essence4me

I have the real thing because I have never outgrown that beautiful soft fragrance and when I was looking for a dupe to make bath and body products to compliment the fragrance, I also found that Rustic Essential's Children's Room came the closest to the real thing.

As a former Jaqua fan, I have tried to find the best buttercream f.O. and after testing so many, I finally narrowed it down to Daystar's Buttercream Frosting and Element's Buttercream (which I originally purchased from the now defunct Bluegrass.) After testing both F.O'.s on friends, family and customers, the overall favorite was the one sold at Elements. It seems to need a short curing period, but once the fragrance settles into the product, it's the closest to the real thing without that weird plastic smell. Having said that, I really don't think one can go wrong with either one. :-)

Belgian Chocolate from The Scentworks is the truest, richest and most decadent chocolate fragrance I have found. I made some chocolate bath melts yesterday using chocolate bon bon molds and the Belgian Chocolate fragrance and you can't tell them apart from actual chocolates...they smell sooo good, I wish I could eat them. :-)

Wild Honeysuckle is really good..I tried several because I had a request for it, and the one from Bluegrass won hands down in tests with my human guinea pigs ;-). And their buttercream fragrance is the best (IMO), so I'm going to have to order tons of both these F.O.'s while I can.

I am always on the search for the perfect vanilla and there are so many variances that I guess it's up to the individual taste. I have been considering trying NG's Vanilla Spectacular and I think I will also order a sample. I also agree with HorsescentS that the name itself is very appealing. :-)

I just received the Honeysuckle from CS and out of the bottle it smells divine. I have tried the honeysuckle from Peaks, Aroma Haven, Bluegrass and NG and although none of the others are bad, they didn't seem to wow my honeysuckle loving customers and that includes my sister who considers it her favorite all time fragrance. However, I was determined to find the perfect version and this one for me may just be it...at least OOB, I can't wait to test it on soap and my B&B products.

It's completely addicting, and no amount of rehab is going to cure my addiction without intervention. I really need to join a twelve step program........ just not today! :rolleyes2

Yes, I did and her constant roller coaster of changes in pricing structures are starting to make me dizzy . Now it's a $30.00 minimum instead of $15.00 and they'll match the price of a product if you find it for less, but first you have to fill out the online form. It seems that by trying to make sense of their pricing structure, they're only complicating matters even more, but to each his own. Just my opinion. Although I do like some of their products,but I don't really buy from them anymore....just some surplus items here and there. Good thing there are plenty of good suppliers out there to choose from.

"The old Badfinger song is playing in my head... If you want it, here it is, come and get it" Wow!...that song is truly a real blast from the past! I remember it from my childhood, now it will be playing in MY head all day..lol! I know that this thread has gotten way off topic but I had to say thanks for the memory. :rolleyes2

I always add just a wee bit of vanilla stabilizer so that the creams and lotions remain white, but my guess is that it would probably darken somewhat like the grand majority of my vanilla based fragrance oils did. however, out of curiosity, I'm going to conduct a test without the stabilizer and see if it gets way dark or just turns that lovely vanilla color. I'll be sure to keep you posted. :-)

To Scented: I do agree with some of the things you wrote in your last post, and I do support and welcome constructive criticism because one cannot grow, or in this case, perfect their product without it, and believe me, if it wasn't for c.c. when I was asking for and receiving feedback of my newly concocted products, they probably wouldn't have sold very well and I might not have remained in what has turned out to be a thriving side business (this was originally supposed to be just a hobby along with another favorite pastime: jewelry making.) However, I still feel that people can make their point without having to come off as snarky or make assumptions unless one knows for a fact that they're trolling around. On this very thread, there are posters politely suggesting that the person in question spend a little more time researching which came across as well meaning yet right to the point. I just don't see why people sweat the small stuff so much, life is way too short for that. And on a final note I have to agree with you that we have gotten wayyy off topic here. :-)

Pretty much defeats the purpose of having a help forum. Even if someone new starts searches without having any knowledge of the industry, it can still be overwhelming if your absolutely green, and even asking for a favorite fragrance oil or recipe can be confusing, there are so many different answers and opinions out there. The fact that they even found this forum tells me that newbies do know how to do a basic search. I have not seen one post on this entire forum where anyone has given out all of their secrets.... not one posted e-book. I, for one believe we are here on this earth to help one another and I can't even imagine being so rude to someone who I have never met and has never done mean a thing to me. I don't get it and I'm glad for that. It's much more uplifting for my soul to treat others the way I would like to be treated. I can't even begin tell you how many times these little acts of kindness have come back to me.... many-fold!...so there's got to be something to this line of reasoning. If you don't like the question, then don't respond, if there are zero responses, then the poster will get the message.... and at the same time allow those who want to help do so.

UPDATE ON BUTTERCREAM FROSTING FO: I mentioned in an earlier post that I got into the B&B business after coming across JAQUA'S line of buttercream fragranced creams and lotions some years back. What I did not know once I got into this business is that searching for the perfect buttercream fragrance would be such an undertaking! I can't even tell you how many vanillas and buttercream FO's I have in my collection. I came closest to that magnificent sweet scent when I found Daystar and although I was happy with it overall, there seemed to be something missing. I then tried the buttercream at Bluegrass and I found that it's the closest to Jaqua's version that I've come across to date. I also did a blind scent/smell test on my fellow guinea pigs (friends & family) comparing the BG fragrance in a cream along with creams with the version from Daystar, and then had them compare it to the original Jaqua Buttercream body butter, and out of 8 testers all but one thought that the BG cream came closest to the one from Jaqua. http://www.jaquabeauty.com/ I sure hope this helps someone out there, although in the fragrance business, it is still always a matter of personal taste. Fragrance is such a subjective thing.

I completely agree. Not everyone is trolling around for shortcuts, some just want sincere help and honestly do not know where to start. I was in that position once and if I hadn't had wonderful people who shared their wealth of expertise and little secrets, I may have given up, but instead, over time, I have had the opportunity to pay it forward many times and that in itself is it's own reward. Gail, there are so many wonderful suppliers out there, but in my opinion, if I were just starting out, I think it would be hard to go wrong with the following products and suppliers, you may want to check them out: Aquatech Skincare- has a nice body cream/butter: http://www.aquatech-skincare.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ASC&Product_Code=2451 (I like to add a little sweet almond oil to it.) They also have a lovely hemp lotion Here's a general base where you can add to it: http://www.texasnaturalsupply.com /productinfo.aspx?productid=ANCLBNF3 Essentials by Catalina has a whipped body frosting that seems to be popular for those who do not like a greasy after feel. Bitter Creek North has a wonderful lotion: (candlesupply.com) Essential Wholesale is a good site if you prefer more natural products which is what I do now. Natures Garden and Berts Heaven Scent have very nice fragrances at reasonable prices. Wholesales Supplies Plus and Snowdrift Farm have an abundance of information for someone who is just starting out. And finally the list of suppliers, which has probably already been given out to you....this link is invaluable. http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5492 Best of luck to you and remember the main thing is to just have fun.

Should you decide to check out the dupe HIWTK F.O. at Daystar...it's called Toffee-Sugar Crunch, her Lush dupes are under The Collection.

Nature's Garden carries a good "Nantucket Briar" dupe. It's a favorite with customers who like a unique but floral type of scent.

Oh my Gosh! I just want to eat that up!

Here's another vote for Vanilla Bean Supreme from Bittercreek North.

I completely agree, what's next? Vanilla, chocolate? Strawberry? It makes absolutely no sense if it isn't an original name that was created by the product maker.

I know this thread is old, but if anyone has since found a buttercream f.O. that smells like Jaqua's Buttercream Frosting, I will have found my holy grail fragrance. It was because of Jaqua that I ended up in the bath & body business, I wanted to do the same but also add a larger variety of fragrances to my products. I am currently using Daystar's which I would have to say is the closest one, but am always searching... In my opinion, Jaqua has the perfect buttercream fragrance nailed.

I too, use the one from Nature's Garden. I have the original Pink Sugar from Aquolina and it is pretty dead-on. However, I use my fragrances in Bath & body products only, but have been asked to make some tarts in the scent, so I'll see how that goes. But the NG scent seems to have good staying power.

I also love NG Yuzu scent, it has a most mesmerizing fragrant citrus scent, and everyone absolutely loves this one. And I'm not normally into citrus type scents.

Bulk Apothecary has the type of jars you're looking for and their prices are really reasonable. :smiley2: