S.O.A.P. Floral Fragrances Arrived!

I was doing my happy dance yesterday when the FedEx truck pulled up and my box of floral fragrance samples were delivered to my door step!  I was selected to be a part of Bramble Berry’s S.O.A.P. panel (Soap Opinion Awesome Panel).  My mission (which I’ve accepted) is to sample 10 floral fragrances in whatever product I want, take notes of how I used the sample and how it reacted, and then return a survey to Bramble Berry by April 4th.  I hope my mission isn’t top-secret because I plan to share as much of the process with you as I can. 

Being the “nerd” that I am, I immediately created a spread sheet with a list of each fragrance and spaces for taking notes.  Once that was complete, I opened each jar and took a whiff (stopping to smell coffee beans in-between).  The first notes I took were about my first impressions of the fragrances.  Some I loved right away, others were familiar, and a few just weren’t to my personal liking.I make primarily Cold Process soap, so I plan to test all of the fragrances in CP soap.  I’ll use a basic CP recipe without colorants.  I have three questions when I use a new fragrance: 1) Will it cause my soap to trace too quickly or seize up?  If it traces or thickens to quickly, I can’t create the pretty swirls that I like to create.  If it seizes, well, back to the drawing board. 2) Will it discolor the soap?  Is it going to turn the soap brown?, and 3) How strong is the fragrance after the soap has cured a few weeks?  These are the three factors I will take notes on, in addition to answering the survey questions.

I’ll start the first rounds of testing this weekend!