I Want to Test 20 Candle Fragrances Before Launching My Brand — What Sample Sizes Should I Order?

The sample size for each of 20 oils

The twenty oils below span woods, florals, gourmands, fruits, spice and resin, with a few inspired-by-style profiles. They are a working example: swap in your own candidates, but keep the method. For each oil, order the smallest size in stock. Then look along the row to the right, at the sizes you would buy if the scent wins. A test is only useful if the winner can be bought again in production quantities.

The fourteen 15 g testers average ₹123.33 each. The five 50 g oils average ₹330.00, and the 100 g of Midnight Bakhoor Royale is ₹799.00 on its own. Across CSI's in-stock catalogue, 30 oils start at 50 g, four at 100 g (Smoked Rose Royale, Grapefruit Oleo, Midnight Bakhoor Royale and Sultan's Smoke) and one, Sacred Sandal Ember, has only its 500 g in stock. Most of the 50 g starters are inspired-by or newer oils, which is why a test list full of designer-style profiles costs far more than one built on classic scents.

The swaps save ₹1,864.90, but they are not like-for-like scents. Woody Oud is not Sage and Cedarwood, and Mango Coconut is certainly not Midnight Bakhoor Royale. Swap only where the family matters more than the specific scent. If you are building a range around a smoky resin or a tobacco gourmand, pay the 50 g or 100 g entry price; the extra oil is not wasted, as round two shows.

Check the ladder before you test

Testing a scent you cannot reorder at production sizes is a wasted test. On the pull date, several oils in this list have gaps in their ladder that you should know about before you spend a week burning them.

The Saffron Cedarwood row is worth dwelling on. It is the kind of quirk that only shows up when you price every size, and it is good news for a winner: at 500 g it costs ₹5.17 a gram, among the lower rates for a woody spice. Sage and Cedarwood has the same ladder. The Tangerine row is the opposite warning. It may test beautifully, but at ₹191.98 of oil per candle it belongs only in a range priced for it. Choosing a supplier for 100 g tests and 1 kg reorders covers ladder continuity in more depth.

The two-round burn test

Round one screens all twenty cheaply. Each oil gets three 50 g test pots at an 8% load: 4 g of oil and 46 g of wax per pot, 12 g of oil per scent. Three pots let you do a cold-throw check, a first burn and a second burn without reusing a candle. Round two takes the best six and pours two full-size 200 g candles each in the jar you will actually sell, at 8%, so you judge the scent as a customer will meet it.

Why 8% and not the maximum? Because 8% is the working load for costing throughout this series, and a scent that only performs at the ceiling is a scent that costs more per candle than you planned. Test at 8% first. If a scent you love is weak, a second pot at 10% tells you whether load is the fix, or whether the wick or the cure is. Never push load to rescue a wick that is too small. How to sample fragrance oils before a wholesale order goes further on the method.

What the whole test costs

Samples are only part of the cost. Here is the full two-round protocol for the twenty oils, with the six finalists assumed to be Saffron Cedarwood, Spicy Raspberry, Jasmine Coconut Spa Ceylon, Love Spell, Sage and Cedarwood and Midnight Bakhoor Royale. Your finalists will differ; the method will not.

Wax is the second-largest line. Round one uses 2,760 g (20 oils × 3 pots × 46 g) and round two 2,208 g (6 finalists × 2 × 184 g), 4,968 g in all, so 5 kg alone leaves only 32 g for pour loss and a re-pour. Plan 3–5% extra as a working assumption; the extra 1 kg covers it. Of the three 15 g finalists, each has 3 g left after round one and needs a 50 g top-up. The three larger-sample finalists already hold enough: Love Spell and Sage and Cedarwood have 38 g left, Midnight Bakhoor Royale 88 g.

Spread across twenty oils, the full test costs ₹559.08 per scent tested (₹523.68 without tools). Set that against the cost of a wrong launch scent: a 500 g of Santal Noir that does not sell is ₹4,599.00 of stranded oil. Testing is cheap insurance, as long as the test is sound.

Scoring and deciding

A score sheet turns impressions into a decision you can defend. Use the same sheet for every pot and, if you can, ask two or three other people to score blind as well.

Weighted hot throw decides round one. Burn quality is pass or fail: a scent that soots or tunnels in your wax at 8% needs a wick change, not a higher score. Cost per candle is a gate, not a score. A scent that wins on throw but costs twice what your range can carry goes into a premium line or off the list.

Once you have six finalists, the next decision is quantity. The 10-fragrance launch guide shows how to tier launch quantities and set reorder triggers, and the ₹5,000 first order shows a smaller launch built the same way. If you want to test more broadly first, the 20 fragrance oil combo and fragrance oil testing kits explain how to assemble a set from listed sizes.

Frequently asked questions