Milk and roses

Finally I made the rose soap I had been planning to make for a while. Most of my soaps these days are made with the same amount of palm, coconut, olive and sesame oils. One thing most observed by all the people who tried my soaps was how soon they vanish. So I decided to try a higher percent of palm oil, which seems to be fine on my skin because of the high humidity factor. My normally extra dry skin (in European weather) is doing well without a moisturizer. However I wanted to make this soap a little special so I made it with buffalo's milk and superfatted it with shea butter.

Buffalo's milk is known for it's high fat content so the superfat is 2%. The sink was filled with ice cubes to keep the frozen milk from getting hot, but it did turn a bright yellow and then a pale orange with the lye. The hand blender was kept away because of the seize situation with the earlier batch of soap but somewhere after 10 minutes of hand stirring I gave in. In spite of stopping the blender way before the soap traced, the second the essential oils went it, I could sense a panic attack in the offing. The spirit of Speedy Gonzales kicked in and the essential oils got stirred in by hand at a pace even the hand blender couldn't beat. In a flash the entire soap was in the mold, decorated with petals waiting for the gel phase to arrive.

Small soap blocks ready to be sliced up

The scent blend was Rose, Geranium, Palmarosa, Peppermint, Clove and Black Pepper EO's. I like the blend, but wish it tones down a little during the curing period. It smells really rosy! Maybe more spicy and woody EO's next time.

The soaps are darkening as they cure

Just have to keep that blender out of my sight!!

Sunshine soap

These days nothing gets thrown away before careful consideration...you never know what can be used to make soap. I held onto a broken umbrella handle for a few months too, while my husband wondered if I lost my marbles. So we got two cans of Pringles (thankfully the small size) that travelled with us to Slovenia and came back with us empty. The chips flew lightly out of the can and settled heavily in the butt. I am at a loss to understand how a few grams of snack can turn into a few kilos the second they hit the mouth.

I am one of those green soap lovers and have been wanting to make one for sometime now. The contents of a bag of nettle tea leaf had been soaking in olive oil for more than two weeks now. Molds were ready. Something was missing...what could it be? Has to be something to make me break into a panic sweat in the last minute of soaping. Well this time it was the cardboard tube around which aluminium foil is rolled. Now that is exciting enough. The grand plan was to do a soap embed with fresh soap in a different color. See this was supposed to be a morning soap, with the sun rising from the center. I can be imaginative too people!!

The outcome wasn't too bad actually. The cardboard pulled up a little too much soap with it. I shouldn't have waited so long before taking it out from the mold. Wish the green was a little greener and the yellow (from turmeric)  a little yellower/orange. I couldn't give the sweats a miss though....it was really hot here yesterday.

Hoping the sun doesn't set on me, by fading away

Scented with Mint, Tea tree and a tick of Lime essential oils. The mint masks the green smell really well. Thanks for the mint tip Amy W from Soapy Stories. About 11% Shea butter and 10% superfat. I drastically cut down the Coconut oil too this time.  A little bit of the end piece lathered very well. Not big bubbles, but nice small and creamy ones. :) 

Why do I even try to cut with a knife???
Had to make corrections later.

Little heart samples.
Funnily they turned green with turmeric??

This soap is fully natural, including the colors. I feel pretty good about it!! :)

Ohrange lav

Immediately after trimming the last soap, I rolled up the leftover scraps into balls. They look nice and I really don't know why I couldn't think of doing that before (I threw away many a scraps...yikes, not knowing what to do with them). So as I was rolling away, ideas kept rolling in my head and then....BAM!! This soap was created that very afternoon.

Made on 21.06.2011

Oils: Coconut, palm, olive and canola buttered with Shea. I don't know why, but the soap had some white specks. I remember reading someone else had the same problem (guess it was Cocobong)...must be the Shea butter??

Trimmed one, but later decided to keep them curvy

Scented with orange and lavender essential oils, it smells heavenly and perfect for summer. Every time I walk into the room, the beautiful fragrance allures me to pick up the soap and smell it. 

And....we're rolling again!!

Oh how I luv this orange and lavender scent!!