Sally

In Europe we cannot legally sell our soaps , b& b products etc without first having our recipes assessed & approved by a registered cosmetic chemist.

Each different type of product needs to have it's own safety assessment so I need one for HP/CP soaps, another for bath bombs, another for creams/lotions etc.

Each assessment can cost over £150 thats around $300, however that assessment is then yours for life & doesn't need to be renewed. Plus if you want to add something to the assessment in the future that costs extra each time.

My first assessment is on it's way tho whether I actually start to sell yet is another thing.

We also have to have our labels printed according to the Trading Standards guidelines for our area & have to list all potential allergens according to lists drawn up by E.U commitees.

This is why we aren't legally allowed to use U.S fragrances in our soaps etc unless we pay for them to be safety assessed, as they generally are not already E.U approved.

To add to this there is now in the pipeline a whole new set of directives for candle makers, including a smoke test, however one has to buy the information booklets before one can find out just what is expected & from what I can make out every individual fragrance, size, style of candle will have to be provided for testing...in triplicate.

It's going to cost thousands & will almost certainly wipe out the small business very quickly indeed.

Although I understand the need to produce safe products I personally think this is bureacracy gone mad!!

Sally.

It depends on:

1. Cost of base oils and equipment

2. Whether you have them shipped to you or not

3. How much the fragrance costs. I use fragrances that are $13.95 to $85 a pound, that all gets factored in.

4. You also want to factor in your time making soap, most people don't pay themselves what they are worth.

Here is a simple cost calculator. I know there are others but I can't find them right now;)

http://www.saratogascents.com/cost_calculator.html

OOO this is just what I'm needing, thank you for posting the link.

Now I've looked at the Soapmakers site I'm even more impressed.

I think I will be getting this for the future.

Sally.:highfive:

Just got the email, I am so tempted.

I'll have to see if my budget can stretch so I can get something...if there's any left by the time I get to order.

Sally.

I made a small batch (cphp) with pumice, rosewood & a touch of patchouli e.o's & I love it.

A friends husband uses it every time he's worked on his motorbike & it cleans his hands really nicely too.

I also made a batch with coffee grounds from my cafetiere & rosemary & lemongrass e.o's, but that ones a bit rough, ok for rough skin on feet tho.....need to get some filter coffee & try that cos I don't have a grinder attachment to play with.

Sally.

A work of art, it would be bliss to use such a gorgeous soap.

Sally.

I don't know if they are E.U. approved or not but it would be worth it to check and if they are not, that the pits. At least you could use them for personal or for gifts.

I could indeed do that...he he & add to the mini soap mountain I'm building all by myself!!

I thought I was bad enough with all the candle supplies but it's getting sooo much worse now I'm making soap too.

Sally.

Has anyone subbed water for a strong infusion of jasmine tea in their soaps?

I was drinking some yesterday & wondered if it might retain any of the rather delicate scent at all.....can't afford any jasmine absolute, not even a dilution at the moment :undecided

Sally.

I think I'd be skinned if I was to use any of that in my recipes no matter how good it may be!!

Sally.

OOOO that looks gorgeous.

The mould looks great too, takes all the guess work out of cutting nice even bars....something I'm hopeless at!!

Sally.

Faberoony soaps Meredith, I bet those pop colours aren't E.U approved tho. So if I was to get hold of some to play with I couldn't sell the soap anyway.

Sally.

HMM I actually like the smell of ferrets.

Now just what do you use mink oil for?

Sally.

I second Coco with the castor oil, mine doesn't smell bad either, barely has any smell at all & I love it in my HP soaps.

Never heard of bath syrup over here tho.

Sally.

I've never used that much f.o in cb135, maximum 8.5% for me & as low as 6% for the odd really strong f.o.

A high % could cause smoking & mushroom problems & probably wouldn't boost the HT at all.

Sally.

Can anyone help me with sweet orange e.o?

I've tried several combinations in my HP soap but it always fades so quickly, several people have mentioned "fixing" it with something else but I've yet to find something that I'm really happy with.

Lavender & lemongrass is gorgeous btw & rosemary & lemongrass too but go easy on the lemongrass as it can overpower other e.o's in a blend.

Sally.

Have to agree with everyone who's said Bert's, it's superb in soy, Ecosoya pb & cb135.

sally.

MMMMMM yummy.

Sally.

They are gorgeous, one day I just might have a go at salt bars.

Sally.

Fabulous colour, so vibrant.

Sally.

Wow they look so cool.

Sally.

I tried Berts version & found it too weak, for me, in my candles.

I'm just going to use the bottle up in melts.

Sally.

I can only get red palm blended with canola which I think is rapeseed oil.

Can anyone tell me how to get the sap value for that if I should want to try it?

Thank you,

Sally.

If I want to sell my soaps over here I have to list all the ingredients except sodium hydroxide as it isn't present in the finished product.

Also I have to get my soaps safety assessed by a registered chemist before I can sell them.

To do this I have to send recipes etc with relevant MSDS & suppliers, recipes written with INCI names....it goes on, plus samples for assessing.

If I change a single ingredient e.g a scent a new recipe has to be assessed.

All of this does not come cheap but without it I could face a hefty fine or worse.

At the end of it all tho' I will know that my recipes are registered as safe & my certificates last forever.

In the meantime the headaches continue as I try to gather all the info I need to get these forms etc written out right.

Sally.

It's the same over here in U.K, everything is going up in price almost every week & as for petrol, I'm lucky if it doesn't go up twice a week.

My budget is very small so I can only buy £10/$20 roughly worth of petrol a week which means when it's gone I don't drive, plus public transport isn't cheap either.....BAH

Sally.

I wear a mask, open a window & the back door if it's not too cold & stand well back. Seems to work for me.

Sally.

Really interested in any HP related tutorials as that's all I do right now....somehow in my backwards way of thinking I started with that before CP but what the heck it works for me!

Natural colourants, E.O's & powdered GM tutorials in HP would be good.

Sally.