Sarah S

Very festive! The pop of color sets it off,  just like Trapp said!

The font is perfect, elegant but still very easy to read. And I like how the 3 C's really stand out.

I love the story about the creek, that sells me on your brand even more! 😊

So many great tips! I too struggle with organization.

I really like the idea of organizing tests by fragrance!

13 hours ago, Sarah S said:

MakingCosmetics.com has a great product called "Hairfix HX". They have formulas for creating various hair gels with it on their website.

 

Because I heat style my hair every day (and wash it every day!), I wanted to make a pre-style heat protection serum. It also doubles as a really light hair gel or leave-in conditioner.

 

85.5% water

1% panthenol

1% hydrolyzed wheat protein

 

2% BTMS 50

3% dimethicone

 

* I heat and hold those two phases, combine and cool just like usual

 

2% cyclomethicone

.5% liquid germall +

5% hairfix HX

 

* I add the final phase after it's cooled

 

Again, so easy to modify as needed! Check my math before proceeding, sometimes I fragrance, sometimes I don't, so it could be +- 1%

 

 

Dang it, that's "Hairfix XH"

Sorry!

Lovespell would be the only one I'd be interested in.... Still holding out for RE and CW! 😁

6 hours ago, TallTayl said:

Actually, cetearyl is blended at a higher rate in the 25, not cetyl. Cetearyl can be different ratios of cetyl and stearyl fatty alcohols. 

 

btms and btms 50 without other conditioning agents ( like cetyl among others) fry my hair. It took a while to stop the breakage from leaving handfuls of hair in the shower floor. 

 Thank you! For some reason I had it in my head that cetyl always goes with BTMS. Clearly I need a fact checker on my posts! 

You know, I don't think I've ever made a conditioner without adding extra cetyl, quats, and oils. That's a terrible way to have to figure that out TT!

MakingCosmetics.com has a great product called "Hairfix HX". They have formulas for creating various hair gels with it on their website.

Because I heat style my hair every day (and wash it every day!), I wanted to make a pre-style heat protection serum. It also doubles as a really light hair gel or leave-in conditioner.

85.5% water

1% panthenol

1% hydrolyzed wheat protein

2% BTMS 50

3% dimethicone

* I heat and hold those two phases, combine and cool just like usual

2% cyclomethicone

.5% liquid germall +

5% hairfix HX

* I add the final phase after it's cooled

Again, so easy to modify as needed! Check my math before proceeding, sometimes I fragrance, sometimes I don't, so it could be +- 1%

4 hours ago, TallTayl said:

@Candybee @Jcandleattic have you ever visited the Point of Interest blog? Here's a query just for conditioners: http://swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com/search?q=Conditioner

 

susan goes into the types and reasons behind ingredients, and provides formulations for different hair types. Once you understand the ingredients whipping up hair care products is simple. 

Yes, you beat me to it, lol!

Maybe just my opinion, but I find the recipes and tutorials on the various supplier's websites to be more about selling thier products. Totally understandable, but Susan's blog really helped me understand how to craft products that work for my specific needs, and not just whatever hot new ingredient is out there.

So a real basic conditioner recipe might look like:

q.s.  water

5% BTMS

1-3% fatty alcohol/fatty acid

q.s. preservative

You'd make it just like a lotion - heat and hold the water phase, heat the oil phase (the BTMS and fatty acid), combine, mix, cool, add preservative and voila! Super easy! I always work in grams to make the math super easy too.

When you want to add the fun stuff like hydrolyzed proteins, silicones, quats and stuff, you just need to check the reccomended usage rates and if it's water or oil soluable to figure out what phase to put it in, just like a lotion or butter.

Susan is an absolute gem of no bullshit advice, if you have the patience to really read through her blog. Much like Craftserver!!

So @Jcandleattic, my light conditioner recipe looks like:

88.5% water

.2% TEDTA

1% panthenol

.5% polyquat 10

2% hydrolyzed wheat

4% BTMS 50

2% cetyl alcohol

1% dimethicone

.5% liquid germall +

.3% fragrance

Of course you can modify to suit what you have or what works for your hair!

7 hours ago, GailC said:

 

Wow!  I guess since NG has over 800 fragrances, it's easy to see why none of our lists overlap though.  I didn't realize that most of my FO's from NG were spring/summer scents until someone else asked for recommendations and I had hardly any fall scents to recommend.  I've bought 46 FO's from them.  A few I didn't care for or were just meh, but I've been well satisfied over all.  One of my best sellers is Eucalyptus & Spearmint, and some customers can't get enough of Tinsel.  Neither are really my type of scent.

 

I mostly make soy candles and melts with GW444, but I used the Nantucket Garden in lotion bars and I and those I gave them to thought they smelled lovely.

 

Our 'smellers' are so different.  I made some Christmas candles from Candlewic's White Mulberry Ceder, and my grandson and I really like it.  Better than the Christmas tree fragrances I've had to me.  But reviews are mixed.  Last night my niece said she got a whiff of baby vomit when she smelled it!   

I think part of it is that I mostly use their oils for soaps and lotions, so for the most part I'm looking at totally different fragrances. There are many that I adore in soap that I wouldn't put in wax, and vice versa.

But yes, I love to hear about others' fragrances experiences, because we are all different! 😁

I made my mom a soap/lotion/shampoo set with the Nantucket Garden. She adored it! 😉

Too funny about the baby vomit, that was very specific, lol!

I think it's tough to make recommendations with a supplier that big without some sort of jumping point too.

Is this for wax? Soap? Both? Holiday? Every day?

What kind of scents do you like?

I can tell you I've tried over 80 fragrances from NG, and not a single one from Gail or Belinda's lists, lol. Except Nantucket Garden, I tried that and hated it. 😂

10 hours ago, Candybee said:

If you get the sample of the conditioner let me know how it works on your hair. I am interested because I have very fine, frizzy, dry, graying hair. My hair changed from straight to frizzy in my 30's but it has always been extra fine and flyaway. So keeping it conditioned yet still full looking is not easy. Over the counter conditioners and commercial shampoos just don't work for me at all. My shampoo soap worked for years for me but my hair changed again in my 60's and now it is dry.

Candy, I have really frizzy hair too, and I use a silicone serum on it every day, which really helps. Now, mine is also super thick, so I use dimethicone and coconut oil mixed with a little cyclomethicone, but if my hair was fine I'd try something like:

75% cyclomethicone

23% dimethicone

2% fractionated coconut oil

I put mine in a fine spray bottle, lightly mist my palms and run them through my dry hair. 

Now, if you really want to go down the rabbit hole, I could share my style-prep anti-frizz serum recipe using a load of conditioning ingredients from Making Cosmetics. 😉

I love playing with hair products! Lol

11 hours ago, Jcandleattic said:

Thanks Sarah. I have everything you mentioned except the BTMS, and I can easily get that from Lotion Crafters. 

Oh, I love that website! Jenny has so many fantastic ingredients! Do make sure you get the BTMS 50, not the 25 - the 25 is 75% cetyl alcohol, which I find is just too waxy feeling. Great for lotions and cream cleansers though. 😁

If you'd like a recipe, just let me know, I'd love to share some, I have everything from heavy hair butters to ultra light leave-ins! 😃

Please don't take this as me being a jerk, but have you done a forum search?

There are tons of threads on this very topic, with lots of great info.

Also, many suppliers have tutorials on this. WSP, RE, and NG all do, just to name a few.

No, it shouldn't affect the fragrance of the tarts.

Are they packaged individually? If you have loose tarts all jumbled together and touching each other there might be some surface-to-surface transfer of fragrance, but if they're in individual packaging there's no need to worry.

2 hours ago, katmeltswax said:

I knew it ,I knew it ,Aztec has launched another new oil ,Blackstrap Molasses .Just now got Hillbilly Mistletoe in the wax ,now this .Excited to test the HM ,hard to resist this one ,sounds sooo  yummy ,love Maple type scents .Guess I will grab a pound since it has the low intoductry price as usual .I need HELP, can't resist .

I'm not going over there!! I'm holding out for Black Friday! I will be strong! 💪😅

I always think of ginger when I think of molasses cookies. 😊

Granny's Blackstrap Cookies?

Thank you for doing this TT!

I've been making my conditioner from scratch for a couple of years now using BTMS 50. Someone has it pretty cheap... Bramble Berry, I think might be the best I've found, but I'll dig out my invoices and double check that.

It's sooooo easy, it emulsifies like a dream, I add a little coconut oil for my super frizzy hair, panthenol for damage (cause I blow dry and flat iron!) and rice protein. All those ingredients do double duty in my lotions too, so it's really cost effective. I make giant buckets of it at a time, because both my girls have super long hair and we go through a lot. The BTMS makes my hair so soft, and I really do have difficult hair!

You could make a very nice basic conditioner with water, BTMS, coconut oil, silk protein, and a preservative.

I could see how a base would be easier if you don't already have a stash of preservatives and proteins and such though. 🙂

Thanks for the heads up Gail! I was just at RE drooling over a couple of FOs, I will try to restrain myself now! 😆

Totally normal! There's always air flow in your home, even if there's no actual draft. Even just the air sinking as it cools may pull fragrance in different directions. You may need to try burning in different areas if you're not happy with the throw. If it's not a big deal, I wouldn't worry about it too much, just be aware of it when testing.

Just one more challenge to the testing process, lol.

1 hour ago, katmeltswax said:

Yay! Got mine this morning .I like the smell oob ,thinking I may test first in the wax ,then add a bit more pine if necessary .It is a very nice soft scent . It certainly has that Christmas aroma .Lol I knew the name soon as you posted it was Hillbilly Mistletoe from Aztec lol. I will be changing the name because I do not detect a hillbilly at all lmbo.It deserves a more elegant Christmas  name , beautiful scent ,just may need a splash more of pine .I will post results soon as I get this one into the wax ,hoping this evening .

I was thinking the exact same thing about the pine! Great minds, lol!

Dang it, I just looked at my bottle and it's "Hillbilly Mistletoe"!

I really need to double check before I post anything, I am the worst at mixing things up!

Can I change the subject of this? Lol

8 hours ago, Nickie said:

I reached out to them for clarification on this recently. 

125 is 4630

129 is 4794

130 is 6006

141 is 4625

 

but please note, candlewic only purchases the base waxes from igi, then throws in their own additives to produce thier final product. So therefore, they are a like product, not an exact match to the IGI waxes. The consistency may NOT be exactly the same from thecandlewic waxes to IGI waxes. 

Thank you!! That is so helpful!

And here I thought the 129 was 4625... But actually that's the 141... Now I have to ponder this. 🤔

I tell you what, whatever CW is adding is some kind of magic ingredient, because even the duds I make with the 125 are still pretty good candles! Lol

To me, OOB, it smells almost exactly like Flaming's Alpine cheer. A little more fruit and less pine. I'm not sure where the hillbilly comes in to play...

It's nice, I can see it being a hit in tarts. It does smell festive - reminds me of Christmas in New England, as does Alpine Cheer. Hopefully I can get it in some wax this week. 

It's skin safe, but not something I see myself soaping, although I imagine it would be a cheerful unisex fragrance!

Anyone else smell it yet?

7 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

Is TCS "The Candle Source".....can't remember?

 

Trappeur

Yes it is! 😁

Congrats! Nothing like a sense of personal accomplishment! And a heavier pocketbook, lol!

Did you ever get around to master batching your oils? Sounds like you're going to need it! 😄