Spellkast

My mom is in love with this new scent called Iced Herbal Tea. I've yet to smell it, but she says it's great. Does anyone know where I can get a dupe, or is it still too new to the market...? Thanks so much!

LOL- that's a crazy list of scents there...dirt and saw dust...lol...to each his own, I guess- but I agree that TC's clean cotton is a bit *off.* I've only tried a couple of their oils and I got them off the classifieds, so they could have been messed with, but the clean cotton smelled pretty funky and so did their sweet pea. Haven't tried many of their others, but have heard their coffee scents are wonderful!

www.ellensessentials.com is where mine came from. I bought them from someone off the board- but she got them from here and they're GREAT! They look incredibly professional (IMO) and they seal nicely.

Oh thank god!! I was thinking about this the other day when you posted about the auction on ebay...I was hoping the good cause it was going to wasn't "my MIL's hip replacement because I beat her other one to pieces!" I'm glad things have worked out for you and CONGRATS ON THE BIG ACCOUNT!!!

Damn There goes my good laugh for the evening! It would have made some interesting soap, I bet!

LOL!! Does the soap feel a bit waxy?! LOL...sorry...just gave me a good laugh for the day!

Yeah, I definitely think the full fat powdered stuff would go bad quicker. Like with regular milk- I seriously had a carton of fat free milk in my fridge (back in my healthy kick) for about 2 months and it still wasn't bad when I dumped it!!! So the powdered stuff must be the same way. I made a very small batch last night with powdered milk, and I tried it in the tub- my GOSH!! It's wonderful! I just love it! My skin was so nice and soft afterwards and moisturized! I also did one with oatmeal- but I didn't try it yet, I will tonight!! I'm still searching for my darn honey!! Texas- You CAN definitely use herbs in them!! I had a customer special order some peppermint and lavender bath bombs with herbs and EO's a while back and they were beautiful (if I do say so myself!!!) The woman loved them!! You may need to add a little extra oil to get them to pack together well, but they're a really nice extra touch!

You should add 3% Fo by weight. I've done it by liquid measurement when doing small batches for myself and it didn't seem to matter much, but I know typically, you want to measure everything in weight. And the way you package M&P is realy up to you. Depending on where you are and the specific base you use, it can vary. I find that my M&P doesn't really *sweat* that badly, so I can leave it out for a couple of days and then package it. Some other people need to do it right away, or freeze it so it doesn't sweat as badly. I just use the 4x6 shrink wrap bags and they work wonderfully. HTH!

JEFF- I think that is a FANTASTIC IDEA!! That would be downright adorable- and I think the Ravie font looks the grumpiest IMO. Just something about the curly-q's that make me think fancy, and old time as opposed to grumpy. Also, I'm one for symmetry and the bottom of the label seems "off" to me. Are they all the same font size (the website, 8 oz. and address?) Maybe also, you can put your phone number or city, state on the warning label on the bottom of the jar instead of having them on top of each other...does that make sense? Ok, enough picking apart now! Nice job, girly!

I get all my dyes from WSP...they seem to have everything under the sun for the cheapest price. I'm also going to be doing a co-op on the peacock dyes, but they're pretty pricey to use in just M&P. You could also use food coloring. It's what I used when I made my first M&P and I got a 8 pack of colors from walmart for, like, $2. HTH

Thank you! I'm going to make a batch tonight using some FAT FREE powdered milk- and another one using some oatmeal. I have some functional honey and will need to play around with the recipe on that one. I thought I had some powdered honey around here somewhere, but can't find it anywhere!! Thanks!!!

Brenda- I love your stuff! You are one classy lady! I adore the different fonts to fit each scent and I think they look wonderful!

Has anyone ever added powdered milk, colloidal oatmeal or honey to their bath bombs? I'm looking to *jazz* up some bath bombs and I don't want to add any butters (I hate the ring around the tub thing!) And these were the only things I could think of to add to them...I was thinking they could replace either the salts or the corn starch (possibly both) in my recipes. Just looking for a starting point here...I currently use 1/2 cup of cornstarch- should I use 1/2 cup powdered milk and oatmeal? 1/2 cup of powdered honey seems excessive, though, dontcha think? Well, thanks for any insight you may be able to shed!!!

Well, since she said NO ocean-y, I'm not going to give Peak's Ocean a vote (although it is a great scent!!!) I totally second Tony's fresh waterfall though!! And if that's not your cup of tea, try JS's Oxygen or China Rain. I can send you samples of all of those to try out, just PM me if you want them!

See, I've never liked their regular oils- I ONLY use their perfume dupes. I haven't tried the seduction one (never even heard of it...gotta try it now!!!) But I thought their Pink was really good. Definitely won't rave about their regular oils, though. Stick just with the dupes, and like grumpy said, stay away from Lovely, and also hypnotic poison and black cashmere. Those don't smell anything like the original IMO. To each his own, though. Some people hate SOS, some people love them. You should just order some 1 or 2 oz. samples of it and judge for yourself. If you don't like them, you could always sell them on the classifieds!

I disagree- I've used a TON of their dupes and they're the closest I've found to being dead on. Just a handful of them have been bad..and all of their VS dupes that I've tried have been dead on. I had a lot of trouble finding a really good heavenly dupe- but their's is PERFECT! HTH!

I totally agree with sockmonkey-these seem more suited for elevation or fancy jars. Beautiful labels, but they don't seem to fit the country jar look. That said, I really like the square labels the best on the larger jars(again, I'm in the minority!!) But they catch my eye more and the round label on the smaller jar suits that one better I think. Great job! They are beautiful labels!

Well, I tried a new batch last night (All roebic) and it worked just fine...And don't worry Robin I read your tutorial, and added way more than 4.75 oz. of water So I really have NO idea what went wrong there!! I can't find anywhere on the container though, where it says if it's 100% lye or not. But it seemed to work the past two times, so I'm hoping it is 100%...what else could it be?

Laura- I can do that for you if you still need it done. I have a CC reader and wouldn't mind. Let me know!

I lied, I lied!!! My brain is fried today and I apologize- MY loaf pan holds 32 oz. nicely, which in my dumb head, I calculated to be 3 lbs...which it is SOOO not, it's 2 lbs. Hope you didn't already read the post and try to cram three pounds in a poor defenseless loaf pan. Sorry!!!

I don't think the method for your pouring would matter much, since you said you mix until the FO is fully incorporated. Where are you getting your oils from, and what percentage do you use? Is it a typically light scent? Are you getting bad scent throw with EVERY fo you test? If so, maybe try testing a new wax...or have you only tried one FO? If that's the case, try a stronger scent from perhaps a different supplier and see if you can get a good scent throw on that one. There's a lot of factors that come into play when testing scent throw and you'll have to weed each one out individually before coming to a conclusion as to why the scent isn't strong.

Ok, wellllllll...it depends on what size bars you'd like. If you'd like 4 oz. bars, you can get 4 bars from a lb. And if you're talking about those little bread loaf pans, they hold 3 lbs. of CP comfortably, and I'd imagine it would hold the same amount for M&P. If you go over or less, the bar size is just weird, IMO! Ask me how I know! The only reason I don't like the loaf pan for a mold is it turns out funny shaped bars, so I need to trim them. I'm not sure if you'd want that kind of waste with M&P, so you may want to look into cheap molds. I got some great ones from WSP and brambleberry. They have just about every kind of mold you could dream of and they produce awesome soaps that you just pop out of the mold and you're done- no need to trim and cut each bar. I LOVE M&P- you can be super creative with it..and it's SUCH a stress reliever!! Welcome to your new addiction!

I've only made CP a few times- but this hasn't happened before. I went to mix my lye with my water, and the stuff wouldn't mix!!! It was two different brands (1.75 oz. of red devil, and 3 oz. of roebic) and it seemed like some of it mixed, and probably about half just settled at the bottom of the glass. Has this happened to anyone? I hit it with my mixer even and it still wouldn't blend together. And also, usually, once I add the lye, it takes about 25 minutes for the temp to go down to around 150. I checked on it not even ten minutes after I mixed it and it was at 125 already. I'm scared to even use it, thinking there will be bits of unmixed lye dispersed throughout my soap (which can NOT be safe!!!) HELP!! I'm about ready to give up on this CP crap..yeah right

That sounds like one wonderfully fantastic recipe!! Wish I had all those ingredients to play around with!! I'll be a tester for the bar if ya need one!!!

I agree with Michael. If I had to choose one, it would be #4, though, since I think it's good to have your company name at the top, and the white brings more attention to the product and scent names. Maybe just keep it simple...just have the door as the background and then white or black lettering (depending on the shade of the door behind it.) Usually, I like the busy looking labels, but this one just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not trying to be mean in the least, I'm just racking my brain as to WHY. Something about the keyhole being much LARGER than the door, lol, just kinda bothers me, I guess. Although I do like the idea of a keyhole since it is "the orange door candle company." But I think it should be one or the other- either the orange door....or the keyhole with your company name on it somewhere. Also, I've heard it both ways: goat milk AND goat's milk. I like the ring of Goat's Milk, though. Doesn't make it seem as though one goat did all the work! Maybe someone else will have some better advice for ya!!! Sorry ETA: Ok, I've looked at it like 10 more times now, and it's grown on me! I like #4!