How Much Fragrance Oil Should You Use In Wax Melts?

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If you are new to the world of making wax melts then you more than likely have a lot of questions that you want answers for. One such question that often pops up first is how much fragrance oil do you need to put in your wax melts?

Well in this helpful guide I will be answering that question for you. I will also show you my calculator that works out exactly how much wax and fragrance oil that you need to use for your wax melts. First of all though if your not to sure what wax melts are and how they work you might want to check this guide to wax melts out first.

A photo that I took of my wax melts and various bottles of fragrance oils
Getting the correct amount of fragrance oil in your wax melts is easy using a fragrance calculator

So lets first get into the main question in this guide.

How much fragrance oil should you put in wax melts? How much fragrance oil that you put in your wax melts depends on a few different factors such as the maximum fragrance load of your chosen wax. The ratio of fragrance that you want in your melts which is usually between 4% to 10% and also the strength and quality of your chosen fragrance oil.

That was the short and concise answer to the question. Now I want to go over it all in a lot more detail to make sure that you get the correct amount of fragrance oil in your wax melts.

Why the correct amount of fragrance oil in a wax melt is important.

Below are some of the reasons why you want to make sure that you get the correct amount of fragrance oil in your wax melts.

Scent throw

First up and the most obvious reason is scent throw. You see if you have too little fragrance oil in your wax melts you will find that the scent throw is poor.

The scent throw is the amount of fragrance or aroma that comes from melting your wax melts in a warmer. If there is not enough fragrance oil to wax in the ratio then there will not be much scent.

Conversely, having too much fragrance oil in your wax melt can also cause havoc with the scent and will also stop your wax melts from hardening.

If you would like to learn more about scent throw check out this guide that I wrote.

Soft wax melts

I mentioned this above but one of the terrible side effects of too much fragrance oil is that it will stop your wax from hardening and curing correctly.

if you add too much fragrance oil you will find that you won’t even be able to handle your wax melts as they will remain in a cool but molten type state.

Profitability

If you are planning to make wax melts to sell as a starter business then it is even more crucial to get the quantity correct.

Fragrance oils are expensive and you do not want to be using more than you have to in each batch of wax melts. Using slightly to much in each batch will cause huge drops in potential profit over time.

How much fragrance oil do you need to put in wax melts?

As I mentioned before there are several factors that influence the amount of fragrance oil that you will need to put in your wax melts. These are:

The type of wax used

Believe it or not the type of wax you use to make your melts or tarts will have a huge effect on how much fragrance you can put in your melts.

Paraffin wax is one of the best waxes for holding fragrance oil and can take around 12%.

However because paraffin wax is slightly toxic when burnt and also terrible for our environment most post tend to use a natural wax such as Soy wax instead.

Soy wax is quite good itself at holding fragrance oil but not as good as paraffin. It is safer to keep the fragrance oil to wax ratio with Soy wax to around 8-10% for the best result and scent throw.

As a rough figure most people put between 4-10% fragrance into their wax melts.

Fragrance oil quality

I hate to say this but not all fragrance oils are created equally! If you do not source good quality fragrance oil from a reputable dealer there is a chance that the scent may not be that strong.

From my own experience in growing my candle and wax melt business the difference between good and bad quality is like night and day.

For example with a good quality oil you can use 6% fragrance and it will smell more than 10% of a poorer quality fragrance oil.

As an example of great quality fragrance oil, check out this bottle of vanilla fragrance oil which I know is great and produces amazing scent throw even at 8% load.

Temperature of the wax

Making sure that the temperature of your wax is perfect when adding your chosen fragrance oil is essential. I’m not saying add a little more in case some burns off but I just wanted to point out that if your wax is too hot then it can actually cause excessive amounts of fragrance oil to evaporate during manufacturing.

For more information about the perfect temperature to add fragrance oil to wax for wax melts have a look at the guide that I wrote.

How to work out the correct amount of fragrance oil for your wax melts.

So now is the time to fully work out how much fragrance oil you need for your wax melts.

First off all you need to do is work out the fragrance load percent that your chosen wax can take. You should be able to find this on the container or if not by contacting your supplier.

Failing all that I would go for a safe percentage of between 8-10% fragrance ratio.

Next you need to find out the total weight of wax that you need to complete your batch. Do this by weighing a wax melt and multiplying it by how many wax melts you are making.

Now I want you to click this link which will take you to my free online fragrance oil and wax calculator which is on this website. Once there enter your total weight and also your fragrance percentage.

The calculator will now tell you exactly how much wax and fragrance oil to weigh out to make your batch.

Conclusion

I really hope this guide has helped you to understand all of the variables that decide how much fragrance oil to use in a wax melt.

If you find the calculator useful please feel free to share it with your friends and groups.

Andrew Scents and Aroma
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