Happy New Year!!!

Okay, I know that we are already well into the New Year but I still had to say it in my first post of 2013. Yay, me! Now, what have I been up to? I have closed out my books for 2012 and have conducted inventory. I have a mostly soaps left over from 2012. The reason? As I have previously stated, I am not that big of a soap maker. My interests lay in the field of fragrance crafting. I have been doing some research this calendar year and have found what I have been looking for and that is a list of geographical common scents. What does that mean? Well, I have always wanted to create a Highland's line but hadn't the foggiest clue as to what fragrances are considered related to Scotland or even the Highlands. I found it a book published in 1997.

The lesson that I have already learned but had reinforced is research, research and more research. That has been the greatest tool in developing my signature fragrances. Some people when purchasing F. O.s and E. O.s use them singularly. Most will be brave and mix F. and E. O.s together to stretch their resources or move outside of the soaping parameters. That is what I like. My laptop that contains all of my pics is currently in the shop being de-bugged. Arg!! I will hopefully by next post have pics to show you. I created an Orange You Glad soap that used tomato juice as the base and is scented with Basil, Spanish Rosemary, Blood Orange, Sweet Orange and Lemongrass. It has been curing for 3 weeks and my living room still smells like a citrus field!! Cool.

I also made a different version of my Coffee Shoppe: Chocolate Almond Biscotti. I love how much softer the bar is and the lather is stupedous. The fragrance really sticks to the skin after the wash. I am in chocolate heaven since I can't eat milk chocolate. The coffee grounds give the mildest exfoliation while still being effective. This time as last time I allowed the vanilla in the almond biscotti and the chocolate to color the soap. I did use Starbucks Blonde as the base for the soap and it was the prettiest cafe con leche color at first. Now I have a medium mocha color that is so wonderful to behold!

Now to my favorite part, fragrance analysis.

Basil is a pungent essential oil that I would recommend using very little of. It can overpower any blend that you are creating, even after mellowing for a few weeks. It blends very well with citrus e. o.s and, as strange as it may sound, vanilla f.o., coconut f.o. and gardenia f.o. With any blend you might want to do a 2-2-1 blend with Basil always being the least used.

I received some fragrances from a fellow crafter. I would have to say that not all were winners. 4 went into the Perfume/Cologne category. 3 went into the Diffuser only category and 5 went into the Body Butter & Soap category. None were complete throwaways. You can always salvage a lousy scent. In this blog I hope to never name a company that has scents that don't appeal to me. I will however, name any company that has scents that not only appeal to me  but that I use repeatedly.

So this is the end of this post. Next post will be pic heavy since I had to do without in this one. Thanks so much for sticking with me into a new year.

Milk and Oatmeal Ain't Just For Breakfast Anymore

Good Night All! I am writing this just 15 minutes before the New Year comes in. I am going to write briefly on Milk and Oatmeal Baths.

Milk baths have had their place in history from Egypt to Russia. Cleopatra is noted for her milk and honey baths. Poppea (Roman) and Catherine the Great to Pauline, Napoleon's sister, to the reign of Charles II nobility has fought aging tooth and nail. Milk has lactic acid which breaks down dead skin cells and allows new cells to appear quicker. Bathing in goat's milk may even alleviate arthritis pain.

For those who suffer from dry eczema to dry skin an oatmeal milk bath could provide wondrous relief. The gentle exfoliation of the powdered oats and Dead Sea salts will lift away dry and dead skin cells. The milk (goat's milk preferably) will help to break down the dead skins cells to be sloughed away in your bath. For those who don't have any nut allergies, almond meal would be a nice addition due to almonds being a natural moisturizer.

The following are additives that could make your bath a better experience..

Cornstarch - A natural healing agent that can soothe dry cracked skin.
Vitamin E - A natural moisturizer and skin repair agent.
Patchouli - Skin healing properties
Chamomile - Anti-inflammatory, Analgesic (pain reliever), Eczema reliever
Peppermint (not for use during pregnancy) - Anti-inflammatory, Circulation Stimulant
Geranium (not for use during pregnancy) - Calming, Anti-inflammatory
Bergamot - Eczema relief
Jasmine - Eczema relief
Lavender -  Eczema relief
Sandalwood - Eczema relief

These essential oils have many more uses but I have just listed a few.

*As some may already know check the expiration date on the package for milk before adding it to your bath. Also, as the consumer the onus is on you to make sure that you are educated about the ingredients and possible side effects.

Thank you for following me this year. Please continue with me on my adventures in 2013. Peace and love.

Soap Continued

Good Morning All!

I am sitting at my dad's lake house enjoying an overcast day.  Weird, I know but I am one of the few people in this world who doesn't care for bright sunshiny days. Anyway, I am going to continue to share with you my soaping follies.

 This beautiful mess was my first attempt at HP in the crock pot. I cooked it like The Soapmaking Handbook said to but you can see the results. It was Black Cherry from thechemistrystore.com. I didn't like the way that it came out so I put it back in the crock pot 2 days later and came up with this.

 This looks like some kind of volcanic sludge monster leaving her spore behind. Again, went waaayyy too much on the Black Oxide. However, what I was able to do was create Very Cherry Kamikaze soap. I use Japanese Cherry Blossom from thechemistrystore.com and then added the Black Cherry balls to it. I was hoping on a bright orange with black balls but ended up with a soft barely there peach with black balls.

 

 

Then there is the ever popular soap morph. Some oils will change the color of your soap. Clove turns your soap a light tan, Vanilla will turn it brown and Patchouli can turn the soap an off-white color. What I didn't realize is that some fragrance oils can do the same thing. Strawberry Kiwi from Bath and Body Supply will turn soap a dark brown color while it cures. So what started out a s beautiful magenta, forest green and tan turned to mud red, dirty grey green and brown.

 

 This is the before picture. I was too disgusted to take an after picture.

Now on to Crisp Ocean Breeze. This is a wonderful fragrance for men. I, of course, didn't use enough of it in my 4 lb batch so it only smells like an off vinegary scent but this is my year for experimentation. 2013 is when I will kick into high gear and get cracking on making all the soaps that went right.

 

 This is just a mess! I soaped too hot (129 degrees) and didn't take the time to mix the colorant in well. And this was the result. Thankfully practice has yielded better results from me.

 

 

 This is a simple Baby Rose (Bramble Berry) soap that I made. It was a really soft fragrance. My next batch was better scented. I will post that under the Pirates of the Caribbean inspired soaps. Next up is one that I will perfect next year for my Coffee Shoppe series. This one is Coffee Shoppe: Chocolate Almond Biscotti. The bar lost all color except for varying degrees of brown.

 

 This was my best seller from October to December. It will go on my website in March as a permanent fixture.

 

This last pic is of my soap balls from the Juniper Breeze, Lilac and Hawaiian Tropic soap that I made 2 weeks ago. I would always see pics of soaps topped with beautiful soap balls and wonder how they were made. Well by lurking in other blogs I was able to pic up on using the scraps to make soap balls while the soap is still malleable. They look wonderful and I have no idea as to what I am going to use them in but I am sure to find inspiration somewhere. Lastly, I will post my pics of the Juniper Breeze, Lilac and Hawaiian Tropic soap that riced on me. Floral fragrances should be soaped at room temp and quickly.

 

 

 Yes, those are sparkles on top.

 

Well, this is it for soaps until I have completed my Pirates of the Caribbean inspired soaps. If sales continue to pic up then I will be able to have them completed no later than the end of January. My next post will be on Milk baths and Oatmeal baths. Winter and allergy wonders, if you ask me. Take care and have a wonderful time celebrating the end of 2012 and ringing in 2013.

Soap Dilema

Good Afternoon All,

As I stated before that this blog isn't mainly about soap. That doesn't mean that I don't make soap. I just choose to focus on other bath and body products. So, what I plan to do is show you my evolution in soapmaking. I used to only dabble in Melt and Pour but this year I decided to mature and move on to creating soap using lye. So without further ado ....

 This is my first attempt at adding color to a soap. The fragrances are Lavender and Spanish Rosemary. I used waaay too much Black Oxide. I also tried to layer and then make a funnel swirl on top. The flash on the camera doesn't make it any better. Oh well on to the next disaster.

 

And this beauty in all of its faded glory is Lavender Lemon. I used some micas from Bramble Berry and as you can see they faded something terrible.

 

 

 So you can see the different soaps that I tried to create. The ones with red oxide are my Jasmine Dreams that went left on me in the mold. I will post a pic below of that heartache.

 

 

 This is the Jasmine Dreams in the shoe box mold that I had prepared. It poured just fine. It was wrapped just like any other of my batches. And here is what I got when I unmolded it and cut it.

 

 Ew! and then some. :( I had to rebatch this and got some really cool pics of it in the crock pot.

 

 Some of the suggested names from the Soaper's Retreat on Facebook were: Bloody Bully Beef Stew, Walking Dead, Zombie Vomit and Zombie Meatloaf. One of my dearest new Likers stated that I made her sick! :) I know that she wasn't being mean. I was a little taken aback by how gross this looked as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is it in the 2 lb mold.

 

 Cut pictures of the Zombie soap.

 

 

 This is my loaf of Shea and Mango butter soap. The loaf looks concave because some of it erupted out. I wrapped it really well and unfortunately either the Shea or Mango doesn't react well to insulation.

 

 Unscented Plain Jane soap bars. My best seller for some reason. The older generation really likes this one.

 

 Kentish Rain for Men. I was able to get the rain drop look in the soaps. I don't know if I will be able to duplicate this.

Well that is it for today but I will post more of my soaps later on in the week.

Let's Talk About Scents, Bay-Bee!

Good Night All!!

I am a week late in posting. Shame on me. Bad llama!! (Emperor's New Groove, for those who are scratching their heads) Okay, so I promised to explain my evolution with fragrances. My very first purchases were from Bath and Body Works, Bramble Berry, Cedar Vale and Bath and Body Supply. Plumeria was the most popular fragrance back in 2004. I did use single fragrances at first because I simply didn't know what to do. Eventually I branched out to JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's to find Rosemary and Thyme, Sweet Pea, Jasmine Chamomile, Sun Ripened Fruit and Petal Mania. Each one was great but I wanted to do something different. I then went to the library and used book stores to find books on fragrance blending, perfume making and soap making.

I have learned so much since then. Even this year I found out that there is a Blood Orange essential oil. Wow! And it is divine let me tell you!! Essential oils are NOT to be trifled with. Even misused in a topical application can cause skin irritation and illness for some. Please don't ask me about the Lemongrass incident. I can still hear the nurse laughing at me!! :( 

Anyhoo, not all of my experiments worked out that well. Mostly when I am trying to come up with a blend I use Epsom salt as a base because it is virtually fragrance free and I can stir the oils as I add them and get a good idea as to what the end result will be.

Lavender Tang: 4 parts Lavender, 3 parts Lime and 2 parts Mandarin = Stinky mess. The lavender overpowered the Mandarin and the lime took on a tangy stink.

 

Citrus Fusion: 1 TBSP Lemon, 1 tsp Sweet Orange, 1/2 tsp Grapefruit and 1/2 tsp Sandalwood. One would think that this might actually smell good. Tart Lemong, Sweet Orange, Tangy Tart Grapefruit offset by Smoky Sensual Sandalwood, right? WRONG!! It is tart alright but not sweet and the sandalwood just makes it a mellow mushy scent. Sticking it in a body butter makes it worse for some reason.

Now I have found that:

Blood Orange smells fresh, fruity and tangy. It is purported to have antidepressant, antiseptic, antispamodic, carminative and aprhodisiac properties. It blends best with clary sage, cinnamon, clove, lavender, lemon, myrrh and nutmeg. ** Caution: it is phototoxic meaning that if you go out in the sun within 30 mins to 4 hours of application it could cause a person to burn easier.**

Pink Grapefruit smells sweet, tart and fruity. It is purported to ease muscle fatigue and stiffness, alleviate congestion and dissapates oily and acne prone skin. It blends best with cardamom, cypresss, geranium, lavender, rosemary and the entire citrus family. **Caution: it is phototoxic.**

Petal Mania smells sweet and slightly floral. It blends well with green apple, lavender, chamomile and jasmine. The best mediums for it are shower gels and MP soaps.

Okay, that is all for tonight. I will try to end each post with a few fragrances that I have researched and used.

Good Night All!!

I am a week late in posting. Shame on me. Bad llama!! (Emperor's New Groove, for those who are scratching their heads) Okay, so I promised to explain my evolution with fragrances. My very first purchases were from Bath and Body Works, Bramble Berry, Cedar Vale and Bath and Body Supply. Plumeria was the most popular fragrance back in 2004. I did use single fragrances at first because I simply didn't know what to do. Eventually I branched out to JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's to find Rosemary and Thyme, Sweet Pea, Jasmine Chamomile, Sun Ripened Fruit and Petal Mania. Each one was great but I wanted to do something different. I then went to the library and used book stores to find books on fragrance blending, perfume making and soap making.

I have learned so much since then. Even this year I found out that there is a Blood Orange essential oil. Wow! And it is divine let me tell you!! Essential oils are NOT to be trifled with. Even misused in a topical application can cause skin irritation and illness for some. Please don't ask me about the Lemongrass incident. I can still hear the nurse laughing at me!! :( 

Anyhoo, not all of my experiments worked out that well. Mostly when I am trying to come up with a blend I use Epsom salt as a base because it is virtually fragrance free and I can stir the oils as I add them and get a good idea as to what the end result will be.

Lavender Tang: 4 parts Lavender, 3 parts Lime and 2 parts Mandarin = Stinky mess. The lavender overpowered the Mandarin and the lime took on a tangy stink.

 

Citrus Fusion: 1 TBSP Lemon, 1 tsp Sweet Orange, 1/2 tsp Grapefruit and 1/2 tsp Sandalwood. One would think that this might actually smell good. Tart Lemon, Sweet Orange, Tangy Tart Grapefruit offset by Smoky Sensual Sandalwood, right? WRONG!! It is tart alright but not sweet and the sandalwood just makes it a mellow mushy scent. Sticking it in a body butter makes it worse for some reason.

Now I have found that:

Blood Orange smells fresh, fruity and tangy. It is purported to have antidepressant, antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative and aphrodisiac properties. It blends best with clary sage, cinnamon, clove, lavender, lemon, myrrh and nutmeg. ** Caution: it is phototoxic meaning that if you go out in the sun within 30 mins to 4 hours of application it could cause a person to burn easier.**

Pink Grapefruit smells sweet, tart and fruity. It is purported to ease muscle fatigue and stiffness, alleviate congestion and dissipates oily and acne prone skin. It blends best with cardamom, cypress, geranium, lavender, rosemary and the entire citrus family. **Caution: it is phototoxic.**

Petal Mania smells sweet and slightly floral. It blends well with green apple, lavender, chamomile and jasmine. The best mediums for it are shower gels and MP soaps.

Okay, that is all for tonight. I will try to end each post with a few fragrances that I have researched and used.

Body Polish and Other Yummies!

Good Evening! I am way over due for this post. I do apologize. **Excuse Alert** I was away for Thanksgiving and then cranking out product for my new display in Polish Distribution on St. Andrews Rd. Columbia (Irmo area). Today is my first chance to try out the Yuzu Body Polish.

Okay quick review: This is what it looks like. Thank you so much Coreen!!

My skin feels like silk!! Too bad no man to share it with. *heavy sigh* but that is for another blog.  I digress. The polish did just that; it sloughed off dry and dead Winter skin, even my tough to PedEgg heels. Yes, no cutting the sheets tonight!! The clean fresh fruity fragrance is strong enough to linger on the skin after my shower ended but not so overpowering as to give me a headache. Oh, Bad Wife Products has raised the bar on polishes and scrubs. Well played, Coreen. Well played.

I don't have anything else to review. This installment is a great tipping of my hat to Coreen of Bad Wife Products. Thank you so much for the great gifts.

I will publish more about how my line has evolved since 2004 in the next blog. Goodnight.