DIY Life

Blending can be a tricky endeavor. Just because you love an essential oil scent blend that you have created doesn't mean that it will work as a soap. It may lack staying power, or it may fall flat, losing the complexity it had when it was just a mixture of oils.

How do you know when a blend won't work? Essential oils aren't cheap. You want to get it right, or at least know how to alter your so-so blend to make it great: balanced, long-lasting and not too overwhelming.

Your goal with soap scent blends is to make them hang around as long as possible. What can get in the way of that? The temperature at which you mix your soap, the age of your soap, and the balance of your blend can all play an important role.

After the break, you can read detailed tips on how to make soap scents that stick.

Some tips:

• If your scent evaporates too quickly, try mixing your soap at a lower temperature than you usually do. You can go as low as 85 degrees Farenheit or so, and still get perfect soap.
• Do not insulate your soap. It doesn't have to get super-hot to go through the gel stage; most milk soaps are not insulated at all.
• If you usually just do cold process, try hot process (HP): it should help. Not only will your scent stick around longer, but you can actually use less of your essential oil blend, because you add the oils after the soap gels. You can do HP in your crockpot (CPHP), in your oven, or on top of your stove (just use the lowest heat and stir often).
• Anchor your scent. Certain essential oils -- especially citruses -- are prone to evaporating quickly, due to a lower flashpoint. Make sure you have a good grounding scent in your blend, like patchouli, vetiver, clove, or another base note you love.
• Another trick to get citruses to stick around is to use a complex blend of many citruses, not just one. For instance, if you are looking for a lemon scent, try blending lemon with lemongrass, litsea cubeba, lemon tea tree and citronella.
• If you are adding ground herbs or oats to your soap for texture, soak the additives in essential oils before you add them.
• Balance, balance, balance. If you've got a heady top note, be sure to ground it with enough base notes to keep it around. Even if you just want a lavender scent (which is a middle note), add a little something to ground it (like just a titch of patchouli, so you don't even detect it), and a little something to grab your attention, like the top note of clary sage.

If you use even one of these tips, you should notice a difference in the staying power of the essential oil scent blend in your soap.