Soap Lily: A quick trip to the Mediterranean, via soap

Friday may 30th, 2014

Since wires were crossed today and Alison wasn't coming over I enlisted my brother's assistance in making a batch of soap. Keith is visiting from Florida, making soap is about a foreign to him as rebuilding a car engine is to me, none the less he offered to help.

During the hours we spent reading about EO's and FO's (essential oils and fragrance oils) Alison and I found a FO at +Bramble Berry called Neroli and Shea Blossom. Knowing my daughter Talley is very partial to a perfume called 'Neroli Portofino' by Tom Ford, I was intrigued to see the following description:

"We were inspired by Tom Ford's Neroli Portofino perfume when creating this blend. Our fragrance brings together notes of citrus and amber which make it a clean, tropical, floral scent that can easily match the interests of both men and women. Top notes are light which consist of bergamot, neroli, and lime. The middle notes of jasmine and orange blossom are perfectly paired alongside base notes of amber and cedar.

So we ordered the fragrance oil (and many other goodies) and waited for it's arrival.

The Neroli and Shea Blossom scent arrived at the end of April and we both smelled it, Alison liked it, but it didn't hit a home run for her, I had smelled the perfume and thought it was very, very close and had a lovely scent. Alison and I realize we won't always agree on everything, and it works out ok, because we understand that and work right through it or around it as the case may be.

To spare Alison from a scent she wasn't crazy about Keith and I made Neroil and Shea Blossom soap.

We used the Old Faithful recipe for CP soap, with palm, coconut, olive and castor oils mixed with the lye/water. We've used this recipe several times, it works very well when swirling or mixing colors as it is slow to trace (thicken).

I wanted the soap to incorporate the beautiful shades of blue in the Tyrrhenian Sea which surround the Isle of Capri just off the coast of Italy. The following is a stock picture of what the water looks like, nice isn't it.

I chose aqua pearl mica and 1982 blue mica from +Bramble Berry, I mixed up some TD (titianium dioxide) which will keep the white part of the soap very light.

After mixing the oils and lye/water together by hand, we then used the stick blender to speed up the process, the soap was at light trace in just a few minutes. We mixed in the Neroli FO (fragrance oil), then poured a cup and a half of batter (each) into two smaller measuring cups; adding the aqua pearl to one and the 1982 blue to the other. When the colors were mixed enough we added the TD to the remaining batter.

We used the rectangular mold, (see picture below) pouring white as the first layer (approx. 1/2" deep), I then spooned, (in no particular order) the two blue colors back and forth and in and out on the next layer, then came another layer of white, then the colors again, there were 3 layers total, ending with white.

When the mold was almost filled I used a skewer and swirled the soap, minimal swirling, hopefully enough to give the soap a nice look when it's cut. The last bit of white soap went on top, I used a spoon to finish the edges and top.

This is what the soap looked like once we poured it into the log mold. The two shades of blue peek out here and there on the sides, this wasn't planned, but once it happened we were ok as it is a hint of what is in the soap.

We put the soap away wrapped in a box and covered with towels to let is cure. On Saturday I took it out and cut the bars, the picture below is what the side of the soap looked like.