heartsong

Each batch of soap is an adventure, especially when trying a new f/o...ricing, separation, seizing, scent morph, to just name a few. I always say a little prayer just before adding scent! Pine tar always keeps you on your toes! Soaping cool helps a tiny bit, but it accelerates like a little red sports car! One thing I learned was not to use a water discount...still it doesn't leave you much time.

Reverse trace is when your soap batter is beginning to thicken and you pour your fragrance oils in and the batter thins out and you have to stick blend to get it to thicken again...just the opposite of "soap on a stick" when adding the f/o and the batch immediately turns to concrete....been there, done that, too!

My last day to soap before going back on the road...(*sigh!*) My 5 lb batches and 15-bar samples of "Laundry, " "Southern Blossoms," and "Sweet Apple Orchard" are cut, trimmed and drying. I blended 50/50 of WSP's Apples and Cinnamon with TC's OM&H and oh my, I love this scent!!!! The apples scent is right out in front, with a bit of sweet cream and just a small dab of cinnamon...Hubby likes it too. He says it smells like apple pie. I think I'll do a men's scent now...more bottles to sort through!

I believe that would be Vanilla Bean Noel.

I'm not a chandler, but I do make tarts and I would highly recommend soapsupplies.net "Eggnog" This is sooooo good that I could almost drink it! As tarts, it really fills the room quickly. Less cinnamon and more allspice, with a really sweet buttery vanilla...in CP soap the buttery notes disappear and leaves a nice sweet vanilla spice.

Well I just cut my southern floral sample batch...it popped right out of the mold...the yellow mica came back about 80% with a pretty mauve/pink around the edges. I think I'll go with pink mica next time...scent has calmed down and a very pleasant non-perfumey floral, which I will name "Sweet Home Alabama." My guardian Angel was working overtime, for sure! Still tinkering with the woodsy/outdoors one, a masculine one and then this morning I discovered another stash of musk/nag champ/dragon's blood, etc and then a whole box full of vanillas. I think I have turned into a secret hoarder.

My thoughts exactly! Well, we can just call those ones a "limited edition" scent and when its gone, it's gone...that may be enough incentive to the customer to boost sales!

I'm not a good blender, either...this was a desperate move on my part and for some odd reason it worked...and I got to incorporate about $200 of samples into workable batch scents so that all that money doesn't just sit there and go to waste. I'm toying with the outdoor/pine/earthy/woodsy/spiced pomegranite stuff now...haven't got it quite worked out yet... and another assortment of men's scents I'm scratching my head over.

Me, too! My absolute favorite of the laundry scents is Country Clothesline by www.soapsupplies.net but I think all the other stuff I threw into it made it even better.

Just gathered up all my autumn samples, like spiced apple, eggnog, gingerbread,etc and mixed it 50/50 with TC's OM&H...smells sooo good! Lye is cooling right now. Looking at it this way, instead of oodles of little bottles of nothing, I have at least a years worth of fragrance oils. The floral honeysuckle blend seems to be blooming in the mold...next time I'll use less...just did a 15 bar sample tray. (Milky way molds) The melon f/o's really smoothed the rough edges off the intense scent of the gardenia and other florals.

If you are like me, then you must have a bazzilion 1 oz f/o's gathering dust on your shelves...I soap 10 scents with a few seasonal backups that I swap out as needed. I was trying to clean and organize my work shop, so I boxed up everything I don't use now, thinking I'll just store them in the garage for later. (yeah, right.) A little light bulb went on and I began sorting out the f/o's according to fruit, flower, spa, spice, etc. I mixed all the rain/laundry/baby/clean & fresh scents together into a 32 oz bottle and just soaped a 5 pound batch of the BEST!!! fabric softener scent I've ever smelled...even hubby commented favorably. (amazing!) Then I took all the cucumber melon/pearberry/fruit scents and all the gardenia, honeysuckle, magnolia & neroli and poured in another big bottle. I just soaped this blend (holding my breath) waiting for calamity to seize the batch...it actually reversed trace! And it smells sooooo good! I used yellow hi-ph mica and it turned it a very alarming shade of orange, but so far, so good! We'll see how things look in the morning...

None that I am familiar with...if you find out differently, let us know. The only other milk protein I am familiar with is the whey or soy protein you add to protein shakes.

Okay, are you wishing to add milk protein to a ready-made base or are you making this from scratch?

Hi there! First of all, what product are you making, cold process soap? If soap, then you can use any milk product...goatsmilk or cow's milk either powdered, canned, whole milk, buttermilk, yogurt, etc. Here's a little info on milk proteins, HTH. http://www.milkfacts.info/Milk Composition/Protein.htm

I adore Essentials by Catalina! Uber-high end quality! They are located in southern California. I suggest you order some samples of her products. Also check out surplus and overages...love the shampoo & conditioner. I make my own souffle with virgin coconut oil. Unlike regular coconut oil, it has a very luscious fresh coconut scent, which I enhance with RE's cabana coconut f/o. I use 24% oils and use Lotioncrafter's LotionPro emulsifier. Beautiful skin feel. no tackiness or greasy feel, which is important here in hot & sticky Alabama. I make my souffle by special order only...I am a very small business, but I do have a very steady customer base. Because of shelf life and spoilage, if you are planning to resell lotions, please stick with a professsionally made base. When you are ready to make your own, I suggest to have your product lab-challenged to make sure your preservatives are correct. Even if you plan on using a professional base, I cannot stress enough the need for cleanliness and to keep from contaminating your product. Everything that touches my base first goes through the dishwasher, then goes thru a bleach solution, air dried and then sprayed with rubbing alcohol and air dried again. Swift Crafty Monkey blog has an abundance of info on this topic. Nothing will kill a sale faster than a customer opening a jar and seeing orange or pink contamination on their cream.

If I may make a suggestion? Swift Crafty Monkey blog is THE go-to place for all things bath and body. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the link?

I have tried adding oats in various forms in lotions and having to use maximum recommendation of preservative. You might wish to try hydrolyzed oats...easy to incorporate and you don't have to use as much preservative. http://www.lotioncrafter.com/hydrolyzed-oats.html

My favorite coconut f/o is from Rustic Escentuals Cabana Coconut...very realistic scent, not too sweet. Does not do well in Cold process soap. I use it in my virgin coconut skin souffle. This should work quite well for anhydrous lotion bars.. I get a lot of compliments with this one. http://rusticescentuals.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1&q=cabana coconut

Boy do they have insane names for a lot of the f/o's...kinda makes me cautious...is it my imagination or do they have a lot of Lush dupes? Never been in a lush shop before...kinda hard to find parking for a 65 foot Semi.

Holy cow, Kelly! Soooo pretty! The "Dead" is so Uber-elegant! I love Nuture Soap micas, but haven't tried any f/o's yet...what would you say the fragrance is targeted to? (Men, women or uni-sex scent?)

IMHO, BA's lipbalm base is the best bang for the buck and as I mentioned before, it is multi-purpose...so I have to ask myself, "why keep trying to re-invent the wheel?" It would cost extra me time and money to tinker around trying to make something comparable. Here's a wonderful creamy skin balm for dry skin and nail cuticle: 1 part (1 oz) almond oil (or fractionated coconut oil for a drier feel) 3 part (3 oz) lip balm base. add fragrance of choice. pour into 4 oz jar Organic Cocoa Butter lotion stick: 1 part (2oz) Raw cocoa butter (or unscented) 1 part (2oz) lip balm base pour into 2 deodorant stick twist-up tubes....nice soft white chocolate scent.

Here are a few suggestions... http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/twilight-woods-for-men-fragrance-oil.aspx the feminine version (BBW) http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/twilight-woods-fragrance-oil.aspx and one I personally like: http://www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com/products/cashmere-woods-fragrance-oil.aspx?Mode=REVIEW HTH!

Thanks so much for the explanation in techniques...being just a simple soap maker, I truly admire the many different kinds of soap you all make...living in the land of "grits & gravy" I would have to do too much explaining as to why mud or clay would be a beneficial ingredient in soap.

Hi there! I use Bulk Apothecary's lipbalm base, too and love it! And yes, I call it my own, too. I use is for a skin balm, a lotion stick, lip balm and solid perfume by just adding my own ingredients to the base.

Beautiful, Kelly! Now I truly have "soaper's envy!" Really nice job!