Q. What’s the difference between your natural Fragrance Oils and Fragrance Oils?

A. Our Natural fragrance oils are International Fragrance Association (IFRA), compliant and certified. They are made with a MINIMUM of 80% natural plant-based ingredients and essential oils. Propylene glycol (a synthetic plant-based fixative) is what holds and ‘fixes’ our fragrances, ensuring a long-lasting scent in cosmetics, soaps and candles. PHTHALATE FREE, Vegan and cruelty FREE. Our natural fragrances are completely oil based and are suitable to use in the oil stages of cosmetic manufacturing and soaps (after trace formation). Due to their low vaporisation/boiling point, natural fragrance oil should be added to your candle creations at the lowest possible temperature - when the soy wax starts to cloud/solidify.

Our concentrated fragrance oils are International Fragrance Association (IFRA), compliant and certified. They are made from natural, naturally derived, and synthetic ingredients. They are non-toxic and vegan. Fragrance oils have no therapeutic benefits.

They DO NOT contain UV inhibitors, phthalates nor paraffin, mineral or palm oil.

Disclaimer: Our fragrances are unique to NZCS. A fragrance from another company with the same fragrance name, does not mean you will get the same scent. We always recommend purchasing a 30ml sample to test first. It is very important to thoroughly test all fragrances for suitability before committing to larger batches as different fragrance oils perform differently. Some fragrance oils may discolour wax and soap due to their unique colour and vanillin content, and their natural reaction to other ingredients. Therefore, the fragrance is not at fault, and NZCS takes no responsibility for the quality and finish of products made.

Suitable for cosmetics, soaps, candles, diffusers and bath bombs. Skin safe at 2-3%.

Q. How do I safely handle fragrance oils?

A. we have some safety tips for you to use whenever you’re working with fragrance oils:

● Work in a well-ventilated area.

● Use protective equipment such as eye goggles and gloves.

● Containers used to weigh or hold fragrance oil should not be reused for food prep.

● Clean up spills immediately.

For more safety information, please read our SDS: Fragrance Oil Safety Data Sheet

Q. What is the shelf-life of fragrance oils?

A. Fragrance oil usually has a shelf-life of around one year. Factors that can dictate the shelf-life are temperature and air exposure. We recommend storing in a cool, dry location to maximise the shelf-life of your fragrance oils. If you’ve kept your fragrance oils for over a year, it is important to do a test candle before committing to a large batch.

Q. Can I create my own fragrance by mixing fragrance oils together?

A. Yes! We highly recommend mixing fragrances to create your own unique and interesting scent. We recommend testing before committing to large batches to ensure you are happy with the fragrance outcome.

Q. How do I weigh fragrance oil?

A. Calculate the desired fragrance load you’d like for your fragrance creation. For example, let's say you want 10% fragrance load. If you have 1kg of melted soy wax, you’ll calculate 0.10 x 1000 = 100ml. This means you would require 100ml of fragrance oil to achieve this fragrance load.

Q. Which wax types will your fragrance oils work best in?

A. Our fragrance oils work well with all our wax options. There is a different fragrance load for different waxes.

Q. What is the fragrance load for each of our wax types?

A. The fragrance load differs for each wax type:

● Soy wax: 8-10% of total weight

● Coconut wax: 8-10% of total weight

● Palm wax: 6-8% of total weight

● Paraffin wax: 4-6% of total weight

Q. What temperature should fragrance oils be added into melted wax?

A. Due to waxes having different melting points, fragrance oils need to be added in at different temperatures.

- Soy wax: 53 - 54 degrees

- Coconut wax: 40 - 46 degrees

- Palm wax: 70 - 72 degrees

- Paraffin wax: 85 degrees

Q. What is the fragrance load for soaps, diffusers and body care?

● Soap: 25 - 30 ml of fragrance oil and natural fragrance oil per 1kg of soap base

● Diffusers: 25 ml of fragrance oil per 100ml of diffuser base

● Body care: we recommend about 2-4% of the total weight should be fragrance oil. This makes the products skin-safe.

Q. I've opened my fragrance oil bottle and it smells funny.

A. Our fragrance oil is highly concentrated and needs to be diluted with a product such as wax, soap base or diffuser base for the scent to smell as described and for you to achieve the best result. Please follow our instructions for determining the fragrance load that works best for you. If it is your first time trying a scent, we recommend buying in smaller sizes before committing to large batches to ensure you are happy with the fragrance.

If you believe we have sent you the wrong fragrance, please follow our returns policy so we can get this sorted for you.

Q. Are your fragrance oils phthalate free?

A. Yes, all our fragrance oils and natural fragrance oils are phthalate free.

Q. My fragrance oil has gone hard.

A. Some components of fragrance oil can freeze in the colder months. This can cause the oils to separate. We recommend storing your fragrance oils in a cool dry place for preservation.

Q. My fragrance oil packaging looks different to as advertised.

A. All our fragrance oils come in the same container type with different sized bottles based on the size you order. Our images are only for representation, please don’t expect different bottles for each fragrance oils. For example, our dragon's blood fragrance oil does not come in the bottle pictured with a dragon on the cap.

Q. What’s the difference between single note fragrance oils and the other fragrance oil blends?

A. Soy wax candle making is so incredibly easy. Imagine being able to dream up a fragrance idea, then select all the different fragrance notes that make up that fragrance (you’ll find the biggest selection of single note fragrances here) or if you love a certain fragrance but you wish one of the notes was a bit stronger. Then you can customise a blend by adding more of what you’re after.

Example, I love black raspberry and vanilla natural fragrance oil, but I thought to make it “extra amazeballs” it should have some plummy notes to give it a bit of depth. So, I added 5% black plum natural fragrance oil and mixed it together. I then made a small tealight candle to test the scent and its throw. After testing my soy candle (burning it) I made another slight adjustment and added another 5% vanilla pod. I again tested my soy candle… I’m thrilled to say perfection was achieved.

Example, I found this Jo Malone soy candle on google, that I’d love to recreate but I can’t find anything similar in New Zealand? It said it had 4 fragrances in it? Top note of Xxxxxxx mid note of XXXXXXX in a base of XXXXXX and XXXXXXX. How do I know what percentage of each when I am recreating the fragrance? Always remember we need to finish at 100% So in this case, I would suggest the top note would be the strongest, let’s start with 40% then add the mid-note fragrance at say 30%. You then have 30% to play with for the two base notes. You could use 15% of each or 20% then down to 10%. It’s totally your call.

Remember to test on a small scale first. Then recreate 😊

Q. Do I have to adjust the natural fragrance oils? Can’t I just use them as they are mixed?

A. Absolutely you can use them just as they are. They are in fact perfect, for the hobby candlemaker. But if you’re a budding entrepreneur trying to break through and stand out from the soy candle making crowd, you need to be different.

Elizabeth Arden said the secret to success is to reinvent something everyone’s familiar with and change it up by no more than 10%.

Q. What if I mess up my fragrance blend and it smells yucky?

A. Test and measure in very small batches. You’ll find great wee droppers for kids (usually used for pamol ) at your local pharmacy for around a $1.00 each. Test and measure enough fragrance to make a couple of tea light candles. Then you can test the scent throw when the candle is burning. Remember to keep notes, when creating your masterpieces, so you can recreate your new stand out soy wax candle.

Don’t be scared, be confident when creating natural fragrances. If all else fails My No. 1 rule is Vanilla’s fix everything 😊

Q. Can I really make money making and selling my own soy wax candles?

A. Heck yes!!!!!! It’s an extremely profitable business. There’s many a candle maker who’s quietly taking home an easy $500 to $1000 after a weekend market. There’s even more of them online, selling nationally!! Imagine the possibilities.

If you’ve got a bit of technical ability there are some slick websites you can put together in a few days that will get your candle creations selling nationwide.

Q. Are your Essential Oils pure?

A. We offer rare and precious essential oils along with the staple favourites like lavender, tea tree, peppermint, chamomile, eucalyptus, geranium, rosemary, thyme, lemon and clove. Our 100% Pure, Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils are sourced from certified and ethical producers world-wide. We spare no effort to maintain the high quality and purity of our essential oils and other products. MSDS are available on the product page. All our essential oils are grown and distilled with integrity and care, (not distilled from GMO raw materials.) They are free from pesticides or chemical fertilisers.

Q. Can essential oils be ingested?

A. We do not recommend ingestion of essential oils. Some essential oils can contain potentially toxic compounds. We recommend using essential oils within products that will not be ingested for aromatic purposes.

Q. Can essential oils go directly onto skin?

A. Most essential oils are skin safe; however, some must be diluted before being suitable for going onto skin. Our essential oil product pages outline the details of the properties of each product.

Q. What products can I make with essential oils?

A. There are so many options on what you can do with essential oils! They can be used in many fragrances and personal care including candles, soaps, diffusers, wax melts, bath bombs, body washes and so much more.

Q. How much essential oils do I add to candles, diffusers, soaps and skincare?

A. We recommend adding around 5% of the total weight for candle making. Diffusers require slightly more essential oils for a strong fragrance, we recommend about 20-30 drops. Soap making requires less fragrance compared to candles. You can use up to 2.5% however we recommend around 1.5% of the total soap weight. Other skincare such as body butters, moisturisers, bath bombs and so on require about the same amount of essential oil for a nice fragrance.