Fragrance load is the percentage of fragrance oil relative to the weight of wax in your candle. A 10% load in 100g of wax means 10g of fragrance oil. Simple math, but the decisions around it are anything but simple. Use the fragrance load calculator to find your exact measurements once you understand the principles below.
Fragrance load affects three things: scent throw, burn performance, and safety. Get it right and your candle fills a room without overpowering it, burns cleanly to the edges, and behaves consistently batch after batch. Get it wrong and you end up with weak cold throw, fragrance pooling on the surface, mushrooming wicks, or a candle that doesn't meet IFRA safety guidelines.
Soy holds fragrance at 6% to 10%; most makers find the sweet spot at 8% to 9%. Above 10% you risk fragrance pooling, oil that separates and sits on top of the wax rather than binding to it. Soy is forgiving, but it has limits.
Coconut wax is exceptionally good at holding fragrance, often up to 10% to 12%. Coconut apricot blends (a personal favorite for their smooth finish and strong cold throw) perform well at 9% to 10%. The lower melt point means fragrance releases more gently, giving a cleaner, less aggressive throw. That's a feature, not a bug.
Paraffin holds up to 10% to 12% and delivers the strongest hot throw of any common wax. High-end brands that want aggressive room-filling scent often use paraffin or paraffin blends for exactly this reason, even if they don't advertise it.
Beeswax is naturally scented with its own honey undertone and typically holds fragrance at 3% to 6%. Pushing higher rarely improves performance and can affect the burn.
There's a point, different for every wax, at which adding more fragrance oil actually reduces performance. The wax can only bind so much. Beyond that point, excess oil doesn't boost throw; it pools, seeps, or causes wick problems. Overloaded candles show an oily surface or pooling after cooling, mushrooming or sooty wicks, seeping through the bottom of the vessel, and inconsistent burns batch to batch. The answer is almost never "add more fragrance." It's usually "dial back the load and test the wick size."
Every fragrance oil comes with an IFRA (International Fragrance Association) certificate specifying maximum usage levels by product category; candles fall under category 12. The percentage on the certificate is the maximum, not a target. Using fragrance above its IFRA limit is a safety issue and a liability issue: if a customer has a reaction, your compliance documentation is part of your defense. Keep records and stay within guidelines. Quality suppliers provide IFRA certificates for every oil.
Document everything. The Six Figure Wick ebook covers testing methodology in depth, including why the first 84 candles are the most important ones you'll ever pour.
Fragrance weight = wax weight × (load % ÷ 100). For 500g of wax at 9%: 45g of fragrance oil. Or skip the math entirely with the fragrance load calculator.
Fragrance oil is usually your second-highest material cost after the vessel. A 10% load versus an 8% load across a 200-candle run makes a meaningful difference to margins. Once you've found your optimal load through testing, lock it in and cost it accurately in the pricing calculator.
Keep reading: browse all guides, or put the numbers to work in the free calculators.
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