Back to Central

I love the scent of freshly made soap, especially if it contains essential oils -- or fragrance oils. The right fragrance oils. Even though I am committed to making a batch of soap with each new fragrance oil we bring on at Snowdrift Farm, I am partial to essential oils in cold process soap.

We've had a slew of new fragrance oils lately, so I have to admit that my production of cold process soaps containing essential oils has been wanting. I was reminded this week just how much I miss the essential oils while making private label batches for a local customer I'll call "V".

V's company provides "green housecleaning" services, but she loves the soap, and peddles it at every chance. She just doesn't want to make the soap. That's where I come in. V and I have spent many hours determine exactly what she wants in her soaps, and she wants everything to be natural. The first two batches contain Sencha and Gemaicha Teas, amongst a litany of other yummy ingredients, and have decidedly citrusy essential oil blends in them.

When I formulated these soaps with V, I kind of turned my nose up at her essential oil blend suggestions. After all, they were not the Oriental/Floriental blends of which I am enamored. In the end, V won out. They are her soaps. I just had it in my head that I would not like the smell of them. Boy, was I wrong.

Batch no. 1 contains a preponderance of lemongrass topped off with a splash of Roman Chamomile. Batch No. 2 is scented with a citrus accord of tangerine, pink grapefruit and bergamot with an inference of Chinese ginger in the background. Paired with the teas and a few other natural texturizing and coloring ingredients, they are beautiful. They smell beautifully, too.

This experience has brought me back to central. I like FO's, but I love EO's. And that's just the way it is for me.