How to Choose a Reliable Fragrance Oil Supplier for a Candle Business in India
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Fragrance oils from ₹68.44 / 15g · ₹2,832 / kg 15g trial sizes to 1kg bottles Made & stocked in India · ships nationwide
CSI buying guides · fragrance oils
Twelve things to check before you trust a fragrance supplier with a production order — and our own scorecard, gaps included.
★★★★★
"Product quality is too good and the nature of the supplier is really helpful."
Chanpreet kaurMay 2024
Complete Candle Making Course Kit
★★★★☆
"Quality of product very good, supplier also very co operative."
M.S.May 2024
Complete Candle Making Course Kit
★★★★★
"I like it."
AshwiniSep 2025
British Rose Fragrance Oil
★★★★★
"Good fragrance 👍"
Sooraj RVerified buyer · Aug 2026
Blue Ocean Fragrance Oil
★★★★★
"I have purchased this fragrance and it is amazing..their quality is extremely good…"
Lalitha JaganAug 2024
Apple Cinnamon Fragrance Oil
★★★★☆
"Good product and I fully satisfaction with my end result"
Urvashi PatelVerified buyer · Aug 2026
Sacred Sandal Ember Fragrance Oil
★★★★★
"Product quality is too good and the nature of the supplier is really helpful."
Chanpreet kaurMay 2024
Complete Candle Making Course Kit
★★★★☆
"Quality of product very good, supplier also very co operative."
M.S.May 2024
Complete Candle Making Course Kit
★★★★★
"I like it."
AshwiniSep 2025
British Rose Fragrance Oil
★★★★★
"Good fragrance 👍"
Sooraj RVerified buyer · Aug 2026
Blue Ocean Fragrance Oil
★★★★★
"I have purchased this fragrance and it is amazing..their quality is extremely good…"
Lalitha JaganAug 2024
Apple Cinnamon Fragrance Oil
★★★★☆
"Good product and I fully satisfaction with my end result"
Urvashi PatelVerified buyer · Aug 2026
Sacred Sandal Ember Fragrance Oil
Reviews collected and published through Judge.me on candlemakingsuppliesindia.store. Wording is unedited.
✓ Every size priced on the page ✓ Stated notes on 102 of 107 listings ✓ SDS & IFRA documentation on request via WhatsApp
Candle Business Guides · Brand & Manufacturing
Not by the smell of the sample. By what the supplier publishes, what they will send you on request, and what they admit they cannot tell you. Here is a twelve-point check you can run in an afternoon — and CSI's own score against it, with the four outright gaps named.
3 of 12
clear passes when CSI is scored against its own live pages on the checklist below — five partial, four gaps. The bar is deliberately set at what a stockist will eventually ask you for, not at what is normal in the trade · CSI live pages, September 2026
Quick answers — read this first
What actually makes a fragrance supplier reliable? Four things, in order: published specifications per oil, a pack ladder that lets you test before committing, documentation supplied on request, and stock you can plan around. Scent quality is what you test yourself.What should I check first? Whether every size is priced on the page without an enquiry, and whether the listing states a candle usage rate and scent notes. Those two take thirty seconds and eliminate most of the field.
What can no listing tell you? Whether the candle will throw in your wax, wick and jar. That is settled by three cured jars and a notebook, never by a page.
Where does CSI fall short? Four places, stated plainly: only 18 of 107 oil pages publish a measured flash point; 0 state a shelf life or storage instruction; 0 publish a batch or lot number; and nothing above 1 kg is priced publicly.
The short answer
Score the listing, not the sales pitch: prices per size, stated candle load, stated notes, flash point, vanillin line, documentation route, review evidence, pack ladder, stock depth. Nine of the twelve checks are answerable from a product page in under a minute.
Then run a ₹4,626.78 trial: six 15 g samples, three 100 g bottles for burn tests, 4 kg of wax, 20 wicks, a scale and a thermometer. Four weeks, one supplier, a real verdict.
Then ask for paper: the SDS and IFRA documentation for the exact oil and size. No CSI page publishes a certificate number or a downloadable document — documentation is supplied on request via WhatsApp, and "how fast does it arrive" is itself the test.
In this guide
A deliberately demanding checklist, scored against the evidence a buyer can see. The point of publishing it is not modesty: a buyer who knows which four things to ask us for will get them, and one who assumes a badge covers everything will not ask at all.
Well-documented listing
Sandalwood · 15 g ₹93.22 · 1 kg ₹5,026.80
Publishes nothing at all
Honeydew Melon · 15 g ₹105.02 · 1 kg ₹3,398.40
The real test
Ask for the documentation
Straight answer
How should a candle business choose a fragrance oil supplier?
By scoring what is published and what arrives on request, then testing the shortlist in your own wax. Twelve checks matter, and nine of them are answerable from a product page in under a minute: is every pack size priced without an enquiry; is there a trial size you can afford to waste; does the page state a candle usage rate; does it state scent notes; does it state a measured flash point; does it disclose vanillin or discolouration risk; is there a route to the SDS and IFRA documentation; does it say anything about shelf life or storage; is there any lot traceability; are there published reviews on that product; is the range deep enough to be re-orderable in the sizes you need; and is anything priced above 1 kg. Scored against that list on its own live pages, CSI takes three clear passes, five partials and four gaps — the gaps being flash points (only 18 of 107 pages publish a measured value), shelf life and storage (0 of 107), lot numbers (0 of 107) and published pricing above 1 kg (none; quotes are individual). Two of those four are answerable on request and two genuinely are not. Then do the part no checklist can do for you: buy six 15 g samples, take three forward to 100 g, and burn them in your jar with your wick at your load. A supplier's specifications tell you whether they can be worked with. Only a cured jar tells you whether the candle is good — the method is in the pre-launch testing guide.
One line: judge a supplier on published specifications, a usable pack ladder and documentation on request — then let three cured jars decide the scent.
Start any supplier evaluation at the smallest size. 15 g trial bottles from ₹68.44 — Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹68.44, Sandalwood ₹93.22, British Rose ₹94.40. 55 of 107 listings carry a 15 g size.
Shop fragrance oils
The twelve-point check
Every one of these is something a stockist, a marketplace or a corporate buyer will eventually ask you — which means it is something you need from whoever supplies you.
Run it on a product page, not a home page. Marketing lives on home pages; specifications live on listings.
The twelve checks · what to look for and how to verify it
Nine are answerable from a product page; three need a message and a reply
| # | Check | Why a candle business needs it | How to verify in under a minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Every pack size priced publicly | You cannot cost a candle against a price you have to ask for | Open the listing: are 15 g to 1 kg all priced without logging in? |
| 2 | A trial size you can afford to waste | Sampling is the only way to avoid buying kilos of a mistake | Is there a 15 g or 50 g option, and on how many of the range? |
| 3 | A stated candle usage rate | It is the starting point for your load and your dose card | Look for "candle usage rate" or "recommended fragrance load" with a % |
| 4 | Stated scent notes | Lets you build a range that is not four versions of the same thing | Top / heart / base, or at minimum a stated profile |
| 5 | A measured flash point | A handling figure and a sanity check on your add temperature | A number in °C or °F — not "> 93°C", which is a threshold, not a measurement |
| 6 | Vanillin or discolouration disclosure | Decides whether white wax stays white; saves a whole failed batch | A vanillin percentage, or a "discolouration" note |
| 7 | A route to the SDS and IFRA documentation | The paperwork stockists and gifting buyers ask for | Ask for one oil by name and size; time the reply |
| 8 | Shelf life and storage guidance | Tells you how long a kilo can sit before you should worry | Search the page for "storage", "store" or "shelf life" |
| 9 | Lot or batch traceability | Lets a complaint be traced, and lets you re-order a known lot | Look for a batch or lot number on the page or the bottle |
| 10 | Published reviews on the specific product | Other people's evidence, on the oil you are buying, not the shop | Count reviews on that listing, not the store total |
| 11 | Range depth and repeat availability | A scent you cannot re-order is a discontinued SKU in your range | Is the size you need in stock — and how many lines are sold out? |
| 12 | Pricing above 1 kg | At production volume, published prices beat a negotiation every time | Is any pack larger than 1 kg listed and priced? |
This bar is set high on purpose
No supplier we know of publishes all twelve, and this guide scores no supplier but CSI — we cannot see anyone else's internal records, so we do not name, rate or characterise anybody else. Use the list as a set of questions, not as a pass mark. The useful output is not a winner; it is a written list of which checks your chosen supplier fails, so you know exactly which gaps you are covering yourself with samples, burn tests and retained jars.CSI scored, gaps named
Counted across all 107 CSI fragrance-oil product pages and 437 priced variants in September 2026. Where the evidence is partial, the row says how partial.
CANDLEMAKINGSUPPLIESINDIA against its own twelve-point check · September 2026
Three passes, five partials, four gaps — with the count behind each verdict
| Check | Verdict | The evidence | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Prices per size, publicly | Pass | All 437 variants priced on the listing, 15 g to 1 kg, no enquiry or login | You can cost a candle to the paisa before you order anything |
| 2. Affordable trial size | Partial | 55 of 107 listings offer 15 g, from ₹68.44; 89 offer 50 g. The other 52 start at 50 g or 100 g | Half the range can be trialled for under ₹200; for the rest, budget a 100 g bottle |
| 3. Stated candle usage rate | Partial | 81 of 107 state at least one usage percentage; 26 state none | On a quarter of the range you must work from the wax's stated ceiling instead |
| 4. Stated scent notes | Pass | 102 of 107 state notes or a profile; 88 give a full top / heart / base pyramid | You can plan a range on paper before spending anything |
| 5. Measured flash point | Gap | 18 of 107 publish a measured value. 32 carry only the threshold line "Flash point > 93°C (suitable for alcohol-based products)", which is not a measurement. 56 say nothing | For most oils, ask for the SDS figure; never borrow a number from a similar scent |
| 6. Vanillin / discolouration | Partial | 62 of 107 carry a vanillin or discolouration statement, 18 of them as a numeric percentage | On the rest, pour one jar in white wax and watch it for a fortnight |
| 7. SDS and IFRA documentation | Partial | Supplied on request via WhatsApp — but 0 of 107 pages publish a certificate number, amendment, category number, assessment date or downloadable file, and only 2 mention an SDS at all | Request it per oil and per size, and file it; nothing can be read off the listing |
| 8. Shelf life and storage | Gap | 0 of 107 state a shelf life, expiry date, storage temperature or storage instruction | Treat storage as ordinary good practice, date bottles as they arrive, and ask for the SDS |
| 9. Lot traceability | Gap | 0 of 107 publish a batch or lot number or any batch-to-batch data | You cannot re-order a known lot; keep a retained jar per bottle instead |
| 10. Reviews on the product | Partial | Judge.me reviews with verified-buyer status, but only 19 of 107 oil listings carry any review — 33 reviews across the fragrance range | Evidence exists for the popular lines and not for the rest |
| 11. Range depth and availability | Pass | 107 fragrance listings; 104 offer a 1 kg size and 87 of those are in stock. But 53 of 437 variants (12%) are sold out and 10 oils are unavailable in every size | Deep enough to build a range on — check your specific sizes before committing a split |
| 12. Pricing above 1 kg | Gap | 1 kg is the largest listed fragrance pack. Nothing above it is published; larger volumes are quoted individually | Listed per-kilo prices are the ceiling for a big order; ask for a quote and get it in writing |
Read the four gaps carefully, because they are not the same kind of gap. Flash points and documentation are answerable: the figure exists, it is simply not on the page, so a message gets you an answer. Shelf life and lot numbers are not answerable from the published information at all, and no honest reading of these pages will make them so — which is precisely why the batch-card and retained-jar habits in the consistency guide are not optional for a business at production volume. They are how you cover a gap your supplier has not closed.
What a supplier cannot tell you, however good they are. Whether the candle throws. Not because anybody is hiding it, but because throw is a property of your combination — your wax, your wick, your vessel diameter, your load, your add temperature, your cure — and no listing knows what jar you bought. Any page that implies otherwise is selling you comfort. Three identical jars, fourteen days and a notebook settle it; a burn test is a protocol, and a protocol produces your result, not the supplier's.
Four things on our own pages you should discount
A buying guide that only criticises other people's listings is an advertisement. Here are the claims on CSI's own pages that we would not accept as evidence if we were the buyer.
One: "trusted by 10,000+ candle makers". That phrasing, or a variant of it, appears on 24 of the 107 fragrance-oil pages, and there is no source for the number anywhere on the site. Treat any customer-count claim from any supplier as marketing until it is attached to something countable. What is countable here is narrower and more useful: 33 published reviews across 19 of the 107 oil listings, each attached to a product and a date.
Two: an IFRA certification claim used as a badge. Fifty-five pages carry one as a bare bullet, tick or specification value, and 42 more carry one inside company boilerplate. As the guide to what an IFRA certificate actually is sets out, such a document belongs to one fragrance and states a maximum use level per product category — so a badge without a document attached is an assertion, not evidence. The wording to take seriously is the specific kind: one page reads "IFRA compliance applies within stated category limits - refer to the product SDS for full IFRA category details", and 26 footnote a published ten-row usage table with "IFRA compliant within these limits". Either way, ask for the document by oil and by size.
Three: a superlative our own pages contradict. The Sandalwood listing describes its 203°C flash point as the highest in the CSI fragrance-oil range. It is not: Vetiver publishes "Flashpoint 206°C" and Vanilla Bean equals it at 203°C. We are naming it because this is exactly the class of claim a buyer should check rather than accept — and because a supplier who will point at their own error is more useful to you than one who will not.
Four: comparison tables against unnamed "generic" oils. Sixty-three listings carry a table contrasting the product with generic or mass-market fragrance oils, asserting things about those unnamed products — no documentation, undisclosed vanillin, fading within an hour or two. We have no evidence for claims about products we have not tested, and neither has any buyer reading them. Ignore that entire genre of table, on any site, and read the specification block instead. Where we reference a designer or retailer direction, note too that 24 listings mention a third-party brand and only 14 of those carry a disclaimer that the oil is not affiliated with or identical to the original — a gap in our own page furniture, and one you should not rely on when writing your own product copy.
The CSI principle
Judge a supplier on what they publish, what they will send you, and what they admit they do not know. The third one is the most informative and almost nobody offers it.
A supplier who tells you that 56 of their pages carry no flash point has given you a real instruction: ask for it. A supplier who tells you everything is certified has given you nothing to act on.
The fastest way to test any supplier, including us: send one message naming an oil and a size and asking for the SDS and IFRA documentation, then see what comes back and how quickly. Bulk pricing and GST invoicing are handled on the same line.
Test us on WhatsApp
The four-week trial, costed
A checklist narrows the field; a trial decides it. This one runs on one supplier at a time, takes four weeks of calendar and about half a day of work, and costs ₹4,626.78 including two instruments you keep.
1
Week 1 — score the listings and buy six 15 g samples. Run the twelve checks on the six oils you would actually sell, and write the score down. Then buy the 15 g sizes: at real September 2026 prices, Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹68.44, Sandalwood ₹93.22, British Rose ₹94.40, Gardenia ₹105.02, Honeydew Melon ₹105.02 and Verbena ₹106.20 come to ₹572.30 for six. In the same message, ask for the SDS and IFRA documentation for all six by name and size — and note how long the reply takes.
2
Week 1 — blind cold assessment. Decant a little of each into identical unlabelled containers, have someone else shuffle them, and score each on recognisability and whether you would put your name on it. Do this before any candle exists, because a 15 g bottle tells you nothing about throw and a great deal about character. Cut three of the six here.
3
Week 2 — buy 100 g of the three survivors and pour six jars each. Three 100 g bottles at ₹354, ₹502.68 and ₹342.20 is ₹1,198.88 and covers 18 candles at 16 g. Add 4 kg of Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 at ₹507.40 per kg — ₹2,029.60 for the 3,312 g you need plus spare — and 20 Eco Candle Wicks in Thin (C1) at ₹118. Weigh every dose with a scale and log every temperature with a pen thermometer, ₹354 each.
4
Weeks 2–4 — cure, then burn. Keep one jar per scent as an untouched reference and cure the rest 14 days with lids on. Then burn one of each for two hours: time to a full melt pool, soot, mushrooming, and throw at three metres. Change nothing between the three scents except the scent — same wax, same wick, same jar, same load, same cure.
5
Week 4 — decide, and write down what you are covering yourself. Pick the two scents that earned a place and the pack size each has earned. Then list the checks the supplier failed and the habit that covers each one: no flash point on the page → SDS requested and filed; no lot number → retained jar per bottle; nothing priced above 1 kg → a written quote before the next production order.
Priced above: six 15 g samples ₹572.30 (Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹68.44 · Sandalwood ₹93.22 · British Rose ₹94.40 · Gardenia ₹105.02 · Honeydew Melon ₹105.02 · Verbena ₹106.20) · three 100 g bottles ₹1,198.88 · 4 × 1 kg CSI 464 ₹2,029.60 · 20 Eco Wicks Thin (C1) ₹118 · scale ₹354 · pen thermometer ₹354. Total ₹4,626.78, of which ₹3,918.78 is materials.
Three listings, three levels of disclosure
Not a ranking of the oils, but a demonstration of how far apart two pages in one catalogue can be — and what to do when a page gives you nothing.
1
Detailed page · one claim to discount
Sandalwood Fragrance Oil | Candle Fragrances
A well-documented listing and a useful lesson in reading one critically. It publishes a measured flash point, "Flashpoint 203°C"; "Vanillin content 0% - no discolouration, safe for white and neutral wax"; loads of "Up to 10% for soy wax, cure 48-72 hours" and "Up to 6% for paraffin wax", with wax melts up to 12%; and a stated profile — "Warm, creamy sandalwood - smooth, rich, and sophisticated" with an "Undertone Subtle earthy depth - grounding, natural, never sharp". On IFRA it carries only the skin-contact line, "Use within safe usage rates for lotions, body oils, and personal care products". And it carries the superlative discussed above — a claim that its 203°C is the highest flash point in the range, which the store's own Vetiver page contradicts at 206°C. Nine of our twelve checks pass on this page. One sentence on it should be ignored. Both facts are worth knowing.
| Size | Price | Per kg | 200 g candles @ 8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 gm | ₹93.22 | ₹6,214.67 | ≈0 |
| 50 gm | ₹271.40 | ₹5,428 | ≈3 |
| 100 gm | ₹502.68 | ₹5,026.80 | ≈6 |
| 500 gm | ₹2,513.40 | ₹5,026.80 | ≈31 |
| 1 kg | ₹5,026.80 | ₹5,026.80 | ≈62 |
₹80.43 of oil per 200 g candle at 8%, at 1 kg pricing Buy Sandalwood
2
Strong disclosure · a size currently unavailable
Vetiver Fragrance Oil | Candle Fragrances
Included for two reasons. Its page is one of the better technical listings in the range — "Flashpoint 206°C", "Vanillin Content 0%" with "Zero discoloration risk - safe in white, cream, and all light-coloured wax", "Soy wax usage rate Up to 10%" with a 48–72 hour cure, "Up to 6% for paraffin", and a stated profile of "Earthy, woody, and smoky with hints of green and natural sweetness", the earthiness described as "Deep, rooted, and immediately natural - the character of soil and root". And it demonstrates check 11 in practice: its 1 kg size is sold out as this guide is written, while 15 g, 50 g, 100 g and 500 g remain listed. That is the availability risk in one product — at 500 g pricing the oil costs ₹92.80 a candle rather than ₹90.62 at the kilo rate, and if this were an anchor scent in a production run you would want a written substitute ready.
| Size | Price | Per kg | 200 g candles @ 8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 gm | ₹187.62 | ₹12,508 | ≈0 |
| 50 gm | ₹354 | ₹7,080 | ≈3 |
| 100 gm | ₹600 | ₹6,000 | ≈6 |
| 500 gm | ₹2,900 | ₹5,800 | ≈31 |
| 1 kg (sold out) | ₹5,664 | ₹5,664 | ≈62 |
₹92.80 of oil per 200 g candle at 8%, at 500 g pricing Buy Vetiver
3
The other end of the range · publishes nothing
Honeydew Melon
The honest counterexample, and the reason this guide exists. This listing publishes no scent notes, no usage percentage, no flash point, no vanillin or discolouration line and no IFRA wording — it is one of only five pages in the range with no note or profile block at all, and it scores nothing on checks 3, 4, 5 and 6. The oil may be perfectly good; the page simply does not tell you. The correct response is not to avoid it but to change how you buy it: start at 15 g for ₹105.02, ask for the SDS before you pour, work to your wax's stated ceiling rather than a stated rate, and pour one jar in white wax to watch for discolouration yourself. Its ladder rewards patience too — the kilo is ₹3,398.40 against ₹4,354.20 for ten 100 g bottles, one of only four oils in the range where stepping up saves 15% or more per gram.
| Size | Price | Per kg | 200 g candles @ 8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 gm | ₹105.02 | ₹7,001.33 | ≈0 |
| 50 gm | ₹217.12 | ₹4,342.40 | ≈3 |
| 100 gm | ₹435.42 | ₹4,354.20 | ≈6 |
| 500 gm | ₹1,699.20 | ₹3,398.40 | ≈31 |
| 1000 gm | ₹3,398.40 | ₹3,398.40 | ≈62 |
₹54.37 of oil per 200 g candle at 8%, at 1 kg pricing Buy Honeydew Melon
The most useful sentence a supplier can write is "this page does not state that — ask us". It is also the sentence nobody writes, which is why it is worth looking for.
— CandleMakingSuppliesIndia
Choosing, and when to use two suppliers
Score, trial, then commit — but commit in proportion. A first order after a successful trial should be 100 g or 500 g bottles, not kilos; the kilo decision belongs to the scent that has proved it sells, and that threshold is worked out in the 1 kg guide. A supplier who is right for six 100 g bottles is not automatically right for sixteen kilos a month, and you will learn more from the second order than from the first.
Two suppliers is sensible at production volume, and it is cover rather than disloyalty. Around 12% of fragrance-oil variants in this range are sold out at any given moment and ten oils are currently unavailable in every size — normal for a 107-line catalogue, and still enough to stall a pour. One primary supplier for the scents that carry your volume, a qualified alternative for one or two lines, where qualified means burn-tested in your jar. An untested alternative is not a backup; it is a hope.
The sourcing channels themselves — importers, traders, blenders, specialist raw-material suppliers — are compared in where professional candle brands buy fragrance oils. This guide stays on the other question: given one supplier in front of you, what evidence should you demand before a production order? Twelve checks, a costed trial, and a written note of the gaps you are covering yourself.
The mistake: choosing on the sample and nothing else. A 15 g bottle smelled from the neck tells you about character and almost nothing about performance, because throw comes from the melt pool — which is your wick, your jar diameter and your cure, none of which the sample knows about. Makers who buy kilos off a bottle sniff are the same makers who are surprised by weak hot throw six weeks later. Smell the bottle to shortlist. Burn a cured jar to decide. The diagnosis path if it goes wrong anyway is in wax vs wick vs fragrance oil.
Why trust this guide
CANDLEMAKINGSUPPLIESINDIA supplies raw materials, not finished candles, and this page scores us against a demanding checklist and publishes the result: three clear passes, five partials and four gaps. That is an odd thing for a supplier to print, and the reason is practical rather than noble. A buyer who knows that only 18 of our 107 fragrance-oil pages carry a measured flash point will ask us for the SDS, and get it. A buyer who has been told the range is comprehensively certified will not ask, will assume, and will eventually be let down by an assumption we allowed them to make.
Every count in this guide is taken from the live CSI catalogue and the live text of all 107 fragrance-oil product pages in September 2026, and every price links to the page where current information takes precedence. No supplier other than CSI is scored, named, rated or characterised anywhere on this page, and no claim is made about anyone else's specifications, stock or documentation. Flash points are quoted only where a page publishes a measured value; the threshold line "Flash point > 93°C (suitable for alcohol-based products)" is not treated as a measurement. No shelf life, storage instruction, lot number, laboratory result or certificate number is asserted for any product, because none is published for any product.
To test the documentation route yourself, message us on WhatsApp at +91 7397976926 with a product name and pack size and ask for the SDS and IFRA documentation. Bulk pricing above the listed sizes and GST invoicing are handled on the same line.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if a fragrance oil supplier is reliable?
Score their product pages, not their home page. Look for every pack size priced without an enquiry, a stated candle usage rate, stated scent notes, a measured flash point, a vanillin or discolouration line, and a clear route to the SDS and IFRA documentation. Then test the route: ask for documentation on one named oil and size and see what arrives and how fast. Finally burn a cured jar — no listing can tell you how a candle performs in your wax, wick and vessel.
Where does CSI fall short as a fragrance supplier?
In four places, all counted from our own pages. Only 18 of 107 fragrance-oil pages publish a measured flash point — 32 carry a threshold line that is not a measurement and 56 say nothing. 0 of 107 state a shelf life, storage temperature or storage instruction. 0 of 107 publish a batch or lot number, so you cannot re-order a known lot. And nothing above 1 kg is priced publicly; larger volumes are quoted individually. Two of the four are answerable on request; two are not, and you cover them with retained jars and batch records.
Does an IFRA certification claim on a listing mean the oil is safe for candles?
It is an assertion, not a document. An IFRA-related document belongs to one fragrance and states a maximum use level per product category; a badge on a listing carries no number, category or date. Across the 107 CSI fragrance-oil pages, 71 mention IFRA in some form, 36 never do, and none publishes a certificate number, amendment, category number or assessment date. The useful move is to request the documentation per oil and per size, and to judge candle suitability from the supplier's stated applications plus your own burn test.
What should a fragrance oil product page tell me?
Six things, minimum: a price for every pack size, a candle usage rate with its basis (share of the finished candle, or of the wax), scent notes or a stated profile, a measured flash point, a vanillin or discolouration statement, and the applications the supplier says it is for. On the CSI range, 102 of 107 state notes and 81 state a usage rate, but only 18 publish a measured flash point and 62 carry a vanillin line — so for most oils you will be filling one or two of the six in yourself by asking.
How much does it cost to trial a new fragrance supplier properly?
About ₹4,626.78 on the worked plan here, including a scale and a thermometer you keep — so ₹3,918.78 in materials. That buys six 15 g samples at ₹572.30, three 100 g bottles at ₹1,198.88 for eighteen test candles, 4 kg of CSI 464 soy wax at ₹2,029.60 and twenty Eco Candle Wicks at ₹118. Four weeks of calendar, about half a day of work, and a written verdict on both the oils and the supplier. Set against a production order it is a rounding error.
Should a candle business use one fragrance supplier or two?
One primary, plus a qualified alternative for one or two lines once you are at production volume. Qualified means you have burn-tested it in your own jar — a bookmark is not a backup. The reason is stock: 53 of 437 fragrance-oil variants in this range (12%) are sold out at any given moment and ten oils are unavailable in every size, which is ordinary for a 107-line catalogue and still enough to stop a pour. Keep the substitute written down next to each anchor scent.
Twelve checks, one trial, four gaps named
Score the listings. Ask for the paperwork. Burn a cured jar. Then commit in proportion.
Start the trial at 15 g: Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹68.44, Sandalwood ₹93.22, British Rose ₹94.40, Gardenia ₹105.02, Honeydew Melon ₹105.02, Verbena ₹106.20 — ₹572.30 for six. Then 100 g bottles from ₹300 and kilos from ₹2,832. CSI's score on its own checklist: 3 passes, 5 partial, 4 gaps — flash points, shelf life, lot numbers and pricing above 1 kg. SDS and IFRA documentation, bulk quotes and GST invoicing on WhatsApp.
Shop fragrance oils Ask the twelve questions
Continue the read
- Where do professional candle brands buy fragrance oils in India?
- What is an IFRA certificate and why does it matter to candle makers?
- How to maintain fragrance consistency across commercial candle batches
- How to test fragrance oils before launching a candle
- When should a candle business start buying fragrance oil in 1 kg quantities?
- Best place to source candle making supplies for a business
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Editorial standards & sources
About this guide: Written by the CANDLEMAKINGSUPPLIESINDIA team. The twelve-point checklist is our own and is deliberately demanding; it is offered as a set of questions to ask any supplier, not as an industry pass mark. CSI is the only supplier scored here. No other supplier, channel or brand is named, rated, compared or characterised, because we hold no evidence about anyone else's specifications, stock or documentation. The trial described is a protocol, not a report of results: no burn-test outcome, laboratory result or performance claim appears anywhere on this page. Quoted page text — loads, notes, flash points, vanillin figures and IFRA wording — is verbatim from the linked product pages.Customer reviews: The six reviews at the top of this page are genuine, published Judge.me reviews left by CSI customers on their product pages. Names, star ratings, dates and products are as recorded by Judge.me; wording is unedited.
Figures verified September 2026: All counts are taken across the 107 CSI fragrance-oil product pages and their 437 priced variants. Flash point: 18 pages state a measured value, 32 state only "Flash point > 93°C (suitable for alcohol-based products)" or a close variant (a threshold for alcohol-based products, not a measurement), 1 states "Available on request / SDS", and 56 state nothing. IFRA: 71 pages mention IFRA and 36 never do; 55 use it as a bare badge, bullet or specification value and 42 carry it inside company boilerplate; 26 footnote a published ten-row usage table with "IFRA compliant within these limits"; 1 states "IFRA compliance applies within stated category limits - refer to the product SDS for full IFRA category details"; 0 publish a certificate number, amendment number, category number, assessment date or downloadable document; 2 mention an SDS. Usage: 81 pages state at least one usage or fragrance-load percentage, 26 state none. Notes: 102 state notes or a profile, 88 with a full top/heart/base pyramid, 5 with no note block at all. Vanillin/discolouration: 62 pages carry a statement, 18 of them numeric. Shelf life, storage, batch or lot numbers, laboratory or GC-MS results, CAS numbers and specific gravity: 0 pages state any. Unsourced claims noted: a "trusted by 10,000+ makers" line or variant on 24 pages; a "highest flashpoint in the CSI fragrance oil range" claim on the Sandalwood page that the store's own Vetiver page ("Flashpoint 206°C") and Vanilla Bean page ("Flashpoint: 203°C") contradict; comparison tables against unnamed generic or mass-market oils on 63 pages; 24 pages referencing a third-party brand, of which 14 carry a non-affiliation disclaimer and 10 carry none. Sizes: 55 pages list 15 g (50 in stock), 89 list 50 g, 104 list 100 g, 82 list 500 g, 104 list 1 kg (87 in stock); 1 kg is the largest listed fragrance pack. Stock: 53 of 437 variants (12%) sold out; 10 oils unavailable in every size; 21 oils have at least one sold-out size, including Vetiver's 1 kg. Reviews: 33 published Judge.me reviews across 19 of the 107 fragrance-oil listings. Prices used: 15 g — Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹68.44, Sandalwood ₹93.22, British Rose ₹94.40, Gardenia ₹105.02, Honeydew Melon ₹105.02, Verbena ₹106.20 (₹572.30 for six); 100 g — Eucalyptus Spearmint ₹354, Sandalwood ₹502.68, British Rose ₹342.20 (₹1,198.88 for three; 300 g = 18 candles at 16 g), Honeydew Melon ₹435.42, Citrus Lemon ₹300; 500 g — Vetiver ₹2,900 (₹5.80 per gram); 1 kg — Citrus Lemon ₹2,832, Honeydew Melon ₹3,398.40, Sandalwood ₹5,026.80, Vetiver ₹5,664 (currently sold out). Luxury Soy Wax CSI 464 ₹507.40 per kg, so 4 × 1 kg = ₹2,029.60 against the 3,312 g needed for 18 candles at 184 g each; Eco Candle Wicks Thin (C1) 20 wicks ₹118 at ₹5.90 each; Candle Making Weighing Scale ₹354; Pen Thermometer ₹354. Trial total ₹572.30 + ₹1,198.88 + ₹2,029.60 + ₹118 + ₹354 + ₹354 = ₹4,626.78, of which ₹3,918.78 is materials. Per-candle oil cost = price per gram × 16 g at an 8% load on a 200 g candle: Sandalwood ₹80.43, Vetiver ₹92.80 at 500 g pricing (₹90.62 at the 1 kg price), Honeydew Melon ₹54.37. Honeydew Melon's kilo at ₹3,398.40 against ten 100 g bottles at ₹4,354.20 is a 22% saving per gram, one of four oils in the range at 15% or more. Cure of 14–21 days reflects standard practice for soy container candles. Prices and availability change — the linked product pages are always authoritative.