Fragrance for a candle, a perfume or a bath bomb. Pick the craft first — the three do not share a denominator, and a percentage that is right in one is meaningless in the next.
INPUTS
Pick the craft first. A fragrance percentage is a share of the wax here, and carrying it to another craft changes what it is a share of — which is why the three sit behind separate branches rather than one slider.
Your candle batch
Your percentage is of…
Oil is a percentage of the wax, added on top of it. 500 g wax at 8% means 40 g oil and 540 g total.
Holds up to 10%. The container default. Forgiving to pour, frosts a little, holds up to about 10%.
g
%
Soy (container) usually sits around 8% and is rated to 10%. That ceiling belongs to the wax, not to the oil — going over it does not smell stronger, it leaks.
A candle load is quoted against the wax and the ceiling belongs to the wax family, not to the fragrance. Soy holds less than paraffin, and beeswax holds least of all.
RESULTS
Fragrance to weigh
40.0g
as a share of the wax7.4% the other way
Wax
500.0g
Finished candle
540.0g
Soy (container) tops out at
10%
Most makers run
8%
This figure is a share of the wax and does not travel to another craft. When you are ready for the rest of the batch, the candle fragrance calculator carries it through.
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How this is worked out
Nothing on this page averages the three crafts, because averaging them is the mistake it exists to stop. A candle's fragrance load is a percentage of the wax — added on top of it — and its ceiling is a property of the wax family rather than of the oil. A perfume's strength is a percentage of the finished bottle by weight, and the alcohol is what makes up the rest; the named bands are conventions rather than limits, which is why two bottles labelled eau de parfum can be five points apart. A bath bomb's load is a percentage of the entire mix, dry ingredients included, and the ceiling comes from your supplier's IFRA category 9 documentation rather than from anything this site can tell you. Choosing the craft loads that craft's own constants, its own denominator and its own warning — and the answer ends by handing you back to the calculator that owns the rest of that batch.
candle oil = wax × load · ceiling = the wax's own rating
oil = total × load · when quoted against the finished candle
one load, candle, perfume, bath bomb — three different denominators
Questions makers ask
Is a fragrance percentage the same in every craft?
No, and that is the whole reason this page asks which craft first. 8% of a 500 g candle batch is 40.0 g of oil on top of the wax; 8% of a 500 g bath bomb mix is 40.0 g inside it, which is about 2.7× the top of the usual band; and 8% in a 30 ml perfume is 2.0 g of compound, which is a light eau de toilette rather than a strong anything. Same number, three different questions.
What fragrance load can a candle take?
It depends on the wax and not on the oil. Soy (container) is rated to 10% and usually run at 8%; beeswax tops out at 6% and carries added fragrance poorly. Going past a wax's rating does not make a stronger candle — it makes one that weeps oil.
Does 8% mean 8% of the wax or of the finished candle?
Both conventions are in use, which is why recipes disagree. On 500 g at 8%, quoted against the wax you weigh 40.0 g of oil and end up with a 540.0 g candle. Quoted against the finished candle you weigh the same 40.0 g of oil but only 460.0 g of wax. The tool shows you the figure both ways.
What percentage is eau de parfum?
Conventionally 15–20% aromatic compound by weight, against 5–15% for eau de toilette. A 30 ml bottle at 18% takes 4.5 g of compound and 20.5 g of alcohol. No country defines those names in law, so two houses using the same word can be several points apart.
How much fragrance oil goes in bath bombs?
Around 2% of the whole mix for a fragrance oil and 1% for essential oils, with 3% and 2% at the top of those bands. A 500 g mix at the working figure takes 10.0 g. The binding number is always the IFRA category 9 maximum on your own supplier's documentation.
Why is the bath bomb load so much lower than the candle one?
Because nothing in a bath bomb is holding the oil. Wax dissolves fragrance and releases it as it melts; a bomb is a dry powder pressed together, so surplus oil sits on the surface, softens the bomb and eventually goes rancid. It is also going into bathwater and onto skin, which is what brings IFRA into it.
Can I use the same fragrance oil in all three?
Often, but check the documentation rather than assuming. A candle fragrance oil is formulated for a flash point and a hot throw and may carry no skin-safety data at all, which rules it out of a perfume or a bath bomb whatever the percentage says. The load is the second question; what the oil is approved for is the first.
What about soap and resin?
Both have their own denominators again and their own tools. Soap quotes fragrance against the oils and is bounded by an IFRA category maximum, which the soap fragrance calculator checks against your own supplier figure. Resin pigment is not a fragrance question at all and lives in the epoxy calculator.