LuminousBoutique

example for you.... you can put sugar and sugar products on top, but sometimes the sugar will over time break down a bit and kinda get a frosty white look, like old chocolate. I put sprinkles on top of my buttercream (I don't bother with vanilla stabilizer so mine is a dark chocolate color now, really pretty!) so here the sprinkles are nice and bright still... but after a few weeks they slowly lost a bit of color and got that white dusty look. I quick spritz of alcohol took care of it, but just something to be aware of. The sprinkles/sugar comes off the first time anyone uses the bar so I dont worry about really even mentioning them as anything but decorative.

too cute!

I'm up in Ogden and we LOVE driving up into the Ogden canyon, its so nice to get out of the city! We've only lived here two years though.. I'm from Washington and I desperately miss the ocean

You have been a BUSY girl!! Do you have a workspace in the shop so you can produce on spot? Thats what I am going to eventually look for... it would be nice to get all my supplies out of my house, lol!! congrats and good luck with the grand opening!

I love it! I get mine from peaks... havent smelled Candle Science's... but I think peaks is very nice and it is a top seller.

I've never gotten a bad oil from Candle Science... what I mean by that is the scent might not be my favorite but it doesnt smell bad or off. Like Lemon Verbena... it wasnt my favorite, but my husband and best friend both LOVE it.. so while I might smell it and go "ew..." they think its fantastic. Peaks is the same for me, I've never once had a bad oil from them, just some that I personally didnt love but still carry for the customers who do.

I like Peaks... both peaks and CS are good though. Peaks is pretty sweet smelling but I like it, almost like watermelon jolly ranchers.. so yummy.

what do you guys wick the 12oz ers with? I had trouble with mine, couldnt make anything work. Hang up like crazy! I didnt expect going from 8 to 12 being so hard, but it gave me so much headache I simply gave up. I was using c85s from peaks....

whats the diameter of the jar?

really? to me, RT means everything is room temp but hey, different strokes for diff folks!

I've heard of it but if not done right problems can arise... so I dont mess with it! like Kitn I'm a RTCP soaper... I've never had a problem so I dont want to tempt fate, lol. my guidelines are... if I know my FO accelerates, I let oils and lye cool to 90 at least. I also use 90 or less for EO's. If I'm making coconut milk soap (vegan, in place of goats milk) I use half water half coconut milk... and at 90* is when I would add in my other half liquid, in this case coconut milk, or aloe. Also if I'm making beer soap I wait for the liquid to cool to 90* because it accelerates as well. If its a non accelerating FO, I will go with 110 or even 120 sometimes, because it does cool a bit when it hits my room temperature oils. Alot of times I will premeasure and melt my oils, leaving them in a bucket overnight... the mix my lye right when I wake up...so in the AM after everyone is showered, dressed and fed, the lye is the perfect temp!

omg that does look yummy! lol

to those interested in making beer soap... dont know about benefits for the skin but I know it makes my soap more bubbly and creamy. I just did a batch geared more to women, using Wasatch Winter Ale, scented with a gardenia jasmine blend.. so yummy. Generally I try to appeal to males with it, but I decided to do one for the ladies. I love beer soap! I do 100% beer but you can start out with water/beer if it makes you more comfortable. Just know the beer/lye mix smells AWFUL.. seriously AWFUL. OH ps.. I dont know if everyone does this but I bring my beer to a simmer to reduce carbonation and let it sit in a mason jar in the fridge loosely covered for 2-3 days before using it to make sure ALL the carbonation is out. Same as if you are making wine soap, which I have only done once. Beer soap is one of my best sellers with men.. I do a blue moon with orange my husband SWOONS for and gets so sad when I come home from a show sold out of it, lol. I have to set bars aside for him.

nice! I like the simplicity, and the layers are very cute. Well done!

I was going to say something to that affect... I have read the ingredients on M&P (although I dont work with it) and the ingredients arent tricky...its not like they can hide something and get away with it....so I just always assumed its the process and amounts that makes it so easy to melt, or... rebatch. Nice to hear that from a supplier. Again like I said I dont work with M&P but I've heard alot of bad things about it from customers and other soapers (like its not soap.. or its just as bad as drugtore stuff...) and I always have to correct them... its irritating at times because there are some really cool things you can do with it that you cant with CP!

that'll be so pretty cut! love it

I know some people mix their oxides/powders in glycerin and keep them in squeeze bottles... and that helps it be less messy and blend in easier! I havent used them much so I havent bothered with that but it sounds like a nice solution! I believe it was "majestic mountain sage" where I read it, and they suggest this: To premix a large quantity add the whole 1/2 ounce jar to 16 oz liquid glycerin. There are so many color options out there.. I need to experiment more myself! I've heard good things about the POP colors too but they are powder as well... For FO/EO I do 1oz PP of oils (so 42oz of oils I slap 2.5oz in there) but thats just my personal preference. I've never had it be a problem with not being strong enough, some are actually maybe on the too strong side! But I don't mind that

I agree with Trudi... maybe get rid of some of the stuff, oils, wax... but save some of your more expensive supplies just in case. I'm in the same position but opposite! I had a pretty successful jewelry business but I got bored with it... it got tedious making the same thing over and over (my best seller are these pincushion rings that are a PAIN to hand sew and I wasnt charging enough.. but I was selling alot. It made me hate it.) and now I'm contemplating selling my supplies too... but I keep wavering because I still love to make gifts and things for myself. Its a hard decision to make!

I agree with Top! I started out guns blazing... color, this, that, and the other... so when there were problems I had to eliminate each dang thing to figure out what the problem was! lol. Congrats and good luck!

I felt compelled to weigh in here... because I too bought FO's from this particular seller/thread and all four bottles arrived today in great condition.. none smell off or old to me. I'm sorry OP thinks she was wronged but the FO's I received all smelled great , I have already soaped with two of them and they were perfectly fine, and I know my FO's.. I havent been on CS for very long but I've been soaping for 10 years. Some of the labels are handwritten but that doesnt change whats inside the bottle, and some FOs are naturally darker and thicker than others.... Again, sorry you feel the way you do about your transaction but I do think it was a bit wrong to call her out like this before giving her a chance to respond via private message.

I've used Oomoo, in fact I have some left over from a small project. I like it, but I you need to use the right container. Get on youtube and watch "smooth on/oomoo" videos... there are a few martha s ones that are helpful. I do NOT think its a cheaper process than just buying a mold... but I think its a great process for making a mold you cant find anywhere else.

wow, I didnt even think about that. I wonder if I can get my Citric Acid cheaper from the home brew place down the street than from the supplier I have been ordering from (Majestic Mountain)

I've never had that happen with CP soap but I would stick blend it. The dreaded oily applesauce or "rice" has only happened to me when I was HP soaping in a crock pot, it was the one and only time I did HP, (I didnt enjoy it so I never did it again).. but what saved that batch was just blasting the heck out of it with my stick blender. If you are using the same recipe you used before and the only difference was your FO, I would chalk it up to that and not use that FO again. It sucks to potentially lose a whole batch but thats how we learn what works and what doesnt. Lets be honest.. there are alot of FO's out there and we have to take the suppliers word that they have tested them in CP soap (if they even claim they have) not all have, not all will.. so some batches will be lost.

Thanks I was looking at the Warings, I didnt find any Moulinex in my searches but I'll look right now. I have a restauraunt supplier I go through for some of my other supplies and they sell Waring stick blenders but I was just wondering what everyone else uses too because I do use it quite a bit and dont want to waste my money I also found quite a few Warings on ebay and amazon for a price I like also... best I've found was 65, for the same one soap equip wants to charge 99 for. I do 2-3 batches of soap a day preparing for show season so i do need a workhorse. I still am amazed the one I had lasted so long considering the abuse the poor thing went through... and the funny thing is the motor is still fine, it was just the shaft came out of the locking mechanism and even with my nerd hubby it cant be put back together again, its like humpty dumpty. My husband (who knows zip about soaping) keeps saying I should use a cement mixer attached to a drill... but thts a bit much for the batches I make, LOL.. maybe someday I'll be hardcore enough to make batches in a giant bucket but for now a stick blender will do, haha.

I've got to give it up to my $20.00 Walmart stick blender... my little friend has held steady for two years, but tonight it met its death. I was about to grab my keys and go buy another one when I heard the magic words from my husband: "why dont you just order a nice industrial stick blender. its time." ::cue the singing angels:: time to upgrade! IYHO.... whats the best workhorse of a stick blender I can buy myself? ::edit to add.... i need to keep it under $150... I'm cheap, what can I say?::