Does stronger OOB mean better?

[babyrn]

Just curious what your thoughts and experience is with two of the same fragrances from different suppliers and one smelling a lot stronger OOB.  I know it’s subjective but does it necessarily mean it will be a stronger scent than the other in the finished product?

[Belinda]

Hmmm, good question.

It's been my experience that if it's strong in the bottle then it's usually been strong in wax. That's just my experience though and there are others here that have been doing this a whole lot longer than me and can help more with this.

I have had oils though  that I could barely smell out of the bottle but they would come alive in wax and be great! 

[Lana]

My opinion is that anything OOB doesn't mean much. I've had scents that smell amazing, strong and complex OOB and fall flat in wax. I've had blah OOB scents that smell great once they are in wax and fully cured.

 

When I buy a whole bunch of scents during a sale or whatever, it's easy to gravitate towards the stronger smelling ones for what I want to make first for testing purposes, but over the past couple of years that I've been doing this (mostly melts), I've learned OOB means very little when it all comes down to it. I guess if I had to generalize, I have more success with good, strong OOB scents in the final product than less-than-impressive OOB, but I don't believe it to be cut and dry.

[Jcandleattic]

My experience has been mixed. So I would say that no, a stronger OOB scent from one supplier to the next does not necessarily mean that one will be stronger in the finished product than the weaker OOB scent. 

As always, it just comes down to testing, because you just never know. 

[Candybee]

I've had lots of what I thought were weak OOB scents that blossomed in wax. So I just use my nose as a gauge to get an idea of a scent. To be sure you always have to put it in wax. But like others, I get mixed results. Some weak OOB remain weak in wax, while other weak OOB are strong once they are put into wax.