The Fun of Testing Mystery Fragrance Oils

Last year I had the honor of testing Brambleberry's mystery fragrance oils they were considering selling.  That was a lot of fun.  We the testers don't get paid, no financial ties to any of the suppliers.  I do it only because I can be the first one to test the upcoming quality of the fragrance oil and have input on what suppliers are stocking.  This year, Pure Fragrance Oils who is based in California (which is close enough for me to consider it local), had asked me if I would be interested to do the same for them.  I gladly accepted the challenge and these are my initial results so far in cold process soap (all veggie recipe with 31% lye concentration & 8% superfat 5% FO):

Mystery fragrance #2

Apple cider kind of scent, sweet and spicy but not sickening.  Behaved surprisingly well, slight to none acceleration.  But it did turn the batter yellow when pouring.  Color came back to normal but 24 hours later it did discolor to beige with yellow tint.

Mystery fragrance #7

Pumpkin spice kind of scent, very warm for the fall.  Behaved just like a spicy fragrance, seized and riced right the way.  It heated up so fast it was hard to hold the pot when I tried to glob the "mashed potato" into the mold.

Mystery fragrance #9

The least of my favorite, smells like cough syrup out of the bottle.  It is hard to pin point what scent this is, maybe heavy grape or berry?  This one did not accelerate at all, plenty of time for me to play in the pot swirl.  It did discolor the soap to pale yellow (top drizzle is unscented soap to compare) and lost the intensity of the sweetness.  I hope the scent comes back soft and nice eventually.

Mystery fragrance #12

I have 2 favorites, this one and the next one #14.  This one is fruity but not sweet, has floral notes in it but strikes me to be the winter type fragrance instead of spring because of the green notes.  This one discolor the least to ivory white with slight acceleration only.

Mystery fragrance #14

Fruit but fresh and tart is what I put down on my notes.  Unfortunately this one went fast, no way if you want to put colors in it.  I tried, and instead trapped tons of big air pockets all over the log of soap.  Another "mashed potato"!