JI

Sounds like a silly question to ask. But with presto what are your batch sizes? I.e. do you get 20 of the same fragrance? Also if you don't mind me asking where is best place to buy? I am wondering if pricing is worth it.

I made a whole bunch of eo melts for her to try out. Bc of pricing we used 0.5 oz pp. Peppermint was great. Cypress fine though lighter. Citrus ones were disappointingly light. No fuel smell. Just too light. Perhaps if i had used 1 oz pp it would have been better. But at the $40/oz who can afford to? Another reason why i prefer frag oils.

This one lady at a market I used to go to sold romantic type wine candles in delicate stemware. Scary.

Pagirl, those candles are stunning! I think maybe I would try thick glass for in house, personal use. I see your point about the liability.

Good idea to rename. I have a few leftover holiday ones. Any idea what I could rename cinnamon spice and bayberry to?

I would never use wine glasses. But what about regular highball type glasses, to wick into candles? They are straight sided with a nice base. I saw some on clearance and thought they might look attractive. Do you think the glass itself would be ok? I can't see why not...anyone tried this?

Jeana, True. I agree which is one reason why I pushed the wickless melts on her. I told her about the possible fuel smell with the citrus eos. But I am hoping this is going to be a non issue with melts (vs traditional candles). Based on my experience with melts, I have found the electric tart warmers to be more effective than the light bulb ones. Also, the accupncturist was asking me how long eo tarts would be good for, stored tight etc. I really don't know. I have melts I made 9 months ago with fragrance oils. I melted them the other day and they were still good. Any ideas with eo melts?

Let me know if you cannot find it. I can pull up my paperwork when I get back to the house and give you exact info.

No. But if you google autos insurance, you will find an insurance rep list. It makes me sleep better at night.

I will get some more sample packs to try. I am ordering this week.

I use autos insurance. I get a million for about 350/year. Autos is a national company that has been around for 100 years.

I don't ever get wet spots. I spritz the inside of my jars with windex and wipe quickly. Frosting is always an issue so that is why I stopped dying my candles. I know frosting is still there but it is not thst conspicuous anymore. Are you using co to minimize frosting? I assume you colour your candles?

When you say you pour hot, how hot? I use these waxes and pour at about 170. Minimal cratering etc. But I live in Fl and the garage at this time of year is a balmy 70 degrees. So they cool pretty slowly. On those rare occasions when we have a cold snap and the garage is say 55 degrees, I do notice more cratering. But 1 or 2 swipes of the heat gun does the trick. Btw, I don't use co.

Well she frequently goes to expos etc and is hooked into the whole holistic scene. I never really thought of possibilities of her referrals. I think I will just be frank with her about the wholesale minimum issue. She is a business woman too. She told me that she is very leary of companies that market pure eo candles when she sees a retail price on the candle as say only $15. It is like a comfort level for her knowing thst these tarts are tuly all eo. Even if I personally think that eos are outrageously high to put in wax as the only fragrance. But it doesn't matter what I think of eo pricing. It is all about what she wants. Referrals can potentially be valuble too. It is hard for me to understand how people can get so into eos and use them with everything, baser on pricing. But her clientel is different from me. I will keep you posted on how it goes. Thanks for your insight!

I normally would pour a minimum size of 1 lb for the molds etc. But since her eos are so bloody expensive and we are just making prototypes, I am being flexible and pouring mini batches of 1/4 pounds. It is a pain to make such tiny batches bc of pitcher washing etc. But I am charging extra for my time etc so I feel compensated. Today I am going down one last time to make four more prototypes of different eos. After this, assuming she is still happy, we will discuss the order next week. She has a busy practice of hundreds of patients. In addition to accupuncture, aromatherapy, inhouse yoga etc... so this is why I am in a quandry for the wholesale minimum. If she were working with fragrance oils which are cheap, I would not blink an eye at telling her a minimum order of 10 lbs. Since she is providing these pricey eos though, a 10 lb order would set her back $200 just in eos. You know, the cost of the actual tarts are relatively low. But maybe I shouldn't care about her eo price. She didn't blink an eye spending over $300 on candles. Should I stick to my guns on the 10 lbs, and just say "if you are going to buy less than it will be retail price...which I should add, isn't terribly much since I am charging her unscented. I normally just sell candles to wholesale accounts and have minimum orders that ranges from the 300-400 dollar range, depending on size. I only sell the melts at a farmers market and at candle parties. Is my melt minimum order of 10 lbs too high? Maybe it is? By the way, the product is private label and will not promote me. Also, sorry for my long messages. I certainly appreciate your time in reading and responding etc. Thank-you.

Well I guess I should clarify my minimums. A minimum fragrance run would be 1-2 lbs for me. But if I give wholesale pricing, I can't just sell 1-2 lbs. I would like to sell at least 8-10 lbs. She has only bought candles prior and did not blink at the minimum order of 48 candles. What do yiu think?

I thought the vetiver smelled like a cross btw mud and grass! Then I find out it is a grass...to each his own. Update: after letting the melts sit for 24 hrs the accupuncturist put them in the warmee this afternoon. She emailed me and loves them. Apparently it was filling up the area and another room with the fragrance. So it looks like we will proceed. I am in a quandry. Normally for wholesale pricing I have a minimum of 10 lbs order. 1 lb is four quarter pound baggies for me. There are five melts in a baggie. I packags them up in clear cellophane baggies with a twist and label. At this wholesale minimum, she would need to use up a king's ransom worth of eos. I am charging her for unscented melts, since she is supplying eos. You know packaging is cheap. So obviously wholesale cost on my end is low. What do I do? I cannot expect her to use all this $$ in eos to meet the wholesale minimum. Should I charge retail? I don't want to get the short end of the stick. I did charge her to make prototype, including my time and equipment, etc. She is very reasonable. I want to be nice, but I won't make much to charge her wholesale on a little 5 lb order. Is my minimum too high? 10 lbs is 40 bags. And using cheaper fragrance oils, cost on this minimum is not an issue. But not so with eos...

I had read about the lavender and estrogen issue on scientific american, a couple years back. Since I am not a big user of eos, I don't keep up on news...but this is good to know. I met with the lady this afternoon, and at her request, made a small batch of melts. We used a 3% load which may not be enough...worked out to 0.5 oz pp. It was a little sticker shock for her since she is paying $40/oz. I hear you about the marketing costs etc but I do not believe it is in my place to tell her. Esp since I am not well versed in the ins and outs of eos. She did show me her large selection of these eos. And I have to admit that they were spectacular in fragrance. I just hope she likes it at a 3% load. There was one that smelled strange. Vertiver. Has anyone heard of this? I believe I saw it in a high end perfume once but never knew what it was.

Just want to clarify. I didn't mean eos are snake oil. I meant more people pitching things that supposedly cures you from horrible medical conditions etc. I have an old "tonic" bottle from the 1880s. It is made up of lots of alcohol and iron and some other herb. On the Victorian style label, it is listed as being able to help with everything from tuberculosis to fatigue to women's nerves to dropsy!! Give me a shot any day and I will feel better too! At least for a while. Like I say, "A glass of wine makes everything seem much more civilized!"

I just read the Young story!! Talk about sketchy! He seems like he's peddling snake oil. I get really disturbex when I hear people pitch outrageous claims to people. Especially when someone in that audience has some sad, medical need. At the market I attend, there is this lady who sells wheat grass. She gave me her pitch and said wheat grass cures everything from cancer to baldness! Can you really make claims like this? My father died of cancer and it was horrible. I don't think wheat grass would have helped. But I do believe that wheatgrass has beneficial things like fiber, vitamins etc. However, eating raw, it is difficult for our enzymes to break down all the cellulose. After all, we are not cows.

To be honest I know nearly nothing about eos. Other than some can mimic hormones, which is not usually a good thing. I used to have some lovely lavender eo that I would put (sparingly) into my tile floor steam cleaner and it would make the kitchen smell heavenly as I steamed. I personally would never ingest them. The accupuncturist I work with, like I said, does alternative medicine etc. I wonder if she knows about the lawsuits? The thing that really surprised me is that she told me her wholesale price on these eos were $20/15 mL vial. 15 mL is a mere 1/2 oz. I thought this must be retail price. I would think wholesale price for practitioners would be like $10!

I agree wth old glory. With a hefty price tag it seems too much to use it all for candles. Esp when frag oils are good. Good idea about the water!

Do terra. Know anything about this?

Hello, I private label with an accupuncturist in town. She buys the scented soy candles from me and slaps her label on herself. She is really into aromatherapy and wants me to make her candles or melts with only her eos that she wouls supply to me. She administers these to her patients along with her accupuncture and other types of Chinese medicine. The eos are obviously a fortune. Her wholesale cost is $40/oz. I personally think it is cost prohibitive. I am going to make her some candles and melts and see how she likes those. For the prototype I will use 0.5 oz pp. I know it should be more, but cost wise for her.... the melts are more appealing to her because of the lower material cost etc.. what do you all think? But ideally she'd love candles. I am going to propose to her that I augment my existing fragrance oils with a spike of eos; and that way she can still sell candles that contain her eos. If I did this, what percentage eo do I add to the fo? Or if I just add 1 oz fragrance oil pp and drizzle on, say 2g or a few drops of eo? Sorry for the long note. Any advice is appreciated! Also, when adding eos, I assume I should still add at 170-180 degrees f?

Glad i found his thread. I tried eco 14 & 16 to single wick a 4 " apothecary. No luck. I am double wicking with two eco 10s. I feel it is a little overwicked. Two eco 8 s look good til about half way and they start to drown out...i have only tried it with 2 frag though. The eco 8 double that is...