Teach Soap

Soapbuddy: I considered that the base had gotten too hot but it hadn't. I made a bunch of bars of soap that same day and heated them all the same way. The rest of the bars turned out fine but for some reason this one didn't.

I know that some FO's are stronger/weaker than others so you need more scent, but I'd expect that after adding that much to such a small amount of M&P that there would be *some* sort of scent to it.

Regarding adding FO by mL instead of weight, I actually use the fragrance calculator on the MMS website, which gives amounts by volume as well as weight. If I'm using a fragrance other than MMS's, I adjust up or down as needed on the strength of the FO but find that the necessary amounts are fairly similar, at least with the small amount of experimenting I've done.

So according to their site, for *their* Raspberry FO, you'd add 2.5mL to 4oz of M&P for a "strong" scent. I added almost 4mL of the BB FO and got NO scent. Of course, MMS states that their fragrances are much stronger than their competitors too so who knows, maybe I'm adding too little. But that still doesn't explain why the other bars of soap (with fragrance added using the same method) came out just fine and this one didn't.

I would send Anne-Marie a quick email and ask. Since she sells it, she might have a suggestion which I haven't thought of.

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Irena
Closed minds are like faulty parachutes; they refuse to open.

Oh dear, that's so sad that the SRR didn't work out spectacularly in your soap. I'm sorry to read that.

How does the SRR smell to you out of the bottle? It's entirely possible that we human error'ed and sent you an incorrect product. The bottle you ordered came from a new drum that we tapped at the end of March so the stock is new and should not have turned or changed. We also have not gotten any other feedback on the fragrance and the drum is almost empty so we've sold a good amount of the product. That's not to say that we didn't make a mistake though so please let me know how the fragrance smells out of the bottle. I can also do tests at BB to see how much I feel like I have to use to get a good scent?

I am not at work so cannot weigh out 4 ml. Normal usage rate for our fragrances is about .25-.5 ounces weight per pound of soap. Different fragrances will have slightly different usage rates based on personal preference and strength of the fragrance out of the bottle. For example, I tend to use more Vanilla than I do a fragrance like Spearmint.

Keep me posted on how it smells OOB (out of bottle) and we'll go from there. =)

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Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Another thought, by the way - you might just not be able to smell that particular scent as well as you do the others. I know this sounds strange, but I'm not very sensitive to berry-ish smells - I have to carefully measure when I use them. Other people, friends and customers, have told me they get a nice strong scent, but I can't smell diddly from a straight berry soap.

My husband can't distinguish well between "high" or "sharp" scents - puckery citruses, mints, and sharp herbal scents are all very alike to him.

So it might be partly your nose. Get an honest friend to be a backup sniffer, just in case.

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http://www.magichandsworkshop.com
http://www.magichands.etsy.com
http://www.magichandsworkshop.blogspot.com

Really?? Wow, nobody has ever taught me that before. Thank you magic_hands!!!!

Majic Hands has a point. Also do you smoke? That affects your nose also. I know a candle maker that can't smell some of her candles and she told me thats beacuse she smokes. Also don't smoke around soap. It soaks up the smell.
And still It might be the FO. good luck

_________________
http://www.magichandsworkshop.com
http://www.magichands.etsy.com
http://www.magichandsworkshop.blogspot.com

_________________
Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com

Wow everyone, thanks for your replies!

Anne-Marie: I sniffed the SRR out of the bottle and to be perfectly honest, it smells fine, just the way I'd expect it to. So I don't understand why it would be fine out of the bottle but nonexistent in my M&P. The only thing I can think of is that I possibly overheated the base, but I use the same heating procedure for every 4oz bar I make, and all of them came out just fine except for this one bar. It's strange. I'm going to use the scent for something else and see how it comes out.

Magic Hands: Thanks for the heads up on the "scent problem" that some people have. I've never heard of that. I've never had a problem with smelling something as far as I know, but I'll keep that thought in mind.

No, I don't smoke and I'm neither pregnant nor hormonal (okay, that last one might be debatable!). Though yes you're right Anne-Marie, when I was pregnant with my daughter I couldn't STAND the smell of my basil plants (which I normally love and cultivate). I let them all die because I couldn't even go outside to water them; one whiff of the surrounding air made me completely nauseous. Thankfully I went back to loving the basil!

Keep me posted. I'll totally test anything and any formula imagineable to get to the bottom of it for you =)

_________________
Happy Soaping!

Anne-Marie
blog: www.soap-queen.blogspot.com
supplies: www.brambleberry.com