If you make candles, you know that fragrance oil is one of the most important ingredients. Fragrance oil gives your candles their unique stamp and can create different moods and atmospheres depending on the aroma. But how much fragrance oil should you use in your candles? And why is that important?
RECOMMENDED FRAGRANCE CONTENT IN WAX
The amount of fragrance used in candle making is not simply a matter of preference or convenience. This is a key step in ensuring the quality and excellent performance of the candles.
To begin with, it is necessary to determine the optimal proportion of fragrance oil in the wax that you use according to the manufacturer's specification, and then strictly adhere to the recommendations. This parameter is usually presented as a percentage and refers to the fragrance oil content in relation to the weight of the wax.
For example, soy wax usually has a recommended fragrance content of 6% to 10%, while paraffin wax usually has 3% to 6%.
If you use too little fragrance oil, your candle will have a weak scent and may not be noticeable or pleasant. This is especially important if you are selling or giving away candles. If your candles have a weak or non-existent scent, you risk customer dissatisfaction with your product.
You might think that adding more fragrance oil would make your candle smell stronger, but that's not always the case. If you add too much oil, it can actually interfere with the proper combustion of the wax and cause the emission of unpleasant odors, soot and smoke.
It can also happen that the scented oil accumulates on the surface of the candle in the form of tiny droplets, which, in addition to spoiling the aesthetics of the candle because it can affect the color change and make the candle look greasy, also leads to the loss of smoothness and consistency of the final product, which is especially important if you are pouring candles from a mold.
FORMULA FOR CALCULATING THE SHARE OF FRAGRANCE IN WAX
When you have decided on a specific percentage that you plan to use when making, the next step is how to determine how much fragrance (in grams) is actually needed for the selected percentage of fragrance oil in your candles.
For this step you will need some math skills to make sure your candles will be good.
Let's take the following situation as an example: you have decided to make a 100g candle from soy wax. You want to use 10% fragrance, which is the maximum allowed percentage of oil in the wax. By simple calculation, you come to the conclusion that you need 90g of wax and 10g of fragrance oil.
With this calculation, you run the risk that your candle will exhibit all the previously listed problems that can arise when an excessive amount of fragrance oil is used.
10g of oil is 10% of 100g, but it is not 10% of the weight of the wax, which is what you need. Adding 10g of oil to 90g of wax gives you approximately 11.11% fragrance oil in the wax - much more than the recommended 10% that your wax can handle. If you continue to work this way, you will always overload your wax with fragrance oil.
To accurately calculate the amount of fragrance (the percentage of fragrance oil in relation to the weight of the wax), use the following formula where you will first calculate the required amount of wax and then subtract that result from the weight of the finished candle:
In our example it would be:
Wax (g) = 100g ÷ 110% = 90.9g
Fragrance oil (g) = 100g - 90.9g = 9.1g
If all this seems too complicated to you, our Candle Making Calculator is at your disposal, specially designed to help you easily and precisely determine the required amounts of wax and fragrance oil.
PRECISE MEASUREMENT OF FRAGRANCE OILS
In addition to adhering to the recommended amount of fragrance in the wax, it is important to accurately and precisely measure your fragrance oil.
Have you ever wondered why we measure the weight and not the volume of the fragrance, even though the oils are in a liquid state? There are several reasons for this, and they have to do with the nature of the oil itself and the way it is measured.
One reason is that fragrance oil has different densities, meaning that some oils are heavier or lighter than others for the same amount of space.
For example, 100ml of vanilla scented oil weighs about 93 grams, while 100ml of lemon scented oil weighs about 85 grams. If you measure in milliliters, you can accidentally add too much oil if it is a thicker oil or too little, in the case of thinner oils.
Another reason is that it is easier and more accurate to measure fragrance oil by weight than by volume. Measuring volume requires the use of measuring cups or spoons, which can be inaccurate or inconsistent depending on how the oil is poured or leveled.
Weight measurement requires the use of a scale, which can give precise and consistent results regardless of how the oil is dosed. By measuring weight, you also avoid the risk of spilling or wasting oil, which can be expensive and messy.
To accurately measure the weight of a fragrance oil, you will need a scale and a container that can hold the fragrance oil without spilling or reacting with it, such as a glass beaker. Place the container on the scale and reset it to zero. This will ensure that the scale only measures the weight of the fragrance oil, not the container. Then pour the fragrance oil into the container until you reach the desired weight.
If you followed all the recommendations for calculating and measuring fragrance oil in the process of making candles, there is no doubt that you have made high-quality candles that will provide an unforgettable experience to customers and enrich every space they are in.
