When it comes to scents, we're sure you come across many different scents ranging from everyone's favourite Lavender to other popular scents such as Coffee. You might have also come across buzzwords like essential oils, aromatherapy and fragrances!
Here at ChubbyCo., we want to offer a large range of scents available so that you can choose the one you favour most - be it herbal, citrusy, floral or even food-like.
Let's break it down for you today - or, you can also refer to our summary table right at the bottom!
Essential oils
If you prefer natural scents, essential oils are a great choice. They’re extracted from herbs, flowers, and plants, most often through steam distillation. That involves heating the components until a gas is released, then condensing the gas back into a liquid. It’s a gentle but yet timely extraction process that ensures the sensitive compounds don’t break down, which makes it generally pricier.
In aromatherapy, pure essential oils are utilised for health benefits, used topically or via inhalation, can help achieve balance physically, mentally and emotionally. It can relieve symptoms such as fatigue and pain, or even as an insect repellent.
Under our aromatherapy range, we only use 100% pure essential oils unless otherwise stated. Some essential oils like chamomile and rose requires safe dilution for mass usage, you can find these details in our product ingredients list.
Fragrance oils
With that, not everything in nature is able to produce an essential oil – you won’t find strawberry, vanilla, or coffee! This is where fragrance oils come in.
Fragrance oils are synthetic. They’re created with a mix of aroma chemicals and natural ingredients like essential oils and extracts, produced in a laboratory. You can find almost every scent available as there is no limitations - you can even create the smell of the salty sea breeze, or the smell of your fresh linen laundry.
As fragrance oils does not require complex extraction, it is generally much cheaper.
The fragrance oils that we use are strictly phthalate free and skin safe. Phthalates are used to dissolve raw materials when making fragrance oils. While it's not clear at what levels phthalates cause adverse health issues, research has shown that they could still pose a risk.
Summary of Essential Oils vs Fragrance Oils
| Essential Oils | Fragrance Oils | |
| Natural or Synthetic | Natural | Synthetic |
| Source | Aromatic plants | Aromatic Plants and Synethetic Components |
| Price | Generally more expensive | Generally less expensive |
| Pros | Aromatherapeutic benefits | Great variety of skin-safe scents, including scents not available in nature |
| Cons | Pricier, limited variety of scents | Does not have natural healing properties |
| Examples | Lavender, Peppermint, Bergamot, Tea Tree | Cherry Blossom, Apple Cinnamon, Sea Breeze, Cookie Dough |
| Usage | Aromatherapy, vaporizers, soaps | Candles, soaps, perfumes, lotions |
Now that you have a better understanding of both essential oils and fragrance oils, you can choose what best suits your needs - be it as a gift, or for yourself!