What is a formula?
A formula in Sunday Maker is a saved scent recipe — the fragrance oil, base ingredients, and additives that make up one batch of your product. Formulas are reusable: build your "Holiday Woodsmoke" formula once, and you can attach it to any candle product you make with that scent.
Formulas do two things that spreadsheets can't: they check IFRA compliance automatically as you build, and they calculate the cost of the batch so you know exactly what the scent portion of your candle costs per gram or per ounce.
Before you build a formula
Make sure your fragrance oils and base ingredients have costs set in Materials. Formula costing only works when your ingredients have a cost per gram (or per ml). If an ingredient shows "No cost set" in the formula view, go to Materials and add a cost for it.
Building a formula
Go to Formulas in the sidebar and click + New Formula.
Step 1 — Set your batch size and fragrance load
Enter your total batch size (the amount of finished product this formula makes) and your fragrance load percentage. For candles, fragrance load is typically 6–12% of total batch weight. Sunday Maker uses these numbers to calculate how much fragrance oil goes into the batch and checks it against IFRA limits for your selected product category.
Step 2 — Select your fragrance oil
Search for your fragrance oil in the oil picker. If the oil is in Sunday Maker's catalog, its IFRA data will load automatically — you'll see which IFRA category applies and what the maximum usage percentage is for that product type. If your oil isn't in the catalog, you can add it as a custom ingredient in Materials.
Step 3 — Add base ingredients
Add your wax, additives, and any other base ingredients. Enter the amount of each in grams (or the same unit as your batch size). The ingredient list shows a running total — it should equal your batch size when complete.
Step 4 — Review compliance
Sunday Maker checks your fragrance load against the IFRA limit for your selected product category. If your load percentage is within the limit, the formula shows a green compliance indicator. If it exceeds the limit, you'll see a warning — reduce your fragrance percentage to bring it into compliance before saving.
Formula cost
With ingredient costs set in Materials, the formula view shows:
- Batch cost — total cost of all ingredients for one batch
- Cost per gram — useful for calculating formula cost for any vessel size
- Cost per oz — same, in ounces
If any ingredient has no cost set, the formula shows a "partial cost" warning. The batch cost will be understated until all ingredients have costs.
Using a formula in a product
This is where formulas become powerful. When building a candle or fragrance product, open the Fragrance Formula section and select your saved formula. Enter how much formula goes into one finished unit — for an 8oz candle, that's typically 227 grams of fill weight.
Sunday Maker calculates the formula cost contribution: amount used × formula cost per gram × your fill weight. This flows into your product's base cost alongside the vessel, wick, and packaging — giving you the true all-in cost of one finished candle.
Scaling a formula
The formula view has a scale batch control (½×, 1×, 2×, 3×) that shows you ingredient amounts for different batch sizes. This is for reference and planning — scale quantities update live so you can see what a double batch requires. Saving a scaled batch creates a new formula at the new size.
Batch worksheets
Once your formula is saved, use the Print Recipe button to generate a batch worksheet — a printable document showing ingredient names, amounts, and instructions for one batch. Useful for production days when you want everything written out in front of you without a screen.