MochaMama

I'd forgotton that sks has a "minimum" order, i.e. they have set quantities. I had to order sample size vials from elements bath and body because I had to order like 50-60 for 36 bucks from sks. But if you are into the larger quantites, SKS is great! I ordered sunday night and my package was here Tuesday (I'm in NJ).

You can try sks-bottle.com. They are located in NY. (They ship fast too! Or you can try containerpackaging.com. Hope this helps. .

Thanks Michi. I didn't really want to start over, but somehow in the back of my head I knew I had to. (Why oh why did I start with so much beeswax!!) Back the drawing board......:tiptoe: Thanks again!

Ugh, I have been working on this all afternoon. I am trying to make a creamy oil, sort of like a salve, something you can scoop up with your fingers, if that makes sense. The problem is is that it's too hard. I've melted, added liquid oils, melted again, etc, but it's still too hard. I just don't know the ratio of liquid/hard at room temperature to beeswax. I'm kind of tired of melting and remelting, so I came here for expert advice. How much more liquid oil should I add? I can add shea butter also...will that help? I want it to be a soft scoopable consistency. Here is my recipe 3 oz vco 2.4 oz avocado oil 2.4 oz beeswax 2 oz castor oil 2 oz olive oil This is what I get for experimenting - an afternoon of real work!!! Thanks in advance, as always.

Thanks for the feedback!!! They sounded so good, and right now it's more economical for me to use these blends rather than mix my own EOs.

I have been ordering from WSP for the last year, and I just discovered this section. Has anyone ever tried these EO blends? I know some of them are mixed with a carrier oil, but it seems like most of the reviews on the site are pretty favorable. I was going to use them in MP soap and my whipped butter mix.

Hi all: Meant to post this MONTHS ago, but you know how daily life can be. Anyway, I finally got the chance to use my FO from Abby's co-op. Let me first say that I get lots of requests for Egyptian Musk. I am not a fan of it myself, but that's neither here nor there. The first problem I had was usage rate. When I emailed the company, I was told that the usage rate can be anywhere from 5-8 percent depending on the application. Well, considering how much one lb. of this stuff costs, that's not very cost effective at all - WSP, Kangeroo Blue and Save on Scents have much lower recommended usage rates, and some of their FOs are cheaper. As for the scent, it's true. Egyptian Musk, in my opinion, is a very hard FO to work with because it doesn't smell as strongly in the application as it does when you rub it on the skin. In conclusion, I probably would not purchase from RA again because I feel that such a high usage rate to get a strong scent is not economical.

Does anyone know of a place or places where I can purchase a tall (not low profile) 30 ml or approx 30 g- 40 ml clear jar w/sifter and top? I know that's a tall order, but I have been looking on the internet and can find the tall 30 ml (g)jar, but cannot find the sifter insert because none of the websites give a dimension of the jar. I don't mind purchasing the jar and lid from one site and the sifter from another.... Any help would be appreciated - I am trying to package a specialty body powder to be dispensed in a shaker. I need a small jar because I want to make samples. Thanks in advance. PS I want it to look like this http://www.lotioncrafter.com/store/Black-Shaker-Jar-11ml-pr-16410.html but at least 2x the size - I want at least an oz of powder in the jar w/sifter. I hope I am not dreaming the impossible dream:cheesy2:

The Vanilla Select from Brambleberry has a nice buttercream smell. I'm not sure if you can use it in candles though.

As weird as it might sound, when I do my MP soap I use one of those spiral cutesy journals to write my recipes in, plus I use one of those old marble composition books that I used for chem lab in high school to write teh "finished recipe" in. Since I'm totally type A and control freakish, I also put the recipes on my computer which is auto backed to the web. (yes, I know nutty). With three little ones under four underfood, I can't afford to depend on my memory!!!

Can anyone point me in the direction of a sweeter smelling lavender EO. I love the properties of the regular EO and how great it is for the skin, but it smells (to me) sooo "mediciny" I used a Lavender Jasmine blend from Brambleberry which is steam distilled from france using the leaves, stalks and flowers (according to the label) and it's not sweet at all. I also have a bottle of Provence Lavender that is steam distilled from the flowering tops. That doesn't smell so great OOB either. Is it possible for a sweeter smell from (good) lavender EO? If not, I'll just bite the bullet and use what I have. Thanks so much!

I actually just tested some Lavender Jasmine in some whipped butter - smells mostly like lavender though. I can't smell the jasmine, but maybe that's just me. It's an EO blend from brambleberry.

Thanks Prairie Annie. I am going to try soaking the grounds to make them less scrubby too.

That's great. I love seeing that UPS man come to my door with those boxes and having stuff to experiment with. Have a good time!

You are welcome! I am in NJ and there is actually a store in my town that sells the base to make the oils!!! Anyway, it depends on how much of the oil your friend has. If it is just little bit like a tablespoon or less and she wants the scent of the oil, I would just dump it into a 2 oz batch and see if that's strongly scented enough for your friend. Since it's all ready diluted, I doubt it would scent much more than that. Also, since it's just FO and some type of carrier oil, there should be no problem using it in your butter. Also check out saveonscents.com. They are in Brooklyn ( I think) and they have LOTS of fragrance oils and designer dupes. You can also arrange to pick up your order. You can make your own muslim oils!! Good luck!

Thanks for all your replies, but I am not having a problem with them suspending. Instead a great amount of the grounds actually float to the top of the mold (which ends up being the bottom of the soap when demolded, if that's a real word ). I hope that makes my dilemma clearer. Now that I actually think about it, soaking the grounds would probably make them heavier and thus they would not float...hmmmm.

Prairieannie: I remember you writing in another thread about soaking your coffee grounds in water before adding them to MP soap. Does that keep them from floating to the top of the bar? I had good luck with most of the grounds but notice a fair amount of them float to the top of the bar. Sure is a nice scrubby effect, but I want them to suspend in the soap. Maybe I'm adding too much coffee grounds? I add about 2 T pp soap. Thanks in advance!

Here is some info about natural tinting herbs; http://www.kitsforcrafts.com/refills/ColNatural.asp Not sure if they all would work in the products you mentioned... but it's a starting point.

Muslim oil, if I am remembering correctly is basically a perfume oil. Sometimes it comes in roll on type bottle or a regular bottle the size of a chapstick. It's usually a 50/50 mix of Fragrance oil (usually a dupe) and jojoba or some other type of carrier oil. angeliquebe, is this what your friend brought to you?

What about citric acid as a natural preservative at 1%? I saw a scrub on amazon.com that listed: vitamin C (citric acid) natural preservative. I am going to do some research on this right now, but I thought I'd throw that out there. Oh, here is the link for that scrub http://www.amazon.com/WholeMade-Natural-Sugar-Scrub-oz/dp/B000GKBYEU I threw "citric acid' in the search engine and more than one site said it's a natural preservative - however, don't know whether that would be for food or what. Anyway, I love the recipe and will be trying it sometime soon.

Has anyone had any experience with this company? I ran a search and nothing comes up..... TIA

Yes, it's great - I surprised myself - seriously, my DH has dry skin and he says when he washes with that soap it does wonders for his skin. I always had trouble with dry hand when I used regular soap - you know how your hands feel tight after handwashing - well,this is not a problem in our house anymore!

I use the sfic shea butter base (have only used this) and I add shea. Very nice after shower feel.

The black clay is really slick - comes right off in the first use, sending black suds down the drain - probably because I used too much. The rest of the bar lathers great and is very smooth and silky feeling. I gave it to DH and he really likes it.

Thanks for all your responses. I' ve looked around on the web for the Jasmine EO - the cost is so prohibitive - I saw $81 for 1/2 oz for the pure oil. I am going to go with the Jasmine absolute because it has at least 5% eo in the jojoba mix. There would be at least some benefit from the EO. From what I've read the absolute is pretty strong too.