Strawberries N Cream soap is on the list for this weekends soaping adventure. This will be the second time I make this scent. The first time I made this it seized on me. I had never witnessed first hand a full on soap seizure but wow, it was more than surprising! I thought I was making soap cool, that usually helps with keeping the soap from tracing too fast but nope, that batch went so fast! It also SOLD fast!! I did a quick and simple re-batch of it since the seizure made it look pretty ugly. This time I’m more prepared for how incredibly fast this fragrance oil moves. I’m also planning on using my slab mold for this batch which should afford me a few extra seconds so I might be able to get a little swirl going on, if not Ill do a shimmery swirl with mica. If this fragrance oil wasn’t so awesome I would definitely move on to another brand or formula that behaved better. But this one is definitely worth the trouble! It is my soap of the month selection for July.
I am planning on making Blue Sugar soap this weekend it is a new scent that I had to try. I’ve always loved Pink Sugar and Auqolina has come out with a masculine version of it and named it Blue Sugar. I can definitely smell Pink Sugar in there, there is that familiar sweetness but the blue sugar has some woodsy notes in it, fir or pine, and maybe a hint of licorice? I think it could be popular for either gender. Personally I like really girly scent so its to masculine for me but I definitely wouldn’t mind my husband using it! This oil unlike its feminine counterpart does not discolor at all! That is really exciting for me!! I am envisioning a light, light blue soap with a cream colored swirl and perhaps a very thing bold navy blue vein running through out. I’m kicking myself for not having any ultramarines around. Those would be a perfect choice to color this soap with! I will have to go through all of my colorants and see what I have to give me a dark deep blue. I know I have some jojoba beads that are dark blue, but I’m not sure if I want this soap to have scrubbiness to it. It would give a nice affect with the color though. I’m using my smaller 13 bar mold for this.
Homemade Organic soap is a bit of a labelling stretch, but many businesses chose to label their soap this way if they have used organic oils in their soap making process. Sodium Hydroxide is a caustic chemical, essential for soap making. Organic oils and organic essential oils can be used but still sodium hydroxide must be used to make the soap. So labelling a soap Organic is not exactly truth in advertising. If organic living is a big priority though, soap made with organic ingredients, and sodium hydroxide is the closest thing you will get to a natural soap product. Watch also for the ingredients used to scent and color the soap as well. There is no such thing as ‘cotton candy essential oil’ or ‘rootbeer essential oil’ both I have seen on labels and both of those are fragrance oils, synthetic fragrances. Also watch for the way the soap is colored- natural coloring is easy to come by with mica’s and clays, even tea and coffee color soap nicely. So while organic homemade soap isnt exactly correct it can be very close.
Ive decided to go forward with a small line of Gourmet Bath bombs. More luxury and more enjoyment! These bombs will feature yummy ingredients like buttermilk, cocoa butter (LOTS of cocoa butter!!), and kaolin clay on top of my already fabulous bombs. These will be a limited line of scents including Blissful, Oatmeal Milk and Honey and Sinful. Get ready because they are coming very soon to my store!
Cucumber can add some fantastic label appeal. Itll be up to you and your customers to decide if they find it adds any luxury to the actual soap. The ground cucumber peel gives beautiful green flecks in the soap but they will eventually fade into yellow due to the chloriaphil. It eventually is broken down and the color fades. A smidge of green fd&c dye can cover that yellowing and the ground bits of peel will give a slight scrubbiness to your soap. If you wish to add the actual cucumber just puree it up and add it in as part of your water. If you have 16oz of water in your recipe use 14oz to mix with your lye and at trace add in your 2oz of cucumber. There are also cucumber fragrances available to help scent this cucumber soap. Some that I have worked with accelorate trace. If your fragrance oil is an accelorater be sure to soap at room temperature. Keeping your temps low will help keep it from moving too fast.