Fragrance Oils

Our Fragrance Oils are specifically formulated to be suitable in soaps, candles, and skin care products. The scents are extremely rich, complex, and long lasting.  The fragrances are also extremely concentrated and it is difficult to get the true scent by smelling it directly from the bottle.  We suggest that you dab a small amount on a tissue or cotton swab, then let it sit for a while to dry.  Doing so lets the fragrance disperse and you can get a truer sense of the scent.

All our fragrance oils are phthalate-free and paraben-free. The base oil used is a mix of olive, sesame and jojoba oils with a little vitamin E added to preserve the oil. They are produced with the latest technical equipment including mass spectroscopy, gas chromatography, simulated critical fluid extraction, and rotary vapor extraction methods.

Our fragrance oils are sold by fluid ounce.  In our amber glass bottles, you should expect to see the liquid level at a point midway between the “shoulder” and the “neck” of the bottle.

Note: We can ship all our Essential and Fragrance Oils to Canada by UPS Standard.

If you're wondering how much fragrance oil to use in your soap, skin and personal care products, please click on “More Details” and see the image section which shows the standard given by the IFRA (International Fragrance Association) for each category of product.  Here is a table of the IFRA categories:

1 - Products intended for application to the lips
2 - Deodorants and antiperspirants
3a - Hydroalcoholic products to be applied to recently shaved skin (EdT range)
3b - Hydroalcoholic products to be applied to recently shaved skin (fragrance range)
3c - Products intended for eyes (eye shadow, liner, mascara, makeup etc) eye cream.  Men’s facial creams and balms
3d - Tampons
4a - Hydroalcoholic products to be applied to unshaven skin (EdT range). Scent strips, scratch and sniff and other paper products where skin contact is incidental
4b - Hydroalcoholic products to be applied to unshaven skin (fragrance range)
4c - Hair styling aids (sprays), hair sprays, hair deodorant. Body creams, emulsions, lotions, gels and oils for the skin. Foot care products.
4d - Fragrancing cream
5 - Women’s facial creams, face makeup (excluding eye cream), face masks, hand cream. Wipes or refreshing tissues for face, neck, hands and body.
6 - Toothpaste, mouthwash
7a - Intimate wipes, baby wipes
7b - Insect repellant (to be applied to the skin)
8 - Makeup removers (not including face cleansers).  Hair styling aids non spray (mousse, gel, leave-in conditioner).  Nail care.  All powders and talcs (including baby powders).
9a - Liquid soap, bar soap, depilatory.  Conditioner (rinse-off), shampoos of all types (including baby shampoos).  Face cleansers (washes, gels, scrubs etc).  Shaving creams (stick, gel, foam etc). Body washes (including baby washes).  Shower gels, bath gels, mousses, salts, oils and other products added to bath water.
9b - Feminine hygiene pads / liners.
9c - Other aerosols (including air freshners, sprays, but not including deodorant / antiperspirants, hair styling spray)
10a - Hand wash / machine wash, laundry detergents (liquid, powder, gels etc) including laundry bleaches.  Other household cleaning products (fabric cleaners, carpet cleaners etc).  Dry cleaning kits.  Fabric softeners of all types including fabric softener sheets.  Hand dishwashing detergent.  Hard surface cleaners (bathroom and kitchen cleansers, furniture polish etc).  Shampoos for pets.
10b - Diapers / nappies.  Toilet seat wipes.
11a - All non-skin contact including:  Air fresheners (excluding aerosol products), plug-ins, solid substrate, membrane delivery, toilet blocks, joss sticks, insecticides (mosquito coil, paper, electrical etc excluding aerosols), plastic articles (excluding toys), candles, fuels, paints, floor wax, liquid refills for air fresheners (cartridge system).
11b - All incidental skin contact including:  Machine dish wash detergents and deodorizers, machine only laundry detergents, deodorizers / maskers (e.g. fabric drying machine deodorizers, carpet powder).  Pot pourri, fragranced sachets, liquid refills for air fresheners (non-cartridge system).  Shoe polishers, cat litter, animal sprays (excluding aerosols), treated textiles (starch sprays, fabric treatments etc), tights with moisturizers.  Scented distilled water (to be added to steam irons).

For example, let’s look at Apple Green Fragrance Oil, http://www.essentialdepot.com/product/FOIL-APPLEGREENFR-4OZ.html.  Click through the images to this:

This shows us that you should not use Apple Green Fragrance Oil in categories 1 and 6.  So this is not a good choice for lip balms, lipsticks, toothpaste or mouthwash.  For category 2 (deodorants and antiperspirants) your formula may contain up to 5.71% Apple Green Fragrance Oil.  (When you see, for example, category 3 listed as 57.14%, you may use 57.14% in category 3a, b, c & d.)   There are no limits set on the amount you may use in category 11.

Next, let’s look at the Quality Standards image.

This card answers some of the main questions that customers ask about the oil.  This is where you will find information as the vanillin content, the source of the product, whether it is tested on animals (none of Essential Depot’s products are animal tested), etc.

These informational images are posted on most of our Fragrance Oils and contain information that has been provided by our supplier.  If you have questions that are not answered by the IFRA Usage Rates or Quality Standards cards, please inquire; we’ll be happy to try to find that information for you.

Please Note:
When soaping, we always recommend you make a small test batch first when trying a new fragrance oil.  A fragrance oil may react unexpectedly in your recipe, causing a variety of issues such as seizing, ricing, discoloration, etc.  For help with common soap making problems, please see our Soap Making Troubleshooting Guide.