Some fragrance oils on the market are promoted as being ‘uncut.’ This implies that the fragrance oil has not been further diluted using solvents to weaken the strength and create additional profits. In short, this is nothing more than marketing verbiage which sounds good, but has little meaning.
So why would anyone want to ‘cut’ fragrance oil?’ Here is an example:
Say a fragrance oil supplier bought an ounce of concentrated fragrance oil for $1.50 and were able to sell it for $2.00. That would be a $0.50, or 33%, profit on their cost of $1.50. But now instead of selling the fragrance oils as-is, the seller decides to ‘cut’ it with solvents that cost an extra $0.50 and create 2 one ounce fragrance oils to sell for $1.50 each. The seller would now make a $1.00, or 50%, profit on the cost of $2.00 ($1.50 for the fragrance oil and $0.50 for the solvent). The process of cutting fragrance oils will likely lead to a lower strength fragrance oil and generate additional profit for the seller. This is why you will see fragrance oil suppliers promoting their fragrance as ‘uncut,’ leading you to believe it is strong fragrance oil.
So all ‘uncut’ fragrance oils are good quality, right? The answer is, not necessarily. To better understand the answer to this, you need to know how fragrance oils are purchased. When purchasing fragrance oils from the manufacturer, they are provided a description or outline of production requirements and a budget within which to produce the fragrance oils. If the manufacturer is given a low budget number, the fragrance oil is likely going to be manufactured weaker. The manufacturer will use higher amounts of solvent in the fragrance oil, which dilutes the strength, to keep the price down. If they are given a higher budget to work with, they can use lower amount of solvents and more natural ingredients, which leads to a stronger fragrance oil. So whether the manufacturer is provided with a low budget amount or high budget amount, both of these can be labeled as ‘uncut’ since they have not been further diluted after they have been manufactured. This makes it possible to purchase low quality fragrance oil that is considered to be ‘uncut.’ We have all of our premium fragrance oils manufactured at a higher budget to ensure they retain their strength and scent accuracy in finished candles.