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Candybee

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Everything posted by Candybee

  1. Another thing you should consider is your curing time. You mentioned you made the soap 6 weeks ago. Perhaps you need to cure yours for 8 weeks or longer. The longer the cure, the milder the soap. Personally I find soaps high in olive oil and low in coconut/babassu to be more moisturizing and gentle. I make a bastile of 75-80% olive oil and 10-15% coconut oil. I love the combination of castor and coconut oils in my soap as they make creamy, bubbly lather. But I prefer to keep my castor oil at 5% and not go over unless I am doing a specialty soap. You can also raise your superfat level. Don't know what you are using now but soapcalc sets their default at 5%. You could opt to try out 6-8% superfat. Formulating soap recipes tends to be a give or take as in if you go for more lather you tend to get a higher cleansing and hardness. Go for more conditioning and hardness and lather may be compromised. Its up to the soapmaker to find the happy medium. Study your oil properties and their fatty acid profiles. If you are new to soapmaking it may seem overwhelming at first but it will help you to understand some of the chemistry of soapmaking to improve your recipes.
  2. don't use the four letter word during October..... brrr!! I already have my heat turned on overnight and I just put my flannel sheets and electric blanket on my bed today. Nights been getting chilly. BTW-- just remembered you do renaissance festivals.. Thinking full moon water soaps would be right up your alley.. at least as a selling point.
  3. Yeah! It was a CS very vanilla that went sour rancid on me. Blech!!!
  4. I have ones that are 15 yrs old and still wonderful. Once in a great while I will get one that goes bad but that is the exception rather than the general rule. If it smells good and you like it, keep it and don't be afraid to use it. Suppliers pretty much have to say "one year" to avoid lawsuits over that one that might go bad in 6 months. I've been using FO's since 2005 and had only 2 in all that time I had to throw out cause they went bad on me.
  5. Update... I brought some of the soaps I made with NG's Bite Me and they sold out! I did mix 3 parts Bite Me with 1 part pink grapefruit. Everyone who smelled the soap loved it and that's how they sold out! Doncha just love it when you try a new fragrance and it turns out to be a winner!
  6. I use ITDF's Elegant Cream moisturizer as a facial cream. Its simple to make and makes a lovely rich moisturizing face cream. Just go to their formulary/recipe section and look for "Elegant Cream".
  7. I remember someone mentioning a place to get the best patchouli but don't remember where or who posted it. Need some advice on a really good patchouli, preferably dark patchouli. Thanks.
  8. OMG this stuff smells soooo good! It soaped like a dream too, no A&D or ricing. Scent is holding strong. It's hard to describe; notes of cherries, citrus, and effervescence. I mixed with a little pink grapefruit to bring out the citrus notes in it. If you haven't tried it I strongly recommend it. One of the best soaping FOs I've used in a long time! Since this will be a new scent in my sea bath line am going to call it Mermaid Kisses. I colored it raspberry red, pink, and orange. Can't wait to debut this at my fall shows! Customers will be curious because of the name but wait til they smell it! I would be very surprised if it doesn't become a big seller!
  9. That is pretty weird to have all those incidents happen to you. What a pain in the butt it must have been having to deal with it all. Yikes!😕
  10. The oo I buy from my local grocers is what I always used before and never gave me any trouble. That and regular oo from Soapers. I was buying my oo from the grocers before as it was about the same or less than what Soapers Choice charged me. No I don't know anyone with a Costco membership and frankly its too far out for me to go each time I need oo. I can get a 100oz jug for $17 at my local grocers and since I am not paying shipping it saves me a lot money and time. I can also buy the same jugs at Walmart but don't like their oo as much as what I can get at Giant Foods.
  11. Okay just made my last batch of soap for the week using CS Coconut Lime and NO acceleration at all. Checked my records and found I bought it prior 2019. So far it appears FOs I purchased sometime in late 2019 and beyond are the only ones accelerating on me. When I get a chance I will check the other FOs I used this week that accelerated on me and see if I can find a purchase date. I am betting most are from 2020 up to now as I know I bought a bunch of FOs last year.
  12. This is why next time I am at my local grocer's I'm going to pick up some regular OO, the kind I used to used before I switched to the pomace and the pomace/rbo from Soapers. Keeping my fingers crossed that this may be an easy fix to my acceleration problem.
  13. Well, I just made a batch of pink sugar and no acceleration. Same pomace and coconut milk. Plus, I remembered that I used to use the same coconut milk many times before but switched to Silk due to a better price. The pink sugar I had to look up in my purchase records. I last bought it from EBB in Jan 2019 so I don't believe it is not a reformulation. So sort of back to square one. I do believe the pomace could interact with some ingredient, perhaps something new being used in reformulated FOs causing a very fast acceleration which I have been experiencing. I am going to go back to buying my OO from my local grocers. I was trying to save money by switching to the pomace/rbo and plain pomace oo from Soapers. Once I am back with regular OO will see what happens and if the acceleration continues. Sigh.... it's always something goin south...
  14. Update: This past week I have made 14 batches of soap so far and every single one of them has accelerated! Every single batch I made I have made before with the exact same ingredients. This has become maddening! I am now considering other ingredients aside from FOs that could effect my soapmaking. But I can't think of any one item I used in all of them. However, two culprits may be 1. I switched to pomace/rice bran oil from Soapers recently. Also, 2. I switched my brand of coconut milk out as my local grocers quit carrying the Silk brand I had been using for years. I believe I read somewhere that pomace can cause acceleration. Also, I will have to find a way to check what is in the Silk coconut milk brand and compare it to the one I use now to see if there is a difference. I know not all coconut milk is the same. I am still convinced that many of my favorite FOs are contributing to the acceleration but they may be in combination with other factors.
  15. It was also a customer favorite for me too and also one of my favorite Christmas scents. I loved burning a mistletoe candle during the holidays because I loved the scent but it also helped unstuff my nose too from the eucalyptus oil in it. I did purchase some fraser fir from CS and thankfully that one smells as good as ever. It will have to be my new christmas tree candle now. There is always Fillmore's Christmas Tree so I could still go back to using that one too. But for now I have 2 lbs of new reformulated Mistletoe that doesn't smell anything like the old one. Will keep it around until I can figure out what to do with it. Maybe I can soap it but I am not very enthusiastic about it or at all sure I will even like it.
  16. Sounds like you are experiencing the same frustration I am with FOs I have been using for years suddenly accelerating on me. Its so maddening! I have even replaced a couple already and have more to switch out due to the changes in them.
  17. Anyone else experiencing this? FOs that I have used for years are now accelerating on me and fast too! I have to assume that they have each been reformulated. I have not changed my soap recipes and am using the same oils and other tried and true ingredients. For the past couple of years I am experiencing this again and again with FOs I have been using for years. Its getting to where about 50-75% of my soaping FOs I may have to switch out or find a completely new one. Its so frustrating and beyond sad. I haven't even made any candles yet for fall. Those I make the end of this week. I already have noticed big changes in at least one of my major fall FOs. CS Mistletoe is no where near the way it used to be before its reformulation. It was always one of my very favs and now it just smell so different I don't even recognize it anymore. I contacted CS and the person I spoke too won't even acknowledge that is smells any different, just that it's been reformulated. Now I can't use it in my candles as I don't like anything about the new version at all. Sigh.....
  18. I have been tackling 4 other rooms in the house that were all torn apart and becoming warehouses for supplies. It's a long story about how that happened so I won't go into. It had to do with rearranging several rooms and switching furniture, carpets, books, belonging, etc for entire rooms during early 2020. At some point I didn't finish and a couple of rooms were left torn apart and waiting to be refinished. So this past week I finally organized the rooms I had not finished and tidied and cleaned everything including moving back furniture, books, carpets, etc. Now that more of my house is in order I am feeling a bit more empowered to get to my messy room I use for supplies and soap curing. I tackled the other rooms by simple starting out emptying out a few boxes a day and moving things out here and there until finally I was able to clean them up and restore them. So I think I can get my soap & supply room cleaned up and organized by doing the same thing. Little by little until it gets all done. Unfortunately, this is the month I have to get all my products made for and ready for the fall festivals and craft shows. So I will have to put it off until after the end of the season. On top of getting ready for the fall shows I have a wholesale order that needs to get done this week. Sigh.....
  19. I was also thinking cocoa butter might be the way to go. I'll start out at 5% and adjust from there. Thanks for the tip. Lucky you still have some butterez. I loved that stuff. It's been a pain to reformulate my lip balm without it. I can get a nice smooth creamy balm but eventually over time the shea gets grainy again. Cera Bellina helps with a smooth creamy texture but doesn't stop the shea grainies, just delays it. I have been finding that out over time. Sigh...
  20. I still get grainy balm even using cera belina wax in my lip balm formulation. So want to swap it out with something that does not go grainy. I would prefer a butter rather than an oil. Would either mango or cocoa butter be a good swap? I even have cupuacu and kokum butters I could use. Or perhaps I should up my coconut oil or use something else altogether? Looking for ideas. Thanks.
  21. Everytime I look at my back room where I keep my soap racks and supplies I want to cry uncle! Just looking at the disorganized mess I get depressed and overwhelmed. I just keep adding stuff and trying to keep it organized but there is just too much stuff! That's when I play around with the idea of hiring a professional but in the back of my mind I am thinking no way could I afford one either! Or could I? Is it way too pricey, like in the thousands, or can it be done for a couple hundred? I really have no idea.
  22. Never tried to blend it myself. I just remember the old scent mixing chart that Peak used to have posted to the old craft board forum back when they were maintaining the forum. Have you tried C&S candy corn? I really like it. Used to use it in my parasoy candles.
  23. My fav CC is from Candles & Supplies. BTW, candy corn is a blend of vanilla and honey.
  24. Try pouring at 135 - 140. I agree don't heat so high, 185 should do fine and is also a good temp to stir in your fragrance.
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