Lady Di

I knew I was truly an addict when... My 80 year old mother became very ill with vertigo. Her head was spinning... she could not stop throwing up... couldn't stand or walk by herself. I had to take her to the emergency room. As we sat there waiting our turn to see a doctor, I looked up, and there before me was a coffee machine. All these different coffees -- mocha cream, expresso coffee bean... yummy names like that. My imagination rambled with all the possibilities of different coffee soaps I could make. My poor mother was sitting there in a wheel chair moaning and groaning... I kept patting her back saying, "There, there..." but all I could think about was making my next batch of coffee-scented soap. Oh, the shame of it all. P.S. My mother is fine.

I guess you don't make or use sugar scrubs, huh?

Here's my update on your milk bath smoothie recipe... For someone like myself, who is fizzie challenged, I thought for sure this would never work. However, it did. I just made a batch, and they look very good. I used a shot glass as my mold, so my tops are rounder than yours, and the overall size is probably smaller. You were right about the difficulty coloring. I used a good bit of colorant, and it didn't really kick in until I started adding the witch hazel/water. My final product is sort of a dusty rose. I scented with Bramble Berry's Rosehip Jasmine. I went WAY over your suggested 1 oz of f.o. Once I started spritzing with the witch hazel, the whole batch really started to stink (the milk, I guess). So I added probably about another 1 1/2 oz. They are definitely fragranced! I switched from the witch hazel to plain water to see if this would make a difference. They don't stink anymore. TIP: Don't go overboard on the color. It will start to show up more when you spray the water on. Don't go overboard on the fragrance. The sour milk smell does subside. Making these reminded me of making sand castles at the beach. Like packing damp sand into a bucket. They came out of the mold with just two taps. I got 22 smoothies out of this batch. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

Another thing... when I go to the Lush site, I look at the products and read the customer reviews. Have you ever noticed how many bad reviews there are? Quite a few... hated the fragrance, didn't make many bubbles, too greasy, not greasy enough, won't buy this again...

I totally agree with this. Companies like Bath & Body and Lush can get away with charging huge prices because of who they are. And people pay it without any questions!!! If I was to put a price like that on my stuff (which I think is better quality), they'd be saying, "You want HOW much???" I don't get it.

I wonder if I could use a shot glass as my mold???

I have read that adding bentonite clay to the bath fizzie mixture will make a really hard fizzie. Does anyone know about this?

Some of the cakes had dried overnight, and some were freshly made. I got my icing recipe (which is identical to yours) from the Bramble Berry site. I asked them about it, and they said to maybe add more water to the icing so that it was a little softer and wetter. I will try this next time. I did notice that my icing was pretty stiff and set hard really fast. I think I needed more water.

In "my" opinion, once the product has dissolved in a FULL tub of water (we're talking several gallons), the amount of sugar and eggs you are soaking in would be so diluted and miniscule. I have made this cupcake recipe. The big problem I have, is getting the icing to stick to the top of the cupcake. Once dry, it just falls off. Do you have this problem?

Wow! You mean NOBODY on this board has EVER used this fragrance?????? You don't know what you're missing. My current supplier has quit carrying it, so I'm looking for a new supplier.

Who has the best one?

I was told by a local supplier that witch hazel off the store shelf contains alcohol. I checked the label on my current bottle, and she's right (14% alcohol). She said I should always use witch hazel extract (no scent at all). So this is what I use now. For a room or linen spray, however, I think the store witch hazel would be fine.

Except for the teaspoon measurements, I would weigh everything.

I slightly modified a tried-and-true shampoo bar recipe. I don't usually deviate from recipes and was wondering if those of you who are more experienced could review my ingredients and tell me what you think. I made this last night and unmolded this morning. It feels a little greasy, but I think it will dry out. Used the CP method. It reached trace really fast. Thanks for your opinions. Liquid (the original recipe called for a decoction of green tea and nettle): 12 oz. Aloe Vera Juice 1 oz. Cucumber Extract 1 oz. Chamomile Extract Lye: 6.10 oz. (recipe run through a lye calculator) Oils: 12 oz. Coconut 10 oz. Palm oil 8 oz. Olive oil 6 oz. Castor oil 6 oz. Jojoba oil (original recipe called for 6 oz. Hemp Seed oil) 2.5 oz. Cocoa Butter (not in original recipe) Superfat: 1/2 oz. Castor oil 2.5 oz. Cocoa Butter (not in original recipe)

I slightly modified a tried-and-true shampoo bar recipe. I don't usually deviate from recipes and was wondering if those of you who are more experienced could review my ingredients and tell me what you think. I made this last night and unmolded this morning. It feels a little greasy, but I think it will dry out. Used the CP method. It reached trace really fast. Thanks for your opinions. Liquid (the original recipe called for a decoction of green tea and nettle): 12 oz. Aloe Vera Juice 1 oz. Cucumber Extract 1 oz. Chamomile Extract Lye: 6.10 oz. (recipe run through a lye calculator) Oils: 12 oz. Coconut 10 oz. Palm oil 8 oz. Olive oil 6 oz. Castor oil 6 oz. Jojoba oil (original recipe called for 6 oz. Hemp Seed oil) 2.5 oz. Cocoa Butter (not in original recipe) Superfat: 1/2 oz. Castor oil 2.5 oz. Cocoa Butter (not in original recipe)

I made some of Bunny's Bath Melts (found on the recipes board) and really like them. I don't feel like they fizz very much, though, and was wondering if I could skip this ingredient (why waste supplies?). But my main question is... how could I possibly sell these at an outdoor craft show? I know... I know... I am hoping against all hope. But I wondered if anyone had come up with some creative ideas to successfully do this. My only idea so far is freeze them first, keep extras in a cooler, and just keep swapping out my display. But I wouldn't want the customer to spend all day browsing the market with one of my bath melts melting in the bottom of her shopping bag! Has anyone else conquered this problem?

Thank you!!! I've been to 5 million sites, except those.

Can someone please point me in the direction of a supplier selling gold glitter. I already have gold mica powder from Bramble Berry. They also have some glitters... but NOT gold! Thanks.

What do you mean? Do you mean that the fragrance would be gone?

Two part question: I haven't used essential oils much in my cold processed soaps because some of them are pretty expensive (like chamomile). But another reason I haven't used them is because I don't know how to handle e.o. warnings. Example: Don't use this one if you are pregnant, don't use this one on babies, don't use this one if you have high blood pressure... on and on. Do these warnings apply to when the e.o.'s have been put in soap? Do I have to list all these various warnings on the soaps? I've never seen anyone else do it. There are so many warnings associated with e.o.'s that I really don't want to be responsible, so I just stick with f.o.'s instead. My second question is in line with an earlier post about amounts to use. Am I correct that if I'm using e.o.'s that I can still use up to 1 oz. per pound? I've been under the impression that e.o.'s should be added at a much lesser amount. I almost always use the 1 per 1 rule with f.o.'s.

Because of the thick consistency, I think it would be best in a jar.

Can I use these in CP Soaps. Have the dyes, but no directions. How much should I use in a cup of soap for swirling? Thanks.

I would LOVE to find something like that. I have ordered a number of the metal baskets from buhi imports. They are all great... good service. I was not able to find a metal "caddies" that were this small (to hold just 2 bottles). They are larger.

I bought some of these, and now I don't remember why. Can I use these in CP Soap? Does it take very much dye to color about a cup of soap (for swirling)? There are no directions with my bottles. Thanks.

I add jojoba beads to mine (if that's what you mean by "additives"). I did find that this particular brand of gel does not really foam up in the shower, so I added about 1/2 oz (to 7.5 oz of gel) of cocamidopropyl betaine (a liquid sudsing agent). This helped a lot, and it did not disturb the suspension quality of the gel. I have not compared this suspension gel to other brands, so I don't know if this lack of lather is unique to the MMS brand. Maybe someone else can lend their experience.