What if only one

[Carly B]

Over the years I've used a lot of suppliers for FOs. I took a hiatus a few years ago, and got back into it slowly over the last two years. Some of the old suppliers are still around, some are not. I've used some new suppliers in the past year as well. And I'm discovering more all the time. It can be overwhelming.

So my question is, if you could only order FOs from ONE supplier, who would you choose? I'm only talking FOs here---butters, waxes, additives can come from a different place.

 

[Obsidian]

Most all my scents come from natures garden. I've always been happy with the quality and customer service.

There is one other supplier I use at times but thats only when I'm ordering color or oils and I toss in a favorite FO while I have the chance.

 

[msunnerstood]

Natures Fragrance or fragrance buddy

 

[runnerchicki]

Nature's Garden. They have such a variety to choose from, reasonable prices, and in my experience the quality is very good. Also they don't rape me on shipping and they ship quickly.

 

[Lin19687]

NG seems to have the best REVIEWS so you can get a good idea of how it is. I try to put up reviews but just don't have the time for the TONS I have bought from them lol

 

[shunt2011]

I too mostly use Natures Garden. Though I also use a few others.

 

[dibbles]

Nurture Soap or Fragrance Buddy. I've recently been trying a few from Elements and have been happy with what I've tried. There are a few that I will probably always order from Bramble Berry, WSP and Sweet Cakes.

 

[zfarmmom]

Is Natures Garden's shipping expensive? Site says they use UPS, I would think it would be.

 

[amd]

I would go with Natures Garden also.

Is Natures Garden's shipping expensive?

Their shipping has not been expensive. Last time I ordered 10 lbs of FO and shipping was $17. I should note that I buy 16oz bottles. Here's a snap of my last order:

So in my case with the additional discounts, I could look at it as shipping only added $5.26 to my total bill (that's less than the fee at WSP).

 

[MGM]

Wait, Nature's Garden....THIS Nature's Garden? https://www.naturesgardencandles.com/
???
ETA: Oh never mind, I misread the address and thought it was close to me. I should really learn to use The Google properly.....

 

[Lin19687]

Yes that is the one

 

[Megan]

I would go with Natures Garden also.


Their shipping has not been expensive. Last time I ordered 10 lbs of FO and shipping was $17. I should note that I buy 16oz bottles. Here's a snap of my last order:
View attachment 41366
So in my case with the additional discounts, I could look at it as shipping only added $5.26 to my total bill (that's less than the fee at WSP).

This gives me a very interesting perspective. I've been using WSP recently, but have not been super happy with the prices...it's just now I'm stuck with fragrances I really like and I'm worried about trying to find similar ones. I've used NG before, but was not super happy with the "depth" of their fragrances, they all seemed to me a little flat. I've just gotten into scent blending though, so maybe it's time to try them again.

 

[lenarenee]

This gives me a very interesting perspective. I've been using WSP recently, but have not been super happy with the prices...it's just now I'm stuck with fragrances I really like and I'm worried about trying to find similar ones. I've used NG before, but was not super happy with the "depth" of their fragrances, they all seemed to me a little flat. I've just gotten into scent blending though, so maybe it's time to try them again.

By depth do you mean strength? Or...a tendency to have single notes?

I've ordered about 60 fragrances from NG and didn't like any of them (for soap) except fresh cut roses. Weak, short lived, always a weird dry dusty scent quality to every one that I don't get from any other supplier. (wondered if that came from being packaged in plastic, whereas most fo's I have are in glass) Did I mention weak, and short lived?? Love the Orange Chili pepper oob, but loses quality in soap and fades almost completely by 2 months, but does a little better in salt bars. I started using a few in candles (and I mean a few - as in 12 or so) and their fragrance BLOOMED! Couldn't believe they were the same fo's!!

 

[Megan]

By depth do you mean strength? Or...a tendency to have single notes?

I've ordered about 60 fragrances from NG and didn't like any of them (for soap) except fresh cut roses. Weak, short lived, always a weird dry dusty scent quality to every one that I don't get from any other supplier. (wondered if that came from being packaged in plastic, whereas most fo's I have are in glass) Did I mention weak, and short lived?? Love the Orange Chili pepper oob, but loses quality in soap and fades almost completely by 2 months, but does a little better in salt bars. I started using a few in candles (and I mean a few - as in 12 or so) and their fragrance BLOOMED! Couldn't believe they were the same fo's!!

Interesting. I've found the ones I've used to stay pretty well over a year, then they have pretty much faded away for me too... It's kind of more that I like scents to be more complex. Also, there's that weird after smell that you mention. It could be I chose the wrong ones too. I'm just getting back into wax so it will be interesting to try more in that application.

 

[Lin19687]

By depth do you mean strength? Or...a tendency to have single notes?

I've ordered about 60 fragrances from NG and didn't like any of them (for soap) except fresh cut roses. Weak, short lived, always a weird dry dusty scent quality to every one that I don't get from any other supplier. (wondered if that came from being packaged in plastic, whereas most fo's I have are in glass) Did I mention weak, and short lived?? Love the Orange Chili pepper oob, but loses quality in soap and fades almost completely by 2 months, but does a little better in salt bars. I started using a few in candles (and I mean a few - as in 12 or so) and their fragrance BLOOMED! Couldn't believe they were the same fo's!!

I have to fully disagree on this ! I have about 80 FO's from NG and NONE have Faded. Only one I had an issue with was the Cranberry because of the 1% usage but the scent came out at 4 months and is STILL holding after a year. Not strong but holding and also holding in a Mix I have too.
I have a bunch of soaps I made OVER 1.5 years from NG and they are holding Strong. So you must be one of the only ones as there are No bad reviews on NG website about that Orange Chili scent.
No not dismiss NG, they have some FAB scents and great prices. Not to mention they ship out super fast !

 

[Carly B]

I found Nurture Soap by accident, and I tried it because they offer free shipping over $30. High shipping prices are a real turnoff for me. I have abandoned several orders at BB because the shipping cost was more than half the cost of what I was ordering.

That being said, I have LOVED almost every FO I got from Nuture. The Lush dupes are spot on. Their M&P bases are very low sweat for anyone doing M&P or embeds, and their micas are good too. The downside is they don't offer a lot of things--molds (CP loaf type), micas and fragrances make up most of what they have.

 

[Megan]

I found Nurture Soap by accident, and I tried it because they offer free shipping over $30. High shipping prices are a real turnoff for me. I have abandoned several orders at BB because the shipping cost was more than half the cost of what I was ordering.

That being said, I have LOVED almost every FO I got from Nuture. The Lush dupes are spot on. Their M&P bases are very low sweat for anyone doing M&P or embeds, and their micas are good too. The downside is they don't offer a lot of things--molds (CP loaf type), micas and fragrances make up most of what they have.

I feel like BB is an anomaly. Their products are waaay overpriced (like you would see with a company that has free shipping) but then their shipping is also ridiculous...and slow....

I'm not saying their stuff isn't good... I like a lot of their scents. I just can't justify my purchases from them anymore.

 

[lenarenee]

I have to fully disagree on this ! I have about 80 FO's from NG and NONE have Faded. Only one I had an issue with was the Cranberry because of the 1% usage but the scent came out at 4 months and is STILL holding after a year. Not strong but holding and also holding in a Mix I have too.
I have a bunch of soaps I made OVER 1.5 years from NG and they are holding Strong. So you must be one of the only ones as there are No bad reviews on NG website about that Orange Chili scent.
No not dismiss NG, they have some FAB scents and great prices. Not to mention they ship out super fast !

What the heck Lin? You've had a different experience than I have, but I feel like you just told me I'm inept and can't judge the scent in my soaps (not to mention the many people who help smell and test what I make). I've been soaping for almost 6 years, I have copies of Nature's Gardens invoices and my soaping notes for 60 scents. I have at least 5 different scents on my curing rack right now that are 4 - 7 weeks old that were soaped at max percentage and have lost almost all their scent. Cured in a unused room on actual soaping racks in an air conditioned environment 24/7.

And no, I'm not the only one with many unhappy results with NG fo's in soap - including those who do so publicly, such as FB and YT. Plus, I can positively tell you that that some of the negative reviews on 2 of NG's fo's mysteriously disappeared.

Also, there are many people who don't post reviews. I don't. Period.

NG has tons of different fo's, and surely no 2 soapers have ordered the exact same ones. We all have different experiences. But given my multitude of failed ones, plus the weird dusty scent that they all have oob that sometimes lasts in soap, I won't waste money on them again. (except possibly in a few years if I see lots of changes, such as what I did when Nurture first carried fo's. Lots of non-stickers; and last time I checked all but 1 of them were no longer carried by Nurture, so I started buying 2oz testers from them again.

I can send anyone interested samples of the soaps fragranced with NG fo's and you can judge for yourself.

 

[amd]

What the heck Lin? You've had a different experience than I have, but I feel like you just told me I'm inept and can't judge the scent in my soaps (not to mention the many people who help smell and test what I make).

I don't think she is implying that you are inept, just that your recipe may give you a different experience. For example, Carolyn says that Werewolf sticks very well, but last night I pulled out a beer soap that I made with it in November 2018 and there was no scent. Now I don't know if it has no scent or that the natural scent of beer soap just overwhelmed it as it aged (to me Werewolf is very light OOB too). I don't have Werewolf in my regular (non beer) recipe to compare it to, so I'm not going to go off my rocker and argue with Carolyn's assessment of it either. I do have an endcut of Linda's that she sent me a year ago and it smells like OOB. So I suspect that recipes play a huge part of how scents come through in soap, especially when dealing with reputable suppliers. NG may not work for your recipe, but many of us here have fantastic results with them. And that's not to say that you have a bad recipe either, so please don't assume that I'm saying that. Your recipe just works differently with FO's, as well as the individuality of everyone's noses. You tested 60 FO's and I find it hard to believe that all 60 were complete duds, so the only other factor in the equation is your recipe.

A year ago when I was looking into switching to NG, Linda very generously sent me over 30 endcuts of various NG fragrances she has used. I reference that 8lb box often when I need to decide if I want to buy a fragrance or not. So far none of the soaps have lost their original scent.

 

[lenarenee]

Perhaps, but that would mean that she assumes I used one recipe only. I didn't. It also assumes the recipe matters, which I see no proof of whatsoever (but never studied)with the possible exception of gelling. Lin's other post seemed to imply I wasn't using the right amount of fragrance....which does imply ineptness.....at least to me.

The point I wanted to make for the OP was that not everyone likes the same supplier for many different reasons, so not to put all your eggs in one basket, but try a few, and see what works for you.

There's a reason why I don't post fo reviews....they never tell the whole story, are only a guideline of what you might get.