Sour cherry cooked down with brown sugar until it goes dark and jammy, a lattice of almond pastry over it, and a scrape of lemon zest cutting through the sweetness. Warm fruit pie, closer to a cherry bakewell than to anything from a diner. It is the richest thing in the collection by some distance.

For the formulator this is the specialist. It is the only oil here that is extreme on three separate axes at once: 19.2% vanillin — the highest in the collection by a factor of nearly three; a 147 °F flashpoint, around fifty degrees below everything else in the set; and the tightest IFRA ceilings of the seven, with body sprays not permitted at all. Used inside those constraints it is superb. Used without reading them it will cost you a batch.

Tagged citrus and fruity as well as gourmet, which is accurate — the lemon and cherry keep it from reading as a flat vanilla bomb despite the vanillin figure. It is also the only oil in the collection rated for both cold process soap and candles.

Category maxima across our 86 bases. Facial and tear-free versions sit lower than the body version of the same base, and five of our sulfate-free bases specify a different load for vanillin-containing fragrances — which this is. Always take the figure from the base product page you are actually using, or see the full reference table.

Many suppliers sell fragrance oils cut with carrier oils or diluents to reduce cost. Ours are concentrated, pure, undiluted and cosmetic grade. A concentrated oil means a lower fragrance load per batch — a little goes a long way, and your cost per unit drops even when the per-ounce price does not.

Product compatibility is not the responsibility of Essentials By Catalina, Inc. We strongly advise sampling before committing to larger quantities so you can evaluate performance, compatibility and safety in your own formulation. Keep all products out of children's reach.