My Original Fragrance Costs ₹5,000 per Kg and the Replacement Costs ₹3,500 — How Do I Compare Them When They Require Different Fragrance Loads?

The one formula that makes the comparison fair

The per-kilo price is only half of the fragrance cost of a candle. The other half is how much of the oil each candle needs. CSI's convention, used in every guide in this series, is that load is a share of the finished candle: oil in grams = W × L. So the fragrance cost of one candle is price per gram × W × L. Two oils can only be compared once both halves are in: the price you pay and the load each one needs to reach the same standard in your candle.

There is a second, smaller effect that most comparisons leave out. Every extra gram of oil in a fixed 200 g candle is one gram less of wax. At ₹599.00 a kilo for Luxury Soy Wax Chunks, each gram of wax you displace is worth ₹0.60. So a higher load costs a little less than the oil alone suggests. The full material cost of a candle is oil + wax + wick + jar, and that is what the rest of this page compares.

The per-kilo prices differ by 30%. The oil cost per candle differs by ₹10.00 — 12.5% — because the replacement needs a quarter more oil. The wax displacement adds back ₹2.40. The total material cost per candle falls by ₹12.40, which is 4.6% of the candle's material cost. That is still a real saving. It is just not the 30% that the price list made it look like, and it is the number your costing should use.

The break-even load: how much more oil the cheaper one can need

The useful question is not "which is cheaper?" but "up to what load is the cheaper oil still cheaper?" Ignoring wax, the answer is the original's load × the price ratio: 8% × 5,000 ÷ 3,500 = 11.43%. Including the wax each extra gram displaces, the break-even rises slightly, to 8% × (5.00 − 0.599) ÷ (3.50 − 0.599) = 12.14%. Below that load, the ₹3,500 oil makes a cheaper candle; above it, the ₹5,000 oil does.

Read the table across, not down. The original is validated at 8%, so its row is fixed at ₹266.92. The replacement's cost depends on the load it turns out to need: ₹254.52 at 10%, ₹260.32 at 11% (still ₹6.59 cheaper), ₹266.12 at 12% (only ₹0.79 cheaper). By 13% it costs more than the original. The saving is fragile if the cheaper oil turns out to be weak: every extra point of load it needs eats about ₹5.80 of the saving per candle.

Re-run with real CSI prices

Here is the same comparison with two real pairs from CSI's list, both from the same scent family, costed at the same example loads (8% for the dearer oil, 10% for the cheaper one). These pairings are illustrations of the arithmetic, not claims that either oil needs either load, and not claims that one smells like the other; CSI publishes no throw data for any oil. Each pair is shown at the 1 kg price and at the 100 g price, because the per-gram price you pay depends on the bottle you buy.

The pairs behave differently. Autumn (₹5,428.00 a kilo) against Fallen Leaves (₹4,248.00 a kilo) is a narrower price gap than your ₹5,000 vs ₹3,500, so at a two-point load difference the saving is only a few rupees at the 1 kg price. At the 100 g price — where Fallen Leaves is ₹4.72 a gram at both 50 g and 100 g and Autumn is ₹5.43 — it disappears altogether: the cheaper oil at 10% makes a candle that costs more than the dearer oil at 8%, because its break-even load falls below 10%. Wild Berries (₹5,999.00 a kilo) against Fresh Strawberries (₹3,540.00 a kilo) is a wider gap than yours, so the cheaper oil can need far more before it stops paying.

Two honest caveats about CSI's own prices. First, per-gram price breaks are rare on the listed catalogue: for 52 of 91 oils the 1 kg bottle is within ±1% of the 100 g price per gram, and only 24 save 5% or more. So do not compare one oil's kilo price against another oil's 100 g price — compare both at the size you will actually buy. Second, volume pricing beyond the listed packs is quoted on WhatsApp and no discount figure is published, so the prices in this table are the ones to plan with.

What a cheaper replacement voids

Price does not change what a replacement oil does to your formula. Whether it costs more or less, it is a different oil, usually at a different load — so the retest matrix is the same as for any fragrance change that moves the load. KEEP means still valid, CONFIRM a short side-by-side, REPEAT the full test, NEW a test the old formula never needed.

Finding the load that sets the price

Everything above depends on one number you do not have yet: the load the cheaper oil needs to match the original. So the test is a ladder on the replacement against controls of the original at its validated 8%. The design below is a working practice: rungs at 8%, 10% and 12% — the original's load, the example load and a rung near the break-even — three candles each, plus three controls, all 200 g in Luxury Soy Wax Chunks. That is 12 candles.

Does the saving pay for the testing?

A replacement is only worth it if the saving repays the one-off cost of revalidating. Payback in candles = one-off revalidation cost ÷ saving per candle. The test kit below prices the 12-candle ladder with a real oil close to your ₹3,500 a kilo — Fresh Strawberries at ₹3,540.00 a kilo, bought here in test sizes — plus wax, wicks and jars. Your time is a real cost too; this page uses an example ₹1,500.00 for it, which you should replace with your own figure.

At the example saving of ₹12.40 per candle, that is paid back after 398 candles (277 on materials alone). If the replacement turns out to need 12% instead of 10%, the saving shrinks to ₹0.79 and payback stretches to 6228 candles. Run the numbers at the load your ladder actually finds, not the load you hoped for. For the wax version of the same question, the ₹15-per-candle wax page works payback the same way.

The decision rule

Write it before the ladder: switch only if the cheaper oil matches the original at a load that is (1) inside the wax maker's stated ceiling, (2) below the break-even load, and (3) passes every safety and storage line against the control — and the saving at that load repays the revalidation within a volume you will actually sell. If any of the three fails, keep the original, whatever the price list says.

If you do switch, record it as a formula revision with the new oil, its order date, the validated load, the cost per candle at that load, and the retired original. Update the wax as well as the oil in your purchase plan — a higher load means less wax per candle. Keep a retained sample of the new oil; the reformulation page explains why.

Related pages

If the replacement needs less oil rather than more, the 6% vs 9% page works the same arithmetic in the other direction, including the wax you must add back. If the cheaper oil is weak in wax and you need a full ladder, the lavender page sets it up. If a higher load starts to sweat, the sweating page comes first. For the whole list of what to retest, see the checklist; for a structured way to cut material cost across a range without risking bestsellers, see the 10% cost-reduction page.

Frequently asked questions