How to Calculate Fragrance Scent Load (2024)

5 mins read

You’re all ready to go, keen to make a new batch of candles. You’ve worked out you need 300g of candle wax to fill your base and you know your wax can take a scent load of 10%. So you take 10% from 300g which is 30g, therefore you need 30g of fragrance oil and 270g of wax. Easy peasy…

Hold up! Before we go any further, let’s talk about what you’ve done so far and what issues you may run into. Tunnelling, poor scent throw, and wicks not staying lit could be a real issue here because the calculation you just used isn’t quite right.

What exactly is scent load?

Let’s take a step back. There is some confusion in the industry about what exactly scent load is. We simply explain it as the ratio of fragrance oil to the weight of your wax. Yes, 30g is 10% of 300g, but it’s not 10% of thewax weight, which is what you need. A 10% scent load of 300g would actually be 30g of fragrance oil added to 300g of wax, making your finish product weight 330g. Adding 30g of oil to 270g of wax works out at approximately 11.11% fragrance oil - way more than the 10% scent load your wax can take! If you keep working it out this way, you’ll always overload your wax with fragrance oil.

It’s good to note what happens if your wax does become overloaded with fragrance oil. You could be experiencing other common issues without knowing it’s your oil to wax ratio causing the issue. Here’s what you should look out for:

  • The wick tends to struggle and will only achieve a small flame, or sometimes the flame will die completely.
  • A struggling wick could result in candle tunnelling or not achieve a full melt pool.
  • The candle can also have poor hot throw as there’s not enough heat being generated to allow the fragrance to release from the wax.

If you experience any of these common issues, why not try lowering your fragrance oil percentage and see if this resolves them. We recommend that candle makers use 8% fragrance oil for their candles unless it’s a really light oil. This will help keep the wick from clogging and avoid poor performance problems, like those listed above.

Calculating The Right Weights

So how do you calculate the right scent load for your candle wax?

To keep things simple and give a helping hand, we’ve created a calculator that’ll do the maths for you. All you have to do is enter the amounts you already know: your desired candle weight and the percentage of fragrance oil you want.

Desired weight (grams)

Ratio (%)

-

Wax needed

-

Oil needed

Let’s try the calculator with our example from earlier. We had a desired candle weight of 300g and we want 10% fragrance oil.

You should see that you actually only need 272.7g of wax and 27.2g of fragrance oil. That’s over 2g less than before and could make all the difference in your candles.

It’s super simple to use and that’s exactly why we made it for you. Don’t forget: If you need to know how much wax weight and fragrance weight is needed for a batch of candles, you can also add you candle quantity to the calculator!

Another Important Factor To Know

Fragrance oil ratio can also affect the percentage used in CLP (classification, labelling and packaging). It’s an EU legal requirement that must be met as it pertains to hazardous goods. That’s why we asked our own CLPconsultantto give her expert view of what this means:

Prior to June 2015, candle makers only had to consider the Scent Load Ratio when making their products. However, since the CLP regulations came into force on June 2015 some confusion has crept in which has led to candle makers talking in general about ‘the percentage of fragrance oil’ in their products. It’s important to understand that Scent Load and the percentage given on Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) (and thus the percentage of fragrance oil percentage used to create the CLP templates) are NOT calculated the same.

Scent Load, as discussed above is based on the ratio of fragrance oil to wax, but in terms of CLP the fragrance oil percentage is based on the amount of fragrance in the total weight of the product. So, when 10% is given as the amount calculated for the SDS / CLP this means that 10% of the total weight of the product comes from the fragrance oil and the other 90% comes from ‘other substances’ like candle wax.

When a candle maker uses (for example) 30g to 300g of wax, this gives a Scent Load of 10%, but the total percentage of fragrance oil, for CLP purposes is actually 30g in 330g because 330g is the total weight of the product (i.e. 30g + 300g) which gives a CLP percentage of 9.09%.

For most candle makers, who purchase fragrance oils from a supplier who also provides the CLP template, it’s advisable to double check your Scent Load and the amount of fragrance you use for CLP purposes, to ensure you are fully compliant (i.e. have not accidentally used more fragrance oil in your products than the CLP template allows).

If you create your own blends and / or have SDS / CLP information created (because you use an oil whereby the supplier has not provided the CLP template) then it’s vital that any percentages you provide your CLP consultant are based on the actual amount of fragrance oil in the total weight of the product and NOT the scent load ratio, as you could be in a position of having CLP information created that is not accurate for your needs.”

So not only is it important to get your Scent Load calculation right to ensure your candles can perform at their best, it’s alsoreally important to get right for CLP, so you can sell them legally.

To get more information, guidance or support on Scent Load, we’re always happy to help via ouronline chat, email or telephone.

How to Calculate Fragrance Scent Load (2024)

FAQs

How to calculate fragrance load? ›

We simply explain it as the ratio of fragrance oil to the weight of your wax. Yes, 30g is 10% of 300g, but it's not 10% of the wax weight, which is what you need. A 10% scent load of 300g would actually be 30g of fragrance oil added to 300g of wax, making your finish product weight 330g.

Is 10% fragrance load too much? ›

The recommended fragrance load for a soy wax candle is generally between 5% to 10% of the weight of the wax used in the candle. However, some blended waxes like coconut soy wax can usually take up to 12% (which will usually give a very strong scent throw).

What is a 12% fragrance load? ›

Most waxes have a 12% maximum fragrance load or approximately 2 oz. per pound. A typical amount is about 6% or 1 ounce per pound. Be sure to check the product page for the wax you will be using to find out the maximum fragrance percentage that it can hold.

What does 6% fragrance load mean? ›

The 'fragrance load' or fragrance % is the manufacturers recommended maximum amount of fragrance that a particular wax can retain. For example, if you are making a 16 oz. candle with a wax that has a maximum 10% fragrance load, you could add up to 1.6 oz.

What is the average fragrance load? ›

What is a fragrance load percentage? This is the amount of fragrance, expressed as a percentage. The fragrance load is usually between 5-6% but does depend on the type of candle wax you are using.

What is the formula of fragrance? ›

The production of a perfume basically comprises the following components: denatured ethanol (C2H6O), essence or fragrance, fixative, propylene glycol (C3H8O2) and distilled water (H20). The fragrance, on the other hand, can be synthetic or natural.

What wax has the highest fragrance load? ›

Paraffin wax—a very inexpensive wax—is most widely used across candle brands, says Fitchl, because it can hold a high amount of fragrance and color. It also comes in various melt points, making it suitable for making many different types of candles, from containers to pillars.

Which wax gives the best scent throw? ›

Which Candle Wax Gives The Best Scent Throw? Currently Paraffin waxes are considered the best for achieving a strong fragrance – this is why many high street brands still use paraffin wax in their candles.

Is 7 sprays too much? ›

We recommend no more than 5, no less than 2 and space them out (wrists, neck and body) to make the scent even.

How do you calculate scent? ›

1 cent is equal to 435.56 square feet, and both are conventional land measurement units used to measure property size. These are a common measure of land units used in land and property transactions across the country.

What is the perfect perfume ratio? ›

Generally perfume oils will have a 20 - 80% concentration of essential/fragrance oils to carrier. Let's say you want to have a nice light perfume that is 20% fragrance. 20% of 100 drops is 20 drops. This means that your fragrance combination will amount to 20 drops and the remaining 80 drops will be carrier.

What is the max fragrance load for 444 soy wax? ›

Like 464 wax, 444 has a maxed fragrance hold of 10% or 1.6 ounces per pound of wax. However, we recommend starting at a 6% fragrance load which is one ounce per pound. contribute to burning issues. For optimal scent throw, we recommend adding your fragrance once your wax has reached 185 degrees.

How do you quantify fragrance? ›

Determination of fragrance content in perfumes. Methodology is based on Raman spectroscopy associated with multivariate calibration. Results were consistent with the conventional method based on GC-MS. Use of ethanol bands in the modeling is important, but not decisive, for quantification.

What is the ratio of soy wax to fragrance? ›

Rule of Thumb:

As a rule of thumb, you need 1 oz fragrance oil in 1 pound of soy wax. Technically, it is 6.25% of the fragrance load.

What is the difference between fragrance content and load? ›

Fragrance load — fragrance load is a term that indicates the percentage of fragrance you will need, in correlation to the amount of wax you will be using. Fragrance load is always expressed as a percentage. Fragrance content — this is the proportion of fragrance used in the candle mixture.

What is the ratio of fragrance oil to wax? ›

A: The industry standard is considered 0.5 ounce of fragrance per pound of wax. For double-scenting, you would use 1 ounce of fragrance per pound of wax. For triple-scenting your candles you can use 1.5 ounces of fragrance per pound of wax.

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