Essential Labs Scenting Guide

If you are new to scenting, we have established clear and effective guidelines for scenting products with essential or fragrance oils. Consider implementing these recommendations to elevate the quality of your scented products and ensure they meet the highest standards!

Click Here to Explore The Essential Labs Scenting Guide.

Category-Specific Insights:

1. Lotions & Creams (Face):
   0.2–1.0% - Keep closer to 0.2–0.5% for face products to minimize potential irritation.
   
   
2. Lotions & Creams (Body):
   0.25–2.0% - For body creams where the skin is less sensitive than the face. Stick to the lower range for sensitive skin areas.
   
   
3. Shampoos, Gels, Household & Laundry:
   0.25–1.5% - The lower range is ideal for hair/scalp products, while the upper range can be used for household products.
   
   
4. Conditioners:
   0.5–1.0% - Make sure to disperse properly for even application on hair.
   
   
5. Astringents, Toners & Splashes:
   0.25–0.75% - Use the lower range for facial products as astringents are often alcohol-based and can enhance penetration.
   
   
6. Melt & Pour Soap:
   0.5–2.5% - Please note that resinous oils can darken soap or create sticky textures, so test smaller batches first.
   
   
7. Melt & Pour Lip Balm:
   0.25–1.5% - A higher percentage may be able to be used, but there is a risk of ingestion-related irritation.
   
   
8. Melt & Pour Deodorant:
   0.25–1.25% - Higher percentages might affect skin comfort in the underarm area.
   
   
9. Scrubs & Polishes:
   0.25–3.0% - Slightly higher percentages are typically fine, as rinsing minimizes prolonged contact.
   
   
10. Massage & Body Oils:
    1.0–3.0% - Suitable due to dilution with carrier oils.
    
    
11. Serums:
    0.25–1.0% - Lower percentages are best, especially if serums are for targeted areas like the face.
    
    
12. Gels/Jellies:
    0.25–1.0% - Works well but ensure a solubilizer is used for water-based products.
13. Masks:
    0.25–1.0% - Range has taken into account that masks are short-contact products.
    
    
14. Bath Salts & Powders:
    0.25–1.5% - Essential oils will dilute further in bathwater.
    
    
15. Children's Products (Over Age 2):
    0.2–1.0% - Stick to the lower end for children and avoid using sensitizing oils (e.g., benzoin may cause allergies in some individuals).

General Considerations:

Patch Test: Always perform a patch test when introducing any new product, especially one containing essential oils. This helps to ensure that the skin does not react negatively.

Regulatory Compliance: Check IFRA standards for each oil to ensure compliance, especially for leave-on products. Also, please check with your local regulatory offices as these vary by location. 

Skin Sensitivity: Resinous essential oils can cause sensitivity or allergies, especially in facial products. Woody essential oils are generally well-tolerated, but Pine and Juniper Berry may be sensitizing for some people. Earthy oils like Valerian and Angelica may cause sensitivity, particularly in leave-on products. Always perform a patch test on new formulations.

Aroma Intensity: Woody oils can have strong and lingering aromas; consider this when creating formulations meant for subtle scents (e.g., facial products). Same thing with Earthy oils like Vetiver and Patchouli.

Phototoxicity: Angelica root oil can be phototoxic. Ensure it's either steam-distilled or used below safe concentrations in products exposed to sunlight.

Solubility: Ensure the essential oils are properly emulsified or solubilized, as they are oil-soluble and may separate in water-based formulations without proper dispersants.

Scenting Secrets of an Aromatherapist

Knowing how much of an essential oil or essential oil blend to add to your product is both science and art, and is very personal. A medium scent for one person might be a heavy scent for another person.

Using essential oils to scent your skin and body care products is the simplest way to make them your own. It’s also a great way to extend your product offerings by changing the essential oil (EO) blend in a best-selling base. For example, you can start with our Thick Shampoo & Body Wash and market to men by adding either the Citrus Burst EO Blend with lemon and lime and grapefruit, or the Forest EO Blend with cedarwood, juniper berry, and frankincense essential oils. You can market the same shampoo & body wash to women by adding in the Women’s Balance EO Blend with jasmine, clary sage, rose, geranium, ylang-ylang, and neroli, instead. Scenting with essential oils also imparts the properties of the individual oils to your body and skincare products.

If you’ve never dipped your toe in scenting or aromatherapy before, you might feel a little intimidated. But don’t worry. So long as you start with a few drops, you can always add more.

Pro-Tips for Using Essential Oils to Scent

1. Start with a portion of your base
   It’s best to start scenting with a portion of your base so you can get an idea of how strong you will want the final product. It’s easier to add more scent than it is to remove it.
2. Scent with drops
   While it is absolutely accurate to measure by weight or by volume of your essential oil, you can also add scents by drops. This allows you to smell as you go and adjust slowly until you are satisfied. For instance, if you want to scent a 12 oz container of lotion with .5% concentration of Lavender EO you will want to add .06 oz of lavender EO or 35 drops of Lavender EO.
3. Use a warm water bath to loosen up non-liquid bases, such as Virgin Coconut Oil or Barrier Balm, which are solid at room temperature. As it loosens we recommend whisking it in a folding motion to help it become softer. Then add the drops and whisk it well to disperse the scents evenly.
4. Use plastic pipettes, and use a new one for each EO. We know glass pipettes are more environmentally friendly, but the truth is, it is so easy to dip a used pipette into the wrong essential oil and then you’ve got an adulterated oil that can’t be used.
5. For larger sizes weight becomes the easier measurement. For example, if you have 10 pounds of a shampoo you’d like to scent with 2% Lavender Essential Oil, the math becomes easier, especially if you have a good scale at hand. In this instance you would want to add an empty container to your scale and then tare (zero out) the scale. Pour in 0.2 pounds of your essential oil. Then add that to your larger container of shampoo and mix thoroughly.
6. Keep notes while you are creating. It is vital for a consistent product, especially when sizing up to larger batches.

How to Add Less than a Drop

Sometimes, when you calculate from weight and volume to drops, you end up needing less than a full drop. And while that sounds, and is tricky, one way we recommend doing this is to fill the pipette, then squeeze out most of the oil back into the original EO bottle, leaving just a trace in the pipette. These last few ‘drops’ are actually smaller than the full-size drops created when a pipette is full. Squeeze carefully and you have ‘less than’ a drop.
Some schools of thought recommend diluting the EO in water, but we don’t recommend it. You can always figure out your own methodology once you get more practice and confidence under your belt.

Example: How to Add Scent to a Dry Product – Goat Milk Bath Soak

In the video below, you will see one of our previous formulators is adding 1% of essential oils to a dry product: Goat Milk Bath Soak. She adds her bowl to the scale, tares it, adds her essential oil, and then simply whisks it in with the powder soak. It may seem counterintuitive to add oils to a powder, but when thoroughly mixed there is no clumping. Watch along here:

Conclusion: Scenting with Essential Oils

Scenting with natural and synthetic oils are a great way to extend your product offerings and introduce aromatherapy into your skincare and body care lines. This can be a really fun part of the process when simplified, we hope our guidelines and tips serve you well. Good luck!