Candle Fragrance Oils for 8-10% Fragrance Load

What an 8–10% load actually means — and the two ways people calculate it

There are two conventions in common use. The one this guide and the rest of the CSI series use is load as a share of the finished candle: a 200g candle at 10% is 20g of oil plus 180g of wax. The other is load as a share of the wax: weigh the wax, then add 10% of that weight in oil — 180g of wax plus 18g of oil. Both are legitimate. The trouble starts when a recipe written in one is poured in the other, or when you compare your load with a wax's stated ceiling without knowing which basis you used.

Working: under the wax method, oil = wax × load, so 184 × 0.08 = 14.72g and 180 × 0.10 = 18g; the true share is oil ÷ (wax + oil), e.g. 18 ÷ 198 = 9.09%. In the 8–10% range the gap is under one percentage point, so neither method will ruin a candle. It matters most at a wax's ceiling. Luxury Soy Wax Chunks' page states its recommended load as "8% to 13% of total wax weight", while CSI 464 and CSI 468 simply state "up to" figures. Pick one convention, write it at the top of every recipe card, and use it for every batch. The finished-candle method has one practical advantage: your jar's fill weight is the number you start from, and the grams fall straight out of it.

The grams table: 8%, 9% and 10% by candle size

Here is the whole range worked out for nine candle sizes on the finished-candle basis. The middle column matters more than most makers expect: 9% is a real option, not a compromise, and it is often where a candle that was nearly right at 8% lands.

Working: oil = candle weight × load; wax = candle weight − oil; candles per kilo of oil = 1,000 ÷ oil per candle, rounded down (1,000 ÷ 18 = 55.6 → 55). CSI vessels with a stated fill that match rows in this table include the Clear Glass Votive Jar 70 gram, the Amber Shiny Glass Jar with Black Lid (120 gm), the Clear Glass Jar with Golden Lid (150g fill) and the Apothecary Glass Candle Jar (500 gm size). For a jar stated in millilitres, weigh one real fill before using the table — 200 ml is not 200g. A single-size walkthrough for small candles is in how much fragrance oil for a 100g candle.

Which CSI waxes support an 8–10% load

A wax's stated fragrance load is the most oil it has been formulated to hold. What you want to know is where 8–10% sits inside that figure — comfortably in the middle, or right at the edge. The table covers every CSI candle wax and what its product page states.

Three candle waxes publish a ceiling, and two of them — Chunks and CSI 468 — put 8–10% comfortably inside it. CSI 464 is the one to watch. A recipe at 10% in CSI 464 has no margin for a heavy-handed pour, a scale that reads a gram high, or a helper who uses the wax-weight method. If you like CSI 464's price (₹93.36 of wax in a 200g candle against ₹110.22 for Chunks), design your recipes at 8–9% and keep them there. Paraffin, beeswax and gel wax pages at CSI state no load either.

Fragrance oils with evidence at the 8% end

CSI does not publish load recommendations per fragrance oil, and this guide will not invent them. What exists is a written record from buyers. Where a published review describes an oil as strong, concentrated or performing well in candles, that is a sensible reason to start it at 8% and make 10% prove itself. Where no such review exists, the oil is not weak — it is simply untested in public, and the same 8% start applies.

Three oils get a card, one for each position in the range. Each card counts 100g candles at 9% (9g of oil each) per bottle, the midpoint of the range; halve the count for 200g candles.

8% vs 10%: what the step costs per candle and per hundred

Every step from 8% to 10% swaps 4g of wax for 4g of oil in a 200g candle. Oil costs far more per gram than wax, so the step is almost pure added cost. The table shows it for ten CSI oils at 1 kg pricing, with the small wax saving netted off for Luxury Soy Wax Chunks (4g × ₹0.599 = ₹2.40).

Working: +4g oil = 4 × price per gram (Lavender 4 × ₹5.221 = ₹20.88); net = that minus ₹2.40 of Chunks wax (₹20.88 − ₹2.40 = ₹18.49, from unrounded figures); per 100 candles = 400g × price per gram. The last column is the practical one: 100 candles at 10% need 2 kg of oil; at 8%, 1.6 kg. For a single scent that is the difference between two 1 kg bottles and one 1 kg bottle plus a 500g and a 100g — a real cash-flow difference before a single candle sells.

Now set that against what 10% might return. More oil does not automatically make a candle smell stronger. A load that the wax, wick and cure cannot release properly gives you more oil in the jar and not more scent in the room — the reasoning is in why your candle still smells weak at 10%. So the ₹11–₹31 per candle is a bet, and bets should be tested before they are placed on a hundred candles.

Deciding between 8%, 9% and 10%: the side-by-side

The decision needs three candles, not thirty, as long as everything except the load is held still. Use your production jar, your production wick and the wax you actually sell in.

Weighing a production batch at 8%, 9% or 10%

At the bench, you usually know how much wax is in the melter, not how many finished grams you are making. The formula that turns a wax weight into an oil weight on the finished-candle basis is oil = wax × load ÷ (100 − load). Here it is for common melt sizes, with Lavender and British Rose costed so you can see the batch-level difference.

Working: 5,000g wax at 9% → 5,000 × 9 ÷ 91 = 494.51g; the finished batch is 5,494.51g, which is 27 candles of 200g with a little over. Costs are oil grams × price per gram, calculated from unrounded grams (5 kg melt, Lavender at 10%: 5,000 × 10 ÷ 90 × ₹5.221 = ₹2,900.56). On a 5 kg melt, 10% instead of 8% is ₹630.56 more Lavender for the same 27 candles. Plan a 3–5% wax allowance on top for spills and top-ups; that is a planning margin, not part of the load. How many bottles a whole season needs is covered in how much fragrance oil for 500 candles.

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