Candybee

I don't know if this smells anything like Aveeno's but I love mixing Soapalooza's Blue Chamomile and Tassi Lavender together 50/50%.

If stirring your lye solution gets rid of the "film" on top of it then you should be okay. I can think of a couple of things that might be causing the film. One, make sure your lye solution container is very, very clean, as in squeaky clean. Oil residue, dirt, or even impurities in the lye can cause a "film" on top of your solution. Do you use distilled water? Have you tried another brand lye? I've had impurities in my hardware store lye but when I switched to buying my lye from Essential Depot no more impurities. Are you adding anything else to your water and lye that could cause the film? Also, make sure that you have at least the same amount of water or more water for your lye. Eg.; 5oz lye with 5oz water. This is also known as a 50/50% lye solution. Don't do 4oz water with 5oz lye. When I first started soaping I did this a couple times and my lye solution always got either milky or started crystalizing on me. The crystalizing starts on the surface so this may be what you are experiencing? A layer of crystalized lye water on the top of your solution. Once I had to throw mine out and start over because it just about crystalized completely. So I learned the hard way have at least the same amount or more water to lye for your solution. You want to give the lye enough water/liquid to dissolve properly and stay fluid. Re adding milks: I add my milk after I add my lye solution to my oils. I just never liked using it as my liquid for my lye solution. It works better for me to add it after I add my lye water. I still chill my milk in the fridge beforehand thou so it doesn't overheat my batter when I add it. HTH Hopefully Talltayl will chime in on this. She knows a lot more about soaping than me.

Thanks. I will check them out. I buy my herbs and honey at my local health food store. They sell them in bulk and what I love about the honey is its locally produced and filtered only not processed so it retains many of its beneficial properties-- and tastes uber yummy too! Enough about honey. They have all kinds of dried herbs like chamomile, calendula, peppermint, eucalyptus, catnip, lemongrass, lavender buds, tumeric, paprika. I use spices for color too. Anyway I mention because its another option to check out for herbs, spices, honey, seeds, etc. that you can soap!

I use cheesecloth to strain my herbs from my infusions. I just love using infusions and also making floral and herb waters for my soaps. But I had not tried the dried chamomile oil infusion. I just got a fresh batch of dried herbs this weekend and one was chamomile. Can't remember if its german or roman thou and it doesn't say on my package but it did on the store bottle. Will have to call and ask. Does it matter which one you infuse? Will one work better or smell stronger than the other?

Thanks! I will definitely check out some Yuzo.

I have a turkey roaster I bought for melting wax. Takes forever to melt it! But it sure does hold a lot of wax.

I have litsea and use it as an anchor in my EO citrus blends. What about Yuzo? Isn't that the japanese grapefruit? Maybe while I am getting some white vanilla AH may have some Yuzo too and or another grapefruit-- pink or ruby red I hope. Will have to check it out. You know a little bergamot with that might be the feminine note I am looking for. Grapefruit (or Yuzo) + vanilla + litsea + bergamot?

Moonshine you read my mind. I already have pink H. sea salt in my recipe. I may also add a touch of pink clay too. I had also considered a grapefruit type scent and think that would be a good one. I may use the EO thou. Haven't decided yet. I do want some sweetness and a "feminine" note which I'm not sure what that would be. What would you add to grapefruit to give it extra sweetness. Maybe now is the time to get a sample of that white vanilla that doesn't discolor CP. I think AH has it.

Eden Botanicals carries laurel leaf oil http://www.edenbotanicals.com/laurel-leaf-organic.html. But its not cheap.

O my goodness! How can I narrow all those suggestions down! Lots of good ones here! Now my head is spinning. Right now its hard to decide if I want a citrus, clean, fruity, sweet, etc. I think my problem is I don't know what type of scent I want so I don't know where to begin. But I am thinking salty like ocean, plus sweet for pink, plus a little sassy like citrus.

I need some ideas for a "pink" colored and scented salt bar I want to start developing for next year. Any scent suggestions/ideas that would go with the pink theme? BTW-- I won't be using pink sugar in soap as it discolors and I don't want to use a whitener or VS. Thanks.

Does it smell similar to Flicker's/Elements Olive Blossom that was discontinued? I have been on the hunt for a replacement and can't seem to find it.

Don't know if this helps you any but I always thought that CS Antique Sandalwood smelled like a musty old attic and old books. Its a lovely fragrance too.

You know I never got around to using my CS Rosemary sample. But I do have some rosemary EO that I was thinking of adding to it to bring out the natural herbal notes of rosemary. I really like how it smells OOB thou. One of my best sellers in CP this year is Rosemary Mint. I make it with a blend of spearmint and rosemary EOs. It usually sells out at most shows. So if you are thinking of a mixer spearmint and rosemary are classic.

As long as you buy soap colorants that say soap safe you are just fine. The not for lips simply means not for use in cosmetics for the lips like lipstick or lip balms that can be ingested into your body.

You know Inez a lot of new people to candle making make a lot of mistakes at first and sometimes don't ask the right questions. Just do the best that you can to cover yourself with your return policy. Also, I have a gut feeling that these know-it-alls may come back someday and tell you that you were right. I can't imagine the customer who bought the FOs finding anything better than what you are offering. Didn't they also judge them OOB before testing them in a candle? I think people starting out have unreal expectations and once they learn what they really should be looking for she may be back. It's also possible that she may eventually become a good customer. It's happened before. You never know.

Let us know how you like it if you do try it.

I've been using a respirator for a couple of years now. I use it both for candlemaking and when working with lye for soaping. Can't smell a thing. It was weird when I first started working with it because I couldn't smell my candles when I was pouring. But you get used to it after a while. I know that I don't get sick anymore since I have been using it. Pouring gingerbread fragrances used to give me stomach cramps!

I haven't actually washed with it but I was hoping for a vanilla without the tan lather. Can't wait to try it.

The soap is 11 days old now. I could swear it appears darker sitting on my shelf. From the photo it doesn't appear to have darkened much if at all. What do you think?

Great info! Something anyone thinking about selling their product needs to consider and check out! I believe there is also insurance specifically for craft shows. I used to know of a company from a craft show directory I had a subscription with. I will look it up and post it if I can find it.

Ooh! I have been eyeballing those white micas from TKB. One of these days I want to try one.

There actually is a formula for "estimating" burn time. But as Talltayl points out it won't give you the actual burn time for your candle application. But if you want to "estimate" what your burn hours are without burning the whole candle you can do this: Weigh your candle on an accurate scale that gives you pounds and ounces and note the exact weight. Burn for exactly 3 hours so write down the times to make sure of the burn time. Then weigh your candle again. Take the new weight and subtract it from the old. Divide it by 3. The weight difference is your wax burning time. This method will estimate how the wax burns. Not how the candle burns. To determine the actual burn hours of your candle take your test candle and log all burn hours. Burn your candle completely until the wick tab stops the candle burn. You don't have to power burn the candle. Just burn it the way you normally burn a candle and log the hours everytime your burn it. I have found this method always give me a dead on accurate burn time for that candle.

I tend to use 1 tsp TD for every 2 lbs of oil. Thats all I use because it works out for my coloring/whitening needs. I don't know how high you can go but from my experience up to 1 tsp ppo works fine. When I first used TD I got a cakey soap. It was a 34oz batch. I split the batch into 2 bowls to color each one seperately. In one batch I put in about 1 tbs fr. green clay and 2 tsp TD. That particular half of the soap with the clay and the TD got cakey and stuck in my mold. So it could have been because it was in combination with the clay. But hopefully that will give you an idea of what you can work with.

The scariest part is mentioning you can burn the candle close to a wall. Eek!