Pure "Witches Brew"

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This is probably classified as a "rant" more than anything. I am so annoyed. I was buying a bunch of Pure Fragrance Oils samples and decided to get the Witches Brew for Halloween. If I liked it, I'd order more and make a nice batch of Halloween soaps for next year. I got the bottle and smelled it. OOB it smells amazing! I went to the site to check the usage rates/recommendations and there wasn't anything other than "can be irritating to the skin due to the high spice content." OK. I can understand that. I expected the UR to be about 1% or 2% because of this warning. I downloaded the IFRA sheet. The UR for soap is 0.19%. That is 0.95 grams per 500 gram. The usage rate is LESS THAN ONE GRAM per pound of oils. Who the heck uses less than one GRAM of fragrance per POUND of oil? (Yes, I know I am mixing imperial and metric. Sorry.) Do you even smell anything when you use something at that rate? WHY did they not just put "not body safe" on the listing? I would not have bothered buying it. This is so annoying. Do I seriously have to check the IFRA sheets for every single FO before I buy it? I don't think I'll purchase from this company again. I was hesitant because they didn't have the IFRA rates posted as part of their descriptions, but then again, a lot of suppliers don't have that posted. I'm glad I only buy sample sized bottle of fragrances until I decide if I like them.

I've got a bunch of beeswax in the house that I could try mixing it with to make tarts; however, my beeswax is very fragrant. I'm not sure it would be compatible with the strong honey smell. I might buy some soy wax to mix it with, but that's just going to be another PITA all on its own.
 
What I would do Theresa is make up a tiny batch of soap using 5 % 4% 3% if you have enough fo and test them. I simply do not follow IFRA since it is a self regulating part of the Fragrance Manufacturing Industry and it is not mandatory for a FO manufacturer to even join IFRA. It is a wash off. How did we all survive when we did not have IFRA
 
If this is your first FO that has a infinitesimal usage rate, you are way ahead of me. I have a whole collection of them because I didn't pay attention when I bought them. Some of them smell amazing in my testers but I wouldn't use them. The ingredients that are excluded by IFRAs tend to be very genotoxic. FWIW, I think we have enough environmental exposures as it is to add to them voluntarily.
 
I have bought body safe FOs from both rustic escentuals and wsp before they had ifra prominently listed and later found them to be in a range like 0.1%. Like you, I wouldn't consider that body safe and wouldn't have purchased if I had known. I tend to buy from places that have them listed now, especially if they are candle more than b&b. Live and learn I guess.
 
What I would do Theresa is make up a tiny batch of soap using 5 % 4% 3% if you have enough fo and test them. I simply do not follow IFRA since it is a self regulating part of the Fragrance Manufacturing Industry and it is not mandatory for a FO manufacturer to even join IFRA. It is a wash off. How did we all survive when we did not have IFRA

Great idea! I was planning on doing a 500 gm batch. I can still make the 500 gm batch, but split it into five equal parts. I can color each part a different color and add 1% up to 5% into each individual cup. I'll just mark in my notes which color has which percentage of FO in it. Then when they're cured, I can test them to see which one(s) cause a reaction to my skin.

Doing that will only use 15 gm of the FO. I'll probably have about 10 to 15 gm left over. I can test it out on some beeswax, too.

True, I forgot about that. However, there is usually some kind of usage information given with the FO. I've usually seen it below the description of the product. Many of the sites list how it behaves in CP (if it has been tested) and what percentages to use in various products. I've seen links to MSDS info and IFRA info; but not everyone posts these links. However, there's usually some kind of directions for use associated with the product. I just need to be more careful in the future. If I don't see the suggested usage rates in the descriptions, or a directions for use button, I need to either look for the IFRA data or skip it altogether. The reason I started to make my own soap was to get away from the "junk" in commercial products because my skin was so messed up. I don't need to mess up my skin by adding "junk" to my soaps. That would be dumb of me. :think:
 
I have severe eczema and I an say no fragrance even at 7% has bothered it. On the other hand I am allergic to several eo's but they usually do not bother me in a wash off product. In a lotion it is a whole other ball game
 
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