foxfire

those are so lovely! it makes me wishful for a fireplace!

may i ask if this is a healing salve for psoriasis, or non specific dermatitus? if so, the recommended upper limit for this is 10% and neem is rather odorous.

what are you trying to formulate for? you have a nice line-up of oils, i would suggest just increasing the others if you don't wish to use kukui oil. or maybe using rice bran oil, or another light oil?

if you are applying to irrated skin, IMHO-i would not use any citrus e/o. maybe a little lavender, immoretelle, palma rosa & carrot seed eo's.

plz remember, this is only my best guess.

you mean you want to buy a pre-made lotion, then add a few things to it?

www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com

they have a nice selection-there are hundreds of suppliers that sell pre-made bases, and for the life of me i can't think of any any others at this time!

sorry, i must be having one of those "senior moments!":p

have you thought of creating your own soy butter/shea butter.

i have been tinkering arount with lipidthix at lotion crafter-here's the link:

http://www.lotioncrafter.com/lipidthix.html

i made a very nice butter with ricebran oil and mango butter, but i'm sure with a little "R & D" you can develope your own.

the trick to doing this is to heat and hold your oil at a temp just higher than the lipidthix for 20-30 minutes. you get a much smoother product.

this was my first try:

10 oz

6 oz RBO

1.2 oz LIPIDTHIX

heat & hold-stir occasionally as it cools down. at about 130 degrees i added 2.8 oz SHEA BUTTER, stirring to incorporate and melt.

as it cools down and starts to solidify, i use an electric mixer to whip it and incorporate air into it.

before it completely cools, i spoon it into jars.

you can make this for less than 25% of what you're paying for it, PLUS you save on shipping!

HTH!

perhaps this might help-at least you can order a sample for $2

http://www.soywholesale.com/view_category.asp?cat=57

i have ordered a few things from there, but have not tried their body butter.

HTH

:yay:i've loved everything that i've ordered so far from LC! customer service is first rate and IMHO they have the best shea butter-never had an issue with it.

i love their meadowfoam seed oil for lip balm formulations, too.

i get most of my lotion supplies there, but i've never purchased a kit.

here's another supplier that may prove helpful-she has many different sizes and colors available-good service, too!

http://www.atrsupplies.com/candy.htm

i gave up on scented, except for a very lightly scented lavender and sweet pea.

my best seller is made with cocobutter and virgin coconut, so it has a light kind of "white chocolate" scent which i enhance with just a wee bit of honey f/o.

i really like the paige's sweet nectar at soapsupplies.net and her lavender is great, too (imho)

soapsupplies.net has the BEST mandarin II-sticks like glue in cp! also a very strong honey-sweet nectar. i like her lavender, oakmoss and drakar, too. all great stickers.

i blend paige's leather with lavender for a men's cologne and shaving soap, which is very popular here.

i haven't tried all her f/o's, but the ones i have, i've liked.

and you can't beat the $7.95 shipping!

i'm glad you're ending on a happy note, as one door closes another opens up for you.

best wishes in your new endeavor!

something else you can use is the oil base colors for cake icing, like wilton's. if you have a cake decorating supplier around your area, you could certainly save on shipping.

may i suggest www.tkbtrading.com they have an enormous selection of cosmetic micas, pigments, etc?

minimum order is $20 but you can get a lot of samples for that. shipping is fast and the gal that answers the emails is always helpful with answers.

www.soapsupplies.net carries henri bendel's BENDEL BEAN and is very nice in soap & B&B-very sophisticated upscale vanilla-and it's non-discoloring.

in c/p soap i have to use 1.25 oz ppo, but it's worth it.

Anyone have results using cornstarch to help with grease? I saw a couple posts about that.

Also, one post said beeswax has some drag to it. How about using bw & soy wax half & half? Thoughts?

i use 1 rounded tsp of dryflow ppo. this is a modified cornstarch available at most b & b suppliers. cornstarch works just as well.

i'm tinkering with soywax lotion sticks-i think it gives a silkier feel to your skin. if you use soywax then you'll need to reduce your liquid oils and increase your butters and wax. soywax is much softer than beeswax and a lower melting temp, but i believe it has better glide.

i'm also tinkering with LIPIDTHIX from lotioncrafters. you can turn any liquid oil into a butter-like shortening.

that way you could use olive oil or jojoba, etc as a butter.

HTH