How to test your products properly

When it comes to making your products, testing is key.

You want to ensure your customers come back time and time again because of the quality of your products.

It doesn’t matter what type of products you make, it could be wax melts and candles, reed diffusers and room sprays or bath and body cosmetics. Whatever you make needs to be top quality to convince those customers to come back.

Once you receive your unique Craft HQ fragrance oils through the post the first thing you do is open them up and have a sniff. We all do that! 

But what are your next steps? Do you have a routine and testing plan to follow? If not, why not? 

Don’t worry, we’ll help you out here. You may be a complete beginner and only just starting your business or you may be well seasoned and just fell into a testing rut.

Why test?

Each fragrance oil will perform differently in each base you may choose to use. For instance using one fragrance oil in 2 different types of wax will likely harness differing results.

That’s the same for all types of bases and products. 

You need to ensure you’re happy with the product you’re sending out to your customers each time. So before you launch an exciting new fragrance into your wax melt and candle line or send off your paperwork to get your cosmetics assessed make sure you test thoroughly! 

Test multiple times, in multiple rooms and use your friends and family to give you feedback. 

Recording tests 

Once you’ve got into the mindset of ‘testing is key’ it’s important to not squander your daily testing. 

Make sure to note down everything about each test so you can refer back to it at a later date.

Sometimes you’ll test a fragrance oil which works really well for a future collection so you’ll want the information stored safely so you don’t need to duplicate your testing.

This will save you time, money and stress! 

Use something like a test sheet and store them in a folder in your office or a simple notebook would do to start with.

It’s important that your tests have as much information on them as possible. For example if you’re testing Elusive in a soy wax melt and it’s the first wax melt you’ve ever made, you’ll need to write it all down. 

• The name of the oil
• The name of your wax 
• The temperature you melted your wax to 
• The temperature you added your fragrance oil 
• The temperature you poured the wax at

Once you’ve written all of these items down you’ll be able to find the recipe that works for you and your business set up. 

When it comes time to test your Elusive wax melt include the following information on the test sheets for yourself and your testing helpers: 

• Name of wax melt 
• Date tested 
• Warmer used 
• Size of room 
• Cold throw 
• Hot throw 
• Notes about strength 

Using the same style of testing is important as you will become familiar with the process and be able to quickly find what you need once you’re looking through your completed tests. 

Time to release a new collection 

Now it’s time to release a new collection into your wax melt line.

Open your testing paperwork, have a scroll through and read the details of each test. You’ll likely have something in there that fits the bill already. 

If not, you have your ‘testing is key’ mindset so you know what to do. 

Once you’ve found and tested your chosen fragrance oils, load your cart up and pop the kettle on while we pack your fragrance oils up for you.