Too many vendors! How to choose?

[wetshavingproducts]

Even with the scent review board (helpful, but most posts are very old) and this forum, I'm finding it really hard picking suppliers and scents. Obviously the only way to know for sure is to buy a sample from everyone, but that's just cost prohibitive. And reviews are 100% subjective. For example, I'm not thrilled about WSP's bay rum. (for the record, I don't exactly know what a West Indies bay leaf smells like though, so I'm going to find out before I critique it more)

So, what do you do? Go with a couple of trusted vendors? What if both of them has the same scent?

Any help finding my way through the hundreds of possibilities is appreciated.

For the record, I've been fairly happy with BB, but I'm tantalized by the possibility of better FO's. I made a fairly large order with Sweetcakes for things BB doesn't have or scents that I wasn't too thrilled about from BB.

 

[cmzaha]

I have a few I purchase from Nature Gardens, I love Soapalooza, certain scents from SoapSupplies.net and California Candle, some from New Directions Aromatics...well you get the picture, there is just no one stop shop. I actually only buy 2 from BB

 

[new12soap]

My 2 preferred suppliers are WSP and Nature's Garden. I do buy from others, I have had very good luck with Aroma Haven/Rustic Essentuals, Aztec, and once in a while Brambleberry. So why are WSP and NG my favorites?

I am on the Eastern side of the US, so shipping to me is fast. I hate ordering from BB because I wait at least a week for my order to ship, then another 10 days for it to get here. Do NOT order anything heat sensitive in the summer!

The quality from both of those suppliers (as well as the others) is consistent and excellent.

The customer service I have found to also be excellent.

But the biggest reason is this; those 2 suppliers provide the MSDS and the IFRA certifications for every single fragrance they sell, right there on the website. I would love for all suppliers to do that because "skin safe" does NOT mean that it is skin safe at 5-6% like most people use in soap! In fact I just recently made that mistake, and it was totally my fault, because I thought I had checked the IFRA and apparently I hadn't. I used 3%, and my FO is only skin safe to 0.4%. YIKES!

Another caution; don't totally judge a scent OOB. You will only smell the high notes and completely miss a lot of the complexity of a scent. Put a tiny drop on a paper towel and walk away for 10-15 minutes. Better yet, soap it!

 

[IrishLass]

I mostly look at the ScentReviewBoard, but I also look here at SMF and on other soaping forums of which I'm a member.

When I can't find a review for whatever FOs I'm curious about, I'll either ask on one of the forums if anyone has used any of them, or I'll order 1 oz or 2 oz samples of them with which to make a test batch.

About once or twice a year, some vendors have sample sales where they offer twenty 1 oz. samples of your choice for a really good price. I try to keep an eye out for those because they're really good deals. Aroma Haven/Rustic Ecscentuals (AHRE) just had one of those sales and I have 20 samples on the way.

Like Cmzaha said, there's no one stop shop. They all have hits or misses- every single one of them without exception. It all depends on what you're looking for (and also what the scent-receptors in your nose prefer).

My favorite vendors that I order regularly from are:

Daystar
Peaks
WSP
BrambleBerry
SweetCakes
Oregon Trails
Nature's Garden

IrishLass

 

[shunt2011]

I agree with the others. I order from several suppliers. I've too check the Scent Review Board and on the forums. I will also buy 1-2 oz and try them out. My favorites to purchase from are - Nature's Garden, Peak, Soapalooza, Aroma Haven and WSP.

 

[Lindy]

Although I'm in Canada I do like Save-On-Scents. They too provide the MSDS & IFRA as well as other documents for their fragrances.