Strong Scents

You will see this on the wax melt and candle facebook groups weekly "looking for wax melts - they must be strong". We have put a few words together on our thoughts. 

Often when we see this question asked, the buyer is looking a fragrance that is top note heavy eg citrus notes, light fruity notes or herbs. This will tend to be aftershave / perfume type fragrance oils. This type of scent tends to have lots of top notes as it is the first impression that you get of a perfume or aftershave and they are designed to give that initial whoosh of fragrance. Because the fragrance is top note heavy, 'dupe' type fragrance oils often lack the complexity and layers of many scents. While perfume and aftershave fragrances are good, they are not the only fragrance oils out there. Dupes also tend to be offered for sale by lots of makers which means that you have lots more sellers offering the same scents and more competition selling the same products. We are going to put together a blog on USPs (unique selling points) later.

Strong doesn't have to be so 'in your face'. A gentle fragrance oil like coconut, shea butter or aloe vera and cucumber will fill a house with fragrance but it won’t be as instant or a bold as a perfume type scent. These are more background type fragrances and, while you know that the fragrance is there, it is not screaming at you in the same way that a perfume fragrance oil does.

So what does ‘strong’ in a fragrance oil mean to you? When we ask this question we usually don’t get a response but its not a trick question. We need to know, as mentioned earlier, if someone is looking for a top note heavy fragrance or for something that will last a long time on the warmer and can still be a good strength in the room the next day, long after the warmer is off. Our Hayride fragrance is soft fruits, hay and grass with gentle woody base notes. The top notes are softer than aftershave type fragrance top notes but this fragrance has staying power in both the amount of burn time and the lingering effect the next day. This is still strong but it is a very different fragrance type so is perceived differently.

There are fragrance oils with bold top notes but are gentler on your nose. A fragrance oil like eucalyptus & spearmint has bold top notes but is balanced with the mid and base notes. Cliffs of Moher is another good example. This starts off very top note heavy but as the different notes come off it evolves in to a much fresher, less harsh fragrance. This is a good example of a multi layered fragrance, you can smell the change as the different fragrance notes come off. The musky, woody base notes mean that not only does it start ‘strong’ it is also very long lasting. Here is the fragrance review for Cliffs of Moher.

What makes a fragrance last a long time? The more essential oils or fragrance compounds are within the fragrance oil blend, the longer the fragrance lasts. Ours fragrance oils are very concentrated and many have small amounts of natural oils in them for a superior fragrance experience which means that less fragrance oil needs to be used in some applications. We supply 5% CLP as well as 10% CLP for this reason. The top notes evaporate and run out first followed by the mid notes which are the heart of the scent. The base notes are what gives the scent longevity. Musky and woody notes are the longest lasting. A strong, long lasting scent should have a good balance of top, middle and base notes. Have you ever noticed perfume websites and blogs suggesting layering fragrances, wearing more than one? This is to make a scent last longer. You don’t have to blend fragrance oils to do this, we have already done this for you.