elle110

Your whipped shea butter is not going to be like a body butter from most of the commercial lines, theirs are more like heavy creams, which if you look at the above ingredients posted for the body shops, that what it basically is. I purchased some of theirs to try and it is just thick cream or lotion, whereas, the whipped shea butter is an intensive moisturizer that will be greasy at first no matter what you cut it with. My customers love the whipped shea butter, it soaks in quickly and very good on dry skin. I don't call mine body butter as not to give anyone the wrong idea. HTH Elle

I buy the 5" loofahs at WSP and cut them down, I am sereiously considering growing them next year. They do have some seeds in them when I get them for the supplier, so they are not completely clean. They are very interesting plants, a lot of my customers were under the impression they were a marine animal, I guess had confused with sponge, some people it takes awhile to convince they are not animal origin LOL elle

LOVE THE SWIRLS, don't know about the yellow, but, like already mentioned it could be some silk Elle

I get several of my oils from Angie and all that I have I love, I use the Pink Sugar and am so afraid to switch suppliers bcz the last time I ran out she was out of stock so I ordered FNWL, which I usually love all of their products but their Pink Sugar was a complete let down. I also use the Ozark Mtn. which is a huge seller with my men clients and I have never seen it any where else. Lets see, I also use the Pearberry. I have mixed reviews, some of my packages have come super fast when I have put a note in that I need NOW, and right now I have been waiting on one for several wks. got a fedex shipment email but have tried to track it for a week but it has never really been shipped. So I am off to email about my package Elle

Well, I went ahead and did my own adding b4 Robin posted. I changed the coconut oil to 21 oz, added soybean 6oz, and kept the olive and shortening the same. I superfatted with 2 oz shea, so this will really be a test batch, I did it in Blooming Tulip and used the water discount, Ok, I am a gluten for punishment, the soap started hardening as I poured, this will look like tulips ready to bloom out of the box, very very textured. I don't think the tulip FO would have reacted this way without the water discount or maybe not such a deep one. (and yes, I still did a 6# batch) I will post a pic of this garden when it is ready to be cut LOL Michelle

I can't use lard we only make veggie, do you think if I upped the coconut a little a used soybean it would be drying? I am going to run thru sooz

I need to make soap but my palm oil is not in, my basic recipe calls for: Coconut Oil 1 LB Palm Oil 11 oz Veg. Shortening 42 oz ( I run it thru as corn oil) Olive oil 27 oz does anyone have any suggestions on what to sub for the Palm What I have on hand is: Castor, Soybean, Safflower, shea, mango butter, and of course the others mentioned above. I am just afrain not using the Palm will cause a softer bar since Palm is semi-solid TIA Elle

I doubt they will rust, i can tell by looking at the brushed look, I have english tins for lip balm and they are the brushed aluminum and are guaranteed not rust and they have the same look to them. Good luck, they are beautiful, your products definitely have a very classy style and are very eye catching and interesting Elle

It is awesome, I love textured soap, I, myself would not even trim it up much. So what do you think of the water discount, does the bar feel real firm? Congrats!!!! Elle

Ok, I must be really slow, but I just realized Wix End is about 20 miles from my house and they carry a lot of FO that I use. Has anyone ever used any of their FO in their soaps etc. I am going to contact them to see if any of their FO has actually been tested in CP bcz all it says is skin safe or not elle

Thanks annareeb, I am going to go for it, I like it so much better than the chmically processed stuff just after seeing what he had Michelle

citrus bliss

I would say you thermometer is broken

Cool, Does it leave a yellow tint behind? I am only asking because some of my lotion bars I leave untinted or will it mess with the color I add, for instance red, and make orange? Does this make since? Elle

I can't quit coming back and looking, they look great!!!!!!!!!!! Elle

I met up with a local beekeeper here close to my town, he is willing to sell me as much beeswax I need at whatever price I basically name since he just wants to unload it. It is very yellow, something I am not used to because I guess from further investigation I have been using wax already chemically cleaned. I only use the wax in my lotion bars and seveal other items which only require a fairly small amount. I am just curious if this beeswax is OK to use in B&B, He does clean it as far as running it through a strainer etc but no chemicals TIA Elle110

about 2-3 weeks

Sherie, I just usually cap with soap, another person I showed how to do these caps with saran wrap, I lay mine on thick paper I have pour a little soap in to seal then do the rest when it hardens. Make sure you don't go pushing the loofah down hard when you put it in, I popped a cap once and then made several disasters happen at once. elle

Ok, new addictiion, I LOVE using the water discount, especially since I read more about it on the tutorial and went to the suggested website which discusses it. I cannot believe how firm these bars are using this method, almost have to unmold and cut a lot sooner than I am used to. So, I used a 40% lye solution (oh, I cannot believe how brave I am being) and also I should note that probably half of my stock was CP and the other half M&P but I am switching everything but Amazing Grace to CP and these are the first 3 that got switched. I am also doing the getting the lye water ready one day and making soap with room temp lye the next day, I was able to make batches yesterday in little time at all. YEAH:yay: I also am experimenting use less FO, I usually used the max amount because my clients love strong smelling soap but I have reduced my amount of that to a little over 1/2 oz pp of soap and cannot believe how wonderful they smell, I actually think some of them are more rounded out at the lesser amounts. Soooo, here they are: Oatmeal Milk & Honey, with goat milk (powdered), honey and oats lightly scented in OMH [ATTACH]2117[/ATTACH] Angel Thierry Mugler dupe with irridescent glitter on top, smells unbelievable, even better in CP the M&P [ATTACH]2118[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2119[/ATTACH] Lemongrass Sage with Poppyseeds (also has silk fibers added) smells fresh and invigorating [ATTACH]2120[/ATTACH]

These are just 1" cuts of a pvc (well one is a little bigger) but you get the picture, I cap each one, sprinkle in some additives add the loofah (about 3/4 of an inch because these bad boys can get way to big if you cut the loofah to big), pour the soap then add more goodies. I add the pumice to the soap base but the poppy seeds, mango butter and oats to each on individually to give my own look to each one. They weigh about 6 oz when done Please forgive how messy they are, just got done making a batch of them and have not gotten around to cleaning up my mess HTH Elle [ATTACH]2115[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]2116[/ATTACH]

That is exactly why I go by Elle, I have been surrounded by so many other Michelle's my whole life that people just started calling me Elle instead. I will take a pic of the molds and post them, I guess under the gallery. Someone let me know if they should go somewhere else. See you soon Michelles

Anytime I add exfoliants such as coffee, oats or poppy seeds etc I only use about a 1/4 C per 6# batch it is plenty, still has the cool visual effect but leaves your skin in better shape

No, but I used to put a little almond oil in them when I made the loafs but I don't put anything on the individual molds and they slip out Michelle

beautiful. cut it already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have added silk to my last few batches as well and can tell the difference, I add no more than about a nickel size to my lye water Michelle