My Fragrance Supplier Changed the Colour of an Oil but Says the Formula Is Unchanged — What Production Tests Should I Run Before Accepting It?

What the supplier's statement does and does not cover

A supplier who tells you in advance that an oil's colour has changed is doing you a favour. Many changes arrive unannounced. And the statement that the formula is unchanged may be entirely accurate: colour can shift because a natural material came from a different harvest, because a raw-material source changed, or for other reasons that do not alter the recipe of the oil itself.

But the statement covers the oil, not your candle. Your product is the oil diluted in a specific wax, sometimes with dye, in a specific jar, with a specific wick, cured for a specific time and burned in a customer's room. Even if the fragrance performs identically, a colour change can reach your candle in two visible ways: a pale or undyed candle can take on a tint, and a dyed candle can move away from its approved shade because the oil's colour now adds to the dye differently.

Put the exposure into numbers. If this fragrance goes into 1,000 candles of 200 g a month at 8% load, that is 16 g per candle and 16 kg of oil every month. A colour change that slips through unnoticed affects a month of production before the first customer comment arrives. By contrast, an acceptance test with one undyed pair and three dyed pairs is eight 1 kg batches at 80 g of oil each, which is 640 g, about four per cent of one month's oil.

The time cost is the cure and ageing period, not your labour. Most of the work is weighing, pouring and photographing, which takes an afternoon. The rest is waiting, and while you wait, production can continue on any old oil you still hold.

So the right response is neither suspicion nor blind acceptance. It is change control: a short, planned set of tests with a written decision at the end.

Start with the paperwork

Before any wax is melted, ask the supplier for four things in writing. A written answer protects you if a customer later asks why a candle looks different, and it gives your team a clear record to refer to.

For a CSI oil, message CSI on WhatsApp (+91 7397976926) with the fragrance name, pack size and order details, and ask each of these questions. Do not assume a reason for the change or a batch number that has not been given to you.

The seven-test acceptance protocol

The tests below are designed around what your customer can see and smell. Use the old oil as the reference throughout; if you have none left, use a retained candle from an approved run. The pass criteria are a suggested starting point to adapt, not an industry standard.

Making the candles comparable

Every pair should share the same wax pack, wick, jar, fill weight, pour temperature and curing shelf, so the oil is the only difference. A 1 kg batch at 8% is 920 g wax and 80 g oil and fills five 200 g candles, which is enough for colour photographs, a cold-throw check and at least one burn per side. Add fragrance at the wax maker's stated temperature, check the oil's flashpoint, and never add fragrance at a melter's maximum setting.

Count the dyed shades honestly. If you sell six coloured versions of this fragrance, you need six dyed pairs, because a colour shift that is invisible in a deep shade can be obvious in a pale one. If the range is large, start with the palest shades; if they pass, the deeper ones almost certainly will.

Interpreting the results

If all seven tests pass, accept the change. Record the date, the tests, the photographs and who made the decision, and file the supplier's written note with them. Update your internal specification for the oil to note the new appearance, so no one rejects a later delivery because it looks unfamiliar.

If the only difference is in dyed shades, you have a manageable fix. Adjust the dye recipe for the affected shades, pour new pairs with the adjusted recipe, and compare them with the approved candles until they match. Record the new dye recipe as a separate version, clearly dated, so batches made with old oil and old dye can still be reproduced if you need them.

If throw, burn or undyed colour differ, hold the new oil. Share your results with the supplier in writing, with photographs and scores, and ask for an explanation. For CSI oils, send these on WhatsApp to +91 7397976926. Keep producing with any remaining old oil while the question is open, and plan which orders it can cover.

Protecting approved samples and repeat customers

Some customers have approved a specific look. A corporate client who signed off a sample in a particular shade, or a retailer whose shelf display is built around one colour, should not discover the change on delivery. Once your tests are complete, decide whether the new candles match closely enough for those customers. If they do not, tell them before production, with photographs, and let them approve the new appearance.

Keep a sealed reference of the old oil and one candle from each accepted pair until at least one production run with the new oil has sold without complaint. They are your evidence if anyone asks what changed and when.

Where this page fits

CSI already has guides that cover parts of this question. This page takes the production-floor angle; these go deeper on the rest:

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Frequently asked questions