Teach Soap

My first batches of flavored lip balm smelled wonderful. Ever since then, it seems that the scent in my lip balms is barely discernible and I'm not sure why. And I am having customers comment on the difference, too. Last night I made another batch of strawberry lip balm. I could certainly smell the flavor oil in the kitchen while I was mixing and pouring, and yet, once again, when I pick up an individual cooled lip balm.....there's no discernible scent that I can tell. My recipe is a Brambleberry recipe with beeswax, coconut oil, Sweet almond oil, and a little bit of olive oil. I make small batches of about 24 standard tubes at a time, and so I use a mL dropper for the flavor oil, rather than weight. With that in mind, how much should I be using for a descent scent? I add it at the very end, and mix it in well. Is it possible that it breaks down in the heated oils? I'm grateful for any suggestions.

Rebecca

it could be the heat. Can you take a temp when you add it? Beeswax melts around 140, so it can't be too much less than that when you add--I find around 135 it starts thickening up.

I aim for about 1% of the weight in mine. Could you make a larger batch, so that the 1% is easier to measure, then save it in the fridge to make the tubes a few at a time? Droppers are pretty unreliable, since each drop can be a different weight...

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Lesli Sagan
Avital's Apiaries
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How much are you using? If you're using Brambleberry's Strawberry flavor oil, they suggest 3% - 5%. I'm not sure what kind of olive oil you're using but some are quite strong in smell and definitely could be masking the smell of your flavor oil.
I've never had flavor oils disappear from the mixture being too hot & I put mine in when the mixture is a complete liquid and still on my heat source.

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Genny