5-8-15 Testing Some Fresh New Scents

#coldprocesssoap #homemadesoap #testingnewfragrances

Friday, May 8, 2015

On this particular day (and yes, I realize that I'm very past due posting this...), I - Alison - was flying solo in the soap kitchen, as Kath was out of town.  We have several 1 oz. sample bottles of different fragrance oils - too little to do a whole batch, but we really didn't want to spend money on a huge bottle until we found out if we liked it.  Some might say we're frugal, others might say cheap.  We're cool with either...

The FOs and the colors that I chose to go with them are shown above:

Watermelon Punch from Aztec and Ooh La La Mica from +Rustic Escentuals 

Light Blue (my favorite cologne) and Cornflower Celebration Mica both from +Rustic Escentuals 

Amazon Mist with Pistachio Mica both from +Rustic Escentuals  

Sherlock Homie from +Natures Garden and Toffeelicious Mica from +Rustic Escentuals.

I worked out a recipe that I thought would be a good blend of oils.  It included Olive, Coconut, Palm, Grapeseed, Avocado, and Castor.

The above photo just gives you an idea of how many times I reformulated my recipe until I had it the way I wanted it.  I LOVE soapcalc!

Above are the colors after I mixed them with a bit of safflower oil.

No silk or other additives in this batch.  I just wanted to test the fragrances.

 I knew I would be dividing the batter into four parts and would need time to get each fragrance ready without having the batter get too thick.  So, I wanted a light trace, but I think I went more to medium.  No biggie!  It still felt fine to me at this point.

I developed the recipe so I could divide it into four equal parts with each part needing one ounce of fragrance (since we had 1 oz bottles of FO).  Yay, Math!  And I know kids who say they'll never use math. HA!

I added the Watermelon Punch to the first 1/4 of the batter.  Aztec describes the fragrance as follows: Fresh orange adds fruity pop to this classic summer fruit scent. Sugared watermelon gets natural sensations from a blend of green tones for the fragrance signature. A hint of berry finishes the blend. Top - orange, fruity, juicy; Middle - watermelon, green; Bottom - berry, sugary.  

Seriously - YUM!!

I poured a small layer of non-colored batter into the bottom of the mold (because I wanted to see if the FO would discolor the soap), then I colored a portion of the batter with the mica, swirled them together and poured the swirl on top of the uncolored batter.  I used this same process with each fragrance.

Into the next 1/4 of the batter went the Light Blue Type FO. Rustic describes it as follows: This scent was introduced by Dolce & Gabbana in 2001. A sparkling, lively scent with juicy Granny Smith apple, Sicilian citron, jasmine, white rose, Asian bamboo, cedar wood and amber.  

I will tell you that straight out of the bottle I was not excited.  It really did not smell at all like the cologne that I love.  I shouldn't have judged it too quickly, though.  Once I mixed it into the soap batter, it was divine.  I really love this fragrance.

In the background you can see where I poured a small amount of non-colored batter into the mold.  In the foreground I am pouring the blue batter back into the white to swirl them together before adding it to the mold.

By the time I got to the 3rd 1/4 of the batter, it was getting stiff.  See how the spatula stands straight up in it?

Not to worry.  Once I mixed in the FO, the batter loosened up just great and it was very easy to work with.  +Rustic Escentuals describes Amazon Mist as follows: Amazon Mist transports you to the depths of the jungle of adventure and excitement. The moist fragrance of fresh dew, alive with hints of flower gardens, exotic herbs, green grass, rain drops and light earthy tones. Reminiscent of Herbal Essences.  This truly is a transporting fragrance.  

LOVE it!

Again, small amount of uncolored into the mold first, then color a portion of the batter before swirling it and adding it to the mold.  The Pistachio Green Mica is so gorgeous!

By the time I got to the final 1/4 of the batter, it had truly thickened up.  But again, once I stirred in the FO, it loosened up just great.  No troubles at all.

Into the last portion went the Sherlock Homie FO from +Natures Garden.  I have images of  Benedict Cumberbatch dancing through my mind, but Nature's Garden describes the FO as follows:   a mysterious blend of watery notes with secret spices surrounded by precious woods. Top:  Cucumber, Lemon, Lime, Ozone, Grapefruit Mid:  Neroli, Cumin, Coriander Base:  Musk, Patchouli.  It is a yummy masculine scent - really!  Mr. Cumberbatch can continue to dance!

Above shows the batter with Toffeelicious Mica added to it just as I am swirling it back into the uncolored portion of the batter.

Leftover batter went into our silicone molds.  Ladybugs for Watermelon Punch, Butterflies for Light Blue Type, and Bumblebees for Amazon Mist.  I couldn't bear to put Sherlock Homie into some cutsie bug design, so that left over batter went into the small square shapes. Much more masculine, right?

The above photo shows all four soaps in their molds.  Love the colors!  Love the fragrances!  Today was a homerun!  It will be interesting to see how they progress as the soap cures.

Now the fun part (NOT!)

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Saturday, May 9, 2015

I really should have waited one more day to take the soaps out of the molds because they were still a bit soft, but Kathy was still out of town, and I knew I would not be able to get back to the soap kitchen, so I went ahead and unmolded.

Sherlock Homie was still gelling and it was a little soft.

These are the sample pieces and the big block of Sherlock Homie before I cut it into bars.

Watermelon Punch is a gorgeous color and has a mouth watering smell.  The white did not discolor at all.

Light Blue Type - Woo Hoo!  Love it.

Amazon Mist was still gelling, too. But I took it out of the mold.

These are the sample bees and the block before cutting.

All four blocks of soap.

Watermelon Punch

Light Blue (Type)

Amazon Mist (Just after I took this photo, I dropped one of the bees in the driveway.  Darn! Guess I'll just have to use that one myself...)

Sherlock Homie

These soaps will be ready to use on June 19.  CAN'T WAIT!

Fresh Avocado but not in a salad!

Friday, May 22, 2012

One of our customers has requested Avocado soap to sell in her shop.  We thought - no problem we have plenty, then we looked at our supply and realized we'd sold almost all of our stock at the Mountain Laurel Festival last week.  Today I whipped up a batch, Alison was way under the weather and visiting her doctor's office so I tackled the batch by myself.

There aren't very many pictures because making soap and being the photographer at the same time is pretty tricky and I have no desire to drop my phone into a bucket of soap batter!  So without further ado, here is a brief look at what transpired today as I flew solo in the soap kitchen.  The recipe we use is almost straight from Ann Marie Faiola's (The soap Queen) book Soap Crafting, we love this book and this soap and so do our customers!

First thing I did was prepare the lye/distilled water mixture so it would be cooling down.  Next I measured into my cuisinart 3.8 ounces of distilled water then I added 3 ounces of fresh avocado and pulsed it until it looked like a green milkshake.

I set the mixed avocado aside, then began measuring out my oils which were:  Avocado, Olive, Coconut, Palm and Palm kernel flakes.  I had heated the coconut, palm and palm flakes so the oils were a bit warm, while they cool down I'll mix my colors.

The coloration on this soap resembles the colors found in a fresh avocado, dark green, yellow green and yellow.

Once they were all mixed I checked temperatures and found I was in the high 80's for oils and low 90's for lye/water, just about ready to start.

I mixed up the FO's - The first time we made this soap we didn't have the Wasabi fragrance that Soap Queen uses, so we improvised and created our own blend using what we had on hand.  We mixed and tested and finally came up with a blend of three different FO's that when combined smell fresh and clean and maybe a little like avocado.  Our customers really like it so we decided to keep our scent and make it our own.


Now with colors mixed, FO's ready, measuring cups marked, and mold lined I am ready to mix.

I added the lye/water to the oils and stick blended to a really light trace, then I added in the mixed avocado.

Next I poured almost 4 cups of batter each into two different measuring cups leaving the balance in the mixing pot.

I added the dark green colorant to the batter in one of the larger measuring cups.  

The green/yellow color combination goes into the other 4 cup measuring cup.  

The plain yellow colorant went into the remaining batter in the mixing pot.

I used the stick blender on low speed to mix the colors, at this point the soap is at a medium trace and I know it will thicken pretty fast once I add the FOs.

The FO's were added very unscientifically, I eyeballed it, hopefully it was evenly distributed in the different colors.  I stirred the FO's in really well and as I did noticed a bit of ricing and definite acceleration.  No way to tell which FO is causing this as they were all mixed together.

Next I poured the darkest green batter into the lined log mold. It was still loose enough to actually pour which was nice.  I tamped it down once all the dark green was added to hopefully rule out air bubbles.

I poured the medium yellow/green batter in next; it was still pourable so I am a happy girl!  Once again I tamped it down and cross my fingers re air bubbles.

The solid yellow batter went on top. I wanted to mound it up so I stirred it a bit longer to help it thicken up.

Once all of the batter was in the mold, and the top of the soap was fluffed enough to make me happy I called it done and put it into the freezer.  This supposedly helps slow the heating of the soap which helps keep the avocado from turning brown. So far it's worked every time we've made this soap.


I finished cleaning the kitchen and called it a day.  I will un-mold the soap tomorrow and have the final shots for you to see.

The soap is all finished, and much to our dismay it looks like the ricing actually left a calling card, we can see spots of "rice" in the bars.

We've done extensive research and the "rice" bits don't do any harm, they aren't as scenic as we would like, but the overall effect is the same, as is the quality of the soap.

Fresh Avocado soap, will be cured July 3.

A Directorial Debut - Sage's Soap

#handmadesoap #coldprocesssoap #lavenderandspearmint

March 31, 2015

Yes, we realize that we are actually posting this blog entry on May 17, 2015, so we admit that we are a little late with sharing the process of this batch of soap.  What we can tell you, though, is that we took this soap to a festival this weekend and it went like hotcakes!  The fragrance of this soap is amazing.

To make it even more special, the fragrance was developed by Kathy's granddaughter, Sage, who was spending part of her spring break with her grandmother.  We let Sage choose the colors, the scents etc. plus she wanted to be the director of the video.  She smelled just about every fragrance we have in the soap room, narrowed it down to 8 essential oils, and then narrowed it down to two.  We just might need her help more often!

We present Sage's soap in video form.  Enjoy!

If you don't want to watch the video, below are some pictures of the finished soap: