law and she loved them. I'm looking for a good coffee/choc/latte fragrance also to make coffee soaps the same way.

I haven't made any samples for a couple months since it's been so busy around here. I have lots more to try...this may just give me the initiative to get a couple more batches done.

 

[TaoJonz]

Obsessed? That word didn't pop into my mind. The words addiction and intervention did but not the word obsessed.

Hazel...you took the words right out of my addicted mouth...lol