LuminousBoutique

Oh yes they really do. Ginger too.... when I was pregnant I ate mint leaves every morning to combat nausea and had mint oils in a diffuser, it helped a ton. I'll have to test my finished blend on myself after the week I've had, lol

you can order it online from spice suppliers/food storage websites.. its still spendy but much less so than buying it from the grocery store in those small containers! The best I think we have found on the board was this: http://www.thevintnervault.com/index.php?category_id=12&p=view_category BUT... they dont show you shipping until you enter your CC info and I'm not willing to do that. I found it elsewhere for 26.16 for a 5lb bag from bulkfoods.com (who also have citric acid, for bath bomb making) but thats 10 bucks more than the other place... so really I think it just takes alot of searching and I think it might not be possible to buy it anywhere but online and save a buck unless there is a food storage supplier anywhere near you. I live in Utah and food storage is HUGE here so I am going to look into it.. its just a hard to find ingredient I think. I know Costco doesnt have it.

thanks I'll check that out!

Thats it! I could not for the life of me remember majoram.. some websites suggested basil too. Poor guy gets massages, takes meds, and even does accupuncture. He calls his headaches "tony" and it causes some real confusion on his facebook updates "tony is kicking my ass today" "Tony wont leave.." lol. thanks guys!

my friend Dan suffers from migranes and asked if I could make him a blend of EO's that would help in a roller.. I would never try to sell something like that because I dont want to be accused of making medical claims BUT I would like to help Dan out and send a few his way.. does anyone know what that blend is? He lives 1500 miles away so I cant test it on him but I would send him a few versions if thats what it takes; His are so bad that he cant work and I really want to help. I seem to remember it being peppermint, lavender, and maybe lemon... but I cant find any of my aromatherapy or essential oil books.. pretty sure that box never made it here when we moved. Anyone know?

The thing is, I didnt order them from NG.. I bought a bunch of FO's off a member on here. Most I bought from her were great (from all different suppliers)... but the two from NG were no good.. so that was obviously why she was selling them, but the others I got from her were great FO's so obviously my opinion of NG oils was formed based on that. I also dont appriciate getting FO's in plastic bottles.. when they come like that I have to move them over to amber glass bottles and thats a pain. Its all personal preference I guess. After re-reading this I went back and looked at the bottles again.. and they DO leak. I held them upside down, and laid them on their side.. and they leaked. All three.. so its nice to hear thats not a problem for everyone.. but it is a problem with the three I got.

tried to make liquid soap by shaving up some CP soap and whipping it with olive oil and distilled water... for two or three days it was OK... but after about a week it smelled like death and actually tingled when I put it on my skin! Yikes. With preservative it likely would have been OK... but I learned my lesson... much easier to just make it from scratch, lol

nope, lol... Barbara Ann.. and shes convinced the beach boys wrote that song about her, so you know... nuts. hehe

love 'em!

I agree about the squeeze bottle... would they fit in a lip gloss filling tray? That would help too! I never make more than one or two at a time, so I use pipettes.

for home use/testing hot glue works well too

I bought 3 off of here actually which are from natures Garden.. I'm unfortunately not overly impressed with them (natures garden) I bought Cranberry Relish... which has a berry smell but not a strong cranberry to it. It smells very sweet.. synthetic sweet. My husband says he smells blackberry in it, and almost a bubblegum smell. Its strange. Not BAD, but not cranberry. Country Garden.. which is less floral and more "old lady". All four of my test smellers (my mom, husband, neighbor, and mail carrier <hehe> ) thought it was too strong and very "grandmas panty drawer". and Hydrangea Heaven was impressive, it really does smell like hydrangea and I'm happy with it. They come in plastic bottles which actually leak at the top a bit... I'm just not impressed overall, so I wont be buying from them again. So far Snowdrift, Candle Science, Peaks, and Candle Source have been wins for me. I live about 45 minutes from Majestic Mountain sage so I am going to drive up there and buy some stuff and I am going to test smell all of their FO's if they will let me.. they cost a bit more but I wont have to pay shipping or worry about getting one I wont love when it arrives.. so I will let everyone know how that was once I get back from doing that. Waiting for tax money for that trip, LOL!!

ah, yeah thats right.. i forget tallow and lard are different.

very nice! I need to pick up some of that stabilizer.

Check out this tutorial on here, http://www.craftserver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73514 its a simpler recipe, less oils... I would try that first! It is a GREAT tutorial

alot of people, I've found, wont use it because they dont like the IDEA of lard... not because they are vegan or vegetarian. little do they know its already in most soap they use. Its in dove. "sodium tallowate" is lard, and its the third ingredient in the beauty bars... so yeah. You can mention that if anyone brings it up. I choose not to use it - but I think it helps if you do to explain to people that its already in most of the soaps they use.

Both In the summer I hate using oily scrubs but in the winter I like the moisture they provide.

I havent tried it.. but Chem store is pretty good, and you could always start with a small order. As for my body wash- I make it so much more affordable because I can make small or large batches and just like theirs I can scent it one bottle at a time... Its a bit more time consuming of course but hey thats the life right? I dont sell it because I've found people dont really buy it often enough to justify the cost of bottles and labels... but I make it for myself, friends, and family! The recipe is simple enough.. its Castor, coconut, sunflower, and olive. You use Potassium Hydroxide lye for liquid versus Sodium Hydroxide for bars. Its done in a crock, overnight, then in the AM you add in your distilled water! I store mine in gallon buckets with a spout but I've seen people store them in gallon jugs too. You can make great laundry/all purpose soap using just coconut too. I wouldnt use that on the skin though... too drying. You can add silk to it as well, to make it a bit more conditioning.

Yeah its really nice I got to learn from her She scares the crap out of me when she soaps though... no gloves, mixes her lye on the kitchen counter along with everything else.. soaps while she cooks dinner.. lol. Shes nuts. :laugh2:She just says "I havent burned myself yet!" yeah grandma.. theres a first for everything

WOW! thats amazing. Truly beautiful soap! It looks like waves on the ocean! Especially with those colors. So pretty.

dont really know what to say? I've been making this castile with my grandma for 20 years. She always has it around, as do I... There were no such thing as soap calcs when she started making it but I've run it through one since, and her recipe (42 olive, 5.3oz lye, and 9.5 water).. works out to around a 30% reduc and a 5% superfat. Thing is, I've never once thought of licking it.. I had no idea what a zap test even was, until I came on here and read about it.. so one day after cutting a batch I licked it and... zap. Its my only soap I've ever felt a zap with, so I assumed it was the water reduc and the fact that I had just cut it and it was really only a few hours "old". Checked it again a few days later and no zap... but I still let them cure 6 months because, well... thats what she does.

I am ALL about Papermart. They have everything! Wonderful customer service, and low minimums on most products. HUGE variety too.

all the time! Mostly at shows though, because despite the fact that I have an online shop.. I hate paying shipping, LOL!! I am also a Lush-a-holic. I LOVE LUSH.. its a sickness. I could spend a thousand dollars in that shop, lol. I buy lots of candles too.. because I'm still learning on those and I really love to see what other people do and find the best, so I can learn and try to be better.

castile with water reduc = EPIC zap. I never knew what people were talking about with the zap test until that day.... yikes

I dont know which is cheaper, really... I mean after you figure the cost of the oils and fragrance and molds and lye.. it isnt cheap. But.. I think its funner I do CP and I have a 5 year old and 3 year old. Its a challenge sometimes but not impossible... we had a good talk about never touching mommies soaping tools, which was a big part of it.. but I am also really careful about how I store my stuff. I buy my lye at Ace hardware in small containers, and then store those containers in ziplock bags inside a rubbermaid container with my gloves, soap spoons, and goggles. I keep that on the highest shelf of our pantry.. somewhere I know the kids can never reach!! When I mix my lye, I always do it in our mudroom, and I keep the water/lye mixture on the higest (STABLE) shelf. I mix it after they go to bed and 1-2 hours later its ready for use. I do all my soaping at night because it takes the kid factor out. I can prepare my oils ahead of time with them around, because I simply melt them together, I dont heat them. So all I have to do is pour my lye into my soap and mix to trace, which takes less than 15 minutes usually. I mix the water into my oils in the mudroom, then bring it into the kitchen to stick blend it and pour it. Waiting isnt hard once you get into the swing of it... seems like I make a batch every week or so, which means there is a batch cured every week! some soaps take only 3-4 weeks, some take longer. My castile takes 4-6 months but its worth it I think if you are interested in it its worth giving it a shot and just seeing if you even enjoy it! PS.. top of the fridge is a great place to cure soap and a great "up high" place to store supplies as long as the kids know not to ever touch it.