It’s crucial to understand when to use fragrances in soy candles. You can’t just pour the fragrance oil into the melted soy wax. So many people watch a brief YouTube video on how to make soy candles, or any candle for that matter, and the video doesn’t go into depth on how to do things properly.
Then some simply toss candles together, believing that is sufficient since they don’t know any better. It is very important to have the proper fragrance oils for soy wax and to know when to apply the scent. When burned, soy wax has a difficult time with fragrance throw. You must test your soy candles to determine which aroma oils are ideal, how many to apply, and at what temperature to add them.
When Adding Fragrance to Soy Candle Wax, What Temperature Should You Use?
It’s critical that the fragrance oil thoroughly bonds and combines with the heated wax. As a result, regardless of the fragrance oil’s flashpoint, we recommend adding it to the wax at no more than 185 °F. This is the ideal temperature for the fragrance and wax to link together, giving your final candle the finest scent throw.
If you are interested in what happens if you overheat soy wax, you can read more here.
We have validated this via extensive testing in our laboratories. The aroma may not correctly bind with the wax if you add fragrance to your wax at a lower temperature. This would lessen the smell and, in the worst case, might result in the fragrance seeping out of the wax and collecting at the top or bottom of your candle.
Depending on the type of wax you’re using, the pouring temperature (the temperature at which you pour the fragranced wax into the container) will vary. Check the pouring temperature for your individual wax on the wax product page.
Why Is Wax Temperature Important?
Essential oils are concentrated volatile liquids that carry the “essence” of an organic smell and are ideal for making relaxing candles. I just mentioned the term “volatile” (evaporates easily) and why temperature is so important when adding essential oils to heated, melted wax.
I’d want to deconstruct these oils to understand better their attributes and how we might mix them to get a better aroma for our candles before digging into the devastating consequences of utilizing higher and even lower temps.
Essential oils are classified according to their scent notes:
- Top: these are the most volatile elements, and you can smell them as soon as you open the essential oil container, giving you an instant aroma sensation.
- Medium: The chemicals that make these medium notes are less volatile and take longer to dissipate.
- Basis: The fragrance note with the heaviest molecules is the base note, which, when combined with the medium notes, is the real smell of the essential oil.
As previously said, those are the figures I gathered during our studies. The table summarizes several successful trials in producing a nice wax, pleasant essence oil combination, and a great aroma when burning the candle. Using essential oils at lower temperatures should be avoided at all costs.
What if the Temperature of My Wax Exceeds the Flash Point of My FO?
If you manufacture many candles, you’ll almost certainly come across a fragrance oil that has to be put on hotter wax than the FO’s flash point. This shouldn’t stop you from using fragrance oils with a lower ignition temperature, though.
“What is a flash point?” you might be thinking.
The flash point of a scent is the temperature at which it becomes volatile and catches fire.
Many candlemakers are afraid that if the wax gets too hot, their oils may burn out, so they may never get their wax warm enough for optimal bonding. While certain fragrance oils have a flash point of less than 140° F, most waxes require a higher temperature to melt to the point where they can combine with scent.
When utilizing oils with a low flash point, heating your wax below the flash point will not improve the scent’s performance. If the wax never gets hot enough to connect with the fragrance oil, you’re more likely to reduce the candle’s aroma.
Creating candles requires a lot of trial and error, but the process can be enjoyable. Thankfully, if you over-or-under-heat your wax, as long as you follow basic candle-making safety procedures, nothing will go wrong. Remember that making errors is sometimes the greatest thing to study when trying becomes difficult!
Adding The Perfume:
Apply your scent when your wax temperature is below the fragrance’s flash point. Usually between 50–55 degrees, but this can change depending on the wax you choose!
To guarantee that your candle has an even scent load, properly mix in the fragrance.
The Effect of Fragrances on Soy Wax
Every scent has a distinct effect on your soy wax. You may notice that one aroma makes your wax lumpy or ‘curdle.’ If this occurs, reduce the smelting proportion and make another candle. Continue doing so until you find a happy medium.
Don’t think about playing with the poor temperature as well.
Final Remarks
The proportion of fragrance you’ll combine into your jar with your candle wax is called the aroma load, and it’s always given as a proportion.
When using wax, we recommend using a fragrance load of 6% to 8% to get a good scent without making it hard for the flame to burn through the thick fragrance oil or messing up the top of the candle.
Nowadays, since you know how much liquid you’ll be using, figuring out how much aroma to use is simple: multiply the capacity of your jar by the percentage you would like to use.
Carole Brooks has been making candles for many years. She loves to create candles of all different types and for all different purposes. Here she shares her experience and knowledge. Carole is a graduate of Texas A&M University.
