Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils - Candles

[EvyStar]

This topic seems to be a popular topic of late and I often get asked the question if my candles are made with essential oils, to which i reply no. I am relatively new to candle making and selling at markets. I haven't had time to look into the pros and cons of Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils. Is there anywhere I can go to further assist me with becoming more knowledgeable about the two?

Another question, I often get asked is why I don't use essential oils and aren't synthetic oils toxic?

I also wander, how brands like Aveda can make candles with certified organic essential oils and be able to charge reasonable prices.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

Happy 2014 greetings from Australia!

[Scented]

This is a blog I look at once a week and from it there's discussion on FO and EO. http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/fragrancesandaromatherapy/a/fragranceoils.htm

I don't view it as a pro and con. There are FOs that contain EOs. Using EOs, particularly in wax, can get quite expensive just from the testing alone. I don't feel you'll cut back on the amount to use in wax because it will still need to have a throw.

Is Aveda making a claim that it only uses certified organic essential oils or that the product includes COEO? My guess is they include a few drops of an EO.

[Guest OldGlory]

I am by no means an expert, but I started my candle business with essential oils. I was going for a natural line. However, I hadn't considered my customer base, and they wanted apple pie, cinnamon apple, cinnamon bun, etc types of scents. I wanted to make some money, so I switched. Teaching my customers about essential oils would have been quite the uphill climb! I was also combatting some unscrupulous sellers of "essential oils" in such scents at baby powder and black cherry. Ha.

What I found was that the scent from most essential oil candles didn't last like fragrance oil candles did. One exception was patchouli, but gosh it's so expensive! I make them for myself but nobody in my area would spend $30 for an 8 oz candle.

Additionally, I find that diffusing essential oils (I use a tealight diffuser) gives a great scent and really fills a few rooms! I have the diffusers with the small bowl on top and I fill the bowl with warm water, add a dozen drops of an EO, and light the tea light candle. The water gently diffuses the EO.

I would encourage you to do some testing and see for yourself. As for the toxicity, I think most sellers of FOs offer msds data.

[Candybee]

I only use EOs for my soapmaking. Cost wise it makes sense as I use less EO. But I also blend FOs and EOs that work together well thus enhancing the fragrance. I suppose you could do this with candles but if you are selling you have to crunch the numbers and see what EOs work in your candle line that are cost effective. Not an easy task.

For my candles I use FOs and have no problem telling my customers this. I even use some that are both candle and body safe so I can have matching soap and candle scents. This makes them very cost effective as they do double duty. But the biggest reason I use FOs in my candles instead of EOs is because they were made for use in candles.

Edited January 3, 2014 by Candybee

[ChrisR]

I do use several EO's in my candles, but I mix them with some of my FO's to 'kick up' the FO and give it a little different spin. I do use Patchouli, lavender, eucalyptus & peppermint/eucalyptus blend EO's for a couple customers. They have no problem paying my prices, but I tell them up front what the cost will be and they can change if the price of the EO goes up. Unfortunately mint and citrus EO's can fade quickly or smell like fuel when used alone in candles.

[EvyStar]

Thanks for the link. I will check it now. Here is a link to one of the candle products I was looking at. They also use recycled glass. These are avenues I am doing my research in, to consider going down. I work for the Environment Centre here in Darwin full time and I feel it's my duty to consider sustainable recyclable options if the options are out there. What do you think? http://www.aveda.com.au/product/5249/16963/Collections/ShampureTM/Shampure-Soy-Wax-Candle/index.tmpl

[EvyStar]

Scented - Great article. Thanks for sharing. Have saved the page and will revise over it so I can rely some of the info back to my enquiring customers. After seeing how many rose petals it takes to me Rose Oil it makes me wonder how 'sustainable' using EO's actually is.

Much appreciate for all your feedback.

[EvyStar]

Hey there Chris...

Is there any literature online with regards to mixing EO's with FO's? Or creating your own EO blends? Thanks for the heads up re: Mint and Citrus EO's. I live way up north in Australia. In the tropics. 365 days of pure sun and humidity. I am wandering how long EO's would last.

[Scented]

Hey there Chris...

Is there any literature online with regards to mixing EO's with FO's? Or creating your own EO blends? Thanks for the heads up re: Mint and Citrus EO's. I live way up north in Australia. In the tropics. 365 days of pure sun and humidity. I am wandering how long EO's would last.

I found some information about EOs searching perfumery and how to make it etc., but I did not run into anything that spelled out specifics on creating blends except for categories on which EOs were classified as top, middle and base notes more or less. Now there is something you can take a look at and see if it helps you much.

http://www.basenotes.net/threads/158437-Primer-on-How-to-Make-Perfume-(Version-1-0)

[ubure]

I really don't who would consider making candles with EOs like rose or jasmine etc. You just cannot afford the amount needed for a candle. It is different with oils like lavender or cinnamon etc. They work well in candles and are affordable.

In my opinion EOs are very precious drugs, if you like, that have wonderful medical purposes and as a bonus smell divinely (well, quite a few of them) - in candles they are wasted. especially if you consider those tons of petals that have to be collected for a kilo of rose EO.

[rctfavr3]

For EOs, It's pretty much only the topnote type oils that I might add. The rest I find I don't need as the synthetic fragrance oils work better. Stuff like Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Camphor, Mints, and some Herbals. To put something like VanillaX10 essential oil in a candle just seems silly to me.

[Jcandleattic]

In my experience, (and I know others have had different results, and I've even witnessed these results myself in burning someone else's candles) I have never been able to get an EO to throw in my wax. Or if I have, it's been very weak.

So for me, I only use FO's.

It's very rare I get an FO that won't throw in my wax.

But as I said, that is only my experience. I know others have had different results.

[TallTayl]

Jcandleattic... Same here. I may use EO's in salt for a warmer, a room spray, or in rare cases in a wax melt. Candles never worked well enough to justify the cost&price.

Ubure, you are so right! It takes an awful lot of resources to produce essential oils!

Most of the appeal, it seems, is the overwhelming momentum of the "natural" movement. I have never found any studies or toxicology reports about combusted essential oils. Would be pretty curious to read though.... What off gasses as essential oils are burned?

I have tried to live by the wise words of my dad, use the right tool for the job. My interpretation of that is to use oils designed and engineered for candles.

[EvyStar]

A big thanks for all your comments and feedback. I have a lot more information and clarity now to be able to explain to my customers why I use FO and not EO.

Have a lovely weekend.

Kind regards,

Evy

[EricofAZ]

Scented, you pointed out the cost of testing. Having built a bunch of EO candles, I have not yet seen any testing difference between FO and EO. If the ratio of oil to wax is the same, and the wax is the same, and the container the same, then the wick should be the same.

So a 12 percent FO test should be the same as a 12 percent EO test. Yes, there are some differences, but not enough IMHO to warrant a wick change.

EvyStar, well, the toxic issue for FO is something I won't address. I don't know. I know people who break out in hives with EO's in the bath tub. Pick your poison. However, if an EO Lavender has "healing" properties to it, then the Lavender FO is a fake. There are no healing properties to FO's other than "ah, smells nice, relaxing after a hard day's work"

I'm not sure that EO's are healing by adjusting the body chemistry but I do know that FO's cannot do that. Some websites claim that EO's do have healing properties.

I do warn people that therapy candles made of FO's are a bit of a rip off. If they charge one penny more than a regular scented candle, run like the wind. I see a few websites that explain this.

Glad to see an EO forum.

Edited February 21, 2014 by EricofAZ

[CandleKitty]

Something else to consider with EOs is that to cut down the cost of the oil itself, some sellers will actually cut the oil with a carrier like almond or jojoba. Not knowing what either one of those carriers would do in candle wax I'd stay away from anything that says 'blend' in the name - like Rose Blend unless you know for absolute certain that the blend is actually a blend of other EOs.

I do intend on using EOs in my candle line eventually, I've had many wonderful years using EOs with everything else (bath bombs, bath salts, body sprays, perfumes) that I feel remiss not to at least experiment with them in my candles.

And I agree with EricofAZ - it's awesome to see an EO forum here.

[Scented]

Scented, you pointed out the cost of testing. Having built a bunch of EO candles, I have not yet seen any testing difference between FO and EO. If the ratio of oil to wax is the same, and the wax is the same, and the container the same, then the wick should be the same.

So a 12 percent FO test should be the same as a 12 percent EO test. Yes, there are some differences, but not enough IMHO to warrant a wick change.

Not necessarily true in my discovery and limited tests. There are EOs out there that FOs can't mimic very well and it would cost more than a kings ransom to buy more than a very small amount. I do have a blend that uses EOs and FOs that requires one heck of a wick up, but when certain parts are replaced with a FO, it doesn't require quite the wick up.

And I won't put in 12% of a pure patch to test. While the price came down the last time I bought, it fluctuates too much and is still at least double the price of an FO.

Now I would love to find an affordable saffron, carrot seed, cardamom, rose, jasmine sambac and others that would allow me to do some testing without taking out a loan to do so ... that was my reference in terms of cost

Edited February 26, 2014 by Scented

[EricofAZ]

Scented, yes, there are some EO's out there that cost several thousand dollars per pound. I don't see them in candles. Most folks who sell "Aroma Therapy" candles with those expensive EO names sell the candle for about the same price as what you would build out of an FO. So my suspicion is sky high on that.

I don't know about mixing eo and fo. Never tried it. Might require wicking changes. Maybe its just that the mixes of eo's that I've used have worked out well and close enough to the FO version that it worked. I'm sure that, like any mix, there will be the oddball ones that just need their own build.

[ubure]

EvyStar, I just wanted to say that I think it's great you feel an obligation to work for the environment, not against it. We all do it far too much, this damaging behaviour. Every little helps!

And I wanted to add: even I had a king's income I wouldn't put those precious little gems into something that burns them. In melts, tarts, okay. But not in candles. I don't think we need everything we come up with in our minds. We don't even need candles with synthetic oils (sorry, this is damaging to our business, of course!!), but certainly not candles with essential oils. If you want to have those real scents do it in the old-fashioned aromatherapy way or grow some roses (which is quite rewarding - I recommend it!). But hey, that's only me. I only think those few that really work in candles are those all the comanies who sell aromatherapy candles use: lavender, rosemary, cinnamon etc. If they claim to use something floral etc. for a few bucks it is scam.

[EvyStar]

Lot's of food for thought here.  Personally, after realising how many rose petals it would take to make a standard size candle, as mentioned above, I think I will pass on the EO option for now, and bring customers attention to it.  I have also realised that customers actually do believe the likes of the bigger brands who sell candles with scents like - Lime, Basil, Mandarin, Coconut Lime, Bulgarian Rose, Lemongrass - the more floral / citrus ones - use essential oils. Which, from my further investigation and research, I now know is not true.   It's interesting to see how one can assume something, just from a name on label.  Doing the markets on a weekly basis, is a great learning experience for me. Having regular face to face contact with customers has proven to be invaluable for me at this early stage of my new side business.